2023 Started With a Bang

January is off to an eventful start. We have had some experiences I wish I could freeze--going to the ice castles and seeing Little Mermaid. We have also been able to spend time with so much family.

The Ice Castles in Midway, UT— Monday, January 16, 2023

Our tickets to the Ice Castles weren’t canceled this time! Yippee!! Jessica, Chris, and George joined us. We drove up Provo canyon in quite the blizzard. I had never been to the ice castles before. We were dressed in full-on snow gear and I highly recommend dressing warm. We had an amazing time! I’m having a hard time describing the atmosphere. It was simply magical. We even saw a bride and groom getting photos taken. There were classy lights, several outside heaters, reindeer, massive and tall ice castles, slides and tunnels, and signs explaining things. One of the signs said something like, “in one day, 10,000 icicles were used.” Another said, “there are over 25 tons of ice used.” 

The kids went down the slides on repeat. Crawling through ice tunnels was popular too. This event was perfect for them. Jessica knows me well and purposefully captured the kids eating their packed sack dinners. We stayed away from the churro and hot chocolate food trucks. Tickets to the castles are a bit expensive. (I have a coupon code if you’re looking at going.) Because of the amount of snow we’ve had this year, the Ice Castles were able to open early. They may stay open longer than usual too, but we’ll see. The ice castles turn colorful when it’s dark and we were able to see some of the colors which were cool. I don’t know if I’ll ever forget Chris’ comment, “Grandma got run over by a reindeer.” Ask him about it. What an experience. The kids were worn out! After our original tickets were canceled, I debated rebooking. Thank goodness I did! The pictures below capture pure joy. James' face is proof.

Dallin and Alysee’s Wedding in Payson, UT— Thursday, January 12, 2023

Most of Andrew's siblings came into town for Dallin and Alysee’s special day. Grannie even got permission to leave her mission in Chicago to come. The Payson temple is gorgeous and the sealing room was large! The sealing was short but tender and sweet. Dallin and Alysee cried and many others. The luncheon and wedding reception were in Provo. The food, company, and entertainment were great. I participated in a skit about Alysee with her other aunts. My line was, “My name’s Alysee Ditto, happy I will be, my name’s Alysee Ditto, a mother me! Babies, babies, everywhere, give me a dozen, I won’t care!” 

We enjoyed seeing so much extended family. I was able to chat with lots of Ditto cousins I haven’t seen in too long. Andrew and several of his brothers snuck out of the reception a little early to watch the BYU vs. Gonzaga basketball game. It was an exhausting day. We were gone for over 12 hours and got home at 9:30pm. Dallin and Alysee are an excellent match and couple and we had a good time celebrating them! Debbie stayed with us and Blayre’s family did for a couple of nights as well. Our nephew, Carter was baptized at our stake center while everyone was together. We packed in many other things too— the aquarium, the BYU bookstore, etc. I slept well after that busy weekend! I even slept in— what!

The Little Mermaid at Hale Center Theater in Sandy, UT— Saturday, January 7, 2023

I have heard rave reviews from many people about the production, “The Little Mermaid.” Of course, I wanted to go and bring the kids! The Hale Center Theater even did some special showings for children ages 3 and up. Cha-Ching! Tickets were basically sold out, so I spent many days searching for some on KSL. I snagged tickets when I had the chance.

The show lived up to the hype. Everything was incredible! After the opening scene, James worriedly asked me, “mom is it over already?” He didn’t want it to be the end. Watching the kids' expressions during the show was my favorite. James’ mouth was open for a large chunk of the show like he couldn’t believe it. One of Izzy’s first comments to me was, “Mom, mermaids don’t have legs. Why does Ariel have legs?” 

We got a couple of extra tickets for the show. We invited one of the kids' friends in our ward to join— Derek. I think Ursula was a bit scary for him. Grandma Denning also came with 10 minutes' notice. We got one more ticket than we thought. The music, sets, and costumes, were better than you can imagine.

