DECEMBER

 In Our Family This Month...

* Lots of holiday celebrations! We started off the month by attending the Meridian City of Lights Parade and Tree Lighting. Mom and the kids (along with extra friends in tow) got a spot on the corner of Main and Pine and watched the parade while drinking free hot cocoa and trying to stay warm! Following the parade, we counted down to the city's big tree lighting across from City Hall and then took a bunch of pictures. On the way home, we picked up pizza and went home for eating and movies! This is always a fun way to kick off the month of December!

* Mom and the kids also went to Indian Creek in Caldwell to walk through their holiday light display. We invited Mandy-Mom and her kids to join us and it was fun to see them experience it for the first time. Again, we had extra friends in tow and had a great time - especially since it wasn't too cold! yay!

* The Rugby team went caroling at one of the Assisted Living centers here in Meridian. I think we brought some smiles and cheers to the residents there and the girls all seemed to enjoy themselves. Mom and Aubrie had a little girls date with cocoa from Dutch Bro's followed by walking through the Scentsy Garden lights. Mom and the girls attended Shaylyn Perry's Christmas Choir concert for Kuna High School with Stephanie. We then all went back to their house for a hearty beef stew dinner and then splurged on cookies and buttercream frosting as we watched a Hallmark movie before heading home after 1am. Mom also attended the Ward Christmas Party and a party hosted by the Austin's in our Ward. She was the only one available for these and so took advantage of the additional celebrations being offered! 

* As if all of the celebrating wasn't enough to fill the month, we also spent several weeks going out to the Vogt farm in Eagle to help grandma and grandpa Vogt pack up and move out by the end of the month. It became a full family affair and we were all tired and sore by the end of it! They were super grateful for the help and we were glad to give it! Plus the kids loved that they were slipped a $20 every time we were there!

* Then of course we had Christmas! After spending the morning of Christmas Eve out at the farm, we all came back and got ready to start the festivities! We had to work around a couple of work schedules and so we had everyone gather at the house at 2pm to get ready for our tradition of family pictures in matching outfits! This year we did something a bit different and everyone wore Meridian Warrior Rugby gear - which was fun! After the fun of pictures, we settled in for the Christmas Auction! Mom and dad were excited for this years line up and like always, dad gave hints in a riddle style (and this year we went a step further and broke the gifts down into Tier 1, 2 or 3 depending on value so someone didn't spend all of their money on a Tier 3 gift, etc). There were 38 gifts in total and ranged from ca$h (from $20-$100), loads of gift cards, movie tickets, a biometric gun safe, Car Play and backup camera for their vehicle, Paintball tickets, Date night bundles, a heated blanket and even a DNA Ancestry kit was up for grabs! The kids all said we'd outdone ourselves and everyone was super pleased with the items that they won! I'd better start now gathering gifts for next year! After the auction, we did our "Secret Sibling" gifts. However, we followed last years tweak where you had to share your favorite memory of the person you got and then gift them their favorite snack. Since we've added in 2 daughter-in laws and it's not longer just siblings, it was decided that dad and I would also join in and we've since called it "Sentimental Santa". This was a really neat time to hear special memories and thoughts that the family had about each other. I was even gifted a rap by Ben with several of his favorite memories! After this portion, we adjourned for the evening as Seth had to go to work and August and his family headed over to the Dinkle's to participate in their Christmas Eve traditions. Ben and Sara spent the night with us and before heading to bed, we watched The Christ Child and sang some Christmas hymn. Then it was off to bed so so we'd be ready for Christmas morning (it was decided that Seth would get us up when he got home from work around 6:30am but apparently he didn't get that memo so waited around until 7am before he came to see why no one was waking up and coming down! haha). The morning went beautifully with everyone enjoying opening up their gifts. Some of the highlights were: Aubrie painted dad a Joe Marler picture (one of his favorite Rugby players), Lexi crocheted a miniature Joe Marler for dad and watercolored a family portrait for mom! Seth got our fireplace fixed for Mom and dad's big gift (and we've been very much enjoying that!!), and then most of the family went in on getting mom and the girls tickets to the musical Hamilton that they're excited to go and see in January! We were finished by late morning and so Seth headed to bed and Ben and Sara went to her parent's house to celebrate before Ben had to go to work at 2pm. August, McKendra and the boys arrived around 1:30ish and we were able to do gifts with them and see the excitement of Christmas through Henry and Luka's eyes! We made Biscuits and Gravy and ate on that throughout the afternoon and overall had a wonderful day!

