Performances

 Grayson just had his kindergarten performance. They read Where the Wild Things Are and Caps For Sale and kinda acted them out. he had a lot of fun with it.

The other three kids were involved in the school play Finding Nemo Jr. We went to opening night and I was so impressed with how well all the kids did in their roles. It was a lot of fun to watch. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Lucas had a singing solo part! He nailed it. All the kids are tired of rehearsals, but it all paid off once they took the stage. I think they all loved the rush and excitement of being on stage. Lucas played Bruce the shark, Hannah was part of the open ocean chorus so she was dressed up as a colorful fish, and Zander manned the play behind the scenes as stage crew. He was also pretty excited that he got to hold the net at the end so we could see him, haha! So proud of these four kids! 

The girl next to Lucas in the wheelchair was so fun to watch. She was one of the little blue fishes that tells Marlin and Dory where to find the EAC before they get caught up in the swarm of jellyfish. Anyway, I'm going to assume she has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal, but when she got on stage her eyes lit up and she looked like she was trying to dance by swaying her arms and sing with the group. It was such a sweet moment to witness, and I am so pleased to see the school included the students with disabilities. We had two kids in that class who wanted to participate. The proceeds of this play are going towards an all abilities playground for our school. We have quite a few disabled students at our school, so I hope we are able to reach our goal and get that playground for the kids.

Our Newest Family Member, Eevee!

 
I cannot believe I'm writing this, but we finally caved and got the kids a dog. We had talked about it since last summer and saved up for all the expenses. I found this pup in Malad, Idaho in January and instantly took a liking to her. We had to wait 6 weeks before we could bring her home. She was the only puppy born in the litter and she looked like such a sweetheart. I couldn't wait to meet her and officially name her. Stephen and I made a short list of all the names we liked. Rogue was at the top because in her first pictures I saw the white tuft of hair on her head and it reminded me of Rogue from X-Men and we were so sure that was going to be her name, but when we finally met her and picked her up it just didn't fit. None of the names on our list fit right. I had Eve written down just because, and I went back to it and said out loud, "There's Eve, but knowing the kids they'd call her Evie." And Stephen said, "You mean like the Pokémon Eevee?" I looked up Pokémon to see what Eevee looked like and she looks like a dog and it felt right, so that's where she got her name.

We surprised the kids after school and they were all in disbelief. We had them each open a gift in the living room that had dog supplies in them and then Stephen came out from our bedroom with Eevee. Hannah sprang up off the couch and gave me a big hug; the kids went over to Stephen to pet the puppy while Zander sat on the floor crying. We finally made his dream come true.

We have loved having her, but it is a lot of work training a puppy good manners. The kids say good night to her every night and good bye every morning on their way to school.

Catching Up

I went to an 80s skate night with my friends from dance class. I haven't put rollerblades on in a long time and we skated until midnight!

This little dude cracks me up. He came out of the bathtub wearing these sunglasses.

I couldn't believe how easily Grayson could slip his whole arm through the mug handle. He's too skinny!

I love this picture of Hannah in her ballet class. So dainty and beautiful

King and Queen Day at school

Zander and his friends playing D&D. You would never guess that this is early February when we should have a foot of snow on the ground. We got next to nothing this year. Driest winter in history.

Luke, Paige, Tommy, Zander, Jack, and Carter

Dad took the older boys out to see the play Clue on Valentine's Day. They loved it! Clue is one of Zander's all-time favorite movies; he's watched it over a dozen times.

While the boys went out I took the younger kids to Bug World at the history museum downtown. 

We had our annual Mother/son Night at the school. This year instead of a dance they had carnival games and laser tag. Love these three boys of mine! This was Grayson's first year and only year to go with Zander.

Ice skating for young men/women

Look at my best high score!

The boys joined a ninja warrior gym. They both got up the smaller warped wall on their first try

2025 In Review

 This was another good year for us, and one that was filled many trips, vacations, and family time.

January: Zander became a deacon and received the Aaronic priesthood.

March: Went on a chocolate train ride on the Heber Creeper in Midway. It was a lot more fun than we were anticipating, and the kids loved it, so that was a win.

April: Went to Arches National Park, Canyonlands, and Dead Horse. We hiked to Delicate Arch in the snow. This was one of my favorite memories from this year.

May: Spent Memorial Day at in Elba at the cabin building another wall and some stairs.

June: Started off our summer break with a trip to San Diego. We had been saving up for this trip for over 5 years, so I am so glad we could make it happen and have a good time going to the zoo, Legoland, and the UUS Midway.

July: We spend a weekend at Flaming Gorge at the Lynn Pettingill Family Reunion. We raced hot wheels, went on a hike, floated the river, and spent time at the lake.

We spent the 4th of July in Twin this year, and had a blast at the Buhl parade. We also got to go to the temple with Devin to receive his endowments.

We had a blast camping in Ririe, ID with grandma and grandpa, Joseph's, and Tim's families. The ice  cave was a bust; I was really disappointed because it was supposed to be our highlight of the trip. My highlight was actually swimming with everyone and playing 500 in the pool. You know its a good game when we have bloody and bruised faces AND we didn't get kicked out, haha!

August: Spent time at Bear Lake with the Washburns, and Zander went to his first year of Young Men's camp.

We went to Almo to see Ezra get baptized, and went to Twin to spend time with Becky and her family and celebrate her 40th birthday! All the kids went to kids camp with grandma and grandpa.

September: Hannah got baptized! I got to get together with my old roommates, we went to Lagoon, and I performed at my end-of-year family luau. Zander went to this first FanX.

October: I performed at the Peery Egyptian Theater in Ogden for our Halloween performance! It was so much fun!, and spent General Conference at the cabin.

November: The older boys became Syracuse's first street hockey champions, and Stephen and I went to New York with Loren and Esther. I love New York. There was so much to do there and lots of good food. Grayson got his two front teeth pulled

I went to Sarah Beckstead's funeral in Idaho and then, on a whim, went to Pocatello to watch Quentin play in the state championship football game. Becky came to town for Craft day!

December: Got to spend time with both families as well as have our own time together. Our winter break was full of fun from visiting family, going to an indoor playground, eating out, going the movies and Classic Fun Center to going back to Twin to see Grady receive the priesthood. 

New Years Eve

Our annual Classic Fun Center Noon Years Eve Party 

Hannah won the hula hoop contest!

Waiting for the balloon drop

Our own family New Years Eve Party

We had angel food cake and different toppings as usual, played an M&M game and answered questions about the last year or something about the new year. For example we shared our favorite memories, what we learned, what we'd tell our future selves, and our new year resolutions. We had a count down and popped our Christmas crackers. I love this family tradition. We let the kids stay up until midnight or as long as they could last. I didn't last, haha.

Pettingill Family Christmas Party

 We played a Pettingill family trivia game, Christmas true/false game, Christmas Match game, and Pictionary. All the games were a lot of fun. Adam won the pot, and Tim forgot to make and bring a cake so we made brownies. It was such a fun night. The highlight was the gift exchange, of course. We missed Becky and Adam.

Brad got me a goliath orientalis beetle for Christmas!

Jaidin made a pillowcase for Lucas