January has been eventful in fun ways and unexpected/stressful ways too. More on that later. 

Holiday Season

Our Christmas decor is boxed up and back to gathering dust in the basement. We had an eventful holiday season.

We drove by Christmas lights and ate doughnuts. The kids devoured the doughnuts in record time. My jaw dropped at one of the houses. I guess the Piano Guys recorded a music video there. I can see why. Wow. I don’t think their neighbors in the cul-de-sac are thrilled about the traffic… they had a sign hanging from their porch telling people to keep their windows up and the volume down. The lights are timed to music and were spectacular. The line of cars to see the lights was manageable because it was snowy. I didn't know how well the kids would do sitting in the car for so long. They wanted more lights and we made 4 stops. Shout out to Best Buy for providing an emergency potty just in the nick of time. A distraught 3-yr old barely made it.

We kept the advent calendar and book tradition alive. The kids live for this! Each night, they open a wrapped Christmas book under the tree and enjoy a piece of chocolate while listening. This year James belly laughed at the chapter book, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” 

We took the kids on the “North Pole Express” train ride in Heber City. They got bells from the N. Pole, we sang Christmas songs on the train, hot chocolate and Suss cookies were served, and the kids met Santa. Those cookies made my night. My sweet husband even let me eat his cookie. The kids had endless questions for the elves. I'm glad I was persistent to get us tickets to this sold-out event.  I think our kids were the perfect ages. I don't see this being an annual tradition because it costs a pretty penny and my kids are growing up too fast.

Our neighborhood forgoes neighbor gifts. Instead, we buy toys for a local elementary school with needs. When you drop off the toys, Santa is there waiting with candy canes.

We continued our dollar store gift buying. The kids got to open these presents from each other on Christmas Eve. 

On Christmas Eve, we got Chinese takeout and rented the movie, “Lyle Lyle Crocodile.” Both the kids wanted seconds of Chinese food and James-- the bottomless pit--, even requested thirds. 

We had Christmas dinner at Jessica’s house. She is a fantastic hostess and also had her in-laws over. We sang Christmas carols, decorated cookies, and more. Jessica even had a hot chocolate bar. Oh and Chris made brisket. It was a top-notch meal and celebration. 

I was in charge of our ward Christmas program. This was a lot of work and I’m glad it’s over. There are many things you don’t think about that go into the program. The choir performed 2 songs (they practice in our home). We sang, “Were You There?” And “Can This Be the Child.” There was a beautiful piano duet of the song, “I Believe in Christ.” There was also a violin/viola duet of “Away in a Manger.”  I enjoyed picking music! The program ended with a piano solo by the best pianist I’ve heard (she has 3 master’s degrees), “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” Luckily, I have my mom. I used an old Christmas program she had written and we tweaked it a bit. I had a practice at my house with those in the program. There were 5 readers. So many people in my ward thanked me and stopped me after church. It went well! My parent’s even tuned in from Brazil and my grandma also watched which meant a lot to me. After, I dashed off to accompany Jessica in her ward Christmas program.

We found the best sledding hill! It has been snowing soooo much here! Andrew said it's the most he's ever seen in Utah. Izzy and I enjoyed racing against Andrew and James. 

I chose themed wrapping paper again. Isabelle had pink unicorn wrapping paper and James had superhero paper.

Someone did “The 12 Days of Christmas for Us.” I’ll admit, this kind of embarrassed me. I thought they did it because I gave an emotional testimony recently about what a challenging year it has been. I later learned that others in the neighborhood also received the "12 days of Christmas" which made me feel better. We got a piece of a nativity set each night. It was nice of this family to show us love and much to my chagrin, we didn’t catch them. I have never been more tempted to buy a fancy doorbell with a camera and even looked into it. 

Santa brought James got a battery-powered car to drive and Isabelle got a giant sandbox. The sandbox is massive. 250 pounds only fills part of it. The kids have been entertained for hours.

