Fun with the Dodds.

Our first weekend of 2018 was spent enjoying Stacey's sweet kids while Nathaniel went to an LDS widows conference.
We had a blast with them. Oh, how those kids make us laugh and often remind us of Sweet Stacey.
We took them on a fun buggy ride. Well, the ride started out fun and we had a great picnic around a campfire, but then Adam decided he wanted to try and find a new way home. We got lost. Not really lost, but just more like way out of the way lost. Then, the buggy got a flat and the kids and I all had to hike about three miles back to our picnic spot and wait for Adam to drive home and put a new tire on the buggy then come back to get us.
While we waited for Adam, I gave all the kids a challenge to start a fire using only what we had available. It was fun watching them all work together and try different things. They never did get a fire going but they did manage to make a few sparks using a quartz rock and a shovel. I was pretty impressed.
We loved our visit with the kids and are grateful to Nathaniel for allowing us to have that time with them.

Farewell 2017

2017 has been a very hard year for our family. We lost two beautiful sisters and a precious niece. We've missed them and will continue to miss them until we see them again. Although it's been hard, we have seen so many blessings as others have reached out to us and blessed our family thru kind words and deeds. We've learned more about charity and bearing one another's burdens this year than we have ever before in our whole lives.
We've also had a lot of Joy this year. We've made some amazing new memories and have cherished past memories. We are so grateful for the blessings that have been poured out upon us this year.
We are looking forward to a new year, and new memories to be made.

Christmas 2017

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve, the Carpenters came and joined us for dinner. Then, together we read the Christmas story from Luke 2.
On Christmas morning after opening gifts, we had yummy waffles and then just relaxed most of the day.
The day after Christmas we went down to the Valley to spend time with family. We met with Kris and Brook on Tuesday night and played some rook and visited with them. On Wednesday morning we took the kids and cousin Braunsen to enjoy one of their Christmas gifts. Passes to Krazy Air (an indoor trampoline park). Afterwards, we took some lunch over and had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Burk.
On Thursday Morning we went on a hike to Hieroglyphic springs. It was a perfect day for a hike and was a great way to burn off some of those Christmas goodies! After the hike we all went to the Wooching Chinese buffet for lunch. Thursday evening we had a party with all the Quists at mom and dads. It was SO great to see everyone. Lydia, Angela and My mom and I were up until past midnight putting together a puzzle. Doing puzzles reminds me of Amanda. She loved jigsaw puzzles. 
On Friday morning Adam took Eliza and Caleb, Grandma Quist and Uncle Nathan on a buggy ride then on Friday Afternoon we used another one of our Christmas gifts and went indoor skydiving at iFLY! It was a total blast! We all loved it.
I loved that Christmas felt like it lasted a week! We made so many great memories

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