What the rest of December Looked Like

 We're going in reverse order again! :)

Happy New Year!

Marianne, Patrick and Eden spent New Year's Eve

with us. We had SUCH a great time.

I love having them on this coast!

They put Eden to bed before midnight, but the rest

of us stayed up to welcome in the new year.

We found out on Jan 1, that Drew had COVID.

Boo.

Luckily, none of the rest of us got it.

These party poppers were fun.

We spent some time at the Science Center.

I love that place and don't get to go much anymore.

They've expanded since last time we were there.

They have an Okapi!

But we could only see its hind legs when we walked by.

They also have pygmy hippos that are so cute.

And the flamingos are gorgeous.

Care Bear and Eden

This is a fun new play area that Eden enjoyed.

GIANT blue bear

Care Bear and Eden petting a hog.

I ran into one of my English students while we were there!

I think that's the first time I've seen one outside of school.

That was fun.

We also spent an evening together at Carowinds.

More fun Christmas decor!

They have a parade, but we decided we'd rather

ride a coaster than wait for it.

Andrew rode the scrambler with me.

That ride CRACKS ME UP.

I can't stop laughing on it.

I also talked him into riding the carousel with me.

All four of us LOVE the After Burn.

Such a fun coaster.

I think this is the first time I've seen someone rejected

from a ride for being TOO TALL. Boo.

We got to ride to the top of an observation tower.

Cool views from up there.

Winter Wonderland

So fun!

While we were in Charlotte,

our family made a visit to TopGolf.

It had been a long time since we'd been there.

Caroline wasn't a fan.

The rest of us had a great time.

Andrew's so good.

Even though he only golfs once a year.

Whitney was good, too, and had fun.

I was just OK, but thoroughly enjoy it.

On one of the Wednesdays of Christmas break,

I talked Andrew into taking me to Dave and Busters.

They changed their Space Invaders game a couple

years ago so we can't win the bonus anymore. but we still

like playing. We did AWESOME on this game and took

the two top spots.

When the game is designed without the bonus,

you get three lives and can go through multiple stages.

We made it past Stage 32, which is the farthest we've

ever gotten. Often it's more like 18-20 stages and we die.

Another fun Christmas puzzle.

Whitney and I got the best Christmas gift from

Yoanh, a sister we minister to.

She owns a nail salon and gave us gift certificates

for mani-pedis! Yes!

Caroline wanted to join the party,

so all three of us spent an afternoon

in Lexington getting our nails done.

Whitney's not allowed to have her fingernails

painted at work, so she just got a pedi,

but C and I got both done. Loved it.

Spoiled!

I also took the girls to the candy shop in 

Lexington that is SO cute and yummy.

I had the best 100-pin bowling game EVER!

We're having fun getting to know Bumble and Scoot 

and playing with them on the landing outside my room.

We like to feed them fresh veggies.

Caroline bought them some gifts.

This little gingerbread house is adorable.

Amy and Dave's family gave us

a GORGEOUS Lego set for Christmas.

It's a bouquet.

So pretty!

The girls and I had fun putting it together.

Andrew and I are doing another parks scavenger hunt.

We've had some BEAUTIFUL weather to be outside.

Can't believe it's December.

No jackets!

Christmas Sunday

I organized a women's ensemble to sing

"What Child is This?"

Both girls sang, along with several friends from church.

I got to accompany them.

LOVED it.

Real Christmas!

Whit loves crazy earrings and got these paper clip ones.

Bingus mug and lobster socks from Grandma Sweat

Soap-making kit

The Lego set in the box

I got Andrew a BORT license plate.

Hilarious.

Christmas Eve

Care Bear is learning some contortionist-

type tricks at aerial silks.

Jumping pics! My fave!

Such a fun one.

We probably should've taken these

while B was here!

Have a Holly Dolly Christmas. :)

Sister gifts

We got official news that B got his scholarship back.

Yippee! He'll be going back to school in the fall.

So happy for him!

More scavenger hunting

Christmas goodies!

We delivered a bunch,

but also had plenty left over for ourselves.

That was a lot of baking!

We trimmed our list down of who we can deliver goodies to. But it still took over two and a half hours and we drove 55 miles. And it was all within our ward boundaries!

Love this time of year. I'm so happy we had time with family and friends. And also lots of time to just relax and be together.