Happy New Year!

 Our neighbor, John Schneider, set up some photography equipment in his basement to take pictures for his work. The Schneider family invited us over tonight to play games and John took a few pictures of our family.

10,000 chapters of the Book of Mormon

 In late October, Bishop Dennis Bledsoe, the current leader of our ward (our church group) in Kaysville, Utah, issued a challenge to the ward to read 10,000 chapters (collectively) of the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Our family took on the challenge, reading as often as we could over the past two months. We achieved the goal, but more importantly, it was wonderful for all of us to spend so much time in that holy book. Without a doubt, we were blessed for our efforts.

During the weeks I was away for work, I would often read 10-20 chapters each day. It felt good to be continuously lifted by the words in the Book of Mormon instead of being continuously depressed by the words expressed in social media, and the media in general. Now the challenge has ended, but I'm determined not to go back to spending more time immersing myself in the news and social media, than I do in the scriptures, General Conference talks, service, and other, more eternal things.

Two weeks ago, we noticed our ward still had quite a way to go to achieve our goal of 10,000 chapters before the end of the year. So, we decided to set a family goal to read 200 chapters by today, December 31st. We were so intent on achieving the ward's goal that we ended up reading 300 chapters by today. Our children were just as excited as we were to contribute to the overall effort. Douglas read a significant number of those 300 chapters. Penny and Diana read at least one chapter each day.

What a neat experience!

Uncle Don's funeral

 

My dear, kind, wonderful Uncle Don passed away on December 21st. Sam and I took the kids to attend his funeral service yesterday, December 30th. It was a beautiful service.

Last night I, along with many other relatives, attended a dinner in honor of Don's life. Here are Mom and Joseph entering the restaurant, La Jolla Groves.

Aunt Judy (Don's wife) with Mom and Dad.

with Joseph

Sisters - Kathy, Judy, Mom (Marcia)

Riley Zufelt with his Granny (my Aunt Judy)

Sunni Zufelt (Zach Zufelt's wife) with Judy

Jana (Ben's wife), Ben (Judy's son), and Riley

Jana, Ben, Judy

Joseph and Brian (Zufelt)

Uncle Luther (McLaughlin) and Aunt Judy

Carter Zufelt and Uncle Luther

Kelly Zufelt (Judy's daughter), Aunt Judy, Mom

Sarah Zufelt (Carter Zufelt's wife), Aunt Judy, Mom

Elliot Castillo (he performed a beautiful song at the funeral), me, Eric Mclaughlin. Eric paid for the entire dinner.

About to partake of my fine dessert. Dad is making faces in the background.

I had a bit too much sugar last night.

Sam stayed at my parents' house entertaining our kids and their two cousins, Maxwell and Denali, while I went to the dinner with my family. Sam kept them busy with New Year's activities, games, and treats.

Denali

Penny

Douglas (wearing his Christmas Eve costume again - the Inn Keeper) and Maxwell

Diana

I look forward to seeing Uncle Don again when it comes time for me to pass through the veil. He blessed my life and the lives of so many others, and I'm sure he's still blessing lives on the other side.

Christmas

 

We had a delightful Christmas Eve with Sam's family, including the traditional Nativity reenactment.

Ivy and Schofield were Mary and Joseph.

Clayton, Valerie, Jori, and Kendrick were angels, and Penny was the star.

Spencer, Sam, Nate, and I were shepherds, Douglas was the inn keeper, and Kate was a donkey.

Taylor was King (Queen?) Herod and Grandma, Diana, and Harrison were wisemen. Diana insisted she was a wiseWOMAN.

Grandpa Doug was the narrator.

Ivy was good to say "Cheese!" whenever I pointed the camera at her.

We opened some presents. Grandma got a special present from Kate and Clayton. They are going to have child #2 (Ivy is their first child) sometime around August 2024!

Ivy shared her present with the rest of the kids.

Douglas, still in costume, building his present.

Harrison and Ivy playing with Douglas.

We had a couple of crazy games of "Bank" - so fun!

The kids played Christmas Bingo with Grandma.

We adults ate dinner while the kids watched a movie.

Months ago, the Coombs siblings (and their spouses) were assigned one person for whom we would get a Christmas present. Here I am on Christmas Day wearing my Christmas present from Jori: socks with my children's faces on them.

Getting ready to open a few presents.

They are excited to go on a cruise!

We purchased carry-on suitcases for each of the kids, and they got personalized Disney magnets to decorate our cabin door on the cruise ship.

They also received travel pillows (in Arabic and English) from one of my flights to the Middle East.

Sam got us a portable ping-pong table.

Diana on Christmas Day, with Christmas chocolate still on her face.

Today (the day after Christmas) we visited my parents in Provo. Sam gave this cute little Christmas gift to Granny (my Mother). Very appropriate for the large quantity of beans she consumes.

Twas a wonderful day. Our children loved spending time with some of their Frye cousins.

Here's Grandpa (my Dad) eating some delicious food. Granny made the chicken-bean soup. Sam made the bean salad. Ari and his girlfriend, Bella (whose family is from Venezuela), made a traditional Venezuelan bread.

Playing ping-pong with Douglas, Ari, and Maxwell.

We played Bank and Rook.

Maxwell and Douglas pinning Gideon to the floor as Bella enjoys the melee.

Diana and Bella play Volley Shot. Douglas is laughing at something in the background.

Getting a snack before heading home.

Penny and Denali giving goodbye hugs.

Merry Christmas!