What did we do instead of spend thousands of dollars on a trip to Hawaii? Visit Hubby's family! Well, most of us did. Between the migraines she had been experiencing and the 14 hours it took us to get to Utah last winter, Michelle decided to stay home with my parents at their house instead of coming with us. She had plenty of quiet time to read books and got to watch Stranger Things and help take care of Piper and Maisie. My parents were so happy to have her for the week!
Our drive out took almost half as long as last year thanks to their not being a huge storm this time. Trust me, Hubby and I were watching the weather like a hawk. We realized we could drive out Tuesday or Wednesday and both would be ok so we spent Tuesday with me getting my first ever mammogram, going to Janet Jones’ funeral, and getting ready for our trip. The sudden passing of Janet was devastating. I had talked with her and given her a hug at Pat’s funeral and Janet seemed great! My main purpose of talking off work to be at the first funeral was to give T a hug but I sure am glad I got to spend time with Janet too. She was the best Young Women’s leader I could ever imagine serving with. She was smart and fun, talented and loving. Her brother, all of her children and grandchildren, and her nephew spoke at her funeral and it was heartbreaking. It was obvious that even though she was a magnificent ward member she was an even better family member. No one had any clue that someone so healthy would suddenly collapse. Being around Left Hand Creek ward members again brought be much joy but there were a lot of tears too. Life isn’t fair and the world truly lost someone great. I can only think she has been assigned to be a guardian angel for her family but how I wish she had been allowed to stay an angel on earth.
Mark and Kendra couldn’t have been better hosts to spend the rest of the year with. They housed us, fed us yummy food, took Hubby and Danny and I to the gym, and made plans to ensure we had a great time. Hubby and I got to eat dinner with his parents and siblings, we got to hang out at a rec center playing volleyball and basketball, go ice skating, I had a luncheon with Shannon, we went shopping at the outlets, and my niece Ali did an amazing job serving a large group of aunts, uncles & cousins where she works at East Moon Sushi & Grill. The food was actually way better than the fancy dinner we had with the siblings too!
Everyone was so happy at the annual cousin gift exchange and University Mall has a fun center with indoor climbing wall/foam pit, go karts, mini golf, laser tag, bowling, & bumper cars!
On New Year's Eve we had a wonderful time at the Parker family’s house eating, playing games, puzzling, and talking to finish up 2022 and countdown to midnight. I always enjoy the pure love and fun while we are there and feel it an honor to ring in the new year with such lovely humans.
And so 2022 came and went. In my Christmas card post I hit some highlights for our family but I noticed a lot of my friends making book recommendations online so I thought I would write a few down. If my list on Pinterest is accurate, I read 25 books (+ reread the Book of Mormon) this year. Most fun read: Love & Olives. Best nonfiction: No Bad Parts. Most enjoyable to listen to: As You Wish. Best mystery: Losing Brave. Favorite fiction: Gilded. For podcasts the top 3 I listened to were the Be Bold private podcast, Better Than Happy, & Don’t Miss This — which probably haven’t changed from last year. Our family's favorite theater release movie of the year was Top Gun Maverick but Jurassic World Dominion was pretty fun too just because they had the Jurassic Park characters back for it. I also loved Lightyear but I may be the only huge fan of that movie I know. Disney+ continued to be our family's favorite/most used streaming service in 2022. For TV I watched 8 seasons of a show my parents wouldn’t let me watch in the 1990s: 90210 and then had to quit because it turned into a full blown soap opera that I couldn’t handle any more but I really enjoyed the first few seasons. Over winter break our living room tv played the show Wednesday more than once (and I begged Hubby to renew our Netflix membership to do so). The Wednesday playlist on Apple Music became my favorite one to listen to with Nothing Else Matters becoming my #1 song followed by If I Be Wrong & Space Song. You could also find me listening to Taylor Swift's Midnight album, Niall Horan & Imagine Dragons Essentials but usually I listened to podcasts or YouTube all year. My top channels are RixFlix, Cinema Therapy & Line Upon Line (in order to prep for my Primary lessons). I am curious to see what I will be saying and doing at the end of 2023. I am cautiously optimistic!
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