Christmas 2019...

Tim works with a math teacher at Waterford-Allen Layton- who is a good friend of Brandon Sanderson and has been involved in a special literary group that gathers once a month to give the author feedback on his writing.  At the awards dinner when Tim got the Educator Prize, we were talking to Allen Layton and he mentioned that he would be seeing Brandon Sanderson that Friday for their group so we told him about Todd Leland's obsession with Sanderson's books and allen said he could get a personalized autographed copy for us to give to Leland.

Wow-sure enough, he got a personalized autographed copy of "Way of Kings" (Leland's favorite), a t-shirt and two pairs of socks.  Christmas morning, Leland was blown away by it all and said it was by far the best gift he has ever received!  So nice of Santa's helpers to make this all happen!!!

Luke asked to ride in the car nearly ever day, so we had fun driving around to see the Christmas lights-gorgeous!

 May and Lincoln came over ...

We went with extended family to see the last Star Wars movie.  So glad it ended well!

 Eric and Mindy's family came over for our annual Christmas party with the Choates, and then the kids stayed over afterwards for a sleepover...

Uncle john and aunt Gretchen, cousin mark and his son, David came over for lunch on christmas Eve and we had fun catching up with them...

amy called from St. Petersburg, Russia and we got to talk with her for a bit-what a treat!

She is doing very well!!!

 Wesley got to talk with her for a bit too!!!

First Christmas!!!

 Luke woke up Christmas morning to some fun toys that Santa left...

And he got his first phone...

And a remote control car...

Brian, Chloe, and Leland spent the night.  Rick, Kelsee, May and Lincoln came over Christmas morning for breakfast and to open presents...

David came over Monday, spent the night and stayed for Christmas Eve.  He came back Christmas Day at 2:00 pm, had dinner with us, spent the night and stayed over the 26th to play games...

Our girl is doing well...

 This little guy lights up the room with his cute smiles...

Christmas day, we played a fun game of Dungeons and Dragons and then drew our characters the next day...just for fun.  It was a fantastic Christmas!!!

May and Lincoln were proud to show us that they know how to use chopsticks—and they really do pretty well.

Monday we had Uncle David over to spend the night.  Luke and Tim picked up some thinly sliced beef, yam noodles, tofu, and Napa cabbage and for dinner we made sukiyaki. We made it with stevia in place of brown sugar, so it was a very keto-friendly meal, which made David very happy :-)

Home Improvement in 2019:

1.  New Kitchenaid dishwasher that works!  It cleans the dishes thoroughly and is so quiet.  This is by far my most treasured acquisition in 2019.

2.  Tim built two large planters in the back yard garden and we had an amazing tomato crop this year. We have plans to put a garden tool shed in the back for 2020.

3.  We got a couple of new bins for the fridge.  

4.  New white cotton sheets and new towels.

5.  Two nest carbon monoxide and fire alarm detectors-one for upstairs and one for downstairs.  Bonus, they come with a motion detecting night light that has been so nice!

6.  We got a building permit and paid the impact fee to put in a basement apartment.  Pricey, but if we had waited, it would have cost much much more because the impact fee tripled in price this year.

7.  Our dryer motor went out and we replaced it with a new one.

8.  In December our garage door opener finally went out.  Tim and Leland replaced it with a much better, faster, quieter one that is connected to our phones.  Love it!