December 2021 Part 9: The Everyday Haps

And now, for the monthly ordinary/not so ordinary haps:

I left my camera on the couch. I knew I shouldn't have been lazy about it, but I was tired. I found it on the floor. I couldn't get the lens cap off, so I ended up needing to unscrew the filter to get the cap off and assess the damage. This is what I found:  

Thankfully it was just a filter that broke, but I also had to order a new lens cap. Learn from my mistake: don't be too lazy to take care of your stuff! 

The kids played games together. 

Nana and Papa came for a visit. 

Gabe had his turn for the spotlight at school, so we picked out photos and sent them to CVS for printing. We picked up a poster board, and I had big plans to make it look really good. Later, I was upstairs working on my computer, and I could hear him down in the kitchen moving papers around. I just knew that he was working on his poster, but I was trying to finish the lesson or whatever I was working on, hoping that he didn't do too much damage. He announced he finished his poster, and I must admit that I loved how it turned out and I love that he did it all by himself. 

We got our kids vaccinated for Covid-19. They were all really brave. I confess I have mixed feelings about this, but Brian really felt the urge to do it, so there we were. 

We set up our old apartment 4' tree in the office. The lights needed to be replaced, so the kids picked blue ones. I have mixed feelings about this as well. 

We finally got to go to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Dustin & Serene and Scooby & Jon. It was amazing! 

Brian caught our farewell group hug on camera. 

(left to right: Scooby, Serene, Me). 

Gracie continued to sleep through most of the days. 

We had dog piles. 

I went with Michael on his field trip to the Natural History Museum at the U. 

We found out that he's taller than some of those mummies. 

Brian packed my lunch for the field trip: 

We, of course, continued to be true blue BYU fans. 

Gabe worked on his writing skills. 

Rachel made this sweet snowman at her school Christmas Party that I was in charge of. Did I mention I foolishly volunteered to be the party mom for the year? Thankfully, there were cool moms that volunteered to help, and so I didn't have to come up with this craft. 

And after who knows how long, we got to meet up with Michael and Kristina for their baby's blessing. It was at Michael's parents' house in Sandy. 

So we got the traditional Michaels shot: 

And our two families together. 

It was so great to see them. Michael's parents and grandparents are always so warm and welcoming that they're basically our family too. 

Michael really got into drawing BYU stuff and taunting his Utah Ute fan schoolmates. 

We visited our friends the Watsons for dinner. It had been WAY too long!

We got ski goggles in preparation for skiing lessons. 

On the day Brian and the kids were going to go skiing with our neighbors, the weather was quite terrible, so they went to Airborne instead. 

And we had friends over for New Years. As usual, we had a kids' countdown early so that they could go to bed. 

Dustin and Serene's family stayed the night, as well as Jen, so we had more fun the next day, but that was in 2022, so we're not going to talk about it here. 

2021 was a really fun year for us. We planted trees, we visited lots of cool places, we met new people, we added a shed and a deck cover to our estate, our theater got installed, and so many other things that I hopefully documented in these blog posts. Stay tuned for all our adventures in 2022. 

 

December 2021 Part 8: Our Annual Christmas Card

 

Dear friends and family,

We are so excited to finally give you the one thing that you actually wanted for Christmas this year (besides socks): our annual Christmas card! This year the Saville family have had so many adventures that we couldn’t even begin to list them all, so we won’t even try. Ok, that’s a lie, we’ll give you a few.

In March, we had four weeks together for Brian’s month of freedom sabbatical. It was originally going to be a trip to Europe, but due to COVID (doesn’t everyone’s Christmas card have that phrase in there somewhere?), we decided to go big in Florida instead. We spent three weeks living it up at the beach, at our rented condo pool, at Universal Studios, and at Disney World. After a week and a half, our spirits started giving out, but then our friends showed up and gave us a boost for the rest of the trip! Also, we hit a major milestone on this trip:  our first major trip without a stroller!And we only had to carry Gabe a couple of times.

After such an epic trip, we decided to sit back and relax for a long time (2 days exactly if I remember right). For some reason, this became the year of trips: we spent many weekends in Idaho (family functions and vacations), went to Yellowstone Park with family, toured Charleston for a week with other friends, drove Idaho and Oregon (dropping into California to see the redwoods) all the way to the coast (visiting sisters), and even visited (but did not stay in) the Idaho Potato Hotel (so named because it actually looks like a giant potato, I couldn’t even make this up if I tried, seriously, just google it). 

We also continued settling into our house by putting in a ton of trees and bushes (I estimate about 5 million) in the new yard, extending the deck by 20 feet, adding a covered roof to the bigger and better deck, and even putting in our own tiny house (AKA the shed) which could double as a small Airbnb if we get desperate or need to put in more trees. We’ve also been cultivating our talents and sitting-still-abilities by attending many musicals (8 as a couple that were wonderful, 3 with kids that were wonderful, but with kids). The entire family (except me) went to swim camp this summer for a week and Rachel and Gabe finally figured out how to swim, which means pool days got much easier. Finally, despite heavy peer pressure, we remained firm in our resolve to never do yoga.

