December?!

I guess ever year goes by quickly.  April felt like it might never end!  And what do you know, it's already December with Christmas around the corner.  WOW! We enjoyed some fun times with friends for birthdays.  Once with Liam and then with Logan.  

We also had friends here to hang out and play.  Haley makes some great homemade hot chocolate. 

We had a little cold spell which warranted me pulling out the head band for running.  

We did our annual bell ringing!  We actually were outside this time.  I like to find an indoor location but this year I opted for outside. 

We started doing the advent calendar as well. It's looking pretty crazy these days. 

The first Friday in December we did our annual ugly sweater party with a twist...we did an ugly mask party via Zoom.  We still did a white elephant gift exchange and also played a game over Zoom--Code Names. For the gifts Shanna and I did a random drawing of who would give to who, then we told the people who they were giving a gift to and to drop it off on their doorstep before that Friday.  It worked and everyone got a gift that participated!  We opened them up over Zoom.  Lauren won the ugly mask contest and I sent her some candy through Amazon.  I also did witht the second and third place winners as well.  Only a handful of people joined in this year, but we had a great time. Some of us also visited at the end which was probably my favorite part.  Lee and I decorated some masks with cotton balls.

This was our white elephant gift.

Our Zoom party!  One more couple got on later-the Mayfields. 

The next day the kids had fun playing Settlers of Catan with Lee while I holed away to work on my stake conference talk. 

Stake conference seemed to go well. I was quite nervous!  I did some prep work almost each day for over a week with reading and studying about how temples can helps us make the Savior a central part of our lives.  I didn't actually finish writing my talk till Saturday evening.  Lee then translasted it.  I felt bad I finished it so late.  All went well getting to the church building and we sat in the overflow on some chairs.  Hardly anyone was at the actual building but about 1600 people attended live and virtually. I was very nervous leading up to my talk, just sitting there waiting.  Bronco Mendenhall was at stake conference as well as his 17 year-old son spoke on prayer.  I went up to the son after and told him that when I was 16 or so I spoke at stake conference on prayer. We didn't realize it till later but Bronco actually was opening the door for us as we went inside the church building.  I of course had no idea who he was and Lee didn't either because of the mask. When he opened the door for me he said, "Oh I see you're speaking in conference!"  And I said, "Who me?  I'm not speaking," in a fake, disbelieveing voice.  But he saw my papers and knew I was giving a talk.  Lee invited people from work and I invited some neighbors and friends to attend stake conference.  Two people from work attended virtually which was really neat. Oh my friend Geneva Swinson also spoke at stake conference and it was awesome because right after her talk she threw away her notes.  It was kind of funny. 

While I was writing my talk the kids were having fun with blankets and pillows. 

I took a break and Lee and I watched the adult session of stake conference in our bedroom.  I think they said about 500 people were attending live and virtually.  The most ever! It was a great session.

This came from Maggie which was so cute.  I got her a little Christmas purse for her birthday.

Sunday evening the Petersons came over and we had fun visiting and enjoying Cal's ice cream sandwiches he made with Lee. 

Lee found an easy batch to index and I did a couple.  Some of the names are intersting...Patrick Fitzpatrick.  Poor guy.

Random photos like always...

Haley found a crêpe recipe online and made them all by herself. They turned out great!  

It's hard to tell but we had our first snowfall of the season!  It didn't stick though. 

The night we were at Logan's for his birthday.

I gave blood in October and heard that the Red Cross was testing your blood for anitbodies to COVID.  I went online and found out my results...negative.  I was hoping I would have some antibodies.  I had a really weird cold this summer, but it was just that.  A weird cold. 

We did some secret Santa drop offs one night.  I found out from a local organization, EAUS, the names of some seniors and a Christmas wish list.  We bought them their gifts and delivered them. I wanted to stand out in the yard and carol, but the kids just wanted to knock and run so we did that.  

Lee and I went to a new-ish restaurant in town, Old 33 Beer & Burger Grill.  Of course we did not get beer as we don't drink alchohol. But the burgers and fries were really yummy!

Shanna snapped a few pictures on the way home from Harrisonburg one night.  There was a gorgeous sunset.