Lia's Winter Choir Concert

 After a very busy day of working, shuttling children around, baking brownies for Ella's Market Day the next day, and feeding the family dinner, I raced off to attend Lia's winter concert at her high school.  Since she now sings in the Concert Choir, her group always sings last in the program.  They sang six songs, starting out with my all-time favorite, "Carol of the Bells," that I also sang in my high school choir.  After a hectic day, it was as lovely way to spend the last part of the evening and enjoy the holiday spirit.

Lia singing in the Alto section with her director in the foreground.

Lia posing after the concert with her friend, Jared, who sings in the Vocal Ensemble choir (that has a tradition of wearing pajamas every year to the holiday concert).

Ella's Award Assembly

A few days ago, Ron and I received emails stating that Ella would be recognized in the upcoming awards assembly at her school.  I was luckily able to find a half-day job at her school that started right after the assembly was over so that I could attend her assembly before hand.  Ron came rushing in from work to join me in the gym right as Ella's grade was receiving their awards.  Ella received one for empathy from her teacher and her certificate said, "Ella has a remarkable ability to understand and connect with others' feelings, showing empathy and kindness in everything she does."  I thought this was such a compliment to Ella and the wonderful girl she is.  Way to go, Ella!  We are so proud of you!

Ella standing next to some other 5th graders after walking up to receive her award at the front of the gym.

All of the 5th and 6th grade students who received an award for empathy today.

My cute girls posing with her certificate after the assembly was over.

Journey to Bethlehem 2024

Our family headed out this evening to attend the Journey to Bethlehem experience at a the large Adventist church in Auburn.  This has been a family tradition ever since Lia and Logan were little and we have enjoyed attending it every year since then, with the exception of the few years that it was closed due to Covid.  It is one of the few Christ-centered activities that I can find in the area and it really helps to bring the birth story of Jesus alive for all of us.  We enjoyed a wonderful hour following our tour guides around the different stages of the nativity story and finished up with hot cider and cookies back in the church afterwards.

Lia feeding the live camel a carrot after meeting the three wise men.

Waiting for the Roman soldiers to open the gate before entering the town of Bethlehem.

Although this picture is kind of blurry, I had to include it as it shows Lia dancing with Emmett in the town of Bethlehem after walking through the market.  It was so cute to see them dancing with several of the actors.

Singing "Oh Come Let Us Adore Him" with the actors at the nativity scene.

All four kiddos posing for a quick photo after our journey to Bethlehem was over.

Lia Performs in "Beauty and the Beast"

Taking Ella to see Taylor in The Eras Tour

Ella and I just returned from a 25-hour, whirlwind trip to Vancouver to see Taylor Swift perform in her second to last concert of The Eras Tour.  We managed to buy these tickets 13 months ago when they first went on sale after receiving the nearly-impossible-to-get, verification code from Ticketmaster that was necessary to buy tickets online when they first went on sale.  I was able to buy the maximum amount of four tickets for Ella, Lia, Lia's friend, Alyssa, and me in incredible seats on the third row of the second tier of the stadium, directly facing the stage, for an amazing deal!  We were all so thrilled to be going to this once-in-a-lifetime concert together!  Fast forward about six months when NWTL released their 2024-2025 schedule, and we learned that they would be putting on Lia's all-time favorite musical, "Beauty in the Beast," this fall with performances scheduled for December 7th and 8th.  I simply could not believe our bad luck!  Since Disney is putting this musical back in the vault this winter in order to bring it back on Broadway, this was realistically Lia's only chance to ever perform in this play.  So as sad as it made Ella and me to go without her, I turned around and sold her ticket for over $2000 on StubHub instead of selling it to one of our friends who would have gladly bought it for the price we paid for it.  I kept on telling people that I was "making lemonade out of lemons" since I was so disappointed that Lia couldn't go with us!

After driving up to Auburn on Friday night to watch Lia's dress rehearsal (since I was missing both of her shows on Saturday), I got home late that evening to sleep a few hours before driving Ella to gymnastics practice for 1.5 hours of the 4-hour practice on Saturday morning.  I then raced back home, packed our bags, picked up Alyssa, and headed out to grab Ella from practice before we hit the road.  We drove in a torrential downpour most of the way to the Canadian border.  As we arrived at the border in Lindon, the clouds broke and the sun came out as we waited 45 minutes to cross the border with tons of other Swifties driving from the US to Canada for the concert.  After checking into our hotel in Langley, we then drove to Surrey where I parked my car so that we could take the 30 minute train ride into Vancouver due to the fact that there was simply no parking around the stadium.  It turned out to be a really easy ride into the city and a really short walk to the stadium.  When we arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon, thousands of fans were waiting to enter BC Place when they opened the gates at 4:45.  Since I had zero interest to be a part of this mad rush, Ella and I separated from Alyssa (who was dying to get inside the stadium) and walked to a pizza restaurant a few blocks away where we had a nice, peaceful dinner for about an hour.  By the time we entered the stadium a little before 6 pm, there was barely a line to enter the building.

