Friday, January 2, 2026

December 2025

December 2 - Penny was a big helper, she helped me make the bed and clean the toilets.  She loved looking at the stockings and telling me about them.


We got a tiny little bit of snow.

I put new pictures in our bedroom  for the kids current ages. I have their one year old pictures and a current age.

The pictures in the hall are all updated! How are these kids are all growing up fast?
Maden is a sophomore, Annie is a 7th grader, Molly, Ryder and Clark are in 5th, Declan is in 2nd, Hallie is in 1st! In these pictures, Penny is 2, Scottlynn and Cole are 1.

December 3 - We got a new rug in the living room.

December 5 - Maden is 16! Blake went with us to Olive Garden and Game Stop.  We had a nice dinner with this boy that made us grandparents.  Maden is a really good, happy, smart, kind, young man!

December 6 - We had a little Christmas Party with Blake's family.  Blake, Diana, Natillie, Darbie, Marcele, Harold, Bart, Merralee and Kris all came to celebrate. It's always fun to keep this tradition that Terry started many years ago.

We went over to Parkwood Meadows to celebrate Maden with the annual Bingo party. 

Bingo is always a fun time, Brian gets great prizes! Grandma Beth won the grand prize! $100 gift card to Texas Roadhouse!

Scottlynn sat under the table, and Cole pushed the chair around.

December 7 - We celebrated Jared.  He turned 35 on the 11th!

December 8 - I took this picture off my neighbors Facebook post.  This is our house with a gorgeous sunrise!

Groveland Elementary Christmas Program.  1st Grade. Hallie was so animated and beautiful! 

James Cook and the 4th graders.

5th Grade.  I was so glad Ryder and Molly stood close to each other.  Molly was so happy and animated, Ryder not as much.  They all did so good.

December 12 - We had the Christmas Party at Parkwood Meadows.  Randy's family, Michelle's family and Blake and I joined Mom and Dad.  It was a good evening.

December 13 - Blackfoot 3rd ward Christmas Party - Courtney, Ryder and I had a part in the program, Hallie was an Angel and Molly and Ryder sang.  

December 14 - Grandpa and Scottlynn. 

December 16 - Beautiful Sunrise!

I got to take Penny to celebrate her birthday! She'll turn 3 on Christmas. She chose McDonalds and loved the cookie! We went shopping at Walmart.  She chose a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  She played and played with it when we got home.  Penny is such a happy, smiley, energetic, fun loving, spunky little girl!

December 18 - I got to watch Cole and Penny! We lost Cole, we didn't know he had climbed in the cupboard and we couldn't find him! Penny figured out if she played at the table then Cole couldn't reach her toys. We had a fun morning!

December 20 - Our Blake Purcell Family Christmas Party.  We met at Brian's house for pizza.  We opened some candy that Cindy had sent.  We all got a $100 gift card to use at the Giving Machines.  We included Ken, Cindy and Sydney and even Brody.

Jared's Family "buying" items from the Giving Machines to be donated to charities. They bought an assortment including bikes, seeds, snacks, blankets, tools, shoes, toys and eggs.

Randy's Family bought home security, legal aid, night of safety, seeds, soccer balls, blankets, snacks, diapers, and formula.

Brian's Family bought legal aid, formula, school supplies, calculator, soccer balls, school tuition, period supplies, bike, blankets, snacks, toys and a goat.

Blake and I bought school tuition, and food for Seniors. We bought goats and snacks for Cindy and Ken to donate.

It was a great experience! I loved seeing what everyone decided to donate. It sure felt good to know we were helping some people!

We went back to Brian's house to celebrate Scottlynn.  She'll turn 2 on January 2nd. We sang to her on this cute Blue cake. She loved the cake, it was yummy! She also loved her water Bluey toy.

Cole and Tillie the dog were kissing each other. He loved the fun toy Aubrey brought out for him.  He wasn't sure he loved being put in the box.

December 21 - Scottlynn has figured out she can get up on our bed and loves to climb up there.  Hallie was so cute to read books to her.

This was a fun game of Bean Boozle.  Only the bravest ones can play this game, because you might get a real nasty flavored jelly bean!

