December 10th is finally here!!

Yea--Fall semester is finally over! I had a hard schedule and from day one have been saying "I can't wait for December 10th!". I gave my final presentation this morning and took my final exam in another class this afternoon. It felt so good to walk out of that classroom! Now, I wait for grades to be posted. I don't think it went too bad--we'll see!

We have really been staying busy and having fun. We spent Thanksgiving in Mendon with my parents this year. My sister, Diana and Chad and their kids came up from Mapleton, Grandma Dee was here from Bountiful and then us and my parents. It was a great day--dinner was good (thanks, Mom!) and it was fun to visit and spend time with family. Here is a picture of all of us-minus Grandma. She was taking a rest.

That evening, we left my parent's house and went to Springville to spend the weekend with Greg's parents. It was fun to see them along with Chris, Patty, Katie, Shannon & Tom and their families. The kids love to spend time with cousins-on both sides-so we felt so lucky to be able to see everyone that weekend. We enjoyed shopping, visiting and just relaxing over Thanksgiving.

Zach's basketball season is in full swing. He practices every day after school and has two games a week. He is having such a great time. We won't be able to go to every game, but we hope to make as many of the away games as we can.

We have been leaving the valley so much this month. We take Kaden & Brynn to the eye doctor down at Primary Children's Medical Center once a year. We had an appointment on Wednesday, December 3rd. We like to make a fun day out of it--it's tradition to go to Toys 'R Us and let the kids wander, go out for lunch and with the timing always in November or December we get a little shopping done. We had to hurry a little that day because I had class that evening, so we shopped in the morning and then got to Primary's 15 minutes early for our appointment. We headed up to the office (they were at lunch--we like the first appointment after lunch) and were informed that the hospital was on backup power and they were canceling all the appointments for the afternoon--WHAT? So I got on my cell phone and made an appointment right away and actually got one for yesterday, December 9th at 1:00. Both Greg and I had taken the day off work and this would now be a second for both of us. (ugh). So, yesterday as we were packing things up to go--we get a phone call telling us that Dr. Hoffman called in sick! WHAT? I could not believe it! So, we saved a trip (thank goodness). I was able to get my hours in at work and Brynn and Kaden went to school. We are now going in January--we wanted to put off another trip down until after the holidays.

On Sunday we had the opportunity to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I tried to get tickets back in October and we were picked!! We got six tickets, but because Brynn isn't 8 years old--she stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and Zach brought a friend along. Kaden especially enjoyed being in the same room with the Prophet and seeing him wave to everyone before he left. Zach and Tanner have been to the Conference Center before, but they enjoyed it as well. It was such a great way to welcome in the Christmas season. We enjoyed walking around Temple Square and seeing the lights afterwards. It is so fun to be downtown SL during the Christmas season. We packed sandwiches, chips and cookies for the ride home. It was a fun evening.

We love this time of year--lots of hustle and bustle and excitement. We are enjoying every minute of the season-it goes by so fast!