We had a warm fall. Fun to look back on some outings. We took Sydney to the park while babysitting her and she liked the swings.
She was interested in everything at the park and walked all over the place.
We finally got Carole and Lori over to meet baby Sylvan. He was so alert and looking at her!
Jenna and Cassidy made a trip out to meet the little addition to our extended family too!
Cssidy LOVED being my helper in school for an entire day! Wish I had her all the time!
We really had fun going to a BYU Basketball game together with Braden.
That weekend, we hunted out a bird that was not supposed to be in Utah, but was. This is a Northern Parula...and came so close to us that this was with my little cell phone, too close for the big camera Scott was packing! Beautiful and tiny bird.
We headed to Washington for Thanksgiving weekend this year. Ran errands with Austin on the way home from the airport.
We went on a couple really fun outings together. This was at the base of Snoqualmie Falls.
It was beautiful, a good hike and we saw a couple cool birds at the bottom.
We were treated to a fun non-traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. It was an English Tea complete with all the tiers of little sandwiches and scones and crumpets and treats.
It was all delicious and presented so beautifully!
Back in Utah we got to babysit again and had fun with our new Santa Hat...Sydney just happened to be wearing this cute outfit when we arrived!
We enjoyed our James Family Holiday party at Hunters this year. This was a guessing game where you had to guess what was written on the crown you were wearing by asking questions. Fun holiday guessing games in the hallways too. And good food all around!
Back up to Bree and Elliots for a couple celebrations. First for Elliot's birthday...
...and then for a new tradition of Christmas Eve morning for eating breakfast together and making sugar cookies for Santa.
Sydney was interested in cutting out cookies and later in putting sprinkles on the frosted ones. This should continue to be a lot of fun each year with the local grandkids!
Instead of our traditional "Santa Hat Walk" we all wore them at our party. But I think we will get out on those walks when kiddos are a little bit bigger!
Sydney has learned the actions for when someone says "CHEESE" and hams it up!
We spent Christmas Eve up at Lori's with the local family there and so much good food and company! I need a photo from that night...I think someone took one.
Christmas day snacking tree. We enjoyed opening gifts with Braden, McKenna and Sydney before taking down one Christmas tree and packing our bags to leave a day early to head to New Jersey.
After a very long flight with delays in Atlanta, we arrived a day early in NJ before the storm arrived which did indeed drop ice on all the roads and driveways. Our original flight would likely have been cancelled so we felt blessed to have come early.
And happy to help shovel off all that ice. It was cold though!
Watching the BYU Football bowl game when Braden told us he needed us to make our special sign requesting an interception...and IT WORKED! Ha! We scraped off a win in a very exciting game!
We had such a good and relaxing break in NJ...sleeping in each morning and watching several WWII movies and watching the kids in their Star Wars costumes and light sabers. WE got out once to bird at Manaquan Reservoir and it was a good outing but most days it was just too cold to want to be out at all.
And our little buddy back in Utah was just growing and smiling all the time!
2025 was a wonderful year! We look forward to 2026 with many more family times and trips!
