Thanksgiving 2026

Thanksgiving was fun this year.  Lorien & Elijah spent Thanksgiving in St. George with his family & Cadence & Amkaa spent it here with us.  Cadence really wanted to do the traditional dinner & even bought the turkey herself.  She got up early & prepared the turkey & made it for our family.  She's the cutest little married wife ever.  She is trying new things & learning every day.  I'm excited for what life holds for her.

We spent the day resting, playing board games, & playing ultimate frisbee at the school.  It was such a beautiful day that we really enjoyed being outside together.

The boys got some video game time which made them happy, & I got lots of board game time in there as well.

Cadence's turkey was beautiful.  I made some sweet potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, & pie while Cadence made some mashed potatoes & rolls.

Our dinner was delicious.  I was dumb I didn't get a single picture of all the food or all of us together, but I did get one of Cadence & Amkaa's plates.  It was a delicious dinner & everyone enjoyed it thoroughly.

After dinner we put up the Christmas tree & Amkaa put the angle on the top this year.

In other Thanksgiving "adventures," Bella ate a turkey leg bone (like the whole thing) & Trek wound up having to take her to animal hospital while the rest of us went to see Wicked.  The bone tore up her insides & gave her a horrible bladder infection.  For 5 days she was peeing EVERYWHERE.  It was awful.  But we got her to her doctor & she immediately went on antibiotics & now she's doing much better. 

However, at the vet they did find some substantial bladder stones that are extremely painful for her.  She is now on super expensive prescription dog food to help those go away.  Poor baby.

Always an adventure.

District Honors Orchestra - Canyon

In November, Canyon auditioned for the District Honor Orchestra & he made it!!!  He's getting really really good at his string bass.  He is so talented when it comes to music, tone, timing, technic, & counting.  I was really proud of him.

He went to 2 rehearsals with all the kids who made it, then performed for an audience right before Thanksgiving break.  He did such a good job.  We are so proud of him.

 

November 2025 Happenings

November flew by because of how busy we were with weddings, school, & end of term things. . . 

But we still found time for some random fun.

Craiger took part in the ballroom team's SWIG fundraiser.  For several hours he sat outside the drive thru line asking people to mention the ballroom team when ordering their SWIG.  They made a TON of money.  It was amazing.  I got a cute video of him waving people down.

We got the Christmas lights up on the house.  Trek loves doing this project with the boys each year.  It's fun for them.

The boys did a service project for a local school collecting food supplies for kids who might need food over the holiday break.  They made over 200+ food kits.

The tiles in our kids' bathroom fell down in November so we were down to ONE BATHROOM for about 3 weeks.  Luckily, it got fixed & now we have fresh tiles & working showers.

I love it when the kids just "do their thing" when nobody is watching.  Craiger & Taya (both on Ballroom) love to dance.  Whenever they have a spare moment they practice choreography, lifts, & technique.  It's fun.

Craiger had a "friendsgiving" with his ballroom team where he ate great food & had fun playing bingo with the group.  He's found his "tribe" there & it's been good for him.

And I got to meet up with 2 of my favorite people from when we were stationed in Spangdahlem, Germany.  It was SO MUCH FUN seeing them.  Love you Meg & Chanda.

November flew by, but we had a lot of fun in the process.

 

Veteran's Day - Breakfast, Assembly, Performance, & FOOD

Veteran's Day is always amazing here in Utah.  The kids' high school goes all out & I love it.

Craiger is on the varsity ballroom team & they always perform the most adorable dances in military uniforms for Veteran's Day.

This year they did an amazing Lindy Hop in Sailor costumes.  It was SO SO SO GOOD.

The school leadership always puts together a delicious breakfast from Kneaders for the Veterans & the kids get to join their dad for breakfast.  Taya was the only one that came to the breakfast this year.  Bladen had a test in one of his college classes that he didn't want to miss & Craiger was warming up with the ballroom team.  So Taya got her dad all to herself which was super fun for her.

Bladen met up with us for the Veteran's Assembly & he was happy to have some time with his dad as well.

Craiger was absolutely amazing dancing.  He was flipping girls left & right, swinging them all around.  It was incredible.  I can't believe how good he's gotten just after a couple of months being on the team.

After the Veterans Day assembly, Trek & I went & visited all the different places that offer Veteran's Day food.

We got a free lunch at Chili's.

And a free chicken sandwich at the Chick-Fil-A Taya works at.

2 Free Krispie Kreme donuts,

a whole Little Caesar's Pizza & drink. . . 

a crumbl cookie,

a gift certificate for a free dinner at Texas Roadhouse, 

and a free combo meal at Freddy's,

Leatherby's gave him a free sundae of his choice (look at this thing!!)

And In-N-Out did a free combo meal as well.

Buffalo Wild Wings gave him some free wings,

And the other chick-fil-a in town also gave him a sandwich.

He kept it all at the house & the whole family got a feast of yummy-ness for dinner that night.  It was a lot of fun for all of us.  We giggled & talked & just had a great day.

 

Lorien & Elijah's Reception

The Hawkins family cut down a tree from Elijah's childhood home this summer before his family moved to St. George.  They turned that tree into a beautiful bench for Elijah & Lorien's home.  They had all their guests sign the bench.  It's gorgeous.

Then they used the branches of the tree to display all the pies we set out for the wedding reception.  Going along with Lorien's fall theme, we did 6 different types of pies, hot cocoa, & apple cider.  It was delicious.  Comfort food on a beautiful, but cold day.

My favorite part of the receptions is seeing all my family & friends from around the world.  It makes my heart happy.

A lot of my seminary students from Germany are now return missionaries going to BYU, so I always LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing them.

And I cannot begin to explain the importance of my Germany Family.  When you are stationed overseas away from family for years at a time, your church congregation, neighbors, & fellow military members become your literal family.  Look how many of our "German Family" came to Lorien's wedding!!!  My heart was full, the tears flowed, & we all embraced & talked all night long.  It was heaven on earth for me.

Of course we had to play the "shoe game."

And then we had cake.  Lorien's friends from culinary school made her wedding cake for her.  Elijah is allergic to processed sugars so it was a sugar-free Smore's cake.  (I honestly don't know how that is even possible, but they did it).  It was a graham cracker flavored cake on some of the layers, & double chocolate cake for others.  The frosting was literal marshmallow that had been toasted with a torch.  It was so unique & so much fun.  Very much Lorien.

After cake, we danced.  Trek & Lorien danced to a beautiful song that made me cry SO hard.  It talked about finding a man who loved her like her dad loved her mom.  Trek has always been the love of my life & he treats me SO much better than I deserve.  I am so blessed to have him as my sweet husband.  Lorien found a man just like her dad & I'm so happy for her.

And then Elijah & Lorien had their first dance as well.

The the REAL party started.  My kids love dancing so much.  They crack me up.  And I love how much they love each other.

At the end of the night we lit sparklers & let the happy couple go on their way.  It was a wonderful day.

Congratulations Lorien & Elijah.