Temple Open Houses, Nativities, Tabernacle Choir, Deliveries, and Aunt Jeanette in December 2023

Orem Utah Temple 

Open House

What a treat to have a temple on Geneva Road close to Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway's old house. We parked across the street from their house at the church now located there! I hope to make it back there as there is a beautiful painting in the marriage waiting room that I love. Afterward, we visited a beautiful walkway at Utah Lake. It's amazing how much that area has grown!

Nativity Night Activity

A stake in South Jordan put on a nativity display (or creche exhibit) that we really enjoyed going to! Some of our favorites were the nativities from Germany (that reminded me of my grandma's), the wooded animals exhibit, and the quilt!

The boys also enjoyed posing with the cut outs! lol

Visit to The Conference Center

to Hear the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square

The ward decided to invite everyone to join them for a Music and the Spoken Word performance. It really is a treat to watch in person!

Such a treat to have them sing to us before we left!

Marshal is quite the cameraman. lol

Everyone is looking good! haha

Christmas Concerts

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

Joel P. Jensen Beginning Band

Cort rocking out on the trombone!

Jingle Bells

Joel P. Jensen Beginning Band

Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella

West Jordan High School - Concert Choir

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly - West Jordan High School - Concert Choir

Once Upon a December

West Jordan High School - Belle Voix Choir

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

West Jordan High School - Combined Choirs

We always love the opportunity to watch our boys perform. 

Braxton had the opportunity to perform at Temple Square and it was a treat!

Christmas Deliveries

I hesitate to post this as our intention is to be anonymous, but it was too fun a memory to cut it. 

We loved dressing up in Halloween costumes to participate in the 12 days of Christmas! 

It truly brought light to our holiday season!

Oh the joy this video brings me!

Aunt Jeanette

and Christmas Light Drive

Aunt Jeanette has been diagnosed with cancer and we wanted to bring her some Christmas cheer and come caroling to her at this difficult time! I'm thankful she was feeling up for it! 

We also drove to look at lights and enjoyed seeing the State Capitol! 

Unfortunately, I only got one good picture from our drive. 

Christmas

We always enjoy or holiday tradition of going to see Christmas lights!

Marshal was so excited to get a new game!

Cort was lucky enough to get a Shashibo Cube! 

Kent didn't think he needed more fidget toys but he got one anyway!

Braxton got his new iPhone...just a little bit before Christmas!

It's not Christmas without things to build, cookies for Santa, decorations 

and my loving family all together!

New Year's Eve

We loved having Liesel, Jonathan, and the girls to ring in the New Year with! 

If only we could have them here every year!

Life in December

Top Left: I discovered the white peacock and told Kent we need a peacock farm. He's not convinced! Top Middle Left: Marshal's football knowledge is pretty amazing! Top Middle Right: Cort has entered the age of girls liking him. It's pretty funny! Top Right: We can't see a leg lamp and not think of Erik Patrick's love for them. lol Middle Right Side:: I loved the penguins on the tree at Terra Linda. Bottom Left: Smile! Bottom Middle Left & Bottom Right: I'm sure glad the elf likes Santa and the snowman! lol Bottom Middle Right: This house was pretty amazing and really well done!

Marshal and his football crack me up!

I'm grateful we made it back from Braxton's concert on Temple Square in time for the Ward Party. I love seeing the Primary perform! We always enjoy the Larry H. Miller Christmas family sing-a-long! You never know what to expect from a co-worker who gives you chocolate liquor for Christmas! Yikes!

Top Left & Bottom Right: Marshal received the Safety award and his teacher said, he shows safety by following the school and classroom rules! Top Middle Left: We love going to the Red Rocks Preview! Top Middle Right: This cracked me up! Top Right: The WiO puppies being very good. lol Middle Right Side: Marshal loved his NFL football! Bottom Left: Cort laughing at my blindness. Bottom Middle Left: I love attending the temple with Kent! Bottom Middle Right: Bet you can't guess which mug represents me and which one is for Kent. lol

    He loved the hippopotamus I got for Christmas!

Top Left & Top Right & Bottom Left & Bottom Middle Right: Some of my favorite Christmas (and other) photos of my kids! Bottom Middle Left & Top Middle: We were at the Goetz family's home and I got a kick out of their Christmas deer! Bottom Right: Braxton got a new suit for Christmas and we love how good it looks on him! My two handsome men!

