Christmas concerts and recitals

With December comes lots of performances and recitals. Jackson had his Jr. High band Christmas recital, which was really fun to watch. I am used to choir concerts, so band is something new! Jackson is in percussion and for this concert he played the glockenspiel and the bass drum. He did a great job!

 

Next up was Molly's Christmas dance recital. It was about the cutest thing I could imagine. She loves performing on the big stage.

And finally, we look forward to the elementary school Christmas sing every year. Sadly, Jackson has moved on to junior high, but Bode, Davis and Molly were all in it this year. Molly was excited that after so many years of attending, she actually got to be in it for the first time! Bode dressed up in his old Santa Halloween costume, and Davis wore part of his elf costume as well. I love that those costumes keep coming in handy!

Molly was so into singing this year. She had every move down and sang her little heart out. It is hard to believe this girl used to be so shy because she really blossoms on stage!

Christmas card 2021

Davis's 8th birthday!

Davis is eight! We started the celebration with a birthday party before we headed to Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving. He loved his party so much last year, he decided to do something similar again. We set up a few different challenges for the kids and they competed for prizes. They had to throw bean bags onto a target from the upstairs playroom, bounce a ping pong ball into a bucket, and knock down plastic cups with Nerf guns. Davis loved it and was happy so many of his friends could come. 

The celebration continued on his actual birthday when we went out to dinner. He chose to go to Tucanos and was happy to eat all of the cheesy bread he wanted!

Davis was excited to get his own scriptures, Legos, a few games, and a cool marble maze Sean made for him. We capped off the night with the chocolate bundt cake he requested. 

We're so grateful for this boy! He's just what we need in our family and we love him so much!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was much more normal this year, and for that I am grateful. It worked so well staying in the hotel in Idaho Falls last year and having access to the pool, we decided to do it again. We had Thanksgiving dinner with the Rickses this year and it was delicious, as always. I am so happy to have great cooks on both sides of the family so we never have an off year! It was a great break spending time with both families. 

Last year I took a run around the green belt the day after Thanksgiving. I enjoyed it so much, I decided to do it again this year. It feels so good after multiple days of indulgence! I stopped and took a couple of pictures of some iconic Idaho Falls scenes on the way. 

Davis gets baptized

With Davis turning eight, it was his turn to be baptized! He was baptized near the beginning of December and it was a great day. I took a few pictures of him and created a little invitation to send to family.

Front:

Back:

Davis was so handsome in his new suit and I am happy to have these pictures to help remember him at this age.

Davis was really excited to be baptized. We talked about the choice he was making and what it meant to make and keep baptismal covenants. We were grateful for family support and happy some were able to join us for his special day.