December 2020

I was excited for Christmas at the beginning of December. 

We are still doing Young Women activities online.  We made little gingerbread houses one night.

Brian and Timmy tried on our vintage 70's track suit from Ye-Ye. They are almost big enough for it.

One Friday I volunteered at Welfare Square and came home to an awesome surprise!  Peanut had two babies without me!  So began the crazy baby goat December.  Christmas prep got put aside as baby after baby started coming over the next few weeks.  We ended with 9 adorable tiny baby goats!

We had people visiting and paying for baby goat and pony parties.  It was super busy but super fun too.

We did a few non goat things in the middle of this baby goat crazy December too.  We took a day trip to Provo where we visited BYU.  We started at the Museum of Art and I was surprised at the time the boys (especially Timmy) wanted to spend looking at and reading about all the art.

Then we went to the BYU Bookstore.  All Brian wanted for Christmas was BYU stuff.  The boys spent forever looking and picking out pencils to go in their stockings.

After walking all over BYU and driving past our old apartments and stomping grounds, Mark and I took the kids to "our" restaurant.  Carrabba's will always be our restaurant as a couple, because that is where we went on our very first date back when we were at BYU. I still can't believe I made Mark buy me the most expensive steak on the menu on our first date!  I am so glad that didn't scare him away for good.  The Carrabba's filet is even better now that I order it rare. A thing I learned from Mark in our first few years married.

One of my sweet young women chose to get baptized in December.  I felt so blessed to be a part of her baptism.  I played the piano for these girls as they sang Peace in Christ.  It was a beautiful experience.

Our friend gave the boys cookies and frosting to decorate Christmas cookies.

They spent winter break hanging out and playing games like Magic the Gathering.

We made some Hello Fresh meals and learned a bit about cooking.

Timmy used Pip as a leg rest while reading.  There was a lot of reading happening in addition to game playing.

I spent hours putting together Christmas gifts and treats for my 27 young women.

Then Christmas Eve arrived! We were going to go to the Ranch, but Timmy came down with a cough and we decided it was best this year to stay home.  Mark made an AMAZING prime rib.  We were just sad we couldn't share it with my family like we had planned.

After dinner we read and sang through the Christmas Eve Nativity program.  We didn't dress up, but the Spirit was strong in the room and the music was beautiful. The boys helped accompany on the piano.

The boys went to bed and we filled up the empty tree skirt with some gifts.  We did not wrap a single present this year.  The kids knew what they were getting and life was nuts with the arrival of the baby goats, so this is what we did.  I actually really loved it.  There was no extra garbage to clean up after and dispose of on Christmas morning.  It may be a new tradition.

Brian got his BYU stuff and Timmy got his YETI cup he had been waiting for for months!

Mark and I got darling letters from Timmy.

And my favorite gift was this ornament Brian made for me with the laser cutter at school. He had the chance to make whatever he wanted for himself and he chose to use his turn with the laser cutter to make this for me because he knew I would love it.  I will cherish this forever!

My parents stopped by for an outdoor socially distanced Christmas day visit.  Their gift to us was an amazing supply of toilet paper, paper towels and water.  So appropriate for 2020 Christmas!

Ping Pong and Foosball were also part of Christmas day as well as Zoom time with the Hsiao family.

Over the break we busted out the tiller to start leveling the field for Spring planting.  I can't believe we could do this in December!  Where is the snow?

And Murray City gave us free top soil so we spread that out in the field too!  Not the typical December yardwork! The boys did the hard work while I drove the tractor.

New Year's Eve arrived and Mark needed to get something from his brother so we met him half way to Logan.  He had two ducks he was giving away so we took them up to the pond at the Ranch to be friends with our lonely duck there.  They are super happy on the pond.

We stayed for a masked party with my parents and Mandy's family.  I am glad we could participate in the balloon tradition!

Timmy was super glad to play Pie in the Face. He organized everyone and kept score.

We got home at a reasonable time and the boys went to bed.  I went out to do the night farm chores and took a minute to say good night and happy new year to my favorite part of 2020...Mini Meadows Farm. Mark has installed beautiful string lights that light up the animal pens at night when I am out there. I love them.  