I made a google sheet and planned events for my family. I did a lot of hosting. Jill, Rob, and Daisy flew in after Christmas. We met my grandma at "The Crack Shack" for dinner one night. Another day I went with my sisters and grandma to see the movie, "The Fabelmans." The boys watched "Avatar" and I was relieved I didn't have to sit through that. Of course, we went thrifting at DI. We played games galore and Jill gave me an early birthday present, a great and easy game called "Just One." We had our sibling gift exchange one night and got matching jammies, had pizza, and our kids dressed up for the nativity. To add to the excitement, Covid made a grand entrance. Ugh.

James and Daisy are BFF's

Nana and Papa sent a package that was so generous. The grandkids got world cup shirts and monkeys.

We celebrated our 10-year anniversary! We did something I have always wanted to do. We went to a different restaurant for each course. We stopped at Salsa Leedos for an appetizer. We had street tacos and of course chips and salsa. We made our way to Texas Roadhouse. The wait was too long, so we put our names on the waitlist and headed to do sealings at the Oquirrh Mountain temple. We returned to Texas Roadhouse and it hit the spot. Steak and rolls. We ended the night at Leatherby's ice cream. We were quite full at this point, but still managed to split Traci's peanut butter cup sundae. We were so grateful that Jess and Chris babysat. It took a few days for our food comas to wear off. 

We had tickets to go to the Ice Castles in Midway on New Year's Eve. Due to the weather, they canceled our tickets which was a bummer. We're looking forward to going another time. Instead, we went to the aquarium and grabbed dinner with my family. The aquarium had a 4:00 New Years' Eve countdown and James was thrilled about the confetti. He collected some and its remnants are all over the car. Yippee. Loveland Living Aquarium had a promotion going and our tickets were already so expensive we learned they could count towards an annual pass. We got a pass. We live so close and our kids really liked the aquarium this time. I hope we use our new pass lots.

 

Izzy was upset it was raining.

It’s no secret that 2022 was trying. My word for 2022 is loss. I lost a baby and my parents in a sense. At one point, I felt pretty maxed out. In addition to infertility/healing from a miscarriage, I suddenly had terrible hives and was dealing with behavioral problems at school. This much I know. I need Jesus and have felt him more than ever in my life. My life and plans have not gone how I wanted them to in 2022, but I know things will work out. Here's to 2023!

2022 Books

I lowered my reading goal this year. I wanted to be more present. Instead of shooting to read 100 books, my goal was to read 50 books. I've finished 52 books so far this year and have read 18,028 pages. I still have time to finish the 53rd book, but we'll see. I spend less time reading heavy and heartbreaking books. I read more light books that make me belly laugh. This year, that’s what I needed. 

We spend a lot of time at the library! It's the best. 

My kids and husband are book lovers too.

The shortest book I read this year was: “The Priesthood Power of Women” By Barbara Morgan Gardner. It’s only 159 pages, but it led to a riveting discussion at book club.

The longest book I read this year was: “Saints #3: Boldly, Nobly, and Independent.” This book is 757 pages. It was a monster. I did learn a lot about faith and was flabbergasted and heartbroken to read about how black members of the church were treated. What faith one family had after being told they could no longer attend.

My average book length this year was 346 pages.

The “most shelved” book I read this year was “To Kill a Mockingbird” By Harper Lee. What brilliant writing.

The “least shelved” book I read this year was “The Hollywood Dropout” By Kiri Case. I was friends with Kiri in High School and she published a book! I have so much respect for her! I binged Kiri’s book in a day and thought it was cute.

My average rating for 2022: is 4.0 stars. And some say I’m a harsh critic…

The highest-rated book on Goodreads that I read is, “Know My Name” By Chanel Miller. This was a very difficult read for me. Chanel is raw in her writing with details about her horrific rape at Stanford University. I don’t think I would recommend this book to most people but I appreciate the perspective and vulnerability.

My first review of the year was about the book: “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters” By Abigail Shriner. I wrote on Goodreads: “This book was extremely informative and I shared a lot of what I learned with my husband. The title is awful and sometimes the tone of the writing bugged me, but I’m glad I read it.” I don't write reviews often and sometimes rating books is stressful for me. 

Rom Coms that got my approval:

• “Almost American Girl” By: Robin Ha
• “The Party Crasher” By: Sophia Kinsella
• “Just Haven’t Met You Yet” By: Sophie Cousens
• “Book Lovers” By Emily Henry. It wasn’t just me that thought this book deserved a standing ovation. It won the romance category on the Goodreads choice awards this year! 
• “Nora Goes Off Script” By: Annabel Monaghan
• “Eight Nights of Flirting” By: Hannah Reynolds
• “Maybe One Day” By: Debbie Johnson
• “Amelia Unabridged” By: Ashley Schumacher

Heavy Books Worth the Heartache:

• “The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear” By: Kate Moore
• “The Warsaw Orphan” By: Kelly Rimmer

Books in a Series you should check out:

• I read the first book in the Inheritance Games series last year. This year I read The Inheritance Games #2: “The Hawthorne Legacy” and The Inheritance Games #3: “The Final Gambit” By: Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Quick and fun.
• These books are near the top of my favorite books this year if not at the very top. “Finlay Donovan is Killing It—#1” and  “Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead— #2” The third and final book comes out January 31 and I’m giddy thinking about it. I never do this, but I think I’ll pre-order this one which says a lot.

More books I cherished: 

• “The Good Sister” By: Sally Hepworth
• “Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting” By: Clare Pooley
• “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” By: Kim Michele Richardson (This one had a slow start for me, but picked up and was worth it). 
• “The Reading List” By: Sara Nisha Adams
• “This Time Tomorrow” By: Emma Straub

Hot titles you might see while browsing the store: 

Many of these books aren’t PG-rated and I did some skipping.

• “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” By: Gabrielle Zein. Goodreads Choice Awards Winner for the fiction category. I had mixed feelings about it.
• “It Ends With Us” By: Colleen Hoover. Pass.
• “The Love Hypothesis” By: Ali Hazelwood. Skip a bit and you’ll enjoy the rest.
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” By: Taylor Jenkins Reid. Interesting storyline, but graphic.
• “Verity” By: Colleen Hoover. Don't bother.
• “The Maid” By: Nita Prose. Goodreads Choice Award Winner for the mystery and thriller category. Read it!
• “Beach Read” By: Emily Henry. Meh? 
• “Lessons in Chemistry” By: Bonnie Garmus. Yes! Women rule.
• “Remarkably Bright Creatures” By: Shelby Van Pelt. Different and fabulous. 

Other books I finished:

• "Funny You Should Ask” By: Elissa Sussman
• “All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood” By: Jennifer Senior
• “Piranesi” By: Susanna Clarke
• “Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance” By: Ruth Emile Lang
• “Sitting Pretty: The View from my Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body” By: Rebekah Taussig
• “Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies” By: J.B. West
• “Crying in H Mart” By: Michelle Zauner
• “The Alice Network” By: Kate Quinn
• “The Judge’s List (The Whistler #2)” By: John Grisham
• “Almond” By: Soh Won-Pyung
• “The Stranger in the Lifeboat” By: Mitch Album
• “The Wife and the Widow” By: Christian White
• “We Were Liars” By: E. Lockhart
• “Jefferson’s Sons” By: Kimberly Brumaire Bradley
• “Keep it Together, Kikongo Carter” By: Debbi Michiko Florence
• “Emmy & Oliver” By: Robin Benway
• “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope” By: William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer
• “Out of My Heart” By: Sharon M. Draper

I’ll aim to read another 50 in 2023. What was your favorite book this year? Tell me and maybe I’ll add it to my list (fantasy might take some convincing). I understand if you can't narrow it down to just one favorite. 

