Winter arrived!

Winter has officially arrived and it has been SOOOOO cold! I don't remember it EVER being this frigid here in SLC! I love the snow for how it makes everything look beautiful, but this nasty Arctic cold can go away! There has been MANY days where the temp was around 7 degrees when I woke up and that's just wrong! It is beginning to warm a bit so lets hope it is a trend!

Carter's Varsity football team ended up making it to the second round of playoffs, against Lone Peak, but lost. It was SOOOO hard to watch. It was evident pretty early in the game that we weren't going to come away with a win. It made for a VERY long game! But Carter played great and I saw him walking the sidelines toward the end of the 4th quarter patting his teammates and encouraging them. When the game was over they congratulated the other team and knelt in prayer as a team. I was glad to see they ended their season in the same way and kept their character all the way to the end. We were waiting for Carter on the sidelines and he walked up and threw his arms around his Dad. I'm not gonna lie.... I cried. It was the sweetest thing to see Chan whispering into his sons ear and Carter buried his head into his shoulder. It was priceless. I was next and I had a hard time getting anything to come out. I knew this was probably his last game on a field... ever. I managed to get out that I was proud of him and that I loved him. All those senior boys (and parents) were choked up.  It was a tough loss. Even though their season ended that night, they still had a LOT to be proud of. Their region is the TOUGHEST in the state and it was the farthest that Alta has gone in over 3 years! So they could hold their heads up high! His banquet was a week ago and it was fun! They did some very nice things for the senior boys (an Alta blanket and framed poster of each individual player). The dinner was yummy and Carter earned his Hawgs hat! It's a big deal for a lineman to earn! He's been wearing it proud! He was also shocked to learn that he earned an Honorable Mention in the 5A Region III! Such a HUGE deal! He was literally shocked! He turned to me and said, "Did they just say Crismon?" It was cute! We are so proud of him! He also got his first "official" job! He's been working for Fotofly in Lehi in the Santa studio! He helps move the families through and also helps the Mom or Dads get dressed in the Santa suits. He's really enjoyed it and is LOVING having his own money! :) Let's just hope he'll be able to continue working there after the holiday season!

Will's been in heaven! His football season ended much earlier and he's been chomping at the bit to do something else. We decided to put him into the same program with Carter's trainer, so he started in November and is LOVING IT! He comes home from the workouts totally wiped and is usually SUPER sore, but he's learning a lot and is getting stronger already! In fact we can already see his arms getting bigger! I am hoping he will be bigger, faster & stronger and will be MORE than ready when next years football season starts! He is also thinking about doing track in the spring- FUN! He brought home a project last week from wood shop and I was stunned! He made a beautiful table!! I think we may have found an inner talent there! He reminds me A LOT of Chan when it comes to these things!

Brianne has been busy too! She has been spending every extra moment with friends, but in between that and school she has been working on her voice. She's still taking lessons and has sang another solo at our Ward Christmas party. She sang Silent Night and did great! She's also singing in our Ward choir with me, which is super fun!

I have news as well! I finally landed my dream job! Starting in January I will be moving from Special Ed to the attendance office at the middle school! Woo hoo! I have always wanted a job at a school in the office but those jobs have always been the "you need to know this person" kind of job! And I guess this time I did know the right people! YAY!  I did my first day of training today and I've got a lot to learn! But I am SUPER excited! :)

Chan has been working super hard and we attended his holiday work party and he was getting a lot of accolades from different people. Some even thanking me for letting him work there! I am glad to see him getting appreciated for the work he does. He also tore down the play set in the back yard, rented a tractor and laid gravel for our new shed! It was installed and is wonderful! We've needed this for years but finally decided to bite the bullet! He also decked our house with wonderful Christmas lights and our home looks super festive! I'm so glad he's willing to do all these things! :)

Life is good around here! We are looking forward to the Holidays and spending some quality time with the family! In fact tonight we're going out to dinner, delivering our neighbor gifts, going to check out a cool light show by our home and doing our annual "Santa Bomb"! We're looking forward to it! 

*Santa Bomb- when we secretly place a huge blow up Santa in a fellow neighbors yard to cheer up their home for the holidays! We usually choose families that don't have any outdoor Christmas lights etc. It's our 3rd year doing it and we LOVE it! :)