Christmas Airplane ride gift!

 Lance and Juge gave us a Christmas gift of an airplane ride with his pilot stepbrother Zach Sheffield.  It took some time for him to feel ready, but the last week of October we did the deed...and it was SO much fun!  It was a small plane, with 4 seats.  Paul sat up front with Zach and Lance and I were in the back.  Zach did a great job of giving us a smooth and so scenic flight!  We saw so much beautiful stuff  that we love with the up above perspective!  We saw the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Gooseberry Mesa, the Snow Canyon Cinder cone area, the Zion area and more!  Thanks so much for this really fun adventure!  

Christmas gift from heaven...rain + more Christmas lights!

This crazy picture is of the rain puddle on our patio reflecting the Red Hill rocks behind our house!  That puddle hasn't dried up yet because of the wonderful rain we received in answer to long time prayers for rain.  It had been so long since we'd had any rain.  We had gray skies and then a lovely slow rain starting on Christmas Eve and lasting all night long.  Then we got a little more another day.  Christmas day itself was a beautiful, blue skies and rain washed day!  The desert responds to any water it can get with the wildflowers coming out!  We took a walk this morning and they were blooming everywhere!  So thankful for the rain!  It's a Christmas gift from heaven this year!  

A few nights after Christmas we finally went up to see the Christmas Lights at the Desert Garden.  We thought maybe it wouldn't be so crowded...we were wrong, but it was still fun!  

 

Merry Christmas Day 2025!

We didn't wake up at the crack of dawn!  I've been enjoying getting a bit more sleep during this school break!  Paul and I took our walk and then Supe texted us letting us know that we could come over any time...so we saved breakfast until later and opened our presents at home so we could head over there.  I forgot to take a picture of the most amazing gift that Paul gave to me...us.  He talked to a travel agent to start the process of us taking a Hawaiian Islands cruise over Spring Break next year.  We are hoping to see Pearl Harbor, the Polynesian Cultural Center and then be able to visit other islands and go to the two volcanic national parks there.   After that surprise gift, we went to visit Supe and Beacher and kids.  So much fun with all of the kids excitement about the cool toys that littles get!  Jem took us into the darkest room in the house to show us how great his new light saber was!  

Next stop was Moss and Christie and kids. They are a mix of teenage fun and still some littles with Kai!  Christie made them some really fun shirts that they opened on Christmas Eve!  She's so creative!  

After Moss and Christie's we came home and had some breakfast.  Ferf and family were still waking up and not ready for us that "early".  She had all of her kids plus Brynnli's fiancé, Ryan, and Tavin's significant other, Eli, there this year.  It was good to see them all!  

Then we were off to visit the Smiths.  They are another place with all teen agers that like to sleep in!  Tasia was down from BYU.  We had a fun visit with them and learned a lot about Tasia's summer internship at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab.  She worked with exotic birds and showed us a collection of beautiful feathers that she was able to gather as the birds dropped them.  We also got to visit with Ellie (Sister Randall) while were there.  Lou shared Ellie's call from her mission Christmas day visit with us while we were there.  So fun!  

Next we came back home and had a break, ate, took a nap and talked to Jay.  We didn't get to talk to Brynn and the girls.  It's kind of hard to connect when it's convenient for everyone during the busyness of the day, but we did enjoy hearing about their Christmas from Jay.  They will be down for a New Year's visit soon!  

About 3 pm the Weavers arrived at our house.  They always visit us on their way to a big Christmas dinner, etc. with Lance's folks.  We had fun doing it outside because it was a beautiful afternoon.  They all opened their presents and then we opened some group gifts from our kids with them.  One of them was a new BIG screen picture showing device for our counter.  The other gift is an airplane flight with Lance and his stepbrother/pilot over the Zion area.  They said it will be more close up than the helicopter flight we did last year was and probably longer. Lance will come along to tell us about the geology probably.  We are excited about both gifts and confused about which is from who, but many thanks to everyone! We also had fun participating in Lance's treasure hunt for his Christmas present from Juge (a new climbing rope).  She left it here after she bought it and then sent us clues to hide to help him find it while they were here.  It was fun to be a part of it.   

We left about 4 pm to drive up for a visit with the Randalls.  It's a fun tradition that they are so nice to include us in their Christmas dinner and then we open presents!  Then we played one of their new games - a Sherlock Holmes version of Clue.  It was fun, and I actually won by some fluke of luck.  

We gave rather boring presents - socks to the grands, See's candy and dinner gift cards to the parents.  We appreciate how hard they try to give us something exciting every year.  