The three of us then spent the most amazing evening together.  After Gracie Abrams performed (which Ella and I barely watched since we are not big fans), we were entertained by Taylor Swift for over three hours.  She came out on stage at 7:55 and performed until after 11 p.m.  It was one of the most incredible concerts that I have ever been to.  The music, the costumes, the sets, the props were all amazing.  In addition, her concert was one of the most artistically beautiful things that I have ever seen.  I was seriously in awe half of the time.  Ella absolutely loved it and it was so much fun to just sing and dance next to her all evening long!  Although we missed having Lia with us, I am so grateful that Ella and I were able to go on this epic, mommy-daughter date together and make some memories that we will never forget!  Until next time, Taylor...that is assuming we can get tickets when you come back into town.

Ella and I waiting to cross the border with our passports in hand.

We were all amazed at how much Vancouver did in honor of Taylor's arrival.  They even had special posters all over the stadium station (where we got off the train for the concert) that were Taylor-themed.

Ella and I enjoying our pizza dinner before the concert.

Cute Ella showing off her friendship bracelets that she wore into the concert (and ended up trading with many other children and adults).

Alyssa, Ella, and I posing where our seats were located before the concert began.

While walking around the stadium during Gracie Abram's concert, we ran into a lady who was wearing a wedding dress that anyone could write on (which is a reference to Taylor's latest album).  Here is Ella writing her name on the white dress.

Another mother-daughter photo we were able to take before Taylor came on stage.

In addition to getting a ton of new friendship bracelets from people in the stadium, a nice lady gave Ella a 13 tattoo that we put on in the bathroom before the concert started.  Here is the darling picture I got of Ella's hands before the show began.

The cute picture Ella asked me to take minutes before Taylor came on stage.

And there she is!  Taylor performing in her second song, "Cruel Summer!"  The colorful fans in the background were so amazing to see in person.

Smoke blowing up from the edge of the stage while Taylor sang

Taylor singing, "Enchanted," while wearing this beautiful, lavender ballgown.

Ella singing way to one of the songs.

Logan's First Wrestling Meet

 After very little convincing, Ron was able to talk Logan into joining his school's wresting team this winter.  Luckily, several of Logan's friends decided to also join the team which made it even more appealing to Logan.  After practicing for almost four weeks, Logan had his first wrestling match against one of the other junior high schools in our district.  Since he is the third lightest student on his JV team, he was the third person to wrestle.  I was able to join Ron at the school as the wrestlers were warming up.  We then cheered Logan on to victory as he won all three of his 1-minute matches against his opponent, finishing with a score of 8-0.  Although I know absolutely nothing about wrestling and honestly struggle to watch a child of mine compete in a combat-style sport, it was exciting to cheer Logan on to victory! 

Logan and his opponent hand fighting at the beginning of one of his matches.

Logan trying to pull his opponent onto the floor.

Logan taking him down!

Trying to get him to the ground for a pin.

Logan getting into the referee position at the beginning of another match.

Logan's assistant coach congratulating him after his match was over.

Trimming the Tree 2024

After celebrating Thanksgiving at Chris' house on Thursday with my family and Ron taking the three younger kids camping out to the coast Friday through Sunday, we gathered around the tree on Sunday evening to decorate it before everyone headed off to bed.  While listening to Christmas songs, the kids and I enjoyed pulling out all of the ornaments and decorating both the large tree in the living room and the children's tree off of the foyer.  It is always such a fun way to kick off the Christmas season.  Although we have some very busy weeks ahead, I am excited to celebrate this special time of year with our family!

The kids and I pause for a picture while decorating our main tree in the living room.

The kids posing around the children's tree which is full of their ornaments that they have collected over the years.

Logan's Last XC Meet of the Season

After running last Saturday at the Association Championship meet in Seattle, Logan qualified to run at the Regional Meet today at Chambers Bay with the rest of the 11 to 12 year old boys on his team.  Since it had rained so much this past week, the course was really wet and soggy, making it harder for everyone to run on.  As a result, Logan was not able to PR, but still had a positive experience running on this beautiful course right on the Puget Sound where Lia has run several times before with her high school.  Logan ran a 12:20 last week for his 3K run (1.8 miles) at Associations, but was only able to run it today in 12:50.  Regardless, he was in good spirits at the end of the race and stood at the end of the finish line and congratulated all of the runners who crossed the finish line after him (which is something that he started doing last week).  I am so proud of how well Logan has handled his first season of XC.  He has had such a positive attitude each week and has enjoyed learning how to pace himself while running long distance runs.  Although Logan's age group on his team qualified for the Nationals meet in Indiana next month, we are not going to pay for last minute plane tickets to fly out there ten days before Christmas.  As a result, Logan's XC season ended today and I can't wait to see him run on the track this spring.  Well done, Logan!  We are so proud of you!

All of the 11 to 12 year old boys taking off from the starting line.

Logan running towards us.

Logan giving it his all as he runs right past us.

Logan approaching the finish line.

A tired Logan poses with Emmett after finishing his 3K race.

Some of Logan's teammates posing with him after their race was over.