* Mom and dad celebrated our 30th Wedding  Anniversary on the 28!! We actually spent the day out at the farm moving and cleaning but still managed to go out to dinner at Ling & Louie's where dad got sushi that he'd been craving and mom got chicken lettuce wraps. Afterwards, we came home and watched Knight and Day with the kids before falling asleep on the couch! haha... Can't believe it's been 30 years! That is just astounding and blows my mind! Dad has always treated me so well and we've had so many adventures over the years! We're so blessed with the life that we've created and so grateful for all of the blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon us!

* And then of course we rang in the New Year and celebrated August's Birthday. Like all of the previous days, we spent the majority of it out at the farm (as this was the last day we had to move them out! We didn't quite make it and so dad and August went back for another 6 hours on New Years Day to finish it off!). It was also the Fiesta Bowl that Boise State was playing in and so everyone gathered at our house (including grandma and Grandpa) to watch it! Mom made a lasagna dinner with Caesar salad and french bread for August's birthday and Aubrie made a DELICOUS German chocolate cake for him. Dad also tried a new Queso Smoked recipe that was super good!!! BSU didn't do horrible in the game against Penn State but lost 14-31. At this point, we said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa (who had checked into a hotel before they left for their new life in Vegas!) and Charlie and Hunter (the boyfriends) came over. We sang to August and then we had a game tournament that we did for the remainder of the night before ringing in the new year. The way this tournament worked was mom made a big poster board that had several games pictured with cash attached (ranging from $4-$20) and whoever won the game, got the corresponding money and then got to pick the next game to play. Everyone enjoyed this and so I think we'll make this a yearly tradition as well! We put the little boys to bed in dad's office and so August and McKendra were able to participate. Stacey and Mirranna (McKendra's mom and sister) also came over and joined in the fun. Then at midnight we counted down to the new year and then watched the "1 Second a Day" video showcasing our family's year at a glance! This was the 4th year mom has diligently worked on this project throughout the year. We upload it to YouTube so extended family/grandparents can view it and see what we've been up to! We truly have had a wonderful year. Don't get me wrong - there's been a lot of HARD this year as well, but overall the Lord was with us and we all have each other and a strong love within our family. Plus we really did do a lot of FUN things this year! We certainly live a blessed life!

and here is our 1 Second Video for 2024

Spiritually Speaking...

* As we're at the end of another year, it's given me time to reflect on how often we have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives! Earlier this year, we attempted to incorporate sharing how we had seen the Lord's hand in our life just before saying Family prayer each night. We weren't very consistent but as I'm writing this, I feel like we really need to give this another shot and take note of the things each of the kids say so that I can record it here for our reflection and posterity. It might be super simple like seeing a beautiful sunset that made me smile or there was a scary situation that I came upon while out driving but I was protected (and of course, both of these situations have occurred) but it's really hard to look back upon the year and remember these smaller witnesses so I think recording them daily will be a benefit and blessing to all of us!

*It's also been really neat to see the family come together this month. Something that I didn't mention earlier when recapping this month was that Ben and Sara moved in with August and McKendra! They were originally going to move in with us but once August and McKendra heard about it, they promptly said "You're moving in with us!" whereupon they moved all 3 boys into their room and gave Ben and Sara TWO bedrooms (one for sleeping and one for their desks and gaming computers). Dad and I were very touched by this selfless act and while there's been some bumps with the new living arrangement, I have seen all parties act selfless and support each other. It's just amazing! Additionally, seeing how the kids went to help with the moving each and every day (and we all know they'd rather have been doing something else!) but they kept good and positive attitudes and made the work fun! We all came together for a goal and accomplished it! I also think it was a positive reflection on our family and values for grandma and grandpa to see first hand.