Thanksgiving, Avery's Orchestra Concert, Caleb's Winter Formal, Christmas 2024, Vegas, and St. George

I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated! I am updating Gabe's mission blog every week, but I kind of forget about this one! Here is what the other four of us have been up to!

Thanksgiving

I really should've taken a group picture at the table or something, but we had Janell's family over for Thanksgiving this year. We were kind of debating what we should do because everyone was going to get together at Brad and Diane's and we were going to go, but then Ben had to be on call so Heather wanted to host it at her house. But everyone hates driving all the way out there to Driggs, so Janell had texted me and been like, "Do you want to just have our own?" So we kind of secretly did our own with just her family and our family. So it was me, Josh, Caleb, Avery, Janell, Aaron, Carter, Alex, Johnny, and Bentley. Tyson was with his fiance (now wife) Kiersten and her family. It was a very low-key and easy Thanksgiving. I did the turkey and some sides, and Janell did some sides. We ate at about 1:30 and then they went home by about 4:30. I think Jenni's family and Brad and Diane were the only ones that ended up going to Heather's house. Shannon's people were all in the hospital with Jack, who just got a heart transplant! (That's a whole story... but long story short, he got a new heart and he's fine now.) Bryan's family all stayed home and I guess Jada's family went over there. So, that what Thanksgiving! It was pretty good and easy.

Avery's Christmas Performances

Avery had her Christmas concert the second week of December. She did a great job playing the viola, and we are so proud of the progress she is making with both the viola and the piano. She also had a Christmas piano concert at a church along with about ten other students that Claire teaches. She played a duet with Claire called the 'Coventry Carol." She did great! We also got to watch her tumbling showcase! She and he friend Olivia started a tumbling class about a month ago at Airbound and they are both working on their front walk-overs and their front hand springs. Here are some pictures of her events! Caleb also had his football banquet and he was awarded the second team all state offensive player of the year! 

Caleb's Winter Formal

Caleb didn't ask anyone to the winter formal, but he ended up going last minute! Apparently, the boy who asked Camri Call (Parker Willmore) flaked out at the last minute and said he couldn't take her! So Lindsey texted me at about noon and asked if Caleb would be willing to take her! Caleb was out snowboarding at Grand Targhee, but he got home at about 4:30, showered in 15 minutes, and picked her up at 4:45! He had a fun night, and he didn't need to even plan anything! haha

Christmas

We started the second trimester at school and I would say this new batch of students is a little harder than first trimester. Really, it's just my third hour. I have a pretty loud group that are all friends (including Kohl Rolph and all his friends). But it's pretty nice to be able to leave every day at 12:30! (I rarely leave right at 12:30,  but it's nice to know I CAN if I want to... ;) I just wish they paid me a little more! 

As Christmas approached, there were lots of fun things happening at school. The wish assembly is always a highlight and I always love watching it on the last day of school (Friday) before the break. We also got out at 11:00, which was really nice. We did a white elephant gift exchange in my class the day before that, and that was really fun. 

So then we had the weekend, and Monday and Tuesday before Christmas off school. On the Saturday before Christmas, we got together with Josh's family and had the Rhodes Christmas celebration at a church in Rigby. (It was fun, but always feels kind of weird to have the Christmas celebration at a church, in my opinion.) Then, we did some Christmas shopping and went ice skating in Sugar City at the outdoor rink on Christmas Eve day. Then we went out to dinner at the Mandarin at about 5:30 on Christmas Eve. I feel like Chinese food has become our Christmas Eve tradition. We also got to talk to Gabe on Christmas Eve day because that was his P-Day for the week. So we talked to him earlier in the day for a couple of hours. He was busy having fun at the mission office making gingerbread houses and watching a Christmas movie with some other missionaries. I was glad he had a fun day on Christmas eve day because on Christmas day it sounds like he didn't have much going on. No one invited them over for Christmas dinner. :( I think he was a little lonely, but he and Elder Olson did have their stockings and a few presents from home to open up on Christmas morning. Then we were able to talk to him for about an hour at about 1:00 our time (9pm his time), so that was nice to be able to talk to him two days in a row that week! 

