Odds and Ends

Byron made a short Lego stop motion movie for Reflections this year.

He went on to District.

Stewart Stars Ukulele Club played at Centerville's Holiday Lighting Ceremony

His teacher introduced the kids to the Angklung instrument from Indonesia, the kids got to play them at the school recital.

Soren passed his high white test in Taekwando

Darin and I attended his work holiday awards banquet in Mill Creek Canyon.

My brother, 2 nieces and nephew in the Castle Valley Civic Ballet's Nutcracker.  

My sister helps put it on every year. Such a fun performance.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I was not great at documenting Thanksgiving this year....truth be told I hardly ever am good with photos on Thanksgiving.  I adore this holiday so it's a shame, then again I probably love it so much because I don't worry about getting photos!

Whattagonnado?

We were with Grandma and Grandpa Ray this year with the Drewes clan, Regan & Vanessa Cameron and Danielle.

We kicked off the Christmas season with a trip to Festival of the Trees with some of the Drewes.

For a service project, Miriam had made crafts to be sold at the festival this year. 

We might take that on as our Caring Cousins project for next year.

First snowstorm of the season hit that night as we were getting to our cars.  Clearly, we were unprepared!

Sarah's Surprise Party

Ballroom first 2 competitions of the season....

BYU Dancesport 

Smooth Open with Brayden

Latin Open with Logan

LPA Fall Competition 

5th place Charleston with Soren

Halloween 2018

Bob Ross, Marty McFly and Doc

Miriam went out to North Salt Lake to party and trick or treat with her school friends, the boys joined up with friends Owen and Sam to gather treats till their feet gave out.

DC Day 7

We packed up and Craig drove us to the airport.  He navigated rush hour traffic like a champ and we made our flight with plenty of time.

Our last photo was taken at Chicago O'Hare airport.  All our flights made great time and we arrived back in Utah by 6:00 pm. We picked up our car and were home before dark....ready (but not happy) to go back to work and school the next day.

This vacation was fun for sure, but I hope that when my kids look back on it they remember more than fun.  I hope they were inspired by history, by art, by importance of remembering and documenting.  I hope they were inspired by the human spirit, and the tenacity Americans have shown throughout history.  I hope they learned more about the mistakes that humanity has made, and that by learning about those mistakes we will make fewer as we go forward, but also not be afraid to apologize and move forward.  I hope they felt closer to their historic heroes, and gained a few more.  I hope they gained confidence to navigate their way in this world. I hope they noticed people who live lives very differently than ours. I hope they will always remember their time with Lisa and Craig, that they will feel connected to family and have confidence in those bonds.

I hope they made core memories as a family that we will reminisce about years from now.