December

 This Christmas season was a bit different than it has been in year's past. Many of the usual celebrations and traditions had to be cancelled or changed because of Covid. But I really didn't mind. I enjoyed the slower, more thoughtful pace of the holidays this year. We really missed the kids choir concert. We were able to watch it on-line, but it just wasn't the same. We were so happy that one of our favorite traditions wasn't cancelled, the town Nativity. It was so wonderful to watch the re-enactment of the events surrounding our Saviors birth. 

 

Christmas was extra fun for us this year, because the Hulses and grandma and Grandpa Quist came and celebrated with us this year. We had a wonderful Christmas eve dinner together and had fun opening presents together on Christmas morning. We spent Christmas day enjoying new gifts, playing games, watching movies and working on jigsaw puzzles. 

The day after Christmas We played in what little snow we could find in The mountains, and then came home and played  more games, watched more movies, and just enjoyed being together.

We're so glad the Hulses came, so We could get to know EmmaLee's fiance Sam! 

We are happy to welcome him to the family. He and EmmaLee are a great match.

2020 sure had it's fair share of ups and downs. There were some struggles, but SO many blessings as well. We had more time to spend together as a family and slow down and focus on what's really important in our lives. I'm grateful for all the lessons of 2020 and look forward to another year of learning and growing. 

November

November started out as kind of a bummer month. The girls lost their first playoff game, the presidential election seemed to have been stolen and Covid cases were on the rise. Things just felt gloomy.  Then, on November 20th, President Nelson had a special broadcast message for the world. He talked about gratitude and the effects it has on our mind, spirit and body.  He challenged all of us to share what were grateful for with our friends and families each day, for one week leading up to Thanksgiving. I took the challenge, and let me tell you, I'm so glad I did! Gratitude really does change everything! When I focused on my blessings, my feelings of gloom vanished!

I love our prophet and I love this time of year when we take time to reflect on our blessings and give thanks.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we celebrated it this year in the Valley with the Quists. We had a fun afternoon at my parents house. I was having such a wonderful visit with everyone that I forgot to take pictures.

I managed to take this picture of Eliza holding Grandma's new dog Morty.

The day after Thanksgiving,  Adam and the kids went on a buggy ride in Florence with some Gurr cousins. I had a fun day shopping and going out for lunch with Becky and Calli.

On Saturday we hiked to the windcave with the Hulses and othe Quist cousins. It was a beautiful day for hiking. 

Oh, and I almost forgot, this month we bought some land up the road to someday, build a new home for ourselves on!! More news on that to follow. 

 

October

October was full of soccer games and Cross country meets. We are so proud of Eliza, Sarah and Caleb and are grateful for their strength and good health.

Adam injured his ankle while working on fixing our flood irrigation pipes. Yikes!

He insisted it was fine and refused to go to the doctor to have it looked at.

Ben and Russ and their families came up for a visit. We went to the Willis farm. All the kids had a great time.

While we were at the Willis farm, the girls were playing soccer in Chino Valley.

I got a text from Eliza, saying that Sarah injured her ankle during the game. Now she and dad have matching injuries.

Even with two ankle injuries, we still managed to make it to Green's Peak with the cousins. We had a great time, but would've enjoyed it more if the "Dog Gone Hornuts" would've left us alone.

Sarah managed to convince Adam to join her at the orthopedic specialists office. Sarah’s ankle was badly sprained and Adam's was slightly fractured. They both just need to wear a brace and take it easy for a while. Sarah is so sad she’s going to miss playing soccer for a while.

Mother Nature surprised us with a beautiful snowstorm to close out the month of October. It put me in the mood for the Christmas season to begin!

 

September

On Labor day weekend, we hosted an impromptu party with the Hulse family and some of our Johnson cousins. The whole thing came together so quickly, but It was a total blast. I haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time.

The following Saturday, we joined the Hulse Family at Roosevelt lake for some skiing, wakeboarding, tubing and wake surfing. It was a perfect day! So much fun. Afterwards, we all drove to Globe for dinner at El Days. These memories are so priceless.

The girls started their soccer season this month. Their team is awesome this year!

Caleb began his cross country season in September as well. He is so amazing. He sets a personal record at every one of his meets!

Covid-19 STILL hasn’t settled down, but we’re just kinda starting to learn to live with it. Churches are open again for short sacrament meetings. The kids get to go to mutual and more activities, but we need to try and maintain “social distancing”. When we go to the stores and other public places, we’re asked to wear masks, and stay 6ft apart from others. Our family is less scared of Covid now. We’ve realized that since we don’t have any underlying health issues, we’re not likely to have major complications if we do end up catching it. We are still being careful though since we don’t want to spread it. We’re taking our vitamins and getting lots of fresh air and sunshine. I feel a lot of peace even though there’s a lot of chaos in the world right now. 

 

August

We hosted The Burk family women's conference the first weekend in August. We were missing a lot of our sisters and cousins this year, but we still had a great time.

The guys worked hard finished another house this month.

On August 17th, the kids FINALLY got to go back to school! Yahoo! They were so happy to go back, even if they did have to wear masks.

Adam went back up to Silverton at the end of the month to help do some repairs on the cabin. We are so happy that the after many, many years, the cabin once again, has a functioning  bathroom.

 

July

July was a very fun and very busy month for us. Even though Covid is still a thing, we managed to go on so many adventures!

We started the month off with a trip to Clear Creek. Even though we didn't go with Cousins and friends, we still had a blast!

We spent July 13th-17th in Silverton Co. with Richard and Calli and their kids, and with Calli's brother Buck and his family. We had a wonderful time and saw so much wildlife! In addition to the usual marmots and deer, we also saw lots of moose and a bear!

On our second day in Silverton we went on a buggy ride to kite lake. It was a beautiful drive, but we started having trouble with our buggy on the ride back to our motor home.

On day three, We ended up renting a Polaris Razor and took it on the loop to lake City. The ride was awesome and The views never get old.

On our last day, Adam and the kids hiked up to the Old 100 mine lodge. They absolutely loved the hike and the views. They said the last part of the hike was a bit of a scary scramble, so I'm glad I didn't attempt to go. 

We were only home from Colorado for a few days before we packed up again to go camping at Green's Peak. Four whole days of games, bike rides, hikes, fishing for crawdads, pranks, and lots of laughs. 

The last big adventure of the month, was an epic trip to lake Tahoe with the Carpenters.

It seemed like it took forever to get to Reno where the Carpenters live. We did manage to stop at the alien fun center near area 51. It was as lame as it looks! 😂

We arrived in Reno just in time to celebrate Elana's birthday. (Not hard to do since she celebrates her birthday for an entire month.)

The following day we drove the last little ways to our airbnb at lake Tahoe!  To quote Lincoln, "this place is legit!"

On our first full day the boys went bike riding, and we all rode the gondola up a mountain to the Heavenly ski resort. We enjoyed the ride up and exploring the area while admiring the views.

The next day was spent boating around lake Tahoe. I loved Emerald bay, and all the fun we had swimming and tubing on the lake. The water was crystal clear, but super chilly so we didn't stay in the water long.

We spent the morning of day three hiking with Cliff and Lincoln on Eagle falls trail. It led to a beautiful little lake.

Then, we took Elana parasailing that afternoon.

I just can't believe how much fun and adventure we were able to pack into one month. After months of being stuck at home, adventure was just what our family needed.