Elexis's Gender Reveal Party

Brandon's youngest sister Elexis and her boyfriend Kris Settecasi found out they were expecting a baby in early December. She took advantage of new technology to find out the gender early in January. They hosted a gender reveal party where they found out they're having....a girl!

Kevin and Robbie took Jackson and Bentley outside to play while everyone partied inside.

MLK Day and Tessa's Birthday

For Jonah's Christmas present, Tessa planned a boys' ski trip over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in January. My dad, Jonah, Jacob, and Brandon all flew out and met Thomas and Isaac for some skiing. Brandon and Jacob got there a day early and Brandon was so sore that he never went back up the mountain! He took advantage of being in the area and explored temple square and other sites the rest of the weekend.

Everyone stayed at Isaac and Dominika's house, and Adelina declared Brandon her best friend. It was so fun to get pictures and videos from Dominika of Adelina smothering Brandon in the best way. :)

While the boys were gone, Tessa, my mom, and I met for lunch and shopping to celebrate Tessa's birthday. It's become one of my favorite traditions!

Post-Holiday Family Time

The week between Christmas and New Year's is one of my favorite times - family is still around and most people are off work. This was my first year not working in a school with a guaranteed winter break, but because we work so much with teachers and no teachers are in school anyway, we all had the week off. 

Brandon was working with my dad on their house, so I decided to come down with him and hang out with the girls. Since he was working there the next day, too, we decided on a whim to stay overnight and hang out all together. It was so much fun!

The boys ripped up the tile floor and refinished the wood floors - Ephraim even helped!

The girls played games, went to see The Greatest Showman, and hung out.

Later that week, I met Micah and Emerson on the north side to see Pitch Perfect 3, then I went over to the temple. It snowed like crazy and it took me an hour a half to make a normally 35 minute drive, but I made it and it was so peaceful and beautiful.

My parents hosted their annual New Year's skating party on December 30th  - Jackson actually skated this year! He did a great job and kept trying in good spirits each time he fell.

On New Year's Eve, we hung out at home and had an incredible spread - pizza rolls, meatballs and Doritos. :) We had Jackson, so we celebrated early and had a sparkling grape juice toast before putting him to bed. I honestly can't even remember if Brandon and I stayed up until midnight. It was that exciting of a night.

For Brandon's birthday, he and I stayed the night at Story Inn in Brown County. The goal was to get a place with a private hot tub - he loves hot tubs, but doesn't like the people that are usually in them at hotels. The cabin we reserved had a private hot tub, but the water was scalding hot. We couldn't stay in it for more than a minute. Then in the morning, it had gotten so cold outside that our pipes froze and we had no water. They were able to move us to another room, but we never really got to enjoy the hot tub. Bummer.

Two years ago, on January 6th, 2016, Brandon and I went to Institute together then went to Monument Circle downtown and got hot chocolate and talked forever. It was that night that I knew I was going to marry him. Since then, we've made it a tradition to go on the same date on January 6th. This year it was on a weekend, so it was pretty busy and very cold, but we enjoyed the lights and I managed to drink my hot chocolate without severely burning my mouth (which I did the first time we went there).

Christmas 2018

A couple days before Christmas, we went with Brandon's dad and stepmom to his Grandma Pam's house where we opened presents and ate treats. Brandon's dad modeled a vest his mom got him that he didn't think was his style. We have so few photos of Dennis - I had to get this one in here!

On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents' house for our annual Shoaf Christmas. Our grandkid picture hasn't grown in numbers recently but they're all growing in size!

We weren't sure Isaac and Dominika were going to be able to come for Christmas, but we were so happy that they made the trip!

Emerson, Cooper, and Campbell all performed Christmas songs for us on their various instruments (Campbell - piano, Cooper - xylophone, Emerson - cello), Nalon and Holden read from the scriptures, then the guys performed "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" on the handbells. It was awesome!

Then it was present time! The greatest gifts were the surprises from both Alisha and Dominika that they're expecting babies - both due early August.

Jonah opened his gift from his mom - a ski trip to Utah with the older guys. Later in January, he, my dad, Jacob, and Brandon would all meet Isaac and Thomas in Utah for a ski weekend.

Annual Sisters Pic - just missing Madison!

We had Jackson for Christmas morning this year, so when we got home from my parents' house, we set the cookies and milk out and put him to bed. Santa visited overnight and the next morning we opened gifts. We really went pretty low-key this year, sticking to a strict budget, but between grandparent gifts and some hand-me-down gifts from Tessa's kids, he ended up opening A LOT of packages. Legos were the hot-ticket item this year. This boy is officially Lego obsessed, though he really just likes playing with the little guys. Fortunately, they have knock-off Legos at Family Dollar and you can buy entire packages of Lego guys for $5. Brandon got him a Red Rider BB Gun but he was a bit afraid of it at first. I think next year he'll be more excited for that one. :)

After presents and breakfast at our house, we dropped by Brandon's dad's house for presents, then went to Brandon's mom's. These people go all out on gifts for the grandkids, so this is always Jackson's favorite destination on Christmas.

From there, Jackson went to his mom's house and Brandon and I came home to spend the evening together. Sometimes it feels over-the-top with all the different families we have to visit on Christmas, but I'm so grateful we're so close to so many of our family members. We are incredibly blessed to have such a strong support system and happy family relationships. This is one of the greatest blessings in our lives, thanks to the birth and life of Christ and his Atonement that make happiness in family relationships possible. It seems like a wonderful way to celebrate his birth.