Wrapped

The streaming service Spotify shares music stats for the year through what they call ‘Wrapped’. As a listener you can see what your top songs and artists were and as a musician you can see how many listeners you had throughout the year. It’s always humbling and surprising to me to see how many people and countries my music has been to. The internet has an amazing way of connecting us all. And I hope my simple music has uplifted some.

Christmas Decorations

Tonight was one of the best family nights because it consisted of decorating for Christmas, seeing Ryder play basketball and make a shot and have several great passes and assists, eating Cafe Rio and watching Elf (my favorite Christmas movie) as a family. It was the best night. Also, I should probably add that Tenley was in charge of the night and she totally rocked it with her choices 

Grandma’s Cereal

We had a great visit this weekend in Utah and were sad to make the long drive back home. We had to pass through a few storms, but for the most part the drive went well! Luke was spoiled this weekend with Grandma’s sugar cereal. She even sent him home with his own bag. It’s already gone! 😂 

Right after unpacking from our trip and having dinner, we started setting up for Christmas! I love this time of year!

Empty Parks

The weather was cold, but the kids had such a great time running around at the park and going down the big slides! After a lot of coaxing, Brad finally convinced Luke to jump off the rocks into his arms.

Hogle Zoo

We went to the zoo with Jason and his family today. The sunshine made the winter weather bearable. It was actually a really beautiful day. The kids loved the zoo and had so much fun seeing the animals. They especially loved the gorillas and sea lions. I’m glad we went! We also stopped by the ‘This is the Place’ monument since the kids haven’t been there before. We had fun exploring!

Thanksgiving

We had such a great Thanksgiving! It started out pretty emotional because when Ryder woke up he shared a dream with me that he had in the night. I could tell he was emotional about it so I sat on the couch with him and he told me that he got to be with Grandma Hobson in his dream. When I asked him how that was he cried and said, “It felt so real!” It was the sweetest and most special feeling. He asks about her a lot and is always sad that he was born after she passed. What a special dream for him! I also thought it was fitting that he had a dream of her on the eve of one of her most favorite holidays. It was so tender and we’re so grateful for Ryder’s dream.

Being in Utah with my family was wonderful! The food was delicious and the weather was gorgeous. We had a great time.

Utah and Fruit Cocktail

The Murdocks left early this morning and we left a few hours behind them to head to Utah! I’m so excited to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday here. We cut up fruit for the fruit cocktail tonight so we are getting ready!

The Murdocks

We had another fun day with the Murdocks today! Cousin time is the best. We went and played at Flippin Family Fun, got 25 cent ice cream cones, played games, had a yummy taco dinner cookies for dessert made by Elly and Tenley AND popcorn made my Brad! It was a fun a delicous day!

Family Help

The three oldest kids all had a basketball game at the same time tonight! It would have been tricky to handle if Lesa wasn’t here! She and Elly went to Tenley’s game. Brad, Ty, and JT went to Kade’s game. And Luke and I went to Ryder’s game. I was sad I couldn’t be at all of them but grateful that someone from the family was! Tenley made two baskets, Ryder made one, and Kade has some good defensive plays. They all had fun!

Family Visits

The Murdocks arrived for a little visit this week before Thanksgiving! My kids have been counting down the days and are so excited for some cousin time. It’s been nice visiting with them and we’re excited to have them here!

Double Dates

We had a productive morning cleaning the house. The little boys dragged the bean bag up to their room so they could read books together and it was pretty precious to catch them doing that. Brad and I were able to go out on a double date with friends tonight and it was really nice! We had good conversation and enjoyed our time out!

Fri-yay

Fridays are so great when we get to have Brad home. We ran some errands together and went out to lunch. We’re getting some Christmas shopping done and I should probably stop taking Luke with me to do that. He just keeps finding more and more things that he wants! He loves dinosaurs and stuffed animals and lego sets. Hopefully if he had one of each of those things, he’ll be happy.

As I was taking the kids to school this morning I was telling them how happy I was that it was Fri-yay. Ryder questioned why I was happy about it being Friday when the day wasn’t even over yet. He had his mind on his busy day of school and I was ready to celebrate it being the weekend! Haha. He’s such a wise little man.

Tenley’s Poems

This last week Tenley has had a new poem for me to read every night. They are so good. I love reading her poems! Tonight the poem was about me! It was the sweetest thing and definitely brought tears to my eyes. She’s such a sweet soul and I love her.

And Kade had a game tonight and is improving with each game! It was a really close game but they ended up losing by three points.