On Christmas morning, we woke up at about 8:00 and Avery and Caleb opened their presents. Caleb got an Apple watch, a couple Funk-o-pops, a record player (weird that he wanted that, I thought), a couple records, some clothes, a Magic the Gathering card pack, and escape room game, a Mandalorian model building set, and a big Lego car set. 

It was kind of cute because he was building his Lego car at the table which Gabe was building his Lego car at his desk across the world in Spain at the same time. They used to always sit at the table on Christmas morning and build their Lego sets together, so I thought it was kind of cute and a little sad that they were doing that a world apart now. Avery got some LOL dolls (even though I feel like she's too old for them, but still wants to ask for them), a lot of clothes, some makeup, some nail stuff, a friendship bracelet making kit, and more. Josh and I filled each other's stocking with treats and I got him some shoes and some shirts, and he wrapped some things I bought for myself. ;)

After we opened presents, we ate lunch, talked to Gabe on the phone, and then we went to see the new "Mufasa: The Lion King" movie. We saw that at about 4:00, then we came home, packed our suitcases, at dinner, and got ready for bed because we had to catch an early flight to Las Vegas at 6:00am the next morning!

Vegas and St. George

We flew into Las Vegas and got there at about 10:30am on December 26th! We rented a car and then drove to St. George. We checked into the Red Lion hotel at about 2:00 and hung out on their little basketball court for a little bit. Then, we met up with Janell's family at the church where they were going to have Tyson's reception the next day and we helped decorate for about an hour. Then we went to dinner at the Cracker Barrel. Josh's parents and Bryan, Jada, Quinly, and Blakey, had also just gotten to St. George (they drove all day) and they met us for dinner too. 

The next morning, we woke up and Josh and I went to Tyson and Kiersten's wedding at the Red Cliff's Temple. Caleb and Avery decided to stay at the hotel because they didn't want to just sit and wait outside the temple. By about noon, the wedding was over and Josh and I drove back to the hotel and got them for the reception. They had Costa Vida food for lunch at the church (which Josh and I actually picked up for Janell) and it was really good. The reception was pretty small (maybe about 60 people), and it only lasted from about 1:00-4:30. But Caleb still got bored and decided to scale a mountain in order to get back to the hotel. We didn't even know he was leaving, but apparently he walked outside and saw the mountain that separated the church from our hotel and thought, "I can climb that," and decided to walk back! I think it turned out to be a lot more intense that he had bargained for (especially in his church clothes), but he had fun I guess, and he ended up making it back to the hotel just as we were getting back there at about 4:30. He said he enjoyed his adventure.

That night we went out to Winger's with Janell's family (minus Tyson), and Brad and Diane. Then we went to sleep in our hotel and woke up the next morning and checked out. 

Saturday morning after we checked out, we decided to drive just north of St. George and do our favorite hike that we always do in St. George called the Red Reef Trail. We did that from about noon to 2:00, and then we drove to Vegas.

We spent Saturday evening walking the strip in Vegas. We went to this big Ross store and Caleb bought a weird tank top with Spongebob on it. lol Josh and Avery also walked down to the M&M's store. It was a lot of walking that night. We also walked through the Venetian and walked by the Bellagio and saw the fountain show. 

The next day, we went to Red Rock Canyon for a little bit, went out for pancakes, and then went back to the hotel. Then in the evening, Josh and Caleb got tickets to the Golden Knights hockey game and Avery and I went to the Cheesecake Factory at Caeser's Palace. Then we walked back to the hotel (we stayed at Treasure Island) and showered and relaxed until Josh and Caleb got back. Caleb also had brought had brought his garage sale Batman costume and insisted that Josh got out and take pictures of him with the Vegas strip in the background. lol I think it's funny that Josh had to do it and not me! haha His social anxiety of having to follow Caleb around, dressed as Batman, through the Vegas casinos makes me laugh really hard. 

