Wrapping Up 2021

 2021; another great year for us! Highlights include, but are not limited to this, my Top 9

Our 10 year anniversary,

8 camping trips in our new trailer,

Kasen losing 6 teeth plus his tonsils, 

 Visiting 3 new hot springs this year, 

2 family hikes; to Stewart Falls and Goblin Valley

Kasen and Tai both learning to ride their 2 wheel bicycles and play soccer,

Growing a pumpkin and a watermelon in our garden for the first time, 

and Kyle joining the DEU Detectives!!

A few things I learned this year:

1. Babies don't just grow out of severe eczema.
2. You can have a milk allergy, drink milk every day, and still not have a consistent rash.
3. Oreos are dairy free.
4. 120 feet of string is not enough for a Valentine's Day maze. Just buy the ball of yarn.
5. How to pull a flatbed trailer and back it into a driveway.
6. Eponine, from Les Mis, is not named Ebony. Only took owning 2 versions of the movie and seeing the play 3 times to know that.
7. It only takes 4 sessions of swimming lessons for Tai to dare bob her head underneath the water.
8. A 2002 Dodge Ram canNOT pull an 8,000lb trailer.
9. If your family acquires a trailer, your husband will want a new truck to go with it.
10. How to pump diesel gas into a truck.
11. Don't trust anyone to cut your hair that is too nervous to even brush it out first.
12. Day 6 after a tonsillectomy is actually the worst day.
13. Babies hands can sunburn.
14. How to use the clippers to give Kasen a haircut.
15. The unclaimed property website is legitimate. To the tune of $91.
16. I don't like dry shampoo. But I do like menstrual cups. Salt brand.
17. Pro Line waders will separate and leak after fishing a total of 3 times and no amount of flex seal, glue or air mattress patches will fix them.
18. 14 hours of sea sickness will convince Kyle to never go off shore, deep sea fishing again.
19. Kyle can catch a fish with his fly fishing rod.
20. When you interview for a job and don't get it, you still might get it.
21. When Kohen falls into Kasen's bathtub Tai thinks it's funny to see his eyes open underwater. But for me, it makes my legs go numb.
22. Steroids treat both croup and eczema.
23. Hippos don't have short, flat teeth like every illustration suggests.
24. I'm too old to sleep on a trampoline and Kasen and Tai are still too young.
25. Take cover when dust storms blow through at Vernon Reservoir.
26. Kids soccer is NOT co-ed.
27. How to not get nail polish off of a couch.
28. Squash bugs in a garden are in fact fatal.
29. Road Work Ahead signs are not made of plastic like the barrels. They are metal and will destroy the entire side of a truck. And then it will cost $1900 to fix.
30. But it only costs $32 to fix a trailer wheel that flies off while driving down a canyon.
31. A brand new microwave, melted on the stove, cannot be fixed.
32. A dog only has to bite twice before being re-homed.
33. Voles were actually the ones digging more holes in our backyard than Peeka was.
34. Little Caesars will always have your pizzas, ordered a week in advance, ready at least 30 minutes late.
35. Pedestals are a thing that washers and dryers are supposed to have, but don't actually come with when you buy them.
36. How to play chess. And Pickleball. Sortof, but not really...
37. The first covid vaccine hurts worse than the second one. And they don't even prevent covid...
38. Never tell someone you pass on a hiking trial that they are almost there.
39. Mormons and/or cops apparently like to blow up hot springs.
40. It takes 5 days to finish a 2000 piece puzzle. And if you end up missing the last piece, check the shower drain.
41. Amazon Freetime tablets can last about 3 years before the screens get smashed.
42. If you don't make it down to Kasen or Tai's room to sing BEFORE they fall asleep at night , they will hunt you down in the middle of the night and demand a song.
43. Christmas Vacation is NOT a family friendly Christmas movie.

Last year I didn't make any goals for the year. It was the first time ever.

So I'm going to pretend that I did accomplish all of the goals that I didn't make! lol Like reading 25 new books!

I do have a few resolutions for 2022 though. They mostly include wanting to be a better parent for my kids. 

-I want to read a few parenting books this year.

