December 2021

Will and I decided to give each of the kids a trip for their birthday this "year".  It started with Colter in June getting to go to Las Vegas to see Blue Man Group.  We had not set the intention of taking all the kids on a trip but Colter had been wanting to see them preform and they were finally having their first in person performances after COVID.  Then Will took Wyatt to Hawaii in November to tour BYU Hawaii and surf.  We did not take Lorien anywhere but have brought her home and taken her on a few solo trips in her life.  Now for Adell's trip!  She got a trip down to San Diego to see Lorien and take a special art class together.

On the first night we rented E-bikes and zipped around town.  E-bikes are amazing!  I never want to ride a traditional bike again.  It was so fun to just pedal a little bit and get a zippy push from the bike.  FUN!

We took the girls to a cool restaurant called, Camp Fire.  The food was delicious and their signature dessert was...s'mores you cooked over coals at your table.  Some of us used the coals to warm our hands but all of us enjoyed our dessert.

The next day Adell and Lorien went to their art class while Will and I went out to breakfast at a super trendy place in downtown San Diego, Breakfast Bitch.  Most of the waiters and restaurant staff appeared to be gay and referred to us as bitches whenever they talked to us.  It was hilarious!  "Hey bitches!  Do you want to hear about our specials?"  I laughed all morning about it.

That night we all took Lorien and her roommate/best friend, Emma, out to a fancy French restaurant before we hopped on a plane home.  We tried fun cheese, adventurous main dishes, and fancy salads.  It was another great meal together.  However, as we drove home from the airport around 11:00 pm Adell said in a weak voice (she had been slumped on Will's shoulder for the flight home) "I didn't want to say anything at the restaurant but I couldn't taste a single thing."  UGH.  That meant she had COVID for sure. Will and I were bummed.  We stopped at 24 hour CVS and bought a home test kit.  It came back positive that night.  We moved Colter into our room on the floor and set Adell up to spend 10 days alone in her room.  Not fun.  We also had to do the phone call of shame telling Lorien and all of her roommates they should watch for COVID symptoms.  Woof.

We got a sweet letter from my brother, Charlie.  Charlie is in jail for arson.  We send him books and letters every few months.  He sent us one of his drawings and told us he was well.

After Adell's 10 day isolation we were able to go pick up a Christmas tree.  We normally do that the weekend after Thanksgiving.  But Will and I had COVID that weekend, then we went to San Diego, then Adell got COVID.  We were treeless for a long time!  We quickly picked one of the very first trees we saw and headed home.

With equal haste/efficiency we tied the tree to our roof and zoomed home.  Only to have our efficiency bite us in the butt when our tree fell off the top of the van as we crested a hill.  Memorable times for sure.

To add to the tree saga, once we got it home and set up we noticed the tree was missing all of it's branches on the bottom third of the tree on one side.  We all joked about how much we need Lorien when picking a tree.  Because Lorien has had three "last Christmases" at home she always insists on a big beautiful tree.  Without her pressure/discernment we picked a goofy tree.  More memories!  

We've had a year of baking Christmas treats.  I usually save this stuff for when the kids are out of school for break.  But the kids get out so late it ends up not happening.  Will and Adell had a baking day between his COVID sickness and our trip to San Diego.  Then I kept making treats throughout the month.  Delicious!

The December performances kicked into gear this year.  I had enjoyed our years off due to COVID.  You didn't catch me complaining about it once.  Clare sang with her high school choir.

Clare and Adell put on dance numbers in the Merry Little Christmas Show.  Clare was also a teacher for some of the little kid classes.

Clare and her friends put on a stunning rendition of the nativity with Clare and her friend being angles to another friend's Mary.  The dance was inspired, moving, and beautifully symbolic of the angles that helped Mary when Jesus was born.  Clare and her friends choreographed the whole thing too.  Talented girls!

Wyatt finished high school!  What, what!  He decided to finish school early so he could move out to Utah and try to make is way in the world.  We got balloons and I made a cap to go with the gown we had from Lorien's graduation.  We went out to dinner and cheered our boy on.  

Wyatt decided he would leave for Utah on Christmas Eve.  To get some celebration time with him we did our family dinner, measuring tree, and sibling gift exchange the night before he left for Utah.  Wyatt found the baby Jesus in his cake and got the twenty dollars!

Measuring tree, Wyatt is still the tallest kid but Clare is sneaking up on him...and Adell is sneaking up on Lorien.

Christmas Eve morning we all got our hugs good bye in with Wyatt.  Will and I drove him up to the train station in Sacramento.  His original plan was to take a bus from Dublin at 5 am.  We convinced him to let us drive him up to Sacramento instead.  

Wyatt bought his own train ticket, secured his own lodgings in Logan, Utah, and saved enough money to take care of himself while he found a job.  

I cried literal buckets of tears but I was and am very proud of him for trying to make his own way in the world.  I tried to tell him to buy bricks and not straw and to ignore the wolves when they come knocking at his door.

Christmas morning happened.  A morning after I cried on the phone to my big brother when he offered to visit Wyatt at the train station in Salt Lake so Wyatt wouldn't be alone Christmas morning.  As I sobbed on the phone, Will came down with two antidepressants and two Tylenol PMs and told me to go to bed.  I complied.  Christmas morning was quiet and small but it was the second year without Wyatt home for Christmas.  Will gave the family a trip to Belize and a Nintendo Switch!

AND AT LONG LAST Adell and Colter got their first round of the COVID vaccine.  We had to wait because of our household having COVID but they were total troopers for it.