Top Left & Bottom Right: Nothing better than finding the Mystery Machine in good old Payson, Utah! Top Middle: The kids have loved our new game from Gordon and Holly called Throw, Throw Burrito! Top Right: I love seeing how much Cort loves Agnes Hailey Love! Bottom Left: Braxton got a new phone that came with an Apple Watch. Guess who got the watch? ME! Closing these rings is very motivating! Bottom Middle Left: Good game! Bottom Middle Right: Marshal needed a photo of the Corvette! 

BeReal

Beautiful World

"It is far better to go wrong in freedom 

than to go right in chains."

-Thomas H. Huxley

"The expression of compassion for others is, in fact, 

the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ 

and a marked evidence of our spiritual 

and emotional closeness to the Savior."

-Elder Ulisses Soares

"You can't lead the people if you don't love the people."

-Cory Booker

"Freedom can never be taken for granted. Each generation must safeguard it and extend it. Your parents and elders sacrificed much so that you should have freedom without suffering what they did. Use this precious right to ensure that the darkness of the past never returns."

-Nelson Mandela 

"May your blessings be many and your troubles be few. 

And may you feel God's presence in all you say and do."

-Lenora McWhorter  

"Took a walk in the woods and 

came out taller than the trees."

-Henry David Thoreau

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; 

yet we have this consolation with us, 

that the harder the conflict, 

the more glorious the triumph."

-Thomas Paine

"Be believing, be happy, don't get discouraged. Things always work out."

-Gordon B. Hinkley

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

"Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused."

-Alan Cohen

"Honour belongs to those who never forsake the truth even when things seem dark and grim, who try over and over again, who are never discouraged by insults, humiliation, and even defeat."

Nelson Mandela 

"Learn to love without condition. Talk without bad intention. Give without any reason. And most of all, care for people without any expectation."

-Unknown

"Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. 

There is help and happiness ahead."

-Jeffrey R. Holland

"A good life is when you smile often, dream big, laugh a lot & 

realize how blessed you are for what you have."

-Zig Ziglar

"Wake up every morning with the thought 

that something wonderful is about to happen."

-Unknown

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives 

of others cannot keep it from themselves."

-J.M. Barrie

Girl Time, Family Time & Beauty and the Beast in November 2023

Girl Time

What a blessing it was to spend time with the Robison ladies! We played games, went to lunch and Crystal Hot Springs, checked out some shops in town, and had Aggie Ice Cream. It was a good weekend!

Visitors from 

North Carolina

Erik, Mariel, and Florence visited and although short it was good to see them! 

Beauty and the Beast

We were so proud of Braxton as the bookkeeper and a townsperson in the play Beauty and the Beast! It was fun to see Elizabeth as a silly girl as well!

Cort's Birthday

My little boy keeps growing up. Cort turned 13 years old this month! 

We are grateful for the wonderful young man he is becoming!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at Pam and Lloyd's house and the boys enjoyed ultimate 

football with Brayden and Tennille. It was nice spending time with them! 

Zoo Lights

We had fun going to see Zoo Lights!

Life in November

Marshal's love of football cracks me up! I had to take a photo of all our white shirts because I realized this would change one day and I might just miss it! Kent was trying on hats at Walmart so I had to take a photo! lol

Cort singing Feliz Navidad

Marshal loves playing and teaching us to play football!

Top Left: We figured out how to make a Santa hat! Top Right & Bottom Right: We had a visit from someone from Family Search who told us about all the resources there are available! Right Middle: A joyful reminder to praise God! Bottom Left: Beautiful miracles brought through prayer for my co-worker Karina! Bottom Middle: Filling out college admissions and there are many options for gender. Such a crazy world we live in! 

BeReal

Beautiful November

"The surrender of our will to God's will is, in fact, not surrender at all but the beginning of a glorious victory." 

-Neil L. Andersen

"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution."

-Aristotle

"To trust God in the light is nothing, but trust him in the dark - this is faith."

-C.H. Spurgeon

"We make better choices/decisions if we look at the alternatives and ponder where they will lead."

-Dallin H. Oaks

"What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measure of importance? What if we instead celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?"

-Greg Mckeown

"If you live up to your privileges, 

the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates."

-Joseph Smith

"Because of Jesus Christ, everything changed. Because of Him, everything is better. Because of Him, life is manageable - especially the painful moments. Because of Him, everything is possible."

-Gary E. Stevenson

"Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."

-C.S. Lewis