Blame the title on me watching 2009’s Star Trek on New Year’s Eve before it left Netflix. Don’t worry, that won’t be the only movie I mention. Why was I watching a movie alone on New Year’s Eve? Well, we had all planned on flying to visit Hubby’s family after Christmas but Danny’s coach was still pretty disappointed for us taking Danny out of town at Thanksgiving and Danny was afraid of further punishment. (Sad part was he sprained his ankle again so it’s not like he got a lot of minutes his first game back anyway.) Kate wanted a nice, relaxing break after our busy trip to NYC during Thanksgiving so we decided I would stay home with Kate and Danny for a few days after dropping Hubby and Michelle and Natalie off at the airport. I felt like the Grinch because after getting home I started doing everything I wanted done before I left town, including taking down all the Christmas decorations like a machine. It made Danny laugh and made Kate question my mental health. Lol.
While Kate and Danny hung out with friends at our house drinking Shirley Temples and Sparkling Apple Cider, I went and hung out at the T’s house with their family and most of the W family. It was so nice to be around them again! They were my sanity savers when Natalie was in preschool. I am lucky to know such wonderful humans. We were even treated to illegal fireworks thanks to their neighbors. Happy 2026!
Early on Friday morning I flew to SLC and got picked up by half my family before visiting Hubby’s lovely grandmother. At 95, she is an inspiration and I loved to hear her giggle as Michelle told her about all her different activities in high school and we caught her up on our family’s adventures. We then got to spend time at Hubby’s older brother’s house and little sister’s house before staying with his little brother’s family. M & K are so kind to always house us when we come!
That night Danny picked up Jane from the airport -- she had been out of town for a week -- and Hubby asked for proof that Danny found her. They are so cute! The next day Michelle and Natalie got to watch their first ever hockey game when we watched their cousin play. It was so much fun and their team did great! I was very impressed at how skilled these 12U players are!
We also got to join this great group for pizza that was not only delicious but a neat, college atmosphere as well. But us girls were more impressed by driving by East High than the U of U. We might have watched High School Musical too much when they were younger.
That night while our niece Addy hosted the cousins, we got to have a wonderful sibling dinner and play a music trivia game afterwards. My in-laws are beautiful inside and out. I feel so lucky we got to visit! I didn't do a great job taking photos but one of Natalie's favorite memories was playing with her cousin, Q, at Sunday family dinner at Hubby's parents' house. We are already looking forward to whenever we can see them again.
Before we flew out we stopped by Swig, went on a campus tour of BYU (complete with golf cart!), ate ice cream at the Creamery, went to the Museum of Art, showed the girls where we met, ate at Mo Betta's, and stopped by Hubby's parents house because we forgot to bring them Kate's senior photo. Michelle had never seriously considered our alma mater before but now she can see why we liked it there. I feel like we created a lot of fun memories in a short time and am grateful all went well with the flight home.
Proof that we have had a warm winter: I came home to find that this flower by front door had bloomed while we were away, which usually doesn't happen until March!
Tuesday we all went to work and school and Danny's team won their 8th away game 67-63! It was a nail biter towards the end but our boys were able to maintain that lead they had had the entire game.
Michelle was back at volunteering as an SCLA ambassador by Wednesday for 8th grade registration night. Always fun to see pictures of her and Danny pop up at the school Instagram pages. Danny also got a photo put up after Friday night's away game, winning 68-43. They are now 9 & 0 (all away games) and had a nice article in the local paper written about their team. LS had a great quote about being on a team where the players are there to support each other on the court selflessly. We are looking forward to their first home game!
Natalie's team began meeting 3x/week to begin the new year. They still have strength training once a week and 2 indoor practices. One of the perks of Saturday morning practice is getting brisket at Buc-ee's for lunch and getting to take a picture with Bucky the Beaver. Very close to what I was called when I lived in Iowa so really I should be in the photo. lol. We ended our Saturday with a double header of Tron Legacy and Tron Ares now that Ares was on Disney+. We will always love Legacy most but Ares wasn't as bad as we had feared. It was actually way better than the trailer made it out to be!
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