-Take them on one on one dates and spend time with each of them every day, besides our bedtime routine. -Give them more connection, love and respect to feel. Look them in the eyes when they talk to me. Remember how much their feelings matter. 

-I want to have more unplugged time with my family. No phones or TV during dinner. 

-We have a goal to go camping together 10 times this year!

-Kohen is starting the new year saying goodbye to his bottle. It's time.

-Kasen told me he wants to learn to cook more so I'm going to teach him to make macaroni and cheese, eggs and ramen noodles all by himself.

-Tai wants to get better at reading and keep getting ready to start Kindergarten this year.

-I'd also love to spend time with my Grandparents learning/helping to bottle food and make jam.

-Maybe even visit Jake's family in Texas?!

Cheers to the New Year!

Besides Christmas

So besides Christmas we have filled Christmas break up with all the other things too!

 I helped Tai put her Mermaid Garden together that she got for her birthday so she's loved watching that grow. For her birthday we also signed her up for a Frozen dance camp for one night where she got to dance and play with Ana and Elsa! Whenever she sees other little girls with long braids she asks why they can have an Elsa braid and I can have an Elsa braid and she can't. Oh Tai, how much I too, wish your hair would grow!

All the fun wipes Tai out. She fell asleep on Kasen, waiting for her turn to play a game on dad's phone after Kasen was done. I love that he let her sleep on him. And this is how you know she's my kid; I made her bed and then she slept on top of it so she didn't have to remake it. I did that for the longest time when I was growing up! Slept on top of my made bed!

Tai also got to to to Krista's house for a girl cousin sleepover the night before Krista's birthday! So she has got to do lots of extra fun things this month. Just having a blast.

We got 7 new games for Christmas and I have already played 4 of them. I played Spot It, Trouble and Uno Flip with Kasen and Tai. We painted her sun catchers, we've done 4 of his science experiments, we had an Encanto movie night, Then I took all 3 kids to the movie theater to see Sing 2, by myself, since Kyle got called into work. We've read books and done their Look and Find together, played another matching game and Tai did a 100 piece puzzle all by herself! It was a little mermaid puzzle WHILE wearing her mermaid pajamas! Also, found out that Tai can read. She's reading books to me now. I cannot believe how well she can sound out words. Go Tai! And thank you Upstart.

After all that Kasen came and told me he was bored... And that he wanted to go to the store with the money in his new wallet to buy something. So we went to the store and he picked out a pack of Pokemon cards that cost $2 more than what he had in his wallet. I bought it for him and explained the entire way home that he needed to work to earn the other $2. 

"But you never gave me $2..."

Eventually he understood and so the next morning I taught him how to clean the bathroom! Happiest day since the first time I braided Tai's hair!

This is how Tai "Upside down kneels" for our family prayer at night. Haha and Kohen is still being a turd. He throws tantrums now, but if he's in the kitchen he walks over to the carpet before he throws himself down on the floor. For the past 2 weeks he wakes up about every other night and cries for an hour or so too. We give him uncrustables for lunch sometimes and he won't eat the crimped edge! Haha Who would of thought that kids still won't eat the uncrustable crust. Kasen does it sometimes too.

He's super cute when he says, "Oh!" though when something unexpected happens.

FOUR Christmases

Christmas 2021

We heard Kasen and Tai up making noise at 4:45am on Christmas morning and told them they had to go back to sleep. They ended up sleeping till about 7:45 and it must have been a good sleep cause Kasen ended up peeing the bed! And I'm one of those psycho moms that made him just change his underwear and put his Christmas jammies back on for Christmas morning. 

Before we go see what Santa brought us we read the Christmas Story together and this year Kasen read it to us!

The first thing they saw was Kasen's Hot Wheels track. He's played with them at with Bentley at his house and asked specifically for straight tracks, curved tracks and a loop. He also got a volcano science experiment kit AND a lava lamp! But the lava lamp already doesn't work.... 

He was beyond excited for his Spiderman wallet though! He's been asking for his first wallet.

The other two went for their drinks! Tai was so happy she got a Twilight one to match Rainbow Dash.

