Clark & Chloe's Open House, & Kodai Komes to Town

The last part of the wedding happened--yay! 

We did another hike...the Big Schloss! It has awesome views but it was cloudy outside. There was freezing rain that started about a 1/3 into our hike. On the way down it was really slippery in some places!

Ice formed on my Camelbak too!

We went to the local thrift store. Free cookies. And the guys scored 4 Hawaiian shirts for $10. 

And now the time for the party!!!  We did an open house for Clark. My friend Kristy offered to have it at her house. She had people bring treats and she bought these street tacos. So fun!  Clark's high school buddies came too. 

Hawaiian time.

A lot of my family was there which was great. Other friends came too!

It was really great that Chloe's parents came, and her two younger siblings Ella and Payton. Also, her half aunt, came too! Bob, Chloe's dad, just found out a few years ago that he had a half sister. So wild!

It was great having so many people here. Stressful too, haha. My friend Millie came as well!

Bob and Kelly came to our house for a little bit. We offered them dinner, but they needed to take off. They were going to spend time in DC exploring. It was great that they came!!!  We loved having them here!

That night was the BYU Football Poptart Bowl. Sheldon bought a bunch of poptarts. I think they took a bite whenever there was a touchdown or a point scored. BYU won!

Sheldon did a little sewing too. I showed him a little bit, but thankfully Deborah showed him the rest!

So great having a pingpong table upstairs.

It was quite the night!  Lee made dinner and then left to pick up Kodai from the Richmond airport. Ahh...poptarts...

Someone made a special bread or something for Relief Society and now I can't remember what it was....

Now time to show Kodai around!  We went to the Massanutten overlook for some pictures. 

Golf cart time!  They got hot chocolate at the office basement and then slurpees at 7-11. All on a cold day. 

We went to El Charro for my birthday dinner. 

Costco time....

Another day we invited some friends to join us to walk through the Blue Ridge Tunnel. 

On the way back, we stopped at an overlook for photos. 

Clark and Chloe took Kodai to some caves. We have quite a few in our area. This one is Grand Caverns. Kodai really like it. 

And yep!  My birthday!!

Deb and family took off late morning. I thought they would stay longer but they had to get back. 

Mr. J's!

Lois had Crumbl cookies delivered to me for my birthday! So thoughtful and sweet!

Keylime pie and chocolate cake for my birthday goodies. Thanks for the keylime pie Shanna!

Kodai asked if there was any candy we wanted him to bring. I requested the Black Thunder. It's like an oreo cookie bar. So yummy! He brought some other fun goodies too and a pretty fabric print of Mt. Fuji. 

Party time with fun gifts! 

Clark and Chloe surprised me with new Birkenstocks. That was really fun. I needed to get some new ones--I have Steven Madden knockoffs. Now I have legit ones.

Haley gifted me a really pretty necklace. 

Lee polished my boots!

And since we weren't busy and packed enough, we went to Palmyra the next day. We left about 2am! 

It was pretty special being at the Sacred Grove when it was snowing!

We loved being in Palmyra and showing Kodai the sites there! 

We stopped at Watkins Glen. Too bad it was closed. We did cross the fence and walked in a little bit. Everything was frozen. 

The reason why we left so early to Palmyra was so we could arrive that night at Darrell's for the New Year's Even party in PA! Cosmo is interested in the goodies...

Awww, thanks Serena!

Stacie and Darrell had fireworks for us!  Super fun!

Hope you had a great 2025!  Time for the new year!