Medical Probs

In October, we had Parent Teacher Conferences. James enjoys school and I was eager to hear how he was doing. We made conferences a family event and all of us attended. It wasn’t the conference I  envisioned or hoped for. Although yes, James scored high on kindergarten testing which wasn’t a surprise, some issues came up. The conference ran long. James' speech was mentioned,  also his poor handwriting (and possibly the need for occupational therapy), and his trouble focusing. Lots of James’ work that the teacher showed us was unfinished. Apparently getting James to sit still and work in class was a challenge. I knew that James had his name written on the “uh-oh board” one day since he told me, but I didn’t realize he was struggling and felt a little blindsided. We decided to head to the pediatrician and discuss the possibility of James having ADD. This is something I’ve always wondered about. After consulting the doc, Andrew and I had to fill out assessments about James’ behavior and his teacher filled one out too. It was determined that James does have ADD/ADHD. 

We started James on medication. Our pediatrician’s son also takes this medication and his firsthand experience was very beneficial. James takes the lowest dose possible. Luckily James does not have to swallow a pill. We put a powder in his breakfast in the mornings. The drug can affect sleep and appetite, but fortunately, James’ body has adjusted well. (He only lost 1 pound after a month on the medication and losing 4-5 pounds is expected.) After hearing about the challenges at school and learning that ADD can affect James’ self-esteem and cause more irritability and anger, I was fully on board with preventing that. Andrew agreed especially since James couldn’t really write. One night, it took 25 minutes to get James just to write his name on his homework. We have seen giant improvements with James and so has his teacher. I am proud of him! I recently got a phone call from the speech pathologist at the school. She is going to assess James’ speech and work with him. James’ teacher no longer thinks James needs to be evaluated for occupational therapy though which is a huge win. Now that he can focus, he can write. Maybe James will get to do the Chinese Immersion program at school next year like he’s been hoping for after all.

My health challenges have been plentiful this year, but the most recent problem has been super aggravating hives. These started in October around the time of James’ diagnosis. The hives were all over my entire body and even went up my neck onto my face at times. Falling asleep was tricky because I was so itchy. The hives were bad enough to wake me up during the night. I went to a primary care doctor and he thought the hives might be caused by stress. He put me on a prescription, but the hives returned ruling out stress. I scheduled an appointment with an allergy specialist (who happens to be in our ward and live on our street). He was booked out pretty far, but I could finally see him this week. I’m relieved. I didn’t end up having to do an allergy test. I guess my skin is so sensitive it would have been hard to read the test results. I'm not allergic to my toothpaste like detective Jenna thought. I learned the term for my sensitive skin is dermatographia. I can take over-the-counter pills to help ease the hives and you better believe I got those pills into my system as soon as possible. Just because I have this skin condition now, doesn’t mean I’ll deal with it forever. The doctor did ask if I’ve had Covid-19 recently and said that hives are a common lingering side effect. There’s no way to know exactly what is causing the hives, but I am thrilled to have a plan moving forward. Stay away hives! Forever.

Travel

I was young when Andrew and I got married. 19 years and 10 months old to be exact. I didn’t realize the importance of marrying a good driver. Andrew is a fantastic driver (professionally trained actually). His skills have come in handy many times throughout the years.

Andrew has had back-to-back travel this month. He drove to Cardston, Canada to attend his Grandma’s funeral. We looked at plane tickets and the prices were unbelievable, so he decided to drive 11 hours. He doesn’t mind driving and got through nearly 2 audiobooks on his solo road trip.

Isabelle’s middle name is Rose after Andrew’s Grandma. Minnie Rose Harvey was born in 1930 and passed away in 2022. She was 92 years old. Grandma Rose has so much posterity! She was known for sending out family emails regularly.  Grandma Rose made family history a priority and she spent so much of her life serving including 26 missions! We spent time with Grandma Rose in April at a family wedding. She was such a sweet lady and led a wonderful life! I’m glad Andrew was able to attend the funeral.