More Bean Boozle fun.  Scottlynn was not impressed with her nasty one.

December 23 - Blake and I met Lynne, Rob, Michelle and my Mom at the temple to do sealings. Mom told me later that it was a magical day.

December 24 - Another beautiful sunrise, and then hard rain!

Some of us went to Brian's for Christmas Eve dinner.  The food was great! Cole and Scottlynn are playing Pacman! The dogs can't be left out of the fun.

December 25 - Celebrating Penny! She was thrilled with her new Jeep! I can't believe she's 3!

For Penny's party, they made Gingerbread houses.  It was warm enough to do it in the garage! Clark was kind enough to let me take his picture with his broken down house.

December 26 - It snowed huge flakes when we were in Idaho Falls.

December 27 - We got a little dusting of snow.  We've had more rain this year than I can remember ever having in December.

December 28 - We had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.  Aubrey made the soup, Randy, Brian and Jared grilled up 40 sandwiches. Blake helped by tending Scottlynn and Penny.

December 31 - Starting off the day in a beautiful way.

Cole got introduced to some big tractors! Randy and Jared are helping fix the bed so the new mattress and the old one are the same height. (it has been quite the bed saga!)

Beautiful skies as we drove home from Idaho Falls.


Monday, December 8, 2025

November 2025

 

November 2 - Oh how I love these 3 little ones! They are so full of life and fun!

They all love books, and they don't care who reads to them.

November 6 - This beautiful moonrise could almost pass for a sunrise!

November 8 - We watched Clark play some basketball, and Brian coach his team.

November 10 - We watched Annie play some basketball at the middle school in Shelley. Maden, Clark, Brian and Scottlynn were there supporting Annie.

November 11 - We drove to Tahoe City, CA to meet Cindy and Ken. Blake found some pinecones that were huge!

We took 20 boxes of Coconut Cream Diet Dr. Pepper to Cindy! She loved that it was so much!

November 12 - Blake and I drove from Tahoe City to Yuba City.  We started out at an elevation of 7200 feet, with mountains and pine trees, we just kept dropping down to desert like sage brush. We passed what looked like rice paddies. In Yuba City, we were at an elevation of 68 feet and palm trees!

We went to the Feather River Temple.  It was really nice.  We think the tree that Blake is standing by is an olive tree. 

This is at the cabin where Cindy and Ken were staying.  Such beautiful scenery.

You can see snippets of Lake Tahoe through the trees.

Blake and I were staying at a lodge right on the lake.  

It was very serene and beautiful.  I was photobombing Cindy's pictures.

November 13 - We drove from Tahoe City to Elko, NV. Once again leaving the mountains with pine trees and finding ourselves in a desert with sage brush.

This is the new Elko Temple right out of our hotel window. 

November 14 - We drove down Sage Street where I lived when I was 5 years old.  I think we lived in the yellow house.

We went to the Elko Temple.  It's very small, but perfect for the area.

We stopped to eat at The 208 Grill in Burley, then drove past the new Burley Temple.  

November 15 - We got to hang out with Cole.  He is such a fun, busy, curious, smart, happy little fellow.

We took Cole to Rupes, he waved at people as they came in.  He got an upclose look at this kind of freaky Santa, he was just curious.

November 16 - Oh, the many faces and moods of Scottlynn.  My favorite is her silent fits.

November 17 - Blake is taking advantage of no snow and mowing up the leaves.

November 19 - A beautiful sunset!

November 21 - There was a dinner at Parkwood Meadows.  Cole was the star of the show with all the little kids.  Grandpa Paul even played a game!

November 23 - My new car came! We ordered it from a dealership in Loveland, CO. They drove it right to our house! It's so nice to have my own car again.  Brian made Pavlova.  It was pretty interesting and good.

November 25 - An absolutely wonderful start to the day!

November 27 - Cole just making sure he knows where everything is in the toy cupboard.  Happy was talking to the dogs on the TV.

A gorgeous ride home from Brian and Aubrey's house.

November 29 - We got the house all decorated for Christmas!

It all looks so festive.

The best time of the year!

November 30 - Hallie is being the entertainer for Scottlynn and Penny. I think it was a pretty big job, but she did well.