Okay, so there's one day of October in this post ;-)
Saturday, Oct 31
We went to Tay and Nae's for Halloween. It was fun to spend the evening with these two sweet girls (Madison and the Mighty Shrimp mascot from the movie Zombies).
They had NO trick-or-treaters (dumb pandemic), and Tay and Bill took Evie around to a few houses in their neighborhood. Just as Bill and I were leaving, we saw a lone trick-or-treater with his dad, and told him to go to Tay and Nae's house. Just as he got up to the door, the light switched off. We told him to go ahead and knock anyway. Evie had wanted to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters so bad, it was fun to give some to at least ONE.
Wednesday (with Evie), Nov 25
After a little outside time and a turn on the tree swing, we were ready to roll.
Literally.
Evie approved of our final result.
Thanksgiving rolls done.
Thursday, Nov 26
Thanksgiving
We went to Tay and Nae's to celebrate. The dinner was delicious, and yes, we used paper plates. Best idea ever. Bill's assignment was the joke cards, since our previous ones are packed {who knows where} and stored in a very large storage unit. He did a fantastic job, they matched our paper dinnerware so nicely, and everyone was appreciative of new jokes ;-) Except for Bill, who knew EVERY joke. I think this is the first year I DIDN'T know the jokes (but I don't retain things like jokes so I still enjoy the event of reading them each year at dinner -- not to mention we reuse the cards for several years anyway haha).
Friday, Nov 27
We made a quick trip to UT for Callum's baby blessing.
Saturday, Nov 28
Bill and I had a Christmas package for a missionary from CO to drop off at the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission Office, so we drove to West Valley (and were blessed with a tender mercy that someone was THERE on a Saturday -- someone Bill knew from his ward growing up -- and we got a complete tour of the office, which I appreciated seeing many of the ins and outs of a mission). Afterwards we stopped by Brian's grave to decorate and commemorate the 5 years it has been since his passing.
That evening we had a family dinner to celebrate Callum's blessing the next day - which would be done via Zoom. This was such a fun gathering. Casual. Relaxed. Perfect.
Sunday, Nov 29
Callum's Blessing Day
We had a small gathering at Kody's parent's home with Shi and Kody, Bill and me, and Diane and Bret. The rest of the family (and Shi and Kody's Bishop) joined us through Zoom. I am grateful for technology so everyone can participate! Kody gave Callum the sweetest blessing.
Afterwards we had a lovely brunch, then Bill and I changed clothes and headed back to CO.
Wednesday (with Evie), Dec 2
Tuesday, Dec 8
Candy making with my friend Alisa
This has been a tradition for us for the past 4 years or so. We had a candy making sesh this past summer, too. We are both passionate about homemade candy haha.
Wednesday (with Evie), Dec 9
On our way back to Evie's house, we stopped by this fun light display in my old Castle Rock neighborhood. I think we made it through the entire 20-25 minute show.
Friday, Dec 11
Back to UT
We made a quick stop in Grand Junction - something we do every time we drive to UT - but this time we were dropping off Christmas for Sister Syddall! She lives close to our regular exit :-) So convenient.
Saturday, Dec 12
First design meeting
We were in UT for two design meetings for our home. We spent approximately 7 hours in our first one. Britt came with us to help us move our decisions along. I was so grateful for her AND for Austin being willing to be home with the kids (especially since it was in Farmington, about an hour away from Eagle Mountain). It was exhausting, but fun to make selections for our home. My fingers are crossed we chose wisely ;-)
We scheduled the design meetings around the time Lex and Brielle would be in UT, too - they were there to meet Callum for the first time. We picked them up from the airport on our way back from the design meeting. It was fantastic to see them, all the way from AL. We all met up at Britt's that evening.
Family time is my favorite time.
Sunday, Dec 13
Home update: we had to switch our lot.
This was a bit disappointing for Bill and me. The lot we initially chose (soooooo close to the temple), once the drafters had plotted it out, had a bigger slope to it than we thought. Think 16 steps to the front door. And 16 steps out the back door to the yard. Very inconvenient. Especially when we are looking for a home we can live in for... a long, long time. So this is our new lot. A block down the street. Nice and flat.
Here is our temple view. Still amazing. Still walkable. Still so exciting.
Lex and Brielle stayed with Shi and Kody while they were visiting, but we met up at Britt's (where Bill and I were staying) often. Grandma and Grandpa Syddall made the trip over a couple times, too.
Monday, Dec 14
Design meeting #2
It was only 4-5 hours long. We reviewed our selections, made a few changes, and signed off. Changes will now cost $$$.
That evening we had hoped to go to the big fancy drive-thru light show with Austin and Britt's fam (I can't remember what it's called... we have them in CO too), but they were booked, so we all piled into our car, grabbed a quick dinner and waited in a line to see a cool house light show in Saratoga Springs. I was in the back with Scarlett and Ellis - it was the best.
