Teaching Teenagers to Drive

There are lots more hours in the car these days as Jacob and Claire learn to drive. Most of Jacob's hours come from driving to seminary with Jared every morning (Claire isn't ready by then!). 

Fortunately, there weren't lots of these types of moments - only a few stop signs and stop lights run! Jared asked Claire how he was doing as a teacher, and she said "You're great, really calm." Jared responded, "Good - I'm faking it! I'm really terrified!"

One day, Jacob and Dani went to run an errand. Fortunately, Jacob found a good parking spot.

 

Christmas Season

Our beautiful family at Christmas time

Our Christmas tree was beautiful as ever. In fact, it was the exact perfect size - the star was millimeters from the ceiling! We blew a fuse in the extension cord for the first time this year because we used so many lights, so we have two extension cords going up the tree this year - and a remote control - and spinners. Jared has officially turned into Nan!!!

 

As always, the kids got new ornaments. We realized that every year, we add about 15 ornaments to the tree. Who knows where will will keep finding space for all of these.

Torin brings home these drawings all the time. Lots of eye balls - and always watching you!

For the ward Christmas party, Jacob performed on his French Horn

Liam performed in a very cool cello concert. There was no accompanist - it was only cello ensambles. They sounded very good. We hope that Liam keeps progressing the way he has been.

 

First little snowfall

When I saw the snow, I was so exited. I managed to sit through school, and as soon as I was off the bus, I got my coat and gloves on and was over at Ava's, Liam knocking on her door to see if she wanted to play. We ran around, then set to work making a snow man. We actually managed to make one out of the tiny bit of snow! Ava made the hat, Torin made the head, I made the middle, and Liam, as always, made the biggest one. We loved our little snowman! 

We had to use this box for something, so why not a Jamaican bobsled team, complete with bike helmets and an extra person? The box wasn't made to be a 5 person bobsled.  

 

Jared's friend Crystal

Jared was running in Covington along the river when a woman flagged him down. She introduced herself as Chrystal (from Dayton) and explained that she had written a prayer for her kids and put it into a bottle and wanted Jared to help her throw it into the river, so of course they spent a half hour talking, sharing pictures, taking the prayer out of the bottle to read it before sending it to the river. We hear from Crystal regularly and are happy to have her as part of our lives!

 

Misc stories

I finally got my COVID vaccine after waiting forever. The first wasn't bad, but the second gave me and Liam a headache so bad we were face planted in pillows all night. Lucky Torin didn't even have a minor headache!  - KATE

Dani continues to spend time helping with Papa, and his favorite thing to do (and sometimes demand!) is go get ice cream. A Chick-Fil-A milkshake hit the spot earlier this month.

Jared had to run back to the office one evening to get something from the office, and Torin got to come with. This was the first family member to get to see the inside of the office - after over 2.5 years with Great American!

Thanksgiving with the Browns

Dani and Claire went for a wet Thanksgiving morning run - and found a great Christmas-decor filled yard, not far from the Junior High

For Thanksgiving dinner, we had the Browns (plus Trey) over. We started with a big spread of cheese, crackers, and veggies

and had our traditional, delicious Thanksgiving meal. It turned out PERFECT!

After pies, we had various fun activities, like yoga, a movie for the kids and some rousing karaoke for hours!

We are so glad to have friends like the Browns here to celebrate with.

Dos a Cero - USA 2, Mexico 0

The US hosted Mexico in Cincinnati for a World Cup qualifier, and Taylor and Andrew flew out to join Jared going to the game. The pregame atmosphere was super festive with a supporters parade, drums, chants, songs, smoke, and lots and lots of people everywhere.

The stadium outside was lit up for the occasion with stars and stripes moving graphics.

Soccer fans are awesome! The Mexican fans were awesome, and Sam's Army showed up in full force. One of the fans sitting close to us was in his Mandalorian gear.

With our connection with Geoff Stevens, we got tickets to a suite behind the goal. The food in the suite was yummy - it was even decorated with red white and blue macaroons

The weather was cold and misty, but we dressed warm enough and represented the stars and stripes. The seats were incredible - right behind the goal!

In the first half, Mexico was attacking at our end, so we were a little unnerved when some of the action was on our side, including a big save by the US keeper early in the 1st half. As the half progressed, the US seemed to play on the offensive side more and more, and as the 2nd half started, much of the action was right in front of us. In the 69th minute, Christian Pulisic came on, and in the 74th minute he headed home the first goal of the game! The stadium erupted, we high fived anyone around, and celebrated. In the 85th minute, Weston McKennie scored and for the next 5 minutes plus stoppage, the stadium chanted "Dos a Cero" as the US put the game away. It was one of the best sporting events I've ever been to in person - and it was so much fun to watch it with my brothers. We LOVED every minute of it and talked about it for hours afterwards.

We also found ourselves that weekend doing feats of strength - leg wrestling, giving Andrew awkward brother hugs... or something like that. It was fun to have a boys weekend with 2-0 as a highlight!

 

 

"Alexa, how much time?"

Alexa history shows pretty accurately how piano and cello practices often go. Play a song, ask how much time is left. Play part of a song, ask how much time is left. Etc!

 

Date night with Towners and Blackwelders

A fun date night with the Blackwelders and the Towners over at the Blackwelders home started with some delicious tacos and involved a number of hilarious minute to win it games! First, junk in the trunk - we don't remember who won, but definitely twerking was not Jared and Dani's forte!

Dani won the award in the rubber band shooting - not for accuracy, but for the funniest faces made! We would have thought the native Wyoming girl would have done a little better at shooting.

We went digging for worms in our last game diving into a big pile of whipping cream. I guess we only got pictures of Dani 

except this one of Christian!

The evening ended with some relaxing in the hot tub. It was a fun time hanging out with them for the first time!

Fall Fun

Teenagers at Halloween trunk or treat

We added an extension to the driveway! It will make having a 3rd car in the driveway a little easier. No handprints or names were left!

Hanging with papa. 

General Conference - and Torin is taking notes!

With Jacob and Claire going to get their learners permits, it was finally time for Jared to get a new car! He chose a 2018 Audi Q5.

The minion is so nice to not have the steam from the Instant Pot going up to the ceiling, and Kate thinks it is .

Brushes are left everywhere! Sometimes, they are all left on the stairs. Other times, they are left on couches, in couch cushions, in cars, on the stools, under the ping pong table, etc. But rarely in the drawer!

Halloween pumpkin carvings - pretty impressive!

The Cincinnati skyline can be very beautiful both morning, at sunrise, and at night with the city lights.

Claire LOVES mustard! She likes it so much that she likes to make artwork with it. She will make faces on both slices of bread just so she can have extra mustard.

As we neared Thanksgiving, Kate had an assignment to dress up a turkey. Kate made it a granny with poofy hair and a purse!