So, then we flew home on the morning of December 30th. It was a fun trip, but we missed Gabe! It was our first trip without him. :( We got home and took down all the Christmas stuff. Then we celebrated New Year's Eve with a party at the clubhouse with the Kunzes, Matthews, Merrills, and Evans. It was really fun! We played some games and had some appetizers and we wrapped it up by about 11:00! Caleb and Avery were both out with friends, but we picked up Avery at about 11:00 too.

Now it's Saturday, January 4th and we have to go back to school on Monday! :( It's been such a nice, relaxing break and I'm really not excited to go back! But, I guess it'll be good to get back into a routine. 

Gabe is still in Aranjuez with Elder Olson, which he found out today he is NOT being transferred. I think he was a little bummed not to move, but he will be okay. Hopefully, he will move on the next one in February!

Caleb's Junior Football Season, Gabe's first 12 weeks in Spain, Avery starts some new things, Halloween, Out of State Guests

 I feel like there's be a lot since I last wrote! I actually just went back and read my last few posts, and I was like, "Whoa... it's been a while!" The good news is, I will say that in many ways, life has gotten a little better in the past two months. I feel like with time, we have all slowly been adjusting to life without Gabe, which is still so sad, but I think with time it's just starting to feel more normal for him to be out of the home. I still hate it and wish he was here, but at least I'm starting to get into a routine and I don't immediately go into shock every morning when I wake up and remember he's not sleeping in his bed right down the hall. I have officially turned his room into a "Gabe shrine." lol I hung his big bulletin board (that we had used for people predicting his mission call place on a map) up on his wall above his bed. I printed a bunch of pictures from the MTC and a few once he arrived in Spain the first couple weeks, so it's covered with pictures of him. Then I hung two pictures of him in front of the temple on either side of that. It was kind of fun because we had two rounds of guests come in the last couple of months. One weekend we had Chris and his twin boys, Easton and Indie, some visit and they stayed in Gabe's room. I think they were kind of looking for Gabe and asking where my kids were, and then Chris said they went into Gabe's room (where we had an extra air mattress and stuff set up for them to sleep) and one of his boys said, "That guy!" and pointed to the pictures of Gabe. "Where is he?" Awwww.... Chris had to explain how he was gone for two years in Spain on a mission! How sad. :(

Chris Ensign and the twins visit

We had a lot of fun with Chris and his twins going to Caleb's football game on Friday night (the won), then going to this little fishing pond. Cody and Lindsey and their boys knew this family had had a private pond, so they came with us and all the little boys fished and it was really fun. They caught lots! Then we went to Freddy's for lunch and Chris and his boys drove back to Utah by about 2:00 in the afternoon.

Grandma Sue and Brayden visit

Then, a week later, my mom and Brayden came to visit. I actually LOVED having them here. I truly think my overall mental health would be better if my mom lived out here in Rexburg. I would also take Brayden. Now Rachel... I'm not so sure... lol She would need to have a job to keep her busy and maybe find a good guy to take care of her. Then it would be okay. Otherwise she might be sitting at my house everyday like she was when we lived in Wisconsin when Gabe and Caleb were little! But I loved having my mom and Brayden here from Friday afternoon to Tuesday morning. We went to Caleb's playoff football game on Friday night, which was really nice because it was right across the street and they played Capitol (a Boise team) and won! Then on Saturday, Avery's orchestra teacher, Mrs. Loveland, was competing in this school district fundraiser called "Dancing with the Rexburg Stars." Avery and her fellow orchestra friends all played their violins and violas behind her as she danced to Texas Hold'em. It was really cute, and she ended up winning the whole thing!! I love her. She's the sweetest teacher ever, and I'm glad Aver had something to be involved in that night that my mom and Brayden could see. Then we went shopping on Saturday (just my mom and I) and Josh took Caleb, Brayden, and Avery to the Gravity Factory, which was nice to have some alone time with my mom. Sunday, we went to church. Monday, Gabe called and we Facetimed and talked with him throughout the day. That was fun because my mom got to talk with him too! Then Tuesday there was no school because it was election day! Well, it was a "virtual day" but I didn't assign anything new because I'm a nice teacher. lol But TRUMP WON!! Whoohoo! He beat Kamala Harris by a landslide!! My mom and Brayden flew out in the early afternoon and got back to Wisconsin about 10pm. We didn't know Trump had won yet at that point, but as we were going to bed, it was starting to look like he would. We just didn't want to celebrate too soon though because in 2020 it looked like he was going to win too, and then "suddenly" all these "mail-in" votes started showing up in all the swing states, and somehow Joe Biden won. (It was very controversial...) So, we were happy to see that Trump won in all the swing states (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio... and more) and I was messaging Gabe updates on Facebook messenger all evening long (while he was asleep in Spain) so when he woke up he could see that Trump won!