I get worried saying it, because I don't want those who struggled so much in 2020 to feel sad, but I truly loved the year 2020.  My dreams came true in 2020.  I got so much time with my boys, and with Mark and with my animals.  I grew a garden, I grew a farm, I grew myself.  I learned so much and stretched myself in that learning.  Goodnight 2020. Thank you for all you brought and gave to me. 

November 2020

 November was a very nice month! We took a Sunday afternoon to visit the ranch.

Playing with cousins and ice on the ditch.

One last walk through the trees before winter.

At the farm the pigs gorged themselves on pumpkins throughout November.  They were so sad when they ate the last one

I found someone to take off River's shoes and trim his feet.  She did a great job and with frequent trimmings for the next few months he should be just fine!  He was not even tender after the trimming at all which was a really good sign.

The animals enjoyed the leaf cleanup we did.

Mark added really awesome lights to the tractor! So nice!

Sometimes the boys still play in imaginative ways together.  One day they became scientists, donning their masks and "lab coats," they dissected and graphed some "morbus", whatever that is. I do know that it was originally a piece of candy.

I have no idea if the words on this page are made up or they really know what they're talking about. I thought it funny all the same.

We filled our trailer full of leaves from cleaning up the neighborhood as a young women's activity.

We then dumped the leaves in our garden.  The pigs dove right in trying to find food and would not move even for the tractor.

Then we tried out the new tiller and and tilled those leaves into the dirt.  The tiller is amazing!  I also got amazingly dirty!

The boys keep asking to go to the movie theater.  Mark and I keep saying no. So we busted out the movie popcorn maker and had our own movie nights.  I prefer this way!

Mark got the tractor all ready for snow in anticipation of a storm.

It did snow, but not enough for the tractor.

Brian got braces!  Poor kid was pretty sore for a week.

He did get to eat his favorite pork before the braces were put on.

But he was pretty sad when we found our new favorite Chinese place on the day he was most sore and couldn't eat much. We promised him we would be back and we have!

One Sunday afternoon we took the minis for a drive and the boys rode River.  It was super fun.

Brian did such a good job with River and River did such a good job with Brian! We are so happy with River.

The next day Mark took me in for surgery!  I had a total hysterectomy.  All went well and recovery has been smooth.  

I got lots of nice attention from friends and family. Thank you all!

I was particularly grateful for Mark during this time.  He is amazing.  He took care of everything and me perfeclty.

He made the boy's dreams come true with the food he made and plated up for them. He has successfully turned them into Bok Choy lovers, which makes me super happy!

He made all kinds of stuff that I had no idea he knew how to make.  This was an egg custard seafood thing that hit the spot for me one night during recovery.

Mark also had the boys practicing their instruments and finishing homework and working on farm projects. Man, he is amazing.  He taught them how to weld and they built a contraption to kill the gophers by asphyxiation. 

They helped the neighbors out with their gopher problem too.

Then Thanksgiving break arrived.  And we took some good time to relax. Oh, I also put up my Christmas decorations before I had surgery. So nice to get it done early and enjoy longer.

The boys could not wait for Thanksgiving break to play Monopoly with Mark. They LOVE it!

We had Thanksgiving with just the four of us this year because of COVID-19 numbers.  We made the food super easy and bought it all premade, but it didn't taste great.  Next year we will be back to making the real good stuff no matter how much work it is. It was nice to spend the time together as a family.  We talked about the year 2020 and what we were most grateful for in this year particularly.  Both boys said they are most grateful to be in school instead of online.  Timmy also said he was grateful we could still go outside.  Mark is grateful for the tractor and I am grateful for the farm.

Pip was grateful that we didn't love the turkey so she got to enjoy more of it.

As we finished up Thanksgiving dinner the boys decided to climb the brick walls.

No one wanted the pumpkin pie except for me, so I shared with the pigs.

Then we just enjoyed our holiday.  We had time online with Mark's family as his dad just had surgery.  We also got into the Christmas spirit here with books and music and movies. And antlers apparently.

One day we took food to Mark's parents and Luke and Sunny who are staying there and then stopped at Mark's office for a bit.  We had some great family games of shuffle board.  It was super fun.

We made up for the lack luster Thanksgiving food by getting more good Korean and Chinese food and making some delicious hot pot over the next few days.  

November ended with me busily getting some things out to my young women for December.  I love December and am looking forward to the focus on Christ and doing good!