Blessings and Highlights of 2021

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

If you are here, it's because you are curious about the goings-on of our family in 2021. I'm delighted to share. AND delighted to be off Facebook, so thanks for checking in!

Here is the run down!

Family blessings include...

1 - A trip to Los Angeles over the new year. We enjoyed spending time with family, seeing the sights, and Q, Kai, and Eloise, and Arthur got to try SURFING for the first time!

2- We had the opportunity to buy our DREAM HOME in September... and we realized we ALREADY live in it! (That realization may be thanks, in part, to adding a shed and pergola to our property, increasing our entertainment and fun in the outdoor space!)

Shed interior - used as work-out space, dance studio, and the loft is magical for sleep-overs!

Shed on the property, and rear garden in spring

view from the shed of yard in the spring

view of the side garden

Pergola added in Sept

basement update made even this space more usable and enjoyable!

3- Went to the Utah Shakespeare Festival this summer. This was a life-time dream! Q's parents came and we got to see fabulous live shows, Evelyn attended a week-long actor's training and even stayed in the dorms, and the rest of us partied at Cedar Breaks and Brian Head!

4 - Recovering from Covid! After our Covid scare in the fall of 2020 when Kai got Covid, Steff and Q both tested positive in March, just days before the vaccine was available to our age bracket. We got it from the kids who barely registered as sick. Steff did OK with Covid but did lose her smell for weeks, and her sense of taste still isn't all the way back to normal. Q had a fever for 14 days but never did lose smell or taste. And we count it all a blessing for now, enjoying the natural immunity while it lasts!

The picture is of our multiple testing rounds (all negative) from 2020

Steff and Quent... 

1. Celebrated 20 YEARS of MARRIAGE with a weekend at Snowbird - one of our favorite summer spots from before we had kiddos. (Had so much fun we couldn't help thinking two things: "We should do this more often" and "The kids would love this!")

Quent...

1. Started a new job working for The Tuttle Twins. Basically he gets to spread his libertarian truth about limited government and economic theory... and gets PAID to do it!

2. Has founded a new yogurt-based religion with MULTIPLE converts! (Essentially Q has become a home-made yogurt guru and we are all enjoying the health benefits from his magic concoctions of micro-organisms!)

3. Is big into the principles found in the book, "Untethered Soul"

Steff...

1. Has made major progress on her knee issues, the largest credit going to receiving a series of injections of ozone gas into her joint.

2. Celebrated ballet in all kinds of ways, including the one year anniversary of the creation of Ballet Aligned (which has grown to about 40 students currently enrolled, 5 teachers, and is hoping to find its own studio space in 2022), two students competing in YAGP (one of whom has gone on to study ballet full-time in Ballet West's professional training division this fall, and the other was cast as this year's local Sugar Plum Fairy), AND getting to enjoy LIVE ballet performance again!

This photo was taken on my 45 b-day. Dancer on left is my 5th consecutive year Sugar Plum, dancer on right is now full-time at Ballet West. My grin reflects the gift I feel it is to work with such talented and dedicated dancers.

Fam before Ballet West's Little Mermaid show where we got to see Kai as a wave (ie: ballet's most impressive lifter of tall women!)

Day after Thanksgiving, we went to Ballet West's Nutcracker in Ogden. Seats on the THIRD ROW, and after watching Kai perform as a mouse, he was able to join us in the audience for act 2! LOVE IT!!!

Kai...

Became an official adult! He even got to celebrate his birthday at Lagoon! He's living in an apartment with a buddy, has a car (when it's in functional order), and was made a Trainee with Ballet West this past January! In addition to getting to perform again, he ALSO enjoyed a few teaching gigs this past summer and his boys class, pictured below, convinced him he may enjoy TEACHING ballet after-all (though the verdict is still out).

Evelyn...

Continues to find things to be passionate about. This year, she is on the Logan High Debate Team, and LOVING it! (And we are loving engaging with her on a more thoughtful and philosophical level about all facets of life as a result!) She has been able to perform in Logan High's production of Hello Dolly, and before her schedule became too complicated with that, was performing weekly as the improve pianist for our local comedy improv troop, "The Antics."

Eloise...

Is still excited about swimming, even when practice was every day at 6am in the summer in a cold outdoor pool! ("I guess you can say it's pretty serious!") She was also able to perform with her homeschool co-op's acting class. And she celebrated turning 12 by piercing her ears! 

She and Arthur were also able to try track and field this summer, and beginning this fall, we revived science club for the two of them, directed by a talented tutor so they aren't limited by their mom's scanty trove of science facts.

Speaking of Arthur...

After getting some encouragement that he had a natural gift for soccer, we enrolled him in... martial arts! A LOT of martial arts. He goes every afternoon for at least an hour, and 3 days/wk, he's there for 2 hours. And all on his own he decided he wanted to master the unicycle, so he saved his money, bought one for himself, and taught himself how to ride using Youtube videos over the space of about 25 hours in 3 days. We are impressed with the tenacity of this kid! He's also deeply philosophical and recently shared with me his secret to pain management which helped me get over a cold. BUT if you asked HIM about favorite things this year, it would probably be time spent with his best friend/cousin, Woody. And possibly his "baby," the cat Stormy who adopted us in 2020.

We are grateful to God from whom these blessings and opportunities to grow flow.

If we have missed seeing YOU this year, we've probably truly missed you! Our busy kids are likely as big of a factor in us not being social as Covid is. We hope your life is full of blessings!  Thanks for sharing your lives with us.

Our mailing address is:

PO Box 474

Millville, UT

84326

Q's cell is 435.227.5542

Steff texts from 801.341.9147