100th Day of School

 Each year of Elementary, the students celebrate their first 100 days by dressing like they're 100 or decorating a shirt with 100 items. She made a shirt first and then decided day of to dress like an old lady. I think she nailed it. :) My favorite part was when she brought home an assignment from school where they were asked what they'd look like at 100 and Audrey put that she'd be dead. Such a realist! She cracks us up. 

Happy 17th Birthday Dudeous Maximus!

 This year Steven turned the big 1-7. That is SO close to 18. (Just ask him) ;) Steven started the day with biscuits and gravy and then went to school. (I think. It's now August) 

After school Mike took him and some friends to Top Golf to celebrate. Unsurprisingly, they had a lot of fun. 

After Top Golf, they all came over for an ice cream cake, which has become a tradition for Steven's birthday. 

I tried to get Mike and Steven to recreate this photo, but they were both being lame. It turned out fine, but could have been better. ;) 

Steven his still the Energizer Bunny. He's now capable of sleeping in, but he has a gift for talking. I enjoy our late night gaming talks even though I have no idea what he's talking about. ;) We love him very much and are grateful he's a part of our family. Happy 17th Dude!

Airmen of the Year Banquet

 Mike was nominated as the Field Grade Officer of the year for the Utah Air National Guard. He didn't expect to win it, because the pilots never do, but it was a nice excuse to dress up and have a nice dinner. I'm obviously biased, but Mike has done a lot for his unit and it was nice to see him recognized for all he did. 

Governor Cox was the key note speaker and he started off the evening be thanking "Starley's Mom" for helping him write his talk. We all laughed. (Well, all of us that know about Starley's Mom) 

Erik's Tree part 2

 As I stated in my post about our entry into The Festival of Trees, decorating isn't one of my gifts. Meagan Beard was kind enough to spend an afternoon decorating a smaller tree I bought to be displayed in the living room. I love it! I'm grateful for people that are willing to share their gifts with me. :)

Random December

Mike and I were put in charge of our ward's Christmas party. We chose to go with a Nativity theme and had a Nativity on each table along with a children's live Nativity. For not being a decorator or party planner I was pleased with how it ended up. We borrowed the stable from Tracy and Robert Walker in the stake. 

 

Audrey the entrepreneur decided to draw a couple dozen pictures and sell them to family and friends. She made a killing 

We continued our tradition of going to the Nutcracker

Audrey lost another took! Always exciting. (And a little bloody) 

Sarah's Friend Xavi sent us both Nativities from Angola, Africa, and they're amazing! His mom Dolly brought them over and I was blown away by how beautiful they are. Wonderful additions to our collection. 

Temple Trip with Sarah

 Sarah made the decision to go through the temple to receive her endowment. (If anyone wonders what that is, I would recommend THIS or THIS simple video explanation.) The Provo City Center temple is her favorite, so that is the one she chose to go through. We had a small hiccup when her living ordinance recommend was left in Cedar City, and then her reissuance was done incorrectly, but they got it figured out. It was a beautiful evening and we felt honored to experience this with her. 

Merry Christmas!

 We went to the aquarium and were pleased to find out Santa was there. Audrey and the Buehner girls liked meeting them. 

I always love visiting Erik's cemetery around Christmas. It's full of light and love, and not depressing. Death is sad, but I'm so grateful for the knowledge that it isn't the end of our lives, or our time with loved ones. I love the joy of Christmas and opportunity to focus on Jesus and His life and gifts to us. 

We decided to 3D print ornaments for our neighbors this year and I liked how they turned out

Christmas Eve Pajamas (It's July, and I don't remember why the boys weren't in the picture) 

I think the favorite gift was to Gray Dancer. He loves his wife and her "Beefy arms"

A couple days later we celebrated with the Starleys and I failed at getting good pictures.