Holiday Moments

Fall is likely my favorite season. We had a wonderful fall, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the time to jot down some of our fall moments from 2022.

Just as we do every fall, we cheered on the Iowa Hawkeyes in their football pursuits. To be honest, it wasn’t the most fun year to be a fan because their offense wasn’t the best, but their defense was incredible. Even though they lacked a solid offense, they almost won the West Division Title for the B1G Ten Conference. However, a disappointing loss to Nebraska (the final game of the season and a game we attended in person) killed that opportunity.

David started preschool, which he absolutely loves. It’s three mornings a week and he looks forward to it. It’s at a Methodist church near our home.

We went to Cox Farms Fall Festival. I remember doing this when I was younger, but it was much, much bigger than I remember. I was so grateful John took off work to go with us because I wasn’t sure I could handle four kids on my own at such a large and busy festival (after going there, I’m sure I couldn’t have managed – especially with a baby). There were so many big and fun slides. Our kids just wanted to keep going down the slides over and over again. It was awesome for kids. John was a trooper carrying Drew and waiting in line with our kids over and over and over. I mainly stayed with Amber and watched the other kids come down the slides.

Blake lived in the DC area during the fall. We were able to see him a number of times. It was fun to have him nearby for a few months.

John took the kids camping a couple of times. He also went on a three-day back packing trip with a few friends from church and my brother Trevor.

We had a fun Halloween. My older kids loved trunk-or-treat at church. For various reasons (weather, sickness, pandemic etc.) we have never attended our church’s trunk-or-treat. So it was fun to see David and Brooke experience it for the first time. On Halloween night, we trick-or-treated on main street in Luray. There are only seven houses in our neighborhood and they’re spread out, so it’s not the best neighborhood for trick-or-treating. For Halloween, David and Drew were ghosts (David wanted him and Drew to have matching costumes), Brooke was Isabella from Encanto, and Amber was an adorable pumpkin.

I took the kids to the Washington DC LDS Temple Visitor Center. Now that the DC Temple has reopened, I’m trying to go every other month to serve inside the temple. On the months I don’t go inside, I take the kids to the temple grounds and to the visitor center. The temple is just under two hours from our house, so it’s a bit of a trek, but I’m trying to be there monthly.

For Thanksgiving, we headed to Iowa to be with John’s family. Highlights of the trip include attending Festival of Trees, celebrating Grandma Lori’s birthday, going to the Nauvoo Temple with John (it’s a rare treat for us to be able to go to the temple together since asking someone to watch our kids while we go is asking a lot), and attending an Iowa Hawkeyes football game with John, his dad, uncles, and a couple of cousins.