Zavoral Villa: December 2022

Our first Christmas in the Pentuckett home was really great despite all the stress I was facing with the Shrek Musical at McKinley. One reason it was so much fun is because our kids were at really fun ages: Tanner was 11 and Dallin was 9. So here's a big photo diary of the things we were able to do in December of 2022.

At the famous SONO Fest in our neighborhood, I led a big group of students (about 60) to perform some songs from the school musical as a pre-show promotion. Tanner and Dallin were in the group and everyone did as great as you can on a noisy festival street with hundreds of people, a low quality sound system, and an uneven street for a stage. The kids were adorable.

Lessons at my own home studio went great around the Christmas tree.

Here's a primary activity at the family history center, always super fun and uplifting. Rememer, I was the pimary president at this time, and worked really hard to make sure we had an activity every week. I can't speak for other wards or groups of kids, but I know that God was very clear and direct to me that our primary kids age 7-11 needed weekly acitvities together. Looking back I am SO glad I followed that prompting. As a result, the kids built strong friendships that have carried into their time in the youth program, and I'm convinced they would not be as comfortable with each other if they didn't have these regular experiences together in primary.

We had the nursery kids come into primary during the month of December for their own singing time, and it was absolutely precious singing about baby Jesus with them.

At McKinley, I got to have a lot of fun teaching the 4th graders Alabama Gal, and the best part is that Dallin was in my favorite class of kids (green shirt)

Our friend Karem from Minnesota was in the area and spent some time with us. We sure did miss her and it was so fun to have her with us. We did one of our routine measurings of the boys while she was here.

The ward Christmas activity turned out great. It was nice to not have anything to do with the planning of it. I might have helped with the nativity, though, I can't remember. Dallin made a cute craft. He always has a way of making things into a comic.

Tanner wore his cute nutcracker PJ's.

Baseball event where Tanner and Dallin got to meet Hugh Darvish!

Time for a rest!

Family Wassail Party, Year #9

We did two wassail parties this year and let the guests choose which day to come. One was in the afternoon and one in the evening like a week later. It was fun and memorable! This was especially helpful for Tanner, who prefers smaller groups. I like any size group but especially big groups and I love doing it mulitple times in one year. Jeremy likes one group so it can be less work, but doesn't care the size of the group. Dallin doesn't seem to care at all how we do it--he's just along for the ride.

Science experiments at home! This might have been part of Tanner's assignments with the mixtures and solutions unit in science at school. This one was putting food coloring in milk and seeing what happens when you add drops of dish soap.

This one ended up making an artistic face!

Painting nutcrackers. The boys loved this! It was given to us by Nana and Papa Robertson.

Lego Nativity. The boys also loved this! Given to us by GramZ.

Morning cuddles are the best.

Rainy weather

Tanner fell off the bed and hit the side of the dresser. The boys were in my room rough-housing. I came in to check on them during their fun. Tanner lost his footing on the bed and went flying face first into the handle of the dresser drawer. When I heard his bones smack, I was certain we would be spending the night in the hospital and he would have to get reconstructive surgery. My poor baby.

Luckily, he just bruised really badly and got a black eye. A few days later we discovered he had a hemotoma under his eye, in between the bones and the skin on his face. But not super serious. It took about 6 months to fully clear away. I feel it was a mircale he didn't have a worse injury. Gaurdian angels were watching over him. So thankful.

Tanner created and drew this cute cartoon free hand, and posted it in his room.

Traditