Brandon Turns 30

Brandon turned 30 this year, so we celebrated with some bowling with his family.

I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of everyone, but his mom and Robbie, Brooklyn, Kevin and Bentley, and Kris, Elexis, and Nova all came. We had a great time!

Jackson had to go back to his mom's that night, so Brandon and I went out for dinner at Nine Irish Brothers. It was so good - the fried pickles were amazing! Afterwards, we drove around the circle to catch the lights before they were taken down.

We had a fun day, but the fun was yet to come - his real birthday present was a trip to Miami, Florida, which began a few days later .

New Year's Eve Skate Party

Our annual Shoaf Skating Party - New Year's Eve 2019. Isaac and Dominika and kids stuck around for the party, and Jacob and Nalon even made an appearance. 

Jackson is really starting to get the hang of it! He spent a lot of time holding onto the rail still, but I think next year he'll be unstoppable.

Ephraim was more interested in getting up on the stage and dancing in front of the mirrors. He spent quite a bit of time up there!

Grandma didn't put skates on, but she did do some laps around the edge with her walker!

Afterwards, we went back to my parents for dinner, games, and root beer floats to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Winterlights

This was our second year in what is shaping up to be an annual tradition - visiting Winterlights at Newfields with my family. It's a nice, festive activity for that dead week between Christmas and New Year's.

We had great weather this year - very mild and comfortable, though it started sprinkling towards the end. I didn't take as many pictures this year, since the lights displays didn't change from last year. We had a slimmer showing this year - Thomas and Madison weren't in town, Isaac and Dominika were visiting other family, and Jacob's family was sick. So it was just us, my parents, Micah, and Tessa and her kids.

Afterwards, my dad treated us to a dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. It had been a long time since I'd gone there. It was fun!

Festival of Trees

While Dominika and Micah were in town, we had a girls day at the Indiana Historical Society - they had almost 100 trees decorated in different ways. It was my first time going, and I really liked it - such beautiful and creative trees.