And thats a wrap!

 

2024 has come to an end. What a great year! Look how far we've come! All 4 of our boys are in school now. We have a driver. Bridger and McCoy have perfect grades in school so far this year! We have another baptized member in our family! The bald spot on my head continues to expand, and somehow Cassidy still looks as young as ever. We only have a couple more years where we're all together before things really start to change for our family. I'm grateful for this blog/journal to capture the moments as they fly by so we can remember them and treasure them forever. I hope you boys can remember the fun times we have, and the value we try to place on being together and enjoying life. 

In church, we studied the Book of Mormon this year. We've had a lot of good talks about what we've been learning and talked about in church. The youth ended the year with a 2 day Book of Mormon activity- Similar to what Cass pushed for a couple of years ago. While some of it was repetitive for Bridger and McCoy, It was still a very positive experience for the youth and I'm thankful to live in a ward where we can all come together and learn of Christ. It was fantastic to spend the year studying the Book of Mormon.

We celebrated the 31st with my parents coming over to have a thanksgiving style meal for my birthday. Cass made a Bluey inspired pavlova for our treat. We also got together with some of our friends for dinner.

Christmas

It came! It came! We had a fantastic Christmas full of magic and joy! On Christmas eve, we all went to the movies to see Mufasa, which was pretty good. Then we had our families traditional Christmas dinner in the living room. It really is one of the best meals of the year. After dinner, we all went down stairs to watch A Christmas Story. Perhaps the only Christmas movie we hadn't watched this month. 

The next morning, Grandma and Grantpa Hansen came over for presents and breakfast. It was fun to watch the boys open their gifts and be excited about things they had wanted. 

For the afternoon, we headed to the Hansens for a party. We had breakfast food, a talent show (Quaid and Quinn sang, Marshall told jokes and Cass trying to do a toe-touch). The surprise highlight was Derek who has been taking cello lessons and played with Kristina. Then we had a huge game of 7-11 and opened presents. 

It was a great day and a great way to conclude the amazing Christmas season.

 

 

16! How did this happen???!!!

There are somethings that you just can't prepare for. Your oldest child turning 16 needs to be high on that list. I can't believe that Bridger is 16. He has grown a ton in the last year, physically and mentally, but he'll always be our little dude in footie PJ's who rubbed desitin cream all over his face and room. Where did the time go?

Its hard to have a birthday mixed in with Christmas, but we took the day to celebrate him. He and I went and got his license, went to lunch, and a movie. For his dinner, he wanted the house favorite, asian ribs, mac salad, and rice. The dude has excellent taste. 

We love you Bridger! We can't wait to see what you do with your life, but not too soon!

Christmas Activites and Traditions

December has no shortage of Christmas activities and traditions:

• We went to Midway for their tree lighting. Santa was there. The whole town sang carols around the town square then we lit candles, the tree lit up, and watched fireworks. Midway truly is an awesome place.
• We went to the living nativity in Alpine again. Bridger and I got there just as they were walking in, we had just bought a car for him (scary) and were happy to see that our good friends the Beall's happened to be in line with our family. It was great to walk through with them
• We did our secret Santa with the Sincich's. This year we did Lake Greenwood and his family. 
• The boys made gingerbread houses. This year they were chocolate factories, but equally fun and messy.
• Cass went to a Christmas Carol at Hale with Mindy
• The boys had a Christmas concert at Shelly. They both did awesome. Quaid loved his songs so much that he and Quinn wanted to do a song at the Hansen talent show. 
• Cass and I went to SLC to see a candle light concert. It was pretty incredible to watch 4 ladies play all of the Christmas songs with their violins and cello.
• The Bringhursts came back up to do Christmas with us and go to the annual Kay party in Nephi. The little boys loved to see Santa and tell him what they wanted. Bridger guessed how much candy was in the jar, using math and brought home a huge candy bowl!

 

Laryn's Becomes a Christensen

 Laryn and Hayden got hitched. It was a busy fun day. Dee came up for it and stayed with her folks until Steve made it up to join us. And Andrea came up as well. We started in Provo with a ring ceremony. After that we went to the Sky Room at BYU for their luncheon. It was breakfast food, which was awesome. Then we stopped by our house before heading to Saratoga Springs for their sealing, and then we swung by our house to grab our boys before heading back to Provo for their reception. Wow that was a lot for 1 day, but we were grateful to be invited to join them for everything and be a part of their special day!

November Wrapped with a Thankful bow

Wrapping up November with the holiday and much to be Thankful for. A couple other things from this month:

• Marsh and I went fishing with my dad and Matt Peterson along with his daughter and dad.
• We went with Laryn and Hayden to their endowment at the Provo City Center temple.
• On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we went to pie night at the Howells, we also celebrated Grandpa Howells 92nd birthday! The Bringhursts were up for Thanksgiving to celebrate with the Howell side.
• Thanksgiving this year was at the Hansen's. The food was great. Cass made a hummus dip and a pumpkin dessert while I smoked a turkey. The highlight was the massive corn hole tournament they had in the basement. They had 3 sets set up downstairs. Quaid and Tyler won out and it was awesome. Quaid was automatic. When he hit the game winning toss, the room exploded! It was like someone hitting a buzzer beater in March Madness!

 

The Swell was Swell

Cass went with Kristina, Ashli, and Emily to the Post Modern Juke Box concert where they put a modern twist on old songs.

Bridger, Drew, and I headed south the San Rafael Swell. We drove to Labyrinth Canyon to hike Columnade Arch and see the canyon from above. EPIC. Then we drove to Horseshoe Canyon to Camp for the night before heading down into the canyon to see some of the biggest and coolest pictographs in the world. Horseshoe Canyon is a part of Canyonlands that is not connected to the other parts of the park. We pretty much had the place to ourselves as we walked along the bottom of the canyon. It was incredible. Afterwards we headed to Stan's in Hanskville, then up through the swell, Buckhorn wash, and the Wedge overlook. Awesome trip and great time hanging out with Bridger.