Starting in the weeks before and  then after Christmas we attended four funerals.  We started with Anna Lou, then Kade Smith, and then two people from our ward also passed away.  One (Brent Snow) was like Anna Lou's was, with a worn out body getting released to enjoy Heaven's peace. Kade's felt like too soon, but yet a relief from his terminal illness. The other one was a man of only 54 who was a great husband and father and stepfather to 10 kids in all.  They all loved him.  It was such a shock and so sad and unexpected.  Through all of these funerals of such varied circumstances there was peace. Our gratitude for the Savior's birth, life, death and resurrection was brought front and center to our hearts.  We are so thankful for that matchless gift to each of us that Jesus and Heavenly Father gave!  Merry Christmas 2025 to all!!!

PPS - Jay and Brynn came down on the 30th and brought our Christmas present with them.  It's such a fun gift.  It's a box of many games for two or more people.  We used it all during the holidays taking it to other people's houses and here at home with them learning to play new games, and enjoying playing some old ones too!  

Christmas fun + Christmas Eve - 2025!

 We have had many Christmas activities with our Single Adult Ward.  I don't have pics from all of them, but we had a toy drive/white elephant activity, Tuacahn Live Nativity/DQ night and a great Hawaiian Christmas Party. We have had  fun with them.  They are some wonderful people living good lives that have so far not included the marriages they hoped for.   

We went to Trigg and Zade's Christmas Band Concert!  Wonderful!

Juge and Lance hosted a Christmas Adam party (a few days early)!  It was such fun and we had delicious food that everyone helped with!  

Other fun activities:  2 new kids in our class at school didn't have school pics for their ornaments, so I took them so they could have one.  They are cute kids from hard places.  The girl, Harli, drew an amazing picture of Santa's reindeer and sleigh in one writing activity.  The little ornament was made by a child from our ward Primary who has been leaving us  cute things on our porch as a secret grandchild.  

Christmas Eve day we took Bean and went to see the new City Hall.  Really cool mosaic there.  We also went to the new county building and saw the stuff from the Desert Reserve and some statues.  Then we went to the Visitor's Center and saw the amazing stained glass replica from the Rome Italy Temple and the manger scene.  Also, Paul and I have been enjoying my time off school mornings by taking walks to see the sunrise and the beautiful Christmas lights, etc.  

More Christmas Eve fun - we had a delicious dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted carrots and rolls.  All Delicious.  Then we did some Christmas light looking.  We actually started the night before and used the Hedgehog Electric map to find some very beautiful light displays we would have otherwise not found!  Then we went again on Christmas Eve. After that we came home and had our traditional gingerbread with whip cream dessert.  Merry Christmas Eve.  

Merry Christmas...at last! Helicopter ride!!!

The kids gave us a gift certificate for a helicopter ride for Christmas!  We wanted to wait until the best time to use it.  We thought about it earlier, but there were fires going and it was too smoky to see anything.  Now seemed like a great time! It was really fun to see things from that vantage point.  We did most of the tour over Canaan Mountain/Water Canyon area just outside of Zion.  They cannot fly in the Zion Park footprint airspace.  We saw the place where they used to do the mail drop over the cliff and also the notch where they dropped lumber down. We flew over Canaan Arch too. There were 7 of us (3 couples and one pilot) in the helicopter.  It was pretty tight, but good.  One girl got a little queasy with some of the turns, but I hadn't had any breakfast and that was probably a good thing.  It ended up being about 30 minutes long - 55 miles.  What an adventure!!!  Thanks to everyone for such a fun adventure gift! 

Afterwards, since we were up that way, we went to Zion and walked the Pa'rus trail.  It was really crowded up there, but we finally found a parking spot.  It was wonderful weather for it and so pretty.  Then we drove to Cedar City and had lunch with Bean and drove up to see Yankee Meadow Reservoir.  It's way low this year, very sad.  

Christmas Day 2024

 Christmas day was a great day of visiting with the kids as we went from house to house as usual.  We started out by picking Anna Lou up from her place at BeeHive Homes and then having a nice breakfast and opening presents at our house with her and Bean.  Bean was down for the holiday from his place in Cedar City.  Jay and Brynn gave us cool gifts they got for us while on their Ireland trip - a sweet hat for Paul and a lovely plaque for me.  We miss seeing them on Christmas day, but we enjoyed visiting on the phone and getting some sweet pictures from them of the holiday!  

Then we went to visit Supe and Beacher and kids.  This is the only place where there are still little ones, and it was fun to see all of their excitement over their new toys.  So cute! It brings back memories of times past!  Jem was super excited about his new Ninja Turtle electric toothbrush.  Kaia had a cute duck with babies that would follow it and they had a brand new Hungry Hippos game to play!  