Caleb's Football Season

Anyways, I feel bad that I haven't written a lot of Caleb's football season. It was the best one I can remember Madison having in a long time, but sadly, it is over now. Caleb started as center probably 80 percent of the time. Teagan Haderlie, a senior, also played center. They went 8-1 in the regular season (losing only to Rigby). Then in the playoffs, their first game was at home against Capitol (that was the one my mom and Brayden were at). Then their second playoff game was in Boise against Eagle, which honestly was so controversial. We even had a better record than them, and that game should've been played at home, and in retrospect, I really think we would've won if that game was at home. But we drove down to Boise on Friday at about noon, right as soon as I was done. We took Avery out two hours early. Caleb had already rode down on the bus. The game started at about 6:30 and we dominated in the first half. We were up 13-0. Then it was like, all of a sudden, Eagle realized, "Oh crap! We are gonna lose!" and someone paid off the refs. It was like any call that could be called against us, was. We ended up losing 16-22. It was so sad. But in the end, we were still all really proud of the boys and their amazing season. Hopefully next year is just as good, or better, for Caleb's senior year. He loved playing with Bryce Dredge, Cary Fa, Barkley Beck, Rex Salas, and Teagan Hadelie, and more, and he's sad that they are graduating, but hopefully they get some good sophomores and juniors that can pull up. I'm sad that his football season is over because I've loved going to his games every weekend for the past 2.5 months, but he's pretty excited to have some snowboarding time. Hopefully he doesn't hurt himself again like he did last winter in January!

Avery's piano, viola, and tumbling

Avery has also been doing some new things this fall. I got her starting piano lessons with Claire, so she goes over there every Monday at 4:30. I think she could be really good if she decides to stick with it! There's a little Christmas piano recital coming up that Claire is having all her students perform in. Avery is not thrilled, but Claire keeps telling her, "You're doing it. No is not an option." lol It's probably good for Avery that Claire is like that. She needs to be put in her place! Avery has also started a tumbling class on Wednesday evenings at 6:00. Her friend, Olivia, is in that too. I think it's just good for Avery to get out of the house. Who knows if she will ever do anything like cheer with it, but it's just good for her to get out and meet new people I think. I still wish she would do volleyball or that they had a tennis club going on right now with indoor lessons! She would be great at that. She's kind of going through a rough time right now with her moods (which means we are ALL going through a rough time right now with her moods... :{ And I literally pray all the time that she just grows out of it. My boys never went through this as age twelve with all the hormones and bad attitudes about school, so I don't even know what to do. I just feel like she suddenly went from being a sweet, fun girl to being a moody, hormonal, grumpy preteen. She was honestly good until like, the end of the last school year. Then this summer, she started her period (right around her 12th birthday) and we have been on a roller-coaster ever since. (I hope someday she reads this and is like, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that... I was crazy.") So with Gabe (my best conversationalist and hang out partner over the summer) leaving, and then Avery turning into a moody monster, it's been a really hard past few months. July to now has been rooouuugh. But hopefully, we are starting to get a little better. I know that Gabe is doing well and overall he's really liking Spain, so that's good.