Kohen got a toy vacuum and broom set. Wherever we go he finds the broom or mop to push around the floor so now he has his own! He's lucky he didn't just get coal after pulling the entire Christmas tree down on himself and stuffing all my ornaments into the crack of the couch cushions. Kohen was by far the hardest to think of gifts for. We have way too many toys already. Kasen was the easiest. I had SO many ideas that I had to whittle down. Tai was medium hard because the only thing she asked for for Christmas was a tiara. Done!

She ended up getting lots and lots of clothes! Something she really needed because all of her 5T clothes are way too small for her even though she just barely turned 5.

The other thing Kasen asked for was the strongest Pokemon he could get. He ended up getting TONS of new Pokemon cards and is so excited to go trade with them at school.

My favorite gift the kids got was a personalized Look and Find book that has their very own characters in it to find. Each page has different missions so it's lots of fun. The kids and I always do the Look and Finds in the Friend magazine together on Sundays so I knew they would love this book!

We cut it close this year and didn't even take the kids shopping to pick out each others gifts until the day before Christmas Eve! But it's so important to me that they have the opportunity to stop and think about what they could give that someone else might like. And then they come home and wrap their own gifts they picked out too. Kasen got Kohen some Spiderman and Baby Shark jammies then helped Kohen get Tai a mermaid tail blanket. We were going to give Tai the Spot It game, but Kasen says that Tai is sad when she loses so he got it for Kyle instead. Tai went with dad and picked out a paint pour art set. I let Kyle know he can be in charge of helping with that activity.

Kyle picked Kasen out an Eternatus Pokemon card set for Kasen that he was SO excited about! He fell to the floor in excitement and then came to give both of us a big hug! It was so sweet.

Tai's big gift was that we signed her up for her first dance class! Santa brought her the outfit and shoes she will need for her jazz/ballet/tumbling combo class that starts in January! We know she's excited about it cause she roared at us.

Kyle got an air fryer for Christmas and a couple new pairs of shoes, basketball shorts and a shirt!

Kyle bought me 3 shirts, 2 leggings, a cute jumpsuit AND a new hat since the kids ripped the pom pom off my other one. I also got a heatless hair curler, a new game and some customized shampoo and conditioner, which is the most high maintenance thing I have ever had in my life!

We had our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then Grandma and Grandpa Forsyth came over to visit! They give us money to buy the gifts from them with. So we picked out My First Reading Library for the kids! There are 50 books that get progressively harder to read. Grammy Tammy gave Tai warm mermaid pajamas, Kohen got a new outfit and Kasen got new pants and a football! Thank you!

I had Stephanie this year and bought her green converse shoes and Jake and Kristi sent our family passes to go play at Coconut Cove! I made calendars for my parents and they also got E-frames for us to send pictures to. Emma and I went in on a Fat Cats gift card for Grammy to go bowling or to a movie with the family.

Last week I went with my parents to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Forsyth and give them the calendar I make them. They always send us money to pick out gifts for the kids too so this year Kasen got 2 sweaters, Tai got a dress and Kohen got shoes from them. While we were there we read the poem on their Jesus stocking and Kasen was super into all of us writing our gifts to Jesus. He found paper and pencil for everyone and gave it to them, then took everyone's papers and drew pictures on them to match what they wrote and put them in the stocking for Jesus.

Then we headed to our THIRD Christmas and Grandma Melanie and Jack's house! Kasen got more hot wheels cars for his tracks and a container to hold them all in. Kohen got a stuffed Mickey Mouse and an elephant learning toy. Tai got a bracelet bead set and a Barbie camper. We also got a dutch over skillet and a Costco card. Thank you! We got both Lyndsey and Mark and Melanie and Jack a date box that will be mailed to them to do together. Grandma Bowen also sends us a Christmas card with some money.

After that we went to FOURTH Christmas at Grandpa Kelly's house! Kasen got MORE Pokemon cards and a science experiment kit, Tai got a big art set with paints and coloring things and Kohen got an elephant toy. Grandpa also gave us Costco and Cinemark gift cards. Hayden's family had us this year and they gave us 4 new family games to play together! Thank you everyone!

Tai was so cute, setting up her Barbie camper the next morning before church! 