It was cool (much like the light show in our old Castle Rock neighborhood). We didn't realize HOW cool until I saw an article days later about this very house. The Hamilton house. Lin-Manuel Miranda himself had heard about it and had donated to the fundraiser the house was doing (we didn't know there was a fundraiser, but in the car that night had literally discussed how these people should do one). **The house that does the light show in Castle Rock did NOT use Hamilton in their soundtrack... just Christmas music, which I kind of missed at the Hamilton house.**
I had to snap a pic of this cute girl, who gave up her bedroom for Gigi and Little Billy. She made a lovely personal area in her mom and dad's room. Isn't it amazing? Wall art, Christmas decorations, and all her favorite pillows and stuffed animals. I love her so much.
Great Grandma Syddall had given her the trees to paint, and the little manger (and I think the cute motivational block). Obviously, Scarlett loved them. **Scarlett is super artistic, and I love how her mom encourages her and provides her with lots of materials to use in her projects.**
Tuesday, Dec 15
We took a field trip to the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point (Kody had some passes from his work, which we were happy to use).
I have to mention that Brielle is a super happy, smiley baby... but most of my pics of her this trip were like this haha.
Callum was obviously in a similar mood :-)
Britt (her family has a membership, so they come to Thanksgiving Point frequently) had told us to take off our coats, because once we entered the biosphere, we would get really hot due to the climate maintained for the health of the butterflies. Once we were in the biosphere, we noticed it was quite chilly, and the butterflies were mostly dormant - not flying around as usual. One of the workers told us that it was unusually cold that day, but that the butterfly specialists (I can't remember their official title) were not in that day. We may not have seen as many butterflies, but because the butterflies we saw were pretty "chill" (haha), it made them easy to hold.
I didn't hold any butterflies, but I loved holding this sweet sleeping baby.
That night we gathered again at Britt's for dinner. This was the "goodbye" night for Lex and Brielle. They were going to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa Syddall's (along with Bill), because they had an EARLY 6am flight back to AL, and Grandma and Grandpa are much closer to the airport.
Brielle fell asleep in her car seat as they were getting ready to go - I loved how her little foot was propped on the edge.
We'll miss you guys! We missed seeing Jason and Emmett, who stayed home due to the price of flying around the holidays. I am so thankful to Jason for being willing to chill with Emmett so Lex could come visit. **Bill and Lex were most likely exposed to Covid while they stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house. More on that in a minute.**
Wednesday, Dec 16
Quilt tying day
Taylor had requested a new tied quilt for Christmas, and I knew I had to get it tied while I was in UT, since that's where the people I know with quilt frames live ;-)
(My favorite pirate. Arrrrrrr!)
I haven't tied a quilt for.... 5 years? or so, so I was out of practice, and it took us longer to get this baby on the frames than it should have haha. My mom and dad came out to Britt's to help us tie, which I am SO grateful for. We all put our brains together and eventually got the quilt ON, and figured out a pattern for tying.
I wanted to have a LOT of ties, so we used the plaid pattern on the bottom of the quilt to determine tie placement, and we zig-zagged so that the ties would be a little longer. (If I haven't mentioned it before, ties on quilts are Taylor's stress relief. He has calluses on his fingers from twisting them, and he has done it since he was a wee babe.)
I was so grateful for the help, and the quilt turned out fantastic.
Bill and I headed back to CO the next day, which was the same day his mom got tested for Covid. We had both had headaches on our drive home, but figured it was because it had been a busy few days. On Friday (the 18th) we found out she was positive, and on Saturday, Bill was super sick. He tested positive on Sunday (I should have gone with him, but didn't think much about it until AFTER his results), and I tested positive on Tuesday. Since our quarantine period was supposed to start from our first symptoms, we were told to quarantine until the 28th.
Dec 20 - 27
A quarantined Christmas
Covid was the cherry on top of our already odd Christmas. Our decor was extremely simple (Tay and Nae had given us the Noel sign, which was our most significant decor item). We had our two little tinsel trees that the kids used to put in their bedrooms, and it was pretty lonely and depressing being stuck inside for so long.
We would occasionally take a drive to pick up our mail, and appreciate the sunset along the way,
or enjoy the Christmas lights down Wilcox Street on the way back to our apartment.
Once we drove through the neighborhood to enjoy the various light displays.
We worked on the puzzle sent by our dear friends, the Billats.
And we had a pretty simple Christmas Day.
We dropped gifts off to Tay and Nae's fam (keeping a generous distance), and they sent us home with Christmas dinner, which was so so sweet. We just wished we could taste it haha.
We had a family video chat with my favorite missionary,
and then a more personal chat with just the three of us.
It was definitely a Christmas to remember. The best parts were the connections with our family. I love them all so much. Up next: Celebrating New Years in St. George.