And now for the family, in no particular order:

Rachel (8 going on 8.939) literally never stops singing or dancing her way through 3rd grade. She was baptized in February with her cousin. This was her first year doing dance competitions, and her group earned the Lou Diamond rating, or something like that. I honestly don’t know what it means, but I hear it’s great. She’s currently working hard on her first solo dance, and she will begin performing it in February, at which point she may be world famous.

Michael (12 in body, full on teenager in spirit) is in his final year of elementary school and does not sing or dance since he cannot bring himself to admit he knows how to do either. He became a deacon this year and has been passing the Sacrament like he was born to do it with a twinkle in his eye for his family (not that he would admit that either). Due to the pandemic, we weren’t able to take him to the temple until August, and he is anxiously awaiting the day he can go back (and he might actually admit that). Though his love of all things WW2 and airplanes continues, he has been spending more time designing the perfect paper airplane and playing soccer or football with a passion.

Devri (age undisclosed - I’m not a fool) has been loving hosting parties again (though smaller than before). She has worked tirelessly to decorate, undecorate, and redecorate our house for each holiday, birthday, and innumerable other events that were created simply to have a reason to decorate a house. She has had fun learning how to use a serger (not a surgeon) and cover stitcher (looks exactly the same as a serger but does different things, apparently). She has continued her photography business, but it has largely taken a back seat to general life, vacations, and getting our house in order this year.

Gabe (“5 and a half” if you ask him) is now in kindergarten and has found out he loves reading. He keeps busy with tumbling lessons, turning into the embodiment of anger (with flames leaping from his head like in Inside Out), Let’s Play Music, cuddling with us, making us laugh, praying for us to “remember Jesus and never never never never never never Satan”, and peppering us with kisses. In short, he is the sweet and sour sauce of our family, and we love every bit of him.

Brian (not yet 40, to the disappointment of certain siblings) has been working from home the entire year but has just started going back into the office once a week. Devri really wanted me out of the house early on in the year, until I was actually able to go in, and she realized she actually did like having me around (even when I have noisy meetings). Just after getting back from Florida, I was finally able to fulfill a life dream/goal of putting in a home theater in our basement, with 142” of screen and 11 speakers and 2 subwoofers. It might be the single best thing that has ever happened to me, except for my wife and kids and corrective eye surgery and probably a couple of other things. But it’s definitely in the top 10!

As we reflect back on this year full of disease, restrictions, and anger in the world, we are profoundly grateful for our Savior who has given us peace in the midst of life as we all currently know it. We are also grateful for wonderful friends and family who have been there for us through it all, and we wish there was more time in a year to be able to spend more with you. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and let’s make 2022 great again!

December 2021 Part 7: Christmas Day

Finally, Christmas morning was upon us. Santa had come and left some beautiful packages. 

Santa brought Rachel a lego house. 

Santa brought Michael earbuds and a mini sd card of music for his phone. 

Santa also brought cups and an ice maker for downstairs in our theater room. 

I loved watching how excited the gifter was for the receiver to open the homemade gift from the sibling exchange. 

See how excited Gabe is for Michael to open the marshmallow shooter? 

I love how much Gabe gets excited about clothes. 

Brian got me a sweet imagineering book. 

And don't worry, Santa brought Gabe a remote control dinosaur, as requested. 

Gabe liked his tic tac toe game from Rachel. 

And Rachel got that locket she'd had her eye on for months. 

She was really surprised. 

Michael bought each of his siblings a little gift. It was really sweet. 

I made Rachel a dress and a smaller dress to match for her doll. 

Brian and I found these little notes, which were so cute so we had to document them for posterity. 

(Merry Rex-mas! Dear Gabe, come close I have a secret, you are sweet, and I hope you hear it). 

(I know I have tiny hands but that doesn't mean I can't help in the Christmas expands! [spot 2 candy canes and 3 pieces of holly!])

(To Rixdin, from Gabe Do not open until Crist-mas Eve Eve)

([not in this order] You are the best friend Love Gabe)

(A little frost there...

A little frost here...

No frost is as magical as the frost this year...

How magical is this frosty ornament sight! 

Perhaps it will make the tree glow this Christmas night. 

Some presents there,

Some presents here. 

This amazing ornament will keep the Christmas spirit near.

I hope you know...

I love you so...

and that this ornament I'm giving you 

will give each and every one a cue

that is is Christmas night

Tonight. 

Merry Christmas! 

Rachel)

After all the presents were opened, the kids got to work enjoying them. 

Gabe insisted I wear my matching fleece sweater, since he got one just like it, only green. 

Here's Rachel modeling her new dress I made. 

and the doll. 

She loves her shell box that she got from Nana and Papa. It's very versatile!

We had a wonderful Christmas together.