December

December 3, we celebrated Theodore's 6th birthday at our house. The boys loved the atvs and gifts.
 

He had a jurassic world cake, chocolate/peanut butter, yum!

The next day we went to the Christmas farm, stories, ornaments, animals, etc.

We got our elves photographed.

The Grinch told the boys to throw boogers at Santa, they thought he was hilarious.

Santa was great, Theo had him read his letter. 

They all asked for a doll house, fudge, and dinosaur kits.

Debi took our picture and we picked out our Christmas tree.

The whole family helped put it up and decorate it.

It looks pretty good!

We took the to see Storybook land in the north part of Cedar and Theo read the signs of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Dec 10th we helped Debi and Tom with their Christmas party in St George, it went great, the food was wonderful, and the rolls were to die for.

We messaged and talked to our mission president and his wife, Carlos and Teresa Faundez in Chile.

Dec 17th, Alan's birthday, we had our neighborhood progressive dinner, the Pooleys had salad, Nufers had soups and bread bowls, and we had desserts and white elephant.

It was a lot of fun, can't wait till next year!

Dec 21st the kids got here to Cedar and we got a family picture with Grammy and Grandpa.

The next day the Jorgensen/Schips left for home and we went hiking in St George, Dixie/pioneer park.

The slot canyon was rediculously narrow and fun!

Scout cave.

We hiked with Mike and Julie and all the kids, they loved it.

The views were gorgeous and it felt good to be outside.

We hiked up to the arches.

We went to Debi's pool to swim, Alan and I forgot our bag with our suits inside.

We watched a Christmas movie and ate a ton of sweets and food.

We took a treat plate and a money card to some people's house and ran back to the car before they could see who it was.

The Nufer's green house keeps trying to blow away in the wind. They took it to the dump.

Christmas eve we did the nativity.

They did a great job!

Christmas morning was so fun, love watching the grandkids' excitement!

Dad and I got a puzzle board and he got lebkuchen and I got smelly lotion from bath and body works.

The Jorgensens took this family picture.

Ashleigh and Chad's family.

Whitney and Stephen's family.

Justin and Collette's family.

Alan and Sonja were able to go to Hawaii with Jamie and Brent’s family in March. We had so much fun with family parasailing, swimming with sharks, zip lining at Climb works, going to the Honolulu swap meet, at the Polynesian Culture Center, swimming, and sunning on the beach. We lived in Alan’s parents’ basement in Cedar until May when we moved back into our home in Cedar City and fixed it up after 5 years of renting it out. We also enjoyed a wonderful wedding celebration for Jamie and Brent in July at Bear Lake with family and friends. In August we traveled to Tennessee to visit Sonja’s mom and sister. When we got back home Sonja had a mammogram and found out she had breast cancer and in October she had a double mastectomy with reconstruction. All is going well and we are excited to have most of the children and grandchildren home for Christmas. We are blessed and happy and love this season of giving and hope!

Jamie sold her home in March and she and the kids moved north to Brent’s home in Layton, UT. Jamie and Brent got married (again) on July 9th at Bear Lake and had a blast celebrating their love with friends and family. Jamie continues to love her job at the Huntsman Cancer Institute as the gynecology and sarcoma social worker, counseling patients and their families. Brent is the CEO of a software company and is working on some new projects for 2022. Their 9 kids are all busy and thriving: Parker (23, was the best man at his friend’s wedding in October and is busy applying for jobs), Olivia (21, works as a dance and tumbling teacher and just moved into her first house with her boyfriend, Garrett), Mira (20, is taking classes at Weber State and busy with Institute activities and spending time with friends), Ben (19, started college this fall at the U of U and is living off campus with his cousin, Kimball), Emma (16, a junior at Layton HS and loves being on the Lancelle drill team), Josh (14, a freshman at Fairfield Junior High and enjoys playing rec lacrosse and the trumpet and tuba in his school’s band), Daxton (9, 3rd grader and is working hard on his YouTube channel “Dax is Dynamite”), Blair (6, a 1st grader who loves to read and play basketball and soccer), and Sadie (5, in pre-school and our social butterfly who loves to dance, and do makeup and hair). This year Jamie and Brent got to travel! They went to Cabo, Huntington Beach, Hawaii, Vegas, Bear Lake, Cancun, Miami, Tennessee, Texas, Disneyland, Massachusetts, & New York.

Justin, Collette, Darwin (9), and Graham (4.9) started the year in quarantine with Collette starting a new job working remotely for UC San Diego. They spent the spring doing renovations on their Park City cabin and finished in June – just in time to get renters and relocate to So. California! Before their move, Collette took the boys to Denali National Park to hike and experience Alaska while Justin stayed home to write book three-(Master of the Fallen), of his fantasy series (book two came out in May, Master Artificer)! This summer the family celebrated their move to California with a visit to Disneyland. More recently, Collette visited Mallorca and Catalonia to hike/travel before their baby girl arrives this coming January/February. Darwin (3rd grade) enjoys little league baseball and church youth activity days, though he hopes to get back into theatre after he gets his second vaccine shot. Graham (preschool) enjoys scootering, going to the beach, and playing games with his dad and older brother. He is currently concerned with NOT sharing a birthday with his soon-to-be little sister.

Ashleigh and Chad just celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary! Chad’s chiropractic office has stayed extremely busy even during the pandemic and shut downs. Ashleigh went to Hawaii with Jamie’s family in March and just finished performing in a global musical revue. She is now putting together and starring in a musical to fundraise money for the local theaters that were hit hard during 2020. Jayden(17) is in her junior year of high school and was nominated for homecoming court this year! She is also taking a number of college classes in order to get dual credit. Ryleigh (14) finished writing a book that she has been working on for the last couple of years about her friends and the different adventures they go on. She also just finished her first high school play and was cast as the lead role! Baylee (11) started soccer this fall and is a natural! She was made team captain and their team almost went undefeated. June (6) is a social butterfly! Since having the schools reopened, she has blossomed and become everyone’s best friend.

Whitney and Stephen have been riding 2021 with wonder and exhaustion! Their movie Stop and Go released theatrically and digitally in October and their web series Freelancers airs on the Angel Studio app. They spend most of their freelance life at home with Theodore, George, and Arthur—though all three boys have loved going to Wasatch Nature School for preschool and kindergarten outside. They’ve added a new family member, Rolly the whippet, and have loved the slower life with all their boys—human and canine.

We wish you, your friends, and family a great holiday season and good times to come as we celebrate Christ's birth this time of year and await the new year. Love and hugs to all, the Calls