It was my birthday this week! We had our friends, the Groslands, over as usual on New Year's Eve for games and the countdown to the new year. This year, we were also joined by McKay and some of his family. We had up to three groups playing games throughout the house. It was great fun! We all counted down together and cheered for the new year (and new decade)! The kids ran out in the snow in their barefeet and inside we could see fireworks going off in the valley from our window. Then we all toasted each other with Martinelli's before calling it a night.

The next day, after sleeping in, Kevin took me out for my birthday. We went to the movies and saw Knives Out, then went out for Thai food, and ended at Deseret Book. That evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's for cake and ice cream and family scripture study because we needed to start the new year out right!

The next day school started again for Chey, Cali, Beth, and Ben. That meant we had our family meal at 7am! Ugh. It was hard for all of us to get back to our schedule. We had such fun being out of work and school and being together as a family for so many hours everyday!

But we found our "real" life wasn't all together detestable and we fell back into the routine with more ease than we had imagined. Beth and Ben had karate on Thursday and Cali and Chey had a basketball game on Friday.

Also on Thursday, the first day back to school, we also were asked to sing at the funeral of our dear, elderly friend in Brookside, "the cookie lady," Juanita Mower. Even though it made the day more complicated, it was an honor, and we couldn't refuse. I think it will be a sweet memory for all of us.

Also on Thursday, the first day back to school and the day we were asked to sing at the funeral, Mariah got her wisdom teeth out! She is working on her mission papers and wanted to get it done while she was home for the holidays. It went pretty well for her apart from the usual inability to eat anything solid and the swelling of her cheeks. She is a really cute chipmunk, though.

On Saturday, Beth and Ben played with friends and Cali and Chey had work and a visit from a friend who had moved away. Megan worked her first shift at the temple. McKay picked up a double shift at Los Hermanos leaving Sarah free. So, Sarah and Mariah hung out. That afternoon, Sarah, Mariah, Savannah, Kevin, and I played my new game of Harry Potter Clue. That night when Megan was back, she joined our game-playing group and we played Code Names. It was fun!

College starts for everyone on Monday, so Mariah drives back to St. George tonight. We will sure miss her! And I hope she can eat and that her swelling goes down!

I love this family of ours.