October-November-December

Lidia dressed up like an Elder for Halloween. lol

The masonic temple near Mt Vernon

Lidia is in the same mission as the Fluckiger's nephew, Elder Shakespear.

With the Huntsman's at Christmas.

Micah was a dog catcher and Lisa and Oliver were dogs.

Papa sent a lego temple for Christmas. 

We went to Pizza Pie Cafe for Avery's birthday.

Avery turned 13.

The boys read Twas the Night Before Christmas to Oliver.

Heather sent the boys movie gift cards. 

Avery enjoyed his dance concert.

Cory had his bit of skin cancer removed. 

Avery said he didn't want to trick or treat this year but changed his mind
so Cory conjured up a costume real quick. Clever!

We put up Christmas lights.

Tristan got his braces off, before me!

We ate Thanksgiving with Lisa's family at John's house.

Our stores don't sell these so I ordered them online.

I love the snow, so pretty.

Avery did well at his choir concert.

Lisa had a miscarriage, no fun. We took her flowers and chocolates to cheer her up.

It was a very fun movie.

We enjoyed seeing a lot of good Christmas lights this year.

Matching Christmas sweaters!

T-shirts from Grandma and Grandpa in Hawaii.

We moved the old couch downstairs and only had beanbags upstairs until
the new couch came in a month later. lol

We had Micah and family over for Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas Eve snow! What an awesome thing it is!
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas... it never gets old.

It was great to talk to Lidia and hard to not have her here during the holidays. We both cried as soon as we hung up.

Oliver turned 2 and he loved the cake!

My couch finally came! We love it!

It was great to have some Newman family over.

Aiden started working at Walmart. He stocks shelves the 2-11 pm shift.

Teresa got a bird for Christmas.

We went to the Nathan Pacheco concert. It was great.

I gave these out to my friends and coworkers at Christmas. 

I bought Cory some fun honey and maple syrup from Trader Joe's.
They also sell lebkuchen and other German Christmas treats!

Oliver liked the snow and the lights.

The boys each got a cool 3D puzzle for Christmas and they're all places we have been.
Neuschwanstein castle in Germany, Big Ben, Empire State Building.

I love this pic Lidia sent.

It's been a good year but also a hard year dealing with all this health stuff. I think I got down about it more than I realized but around Christmas time I was reading a story from Elder Holland about how he was feeling sorry for himself when he was in the hospital on Christmas Eve with his dad who was dying. He said that he was walking the halls and then heard a baby cry and then he felt a rebuke from the Lord for only appreciating the "fun" parts of his plan. Birth and death must both occur and are both important to his plan for us just as the triumphs and the struggles and the strengths and the weaknesses. It hit me as I was reading that that I must remember who is in charge and that these struggles are part of his plan, that I must embrace them and even be thankful for them just like I am when great blessings come along. I must have faith in his plan that we are exactly who he made us to be. We must rise up to the challenges and learn what we can from them and let them mold us int better people. The Lord will see us through.

We are so proud of Lidia and her service. We miss her lots but are happy to see her happy and doing good. The boys are doing good too. We love them all so much. Aiden is working to save money for a mission now. One semester of college was enough for now. I wasn't too impressed with Weber and the modafinil was not a good fit for him like I thought it might be and that affected his grades I think. It helps Cory though! It'll be nice when Tristan is old enough to try it.