Next we went to Moss and Christie's and enjoyed visiting with them for a little while.  While we were there we opened our gift from all of our kids...an amazing helicopter ride over Zion Park gift certificate!  Christie was able to put the opening of it on a zoom call to Jay and Brynn and Moss put it on Facetime to the rest of the family to watch us open it.  Cool things can be done with technology if you just know how!  We are so excited to go on the helicopter ride! After that stop Anna Lou was ready to go back to her place.  She's not an early riser and gets tired easily too.  (She said she hopes this is her last Christmas. She's pretty tired of being here.)

Next up was Derek and kids.  We had fun here with Trigg showing us his funny mini microscope gift.  There's always some sweet nostalgia of Weed there as well.  They talked about finding gift bags that they have used for years that still have Weeds cute nicknames for everyone on them.  There are ornaments from years past that remind them of her, etc., etc.  It is wonderful to know that because of the gift of Christmas we all know that Weed will be there waiting to welcome us home. It's good to see these kids doing well - Tasia at BYU and loving her classes and work, Kaebri with a wonderful job at Design to Print where she has a great future in a field of work she really enjoys.  Zade and Trigg are doing well in school and at church.  Derek has a great job doing what he loves as well.  They are blessed and it feels like Weed is always watching over them.    

Ferf's house was next.  All of her kids, except Gaige, were there along with Brynnli's boyfriend/fiance, Ryan. (Gaige was on the phone with them when we got there and we got to talk to him.  He seems to be doing really well on his mission!) They all seem to have a lot of joy in getting together.  The divorce has left some big scars on this little family, but they are working through and pulling together. Ferf is blessed in her work as well, which we are grateful for.  

We headed home for a little nap and after that Juge, Lance and family dropped by.  They always come down to go to Lance's folks for dinner, so we do our Christmas with them at our house.  It's always fun to visit with them.  Juge made all of them the cutest Calvin and Hobbs PJs this year!  

We ended the day at the Randall's in Cedar City.  They are always so nice to let us come and join them for dinner.  We enjoy visiting, opening presents and usually playing a new game they got for Christmas.  It was the usual fun evening! Then we took Bean back to his place and headed for home and called it a  GREAT CHRISTMAS!  

This year we gave every family a copy of our Storyworth personal history books.  They all seemed excited to get them.  We also gave a Broadbent Family cookbook that had family history stories as well as recipes.  It actually had a recipe for how to cook a ground squirrel that gave everyone a big laugh.  We gave most of the kids Conscious Step socks. The older kids got the traditional family car blankets which they also seemed to like.  It was kind of a stressful Christmas for me.  I don't know why I let it get to me, but I hope I can do better.  One of the big stresses was that I ordered all of the kids socks early, November 5th, and felt so glad to have so much of the shopping done.  And then they lost the order and didn't know it for a few weeks and by that time most of the socks I had ordered were out of stock so I had to reorder the whole thing with socks I wasn't as excited to give.  It finally all worked out with a lot of stress and back and forth.  I'm just getting old and big events kind of stress me out.  But in the end it is all worth it and I love them all!!!  Merry Christmas 2024!!!

Christmas Adam and Eve 2024

We didn't really have the Christmas Adam get together on that day, but it was the Sunday before.  Juge invited everyone up for a bring soup and something dinner at her house.  Afterwards the adults got together for games and the littles went upstairs and played X-box games, etc.  It was a really fun evening.  I was not up for hosting and was grateful that Juge volunteered.  (We had Ross and Lerlyn for a quick visit to see Anna Lou on their way home from their son's house in Provo. They left Sunday morning.)  The food was wonderful and the games were really fun.  Moss and Supe and Jay's families couldn't make it.  But we had fun with who we had.  Kennis and Tavin were already down for Christmas from school up north, so it was fun to have them there with Ferf and her other kids. (Gaige is on a mission.)  

Paul and I started the day with a walk at the Town Square.  It is so pretty all lit up for Christmas.  Later we decided to go for a drive out Cottonwood Road.  (Paul had meat in the smoker and we didn't need to make Christmas Eve dinner yet.)  It's so beautiful out there with all of the different geology to enjoy.  After that we decided to drive over to see if Oak Grove campground was still open.  Along the way we took the little hike around the Children's Forest and old charcoal kiln.  The signs at the forest that tell about different plants had all been redone by children from an elementary school in Hurricane.  The last time we had gone they were all broken or unreadable, so this was really nice.  We went over to the old charcoal kiln that's there.  It's such a cool old historic building.  It turned into a really beautiful and relaxing drive.  Then was back home and time to get started on Christmas Eve dinner preparations.