December 22-28, 2025

Katie is getting more confident on her feet every day. She had a fun Christmas, she got a fuzzy banana squishmallow and clothes from Mom and Dad, a fun bath toy from Abuelita (Paul's coworker, Maria), books from Grandma Wendy, and a Yoto from Nana and Grandpa. A Yoto is a little speaker that reads audio books from cards. Katie and Mary have loved it. She babbles a lot in ways that sound like real words. For example, she grabbed something off the floor and said, "I got it!" or she climbs up onto something and says, "I did it!"
Mary said funny things this week: I asked her, "Do you want to go to the store with me?" she said, “I think I’m too busy to go with you”. She makes up her pretend names based on things she wears and does the same for me, Katie, and Dad. I asked her, "Will you eat an egg?" She said, "But not today, how about tomorrow?" I was getting ready for church and Mary was playing when I said, "Please go eat your breakfast, you’ll be hungry at church." She said, "Just bring some snacks, I’m not hungry for dinner [breakfast]."

Monday I finished cleaning the house then I met up with Paula Del Peloso and we visited Tanya for ministering and gave her a Christmas gift. I was committed to seeing who our secret santa was but when they came by they were dressed head to toe in a Santa suit, so I couldn't tell who it was. It was the 10th day of Christmas "10 Lords a leaping" and they gifted us a beautiful painting of Jesus Christ and a very nice 500 piece puzzle of the nativity scene.
Tuesday was a more relaxed day. The girls watched Princess and the Frog while I straightened up and showered. I bathed them then put Katie down for a nap. Mary and I played outside then Katie joined us when she woke up. Dad came home with dinner and we watched Jim Carey's The Grinch. Our Amazon package got delivered to the neighbor so I picked that up and delivered a Christmas gift to Winnie Blesh on my way to Naomi Storey's house for a white elephant party. Gabby Bullock was there too and another woman named Lula who is Naomi's neighbor. It was fun with just a couple of us and I got to know the other moms better. Gabby said she knew a family who was getting the twelve days of Christmas delivered to them, that's how I found out there is at least one other family getting these gifts. She did say some of the gifts they got and they were the same as us. I grabbed some stuff for Christmas at Walmart before heading home. The eleventh day of Christmas is pipers piping, the secret Santa brought us "piping" hot chocolate gifts: a fuzzy blanket, hot chocolate mix, hot chocolate marshmallow stirrers, and chocolate popcorn.
Wednesday was Christmas Eve. I made hootenannies but they didn't turn out because I added too much flour. We listened to Christmas music while I cleaned the house. We sat down and watched the Nativity movie together. Aaron Galloway dropped off some sparkling cider as a Christmas gift to our family. I took a shower before Dad got home with our Christmas pizza. Mary and I made chocolate peppermint cookies for Santa. I realized too late that we didn't have oil for the christmas brownies or scones. I had some stuff to return to Walmart so I took that with me and returned it then got some milk and oil. I came home and made dinner. I finished the turkey I put in the slow cooker earlier in the day, made twice baked potatoes (for me) and mashed potatoes (for Dad), rolls, brie bites appetizer, and stuffing. We had the sparkling cider and then the cookies for dessert. We ate together, Mary didn't eat and Katie played with it but didn't really eat it either. Paul did the nativity puzzle while I put the food away and cleaned the kitchen. I was pooped and layed down on the couch for a little nap after that and we watched It's a Wonderful Life. We opened Christmas jammies after that, we all matched in Christmas tree jammies. Mary and I wrote a letter to Santa then set out some chocolate milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. We put the girls to bed then we got our last secret santa gift: drummers drumming - nutcracker pez dispensers, nutcracker book, nutcracker Reese's, Nutcracker music box where it is playing a drum, nutcracker cookie tin with chocolate filled waffle cone cookies. Mary got out of bed and opened the gift with us then went back to bed. Dad and I put the presents around the tree and filled the stockings. We went to bed then Mary got up a little later because she accidentally peed her pants. I got her situated and back to bed.
Thursday was Christmas Day. Mary got up at 4:30 and got in our bed to cuddle. I put her back in her bed at 5:30 because she was too wiggly and neither Mary nor I slept in that hour. Katie got up a little before 8. Dad tried to wake up Mary. He said, "Mary, come look. Santa came!" She said, "Dad, I'm still sleeping." Understandable since she got up twice last night. It was funny because she made sure we put out milk and cookies but then she didn't want to come out of her room until she was sure Santa wasn't waiting in the living room. She always gets nervous around the mall Santa's. I read her The Three Trees book in her room then we came out and ate breakfast together. Dad made blueberry muffins, sausage, and scrambled eggs with cheese. I showed her that Santa came and ate the cookies (we left part of one with bite marks in it for effect but Katie found it and ate it before Mary could see haha). We opened presents. Dad and I figured out the Yoto box, then we watched Kiki's Delivery Service as a family (from Katie's stocking). We watched all 3 movies in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. I put the pizza in to bake and just cleaned the kitchen while we were hanging out and watching movies. Dad got super mad at me when I started picking up trash in the living room and started throwing trash and candy all over the floor and kicking it everywhere then stormed into the bedroom. I cleaned up the pre-existing mess then Dad's mess. He came out after and screamed at me. Eventually he felt bad about screaming at me on Christmas because it was affecting Mary. We drove to Lahontan Reservoir but couldn't find a way to park and go to the water so we went to the church nearby and Dad stayed in the car while I played with the girls in the parking lot until the sun went down. Mary rode on her scooter and I ran around with Katie on my shoulders. Mary had her rain boots on and loved playing in some puddles left from the crazy rain storms we had this week. Mary got pretty soaked, I took off her boots, socks, coat and shorts but her dress was pretty wet on the bottom. We FaceTimed with the Roberts for a little bit for the music program we do each year. When we got home I bathed the girls then we put them to bed.
Friday was boxing day. Dad and I both had the bug and we deep cleaned the office then I continued on and went through the garage, guest room closet, and girls room. Dad decided he wants to pursue a career path in patents and we discussed plans of how to save money and sustain our life for those three years. We talked about living with Grandma Wendy or Nana and Grandpa.
Saturday we went to Reno and got breakfast at Sprinkle Donuts. We tried to go to Tahoe but it was too snowy. We went to Costco then to Chipotle then went home. Dad and I got some energy back and got the living room and kitchen mostly cleaned up before putting the girls to bed.
Sunday we went to church. I said the closing prayer for sacrament meeting then taught Young Women's. I read the Three Trees book then we talked about the Living Christ. Mary got a little intro to primary during second hour. All the kids going into primary next week joined with singing time then went back to nursery. She seemed a little shy about it but I hope she will like it. We went home and FaceTimed with Nana while Dad called Grandpa. Dad called Grandma Wendy during the second hour of church and we FaceTimed her after we talked with Nana. Everyone is excited about our plan to come back to Utah and has offered to have us stay in their home(s) while Dad is in law school. Grandpa was the most insistent that we live in his house. Both Grandpa and Grandma Wendy said they might be on missions in 2027 so it is possible for us to stay in one of the homes while they are gone. We are very excited for the future. After our phone calls we watched episode one and two of Star Wars. I was cuddling with Mary at bedtime when Dad came in to say goodnight and Mary said, "Dad, will you cuddle with me," and she started pushing me out of the bed! Haha she loves her dad so much.