Gabe's past 2.5 months in Aranjeuz, Spain

Gabe is almost at the end of his second "transfer" (set of 6 weeks) with Elder Bright. They had told them when they first arrived in Spain that they would most likely stay in one area with the same companion for "two transfers", so we kind of were expecting until around Thanksgiving. That gave me some peace of mind because he really liked Elder Bright right from the start and he liked the apartment they were in, and everything seemed pretty comfortable. They've had one baptism while he's been there in Aranjuez and they love going to a few different member's houses for meals. It seems like they have member meals about once or twice a week. So, not a crazy amount, but it's still fun. Gabe is saying that he thinks Elder Bright might get transferred away from Aranjuez and then Gabe would get a new companion, so I just hope and pray it's someone good! Elder Bright occasionally has little quiet spells Gabe was saying, but like 90 percent of the time it's really good and they have fun. Hopefully he feels like that with his next companion! Oh, and I can't believe I almost forgot to write about this! It was so heavy on my mind for a month, and then it ended! Guess what! Gabe and Sophia are no more!! I guess she wrote him kind of a terse email about a month ago saying she didn't think they should write anymore and se said, "It's not that it make me sad. I've just moved on." I think he was okay about it after a couple of days. However, apparently his friend, Noah, is taking her to the winter formal, so he's like of like, "Wait... what? Did my friend actually steal my girl?" Who knows. I'm just happy about it because I think he will be a better missionary without worrying about a dumb girl. Claire and I even went out to celebrate! lol So there's that! (I am keeping the pictures and info on Gabe at a minimum because I literally have a whole separate book for him! lol)

Life at the junior high

Other than that, I've just been busy with school! It's almost the end of the first trimester already! I've really liked all the kids in my classes this tri. Maybe Heavenly Father knew I needed a good group to get me through this hard couple of months! We have finals next week and then we will start trimester two and have Thanksgiving break! I feel like the school year has been going really fast this year, probably because I am only there part-time! lol I really do like the extra free time some days, and then other days I'm like, "Yeah, I might as well just be full-time." The difference in pay is pretty big too. It's like I went from making $3300 on my monthly paycheck to $1975, but I'm still at school most days until about 2:00. So it's like, for an extra couple hours, I'd be making $1300 more a month! I probably will teach full-time again next year. I was even wondering if they would ask me to come back to full-time for second and third trimester, but they have budget constraints, so I don't think they can change me at this point. We are just all going to have super full classes! Which, I always have, so it's no change for me! lol

Halloween

I forgot about Halloween! Honestly, I was a little depressed on Halloween this year. The day was fun because I was at the junior high and that's always fun. I dressed up as the Trunchbull from Matilda! We had the Halloween assembly and Caleb even left the high school early and came over for that at 2:30! Sidi and all the 9th grade football boys were grandmas, which won them the costume contest. But then in the evening, Caleb left to go with Lexie and some other people to the Haunted forest. Sidenote - Caleb went to the Halloween dance with Katelyn Sharp and liked her for about a week. Then he moved on to liking Lexie, but now just last night he said he likes Sarah Cameron... so who knows. Anyways, Avery went out trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with Olivia, Espyn, Nora, and some other friends. She wore he last year's Little Red Riding Hood costume to school, and then wore a black hoodie and black pants with some glowsticks taped to it when she went trick-or-treating. It was pretty boring just staying home with Josh while he watched football and I handed out candy! Claire and her family stopped over for a little bit. But I'm already looking forward to the day when I can be the grandma and take the little kids trick-or-treating again!

Anyways, Josh and Caleb went up to his parents' house this morning (Saturday) to get firewood for Jack and Shannon because Jack has been in the hospital with heart problems. I don't know what's going to happen with that. I guess Jack has always suspected he would have problems because his dad died young from heart problems, but now that it's happening, it's like, "Whoa... this really came on fast!" He's currently in the hospital in Idaho Falls. Shannon has been down there pretty much the past week with him. It was Orrin's 18th birthday on Thursday too, so that sucks. The older girls have been coming to visit. I think Lori came from Boise, Maddie from Blackfoot, and I think Ellie lives here in Rexburg. It's just crappy that their family is going through this. Hopefully they can get Jack on some good meds and he can have another ten years of life at least!

Well, I better get out of bed and either go get groceries, plan my Sunday school lesson for the teenagers tomorrow, or fold some laundry! It seems there's always something to do, but it's good for me to stay busy! Here are some pictures!