December Happenings

We love our Cookie!!

   

Elfie Tada's shenanigans were few and far between this year, but this was a good one!! 

I was our Christmas shopping one day and a 17 year old kid turned a little tight into his parking spot and scrapped up my front right corner. Luckily I saw it happen and we are currently getting it fixed. His truck was a lot worse than mine!

I see the resemblance!! haha!

This one is always cheering!! :)

Mimi and I got our nails done for fun one day!!

Our chickens are giving us LOTS of eggs these days!! We can barely keep up!

This year we decided I would fly up and go to Lex's company Christmas party. It was my first time to Connecticut, it was short but oh so sweet. Glad I went and got to meet quite a few of people I've heard him talk about for years! Plus, I got to see snow!

Family night out; a little shopping, dinner and ice cream!! We ate at Texas Roadhouse, shopped at Bass Pro and found an ice cream shop that Kyler could enjoy too!! It was a fun, festive night!

The Sunday before Christmas, Lex was playing basketball in the "Old Mans League" up at the HS gym and ended up messing up his knee. He was on crutches for a few days, but after seeing an Orthopedic, he's been hobbling around quite well. He had an MRI done and we are waiting for his next appointment to see the results. We're hoping for no surgery, time will tell! I even got him basketball shoes for Christmas because he was enjoying it so much!! Sure hope he can play in them again one day!! It has forced him to relax though. He had a whole two weeks off from work anyway, so he was able to sit and relax or get up and move whenever he needed too. 

We had a few bonfires during the holiday break, the weather was perfect, not too cold but chilly enough when the sun went down for the fire to feel perfect!

For Pappy's Birthday on the 28th we headed over to the ranch to celebrate and hunt!

Katelyn ended up with a deer this time and it was a good one!! Pappy decided to have it mounted and to hang it at the ranch cabin!  What a great memory we'll have every time we see it on the wall. Great shot Katelyn! Levi is next! And Kyler is still not really interested.

Happy 81st Birthday, Fred!

On New Year's we headed to the Smith's house again. We enjoyed catching up and eating until around 11, then the boys started the fireworks!! They lit them all themselves this year and put on a good show! I've got some videos that show how giant some of them were. These pictures are just of them doing sparklers, dynamite poppers, and roman candles. 

I didn't get many pictures, but here's one of Katelyn and some of the girls.

Happy New Year, 2026!!!!!

 

Christmas Morning

 

These kids love Christmas morning!! We wrapped the hallway again and as they waited for us to make our coffee and give them the go ahead, they started to break their way through, hahah! 

First up, stockings!!!

They love picking out and giving each other gifts, even though they are typically the smaller items they receive, they end up being probably some of their favorite things! Sibling gifts are the best! Katelyn gave Kyler a "game boy" from 5 Below, which she thinks was about $10, he loves that thing so much. It has a ton of games and he probably played with it more than anything else in the first 48 hours after Christmas!

Levi got some shirts and shoes he asked for, stripe lights for his room, smart plugs, a silent basketball, and his favorite and iPhone!!

 

Kyler got two big Lego sets (Harry Potter Astronomy tower & the Night Bus), a silent basketball, smart plugs, books, basketball shoes, a stand for his record player and lots of other little things!

Katelyn got Nike Track Spikes, perfume, lululemon pants, 2 Kendra Scott pieces, a beachwaver curing iron, clothes galore, makeup galore, and lots of other little things!!

Lex and I apparently didn't get a picture of ourselves this year, but we also got some great things! My favorites are the ones the kids pick out for me themselves!! Love this little family of ours!

Mid morning Lindsay, Baxter, and Pappy came over to spend Christmas with us too. We spent the day eating, opening more presents and putting together all the new toys! It was a great day!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!