And look at how darling Kohen's long curls are.

After Church we went to Dad's family Christmas party! We each wrote a goal to put in the stocking for Jesus and then played Double Ditto. Later Kasen and Tai both sang us a couple Christmas songs while Grandma played for them. I was so proud of them getting up to sing in front of everyone. They were so cute.

We definitely had a Merry Christmas and are so blessed to have so much family around us to celebrate with. 

"Jesus brings people together

He reconciles me to my God

He reconciles me to my friends

He reintroduces me to myself

With Jesus at the table we feel empowered by love, to deal with guilt that estranges us.

The gospel is a simple invitation to try out the conciliatory power of Jesus

to put Him, the bread of life, in the middle of our table and then to get as many people to the table as possible." 

-Mark Mabry

Christmas Eve

 Kyle didn't have to work Christmas Eve OR Christmas Day at all this year! Yay for being a detective!

Kasen was so excited that their jammies are candy cane jammies because he says candy canes are SO special. Grandma Forsyth taught them all about the symbolism of the candy cane and he hasn't forgotten. "The J is for Jesus and the shepherd's crook guiding us back to Him and the red for His blood and the white because we can be clean again AND if you put 2 together they make a heart!"

His most favorite Christmas music is still Trans-Siberian Orchestra too.

Kasen made a Race to Santa's Workshop game at school that we all played together on Christmas Eve. There are snow flakes that you can move passed and every space has a letter that you have to think of a Christmas word when you land on it.

We tried to decide if we should make homemade pizza, like we did the last couple years, but then chose to smoke a turkey and have a turkey dinner for Christmas Eve. Grammy Tammy came down again this year too. The FIRST of our four Christmases.

Never have I EVER witnessed or participated in an at home nativity performance. I asked my kids last year if they wanted to, but they said no. So I asked again this year, and they said yes! So 2021 was the first ever Liddiard Family Nativity. I liked it. Will probably do it again.

Roll credits:

Kohen: Baby Jesus

Kasen: Joseph

Tai Lynn: Mother Mary

Grammy: Inn Keeper/Wise man with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh 

Kyle: Narrator

Amber: The Angel leading the chorus of 

"Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God in the highest

Peace on earth good will to men, peace on earth good will to men."

I love what Al Carraway posted about the Christmas story:

"T'was the night before Christmas!

and everyone was going to be murdered.

Every single believer was going to be put to death if the star didn't come. They quite literally needed Christ in order to live.

'The time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been in vain'

There's no way for you to know how often I have felt that way. Passing time causing me to doubt and wonder if my efforts and faith were in vain.

'There were some who began to say that the time was past for the words to be fulfilled.'

How easy and tempting it is to second guess and doubt what we are promised during passing time, thinking we have nothing to show for our efforts or that my efforts and my faith have been in vain. Yet even when time and logic may suggest otherwise

'a new start did appear according to the word.'

At a time that was worthy to wonder where God was in any of this, before it was ever too late for them, that exact 

'night shall the sign be given and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken.'

He came.

Christ literally came before it was too late.

Light literally came and drove out the dark.

'There was no darkness in all the night.'

Regardless of circumstances and time, promises and prophecy were fulfilled. And they were blessed. They were saved. 

The Lord will and does fulfill all the words that He has caused to be spoken by His prophets. And to us. Passing time does not dim blessings promised to us. He is mindful of us, of our circumstances, and our time. The right things will never come too late. We will be blessed. We will be saved. We will and do have light! We do and will always have Him. The light and life of the world. A light that shineth in darkness. A light that cannot be dimmed. And like the believers in 3 Nephi who needed Christ in order to live, so do we."

Then we made our traditional Peppermint Blossom cookies for Santa! Tai was the only one that wanted to help me make the dough so she got to lick the beater all by herself this year.

Tai was especially excited to leave cookies and milk for Santa. Grammy rocked Kohen to sleep before she headed home and then we watched The Santa Clause together and the kids were in bed by 10. Mom and dad made it to bed by midnight! Speaking of movies, this year I regrettably found out that Christmas Vacation is NOT a family friendly Christmas movie. But 8 Bit Christmas was completely worth the ending.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!