November and December 2022

November was a good busy month. School, work and life in general continued on. 

Back in 1982 when I was born, my dad started CHOICE Humanitarian (then it was called the Andean Children's Foundation). Both CHOICE and I were celebrating 40 years this year. For my birthday I wanted to go to the CHOICE fundraising gala. My dad invited the whole family. It was a fun night. They had a silent auction of items from the countries CHOICE does work in. We bid on a chess board (we did not win) and some wooden ties hand made from Nepal. Mark used his old Ebay bidding tricks and won four wooden ties for the boys.

We really enjoyed having Luke and Sunny around. Weekdays were so busy we didn't see them much, but they were able to come out to eat with us on the weekend. It was one of their first times taking baby out with them. He did great!

They also invited us to celebrate his 100 days! He is the cutest, and the food Sunny made for the celebration was the best! Her Korean food is absolutely amazing!

Mark and our contractor friend got some great work done on the master bedroom.

Pip chased a raccoon up into our little apple tree. See if you can find it there. We also got all the hoses cleaned up in the garden finally. We got them done just before it started snowing.

We usually host the Hsiao family for Thanksgiving so it has been many years since we joined the Evans family on Thanksgiving. We decided it was the year to go to the Ranch. The food was delicious and it was really nice to be with my family. We missed the Hsiao family though.

We usually avoid going out on Black Friday, but we decided to stop by a flooring place to see if they had any deals. I am so glad we did. We found an amazing deal on flooring for our entire house. We chose the one of the left. 

We got together with the Hsiao family for a delicious meal the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Then we all went to the church to play pickle ball and dodge ball.

I enjoyed holding baby.

After breaking my wrist and then going back to teaching, I have just not had enough time to give to my mini horses Ray and Rusty. I hadn't even driven them for about a year. I was feeling so guilty for not keeping up their amazing training. I had planned to keep them and do more unicorn parties and farm camps next summer, but after having a serious conversation with the boys about it, hey decided they wanted to earn money in different ways next summer like selling firewood. Because they were not super interested in continuing with parties and farm camps, I decided it would be best to find the minis a new home.

So I posted Ray and Rusty on KSL Classifieds for $4,900. I paid $4,200 for them in 2020. I immediately got a lot of interest because they really are the best minis in the world. I posted them on a Friday night and sold them on Sunday afternoon. I wanted to make sure they could still drive, so I cleaned off the cart, blew up the tires and harnessed up the team. They did pretty well considering the long time it had been since driving. I was and I still am super sad to say goodbye to Ray and Rusty, but I also feel relieved to not have to worry about them.

Our Ward Christmas party was the same time as my family's Sami Claus party so my mom (Sami Claus) dropped the stockings off to us. Thank you Sami Claus!

The ward party was nice. I am the primary music leader and the primary was asked to sing a few songs. The kids wanted to wear angel costumes.

Mark and the boys were asked to participate in the program. Mark was Samuel the Lamanite and the boys were the wicked Nephites not listening to Samuel's prophecies.

The boys were also shepherds. They are such good sports. I love them so much.

Brian had to make a plant cell for a biology project. He decided to 3D print one on his printer. Of course his teacher asked to keep it. Brian loves his Biology class. 

He and Timmy are well matched playing ping pong. I am glad they can enjoy so many things together.

Brian has also been enjoying running again. The coach made the team take a 6 week break between cross country and track season. He and the varsity team are back at it now, even in the snow!

Our high school has a large amount of low income families. The community donates items and time to provide needed items and gifts for the students and their families at Christmas time. Through church we donated items and volunteered a Saturday to organize all of the things. Then as a teacher I got to see the students receive the gifts. There was a lot of joy on that day. It was fun to see it from the teacher perspective. Here is the cafeteria filled with gifts.

Mark got a new portable smoker. It was one of his Christmas gifts to himself.

On school days I wake up at 5:15 in the morning to get in a little workout, get myself ready, and get the kids up for school. I keep thinking that if I could just wake up at this same time on Saturdays, then I could go to the temple and come back before my kids even need me to get them up and going on chores. I tried this plan out one Saturday in December. It was a beautiful morning at the temple. I hope I can make myself do this more often. Before I started teaching I would attend the temple often during the day while the kids were at school. Since teaching started, it has been more difficult for me to attend regularly and I have missed it.

Daniel's burial site is right on the way from the temple. I stopped to visit and tell him I miss him.

Every year my family tries to get together to play Christmas music for my Grandma Joyce. We have been playing Christmas music for her since I was little. I am so grateful my boys have the opportunity to do this now. And since she lives in an assisted living home, all the other residents get to listen too. It is a nice way for us to use our talents for service. My grandma turned 99 years old in September. I really hope we can be playing for her next Christmas!

At school the administration gives a rubber chicken award to one or two faculty members each month. In December they honored me for always being willing to step in and help students with unexpected and challenging needs, like helping a girl who was passed out in the bathroom, and working with the social worker and counselors to assist some of my students struggling with with various problems. I think as a Freshman Success teacher I am more of mentor, counselor, and social worker to my students than a teacher, but I think this new role suites me well. I like being there for my students and helping them in any way I can.

Brian had his Christmas orchestra concert on December 20th. He did great although he was feeling sick just before the concert. He almost didn't make it. He even missed the  next day of school (the last day of school before winter break).

Mark was feeling sick that day too, so while Timmy and I were at school they both took Covid tests. Mark's was positive and Brian's negative. It was four days before Christmas and Mark has Covid and Brian is sick. And that was the day Luke and Sunny were moving into their new house from our basement apartment. I was super sad to not be able to help them move. We also decided we better quarantine and not be around family for Christmas. 

I also wanted to try to not get Covid, and finding a separate place to sleep in our house at that time was a challenge. I ended up making a bed on top of the boxes of flooring in our remodel. 

Thus began our Christmas that felt very much like quarantining in 2020.  It was a little sad in some ways, but in others it was nice to just be with our little family. Oh how I love these three guys in my life and I am privileged to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ with them. On Christmas Eve we had planned to eat Chinese Food with Mark's family. Instead they dropped some food off for us and we ate the dinner on our own. 

Christmas morning we slept in and opened our gifts at about 9:00 AM.

Brian got headphones.

Timmy a new watch.

I got an air fryer.

Mark got a Battery Daddy.

And lots of new tools!

He has been so happy about his new tools and his new mobile tool set up.

I started feeling sick on Christmas. Brian and I never tested positive for Covid, but we have been pretty sick the rest of winter break. Timmy needed some things to do at home, so he got out the Ukrainian Egg decorating box. He made some pretty cool Christmas eggs. I think we will try to make them into tree decorations.

Christmas day dinner was pretty delicious!

The next few days we spent together playing games and moving furniture. We decided to use the rental until our master bedroom is done.

Finally Mark's Covid tests came back negative and we felt well enough to host some family. Mark made his amazing prime rib and his family came to eat.

Mark also hung the dart board up in the basement.

Mark and I went to try to find tile for our shower. And that sums up our winter break. Unfortunately I am still filling a bit sick.  

Goodbye 2022. What a year full of up and downs and major changes. Through it all I can see so many blessings in our lives and I am so grateful for all we have, especially each other.