DECEMBER 2019

December in our new home was fun...lots of new spaces to put our decorations and figure out where everything should go.

The traditional Christmas Village would have been in our upstairs window cabinets, but now is on the hutch.

Breanna gave me a new recipe...cannot remember what it is called, some yummy Korean stir fry thing, but it was yummy!
















Front room is the "fancy" space for our decorations and tree.

We went on a walk out by Utah Lake early in December and found this great spot for photos...come visit and we will take you there!

Our neighbor's home is coming up and blocking a great deal of our view...but we still have it from our dining area and Timpanogos is very lovely with the snow.

Our gift to the local James relatives was going to an Escape Room together early December.   I had booked the SANTA ROOM a long time ago and it was lots of fun!

We had to figure out all the clues and open all the locks etc and un-detonate the bomb attached to Santa in the closet!
Luckily we had lots of great help!

These escape rooms are so clever.  They use all sorts of things to get the clues worked out!  Including a Twister Game!

Here we are after completing our mission!

WE SAVED SANTA!!!

Another walk by the lake on the old river trail led us to this bald eagle.

Scott and I went up to the Salt Lake Temple on Friday and then over to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for the annual concert with guest singers and readers.  It was very good!

Our ward put on a Lip Sync/Talent Show.
For the "older ladies" in the ward, we decided to do a "chin singer" act. 

This is just a practice, but you get the idea how we lay down so you would see our chin as the head and then the rest of us was covered with a sheet so you could not see us.

We did not get any photos of the real deal, but if you flip a photo you get the idea of how we looked that night.

Scott was the mastermind of the Bishopric numbers using some "snowman" medleys and featuring his new inflatable snowman.

They had baskets of props to do each part of the medly...

Christmas Party at Dad's house!  We did a gift exchange game where everyone brought something and we had numbers and got to either choose or steal.  Fun times!

I think everyone got something fun to take home including Nathan and his fuzzy slippers!

Christmas morning Scott and I did the traditional "SANTA HAT WALK"in the new fallen snow.

Then we went up to the MTC for their devotional with D Todd Christofferson and his wife Kathy.
It was a very good morning and good messages!
Scott was taking photos and I was taking notes.

We met up with nephew Cody Hunter afterwards and his friend from his district that is Australian and had only seen snow once.

We brought Santa Hats for photos and put one on a snowman there in the MTC for this shot.

Later that day after visiting Dad and exchanging gifts there, we went back to the house and did some FaceTime with Jenna and Austin and the kids.

I baked a lovely salmon that turned out so tasty!
We finally opened all our gifts and then played games all evening.

We hosted a neighborhood Christmas Party on the 27th with old friends!  Dinner and White Elephant Gift Exchange and so much fun!

Then we finished the month by attending the sealing of a dear friend Mark Simpson.  You may remember he was the one who added on to our old home many years ago.

And finally, the Taylor Family Christmas Party up at Loris with very crazy White Elephant Gifts as well and more games!

Good Times all month long!
Love you all!

NOVEMBER 2019

We had a wonderful and busy November filled with family and friends.

We got to go with Breanna on a class field trip to the Utah Museum of Art at the University of Utah.

It was fun to see her in action with her students.

And just good to be together!

Scott and I then drove to southern Utah to do a little Temple Tour.  We went to St George to go through that temple before it closed for renovations for several years.  Beautiful at night!

Then we drove to Cedar City to stay there overnight and took a bunch of family names to do sealings in that temple the next morning.

After this, we drove through Cedar Breaks National Monument...it was a bit icy and snowy in parts but really beautiful!

We love the red rocks of Utah!

We did a hiking loop that took us by a pond area and some icy streams.  Really pretty.

Got to go with Scott to the MTC for a devotional with Elder Uchtdorf.

It was fun to sit close to the front and it was a very good talk for the missionaries!

We went to dinner with the Taylor side of the family to celebrate Carole's 82 Birthday!

A cake with candles and all!

And so fun to have ALL the kids there with her...Al surprised her by flying over when he found Mitch was coming.

We had fun taking our neighbors, the Nelsons, to a BYU football game.  The renovations to the stadium are really nice.

Scott and I joined our Empty Nester FHE group doing an escape room at the Provo Library.  They all had to leave for dinner so we stayed and figured the rest out!

We won these pins...which ended up in Scott's eyes, of course.

Jenna brought Klay and Cassidy to visit for a week and we went to see Breanna at her class in SLC.

Klay was the literal center of attention in her class with the boys...

...and Cassidy with the girls!

The kids were really so silly!

Next we fought our way through the crowds at the zoo on a free visitor day.  Parking was a nightmare, but we had fun once inside!

Breanna met us there and lucky Klay had a front row seat!

Snow Leopard

Klay joined me at school that Thursday and was the perfect student!

He fit right in!

He was the highest swinger we have ever had on our new swing-set though!

And the kids loved having Cassidy join us for a while too!

I took the kids to Thanksgiving Point museums on Friday.  Here we are at the Dinosaur Museum.  Klay is trying on some dinosaur feet.

And Cassidy is happy with anything she can touch.

They spent a really long time at the sand table playing with sand and water and dinosaurs.

Pretending to run from the T-Rex!

Next we went to the Farm Country area and Klay was so excited to ride on a pony there!

Cassidy not so much...but with me by her, she did pretty good!

And finally, Scott and Jenna met us at the Butterfly Biosphere where we spent a long time looking at different insects, including these cute ladybugs!

It is a fun, new museum.

Klay was excited when this friend landed on him.

And Scott also had a little friend for a while.

That night we went to the BYU Women's Soccer game.  It was fast paced and fun...until Klay threw up!

But he felt better by the next day and we actually all made it to the BYU Football game.

We really enjoy going to the games, especially with family!

Grandpa has his cute Cassidy cheerleader.

Jenna has saved this outfit for YEARS!

Here we are before the game.

Random home decorating photo.  I am having so much fun with the new space for the holidays!

Scott and I met up with Braden the next weekend to go to another Women's Soccer game.  He is so good to get us in for free!  THANKS BRADEN!

Speaking of getting us in free...he also got us all into the BYU Women's Volleyball game vs Pepperdine when Sam came for a week.
It was a long set of 5 games, but we had a good time!

Sam joined us in about anything we invited him to attend including our traditional Thanksgiving Morning Hike...well, this year it was just the river trail, because of snow, but still, we got out and walked and talked!

LeAnn did the cutest craft for Thanksgiving!  These are made with those little candle lights...you can color the flame orange with a sharpie for carrot color or leave it white.  I think they are darling!

We had a wonderful dinner up at Dad's house with all the James Family!  Then some fun game time with our Awkward Family Photos game!

Here is the front of the house with our new lights and Nativity.

And even prettier at night!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!