Debbie was able to leave the MTC a day early to be at her mom's funeral

We left to spend Thanksgiving in Spokane 41 hours after Andrew’s return from Canada. Andrew got to drive another 11 hours and did so happily. Our time in Spokane was thoroughly planned and scheduled. Don't fret, we both found time to read. I finished "Saints Volume 3" and Andrew read Brandon Sanderson's latest release any chance he got.  Andrew played sports galore. One evening the family played volleyball. Early on Thanksgiving, the men kept their turkey-bowl football tradition going. I was not envious that they were playing in under 30-degree temperatures. Another morning, Andrew played basketball with the guys. They pulled out Grandpa Ken’s sports pinnies. There was also a pickleball tournament. I joined and played in the kids' bracket with my nieces and nephews. Andrew and Dallin won the adult’s bracket. Pickleball is super fun and I want to look into playing at our rec center. We also went bowling. I'll keep my score to myself.

Looks tempting, right?

Brent and Deena hosted Thanksgiving in their brand-new home, which is stunning. It’s in the mountains in Idaho and you have to have a Four Wheel Drive vehicle and sometimes additional chains to make it up to their place. We were grateful Andrew’s brother let us borrow his car to let us make that steep climb. Unfortunately, someone slid into one of Andrew’s siblings on their way up the hill causing an accident. The next night, a drunk driver spun off the road. The mountains make for an epic place to go sledding. James, Isabelle, and Andrew enjoyed that. Going down the hill once was enough for Izzy. After we ate our hearts out, Grannie gave all the kids their Christmas presents, the adults did the favorite things gift exchange, and there was a talent show. What a wonderful day and late night!

Friday evening was Alysee’s bridal shower and we laughed a lot. Saturday night was the annual ABH (All Brother’s Hike) premiere and pizza potluck. Kelly surprised us by making a video of our cruise to Alaska too. He captured some beautiful scenery and funny moments. 

Sunday morning was Debbie’s mission farewell. The spirit was strong as Debbie testified. She told a story about driving over a snowy pass that I’d never heard before. I was able to accompany the musical number. Debbie's granddaughters sang, "I Can Do All Things.” Isabelle followed the big girls up to the stand and tried to sing along with them. This was not planned and it was the cutest thing. I was worried she was a distraction, but she stood still and was as adorable as ever. She held her 16-year-old cousin's hand for the duration of the song. Later, as we were listening to the recording,  Izzy asked, “Is that the song I sang?” She was so proud of herself. One of Andrew’s brothers asked, “Does Isabelle ever stop smiling?” She has a large fan club in Spokane. Although, Saydee was not part of that club. She was jealous of Isabelle. Our kids loved being surrounded by so many cousins. We stayed at Debbie’s house which meant our kids got to spend lots of time with Owen, Carter, Rhett, and Saydee. 

While everyone was together, we took a family picture. There are so many Dittos! I believe there are 47 of us in this picture. 3 of Debbie’s grandkids are missing because they are on missions. Alex (another grandson) and his wife Alexa are not pictured either. 

Shoutout to Malia for taking this pic!

Andrew’s careful driving came in handy on our journey to and from Spokane. Ladies, add "good driver" to the list of qualities you want in a partner. The Fourth of July pass and Lookout pass were snowy on our drive there. On our way home, we hit quite the storm. Fortunately, our kids were phenomenal in the car and didn't add to the tension. Things were very sketchy and stressful for a few hours near Deer Lodge/Butte Montana. In fact, we got several warnings on our phones telling us to delay travel if possible. There was zero visibility. People were driving maybe 30 miles per hour on the freeway with their hazard lights on. A handful of cars slid off the road. Whew! We made it safe and sound. If even Andrew was scared, you know it must have been bad. I’m thankful this trip happened. James cried as we pulled away from the crowd of Dittos. He didn’t want to leave.