Happy New Year 2026!

 Scotch eggs!!!  It's definitely January 1st with scotch eggs. We had these for breakfast at my mom's and then we took off to DC!

Time to show Kodai around a little in DC. We went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

We also went to the Air & Space Museum. 

Visited the National Mall too. Pretty cold out!

Haha, someone carrying the dog. 

Also went to the DC Temple Visitors' Center and saw the lights, the Christus and the temple! Such a great place. 

Clark took Kodai on a ride on my motorcycle. 

It was really fun, Sheldon bought a bunch of different treats and had Kodai taste them and rank them. 

Costco Monopoly! Elden didn't want to play but won!

TimTam slams too. 

We also went to the Richmond Temple. It was fun because Kodai met Mark Evans, a counselor in the temple presidency. President Evans served in the Kobe, Japan mission as a young missionary. And President Evan's knows Kodai and Clark's mission president, President Halvorson. President Halvorson and Kodai are in the same home ward. Kodai is friends with some of President Halvorson's kids, and President Evan's knows one of them too from when he served as an area medical missionary. Just some fun connections!

Pulling out the spray whip cream to show Kodai how to whack it off your wrist. 

The first day we could drive on our driveway!!!  Elden pulled up and started honking after dropping off recycling center stuff. 

More car time.

They took Kodai shooting!

And with Buc-ee's only a half hour away, this was a must stop too!

Elden's own little charcuterie board. 

Chole made a yummy crepe cake! 

And then....break was over. Lee drove Kodai back to Richmond, and I dropped of Chloe and Clark in DC. It was so fun having everyone home!  Shanna, Haley and Cal flew home a day or two later, all on the same flight. A sweet note from Clark. It was so fun having Kodai here and seeing him again!

One last night with the siblings before they head back to BYU and BYU-I!

They also went skiing at Massanutten.

Here is the fabric print Kodai gifted us. So pretty!  I'm going to hang it in the loft. 

Lee and I went out to El Paso.

So sad to see them go!

Clark picked them up at the Salt Lake airport. Well, Cal took a shuttle up to BYU-I. So it was fun he could see him once more. 

Indoor track meets started!  It's so nice going to the indoor facility just about 15 minutes from our house. 

We love working at the temple!

I went up to Serena's baptism and her birthday party. So fun!

I took these before or after the ordinance...not during. 

Katie missed the first couple of days of school to be there for Serena's birthday and her baptism. So fun that all of the girls are together!

Breakfast get-together!  Brittany treated us all which was so kind.

Back to BYU sports too!

I went to Costco with Elden and he bought a 3 pack of sparkling cider. Had to throw in a Buc-ees beaver haha. Thanks AI.

Time to bring food to people!

Ah, so sad to see car crashes.

More track meets!  We love seeing Elden throw. It will be fun to see how this season goes and his spring season. I saw Liam run for a little bit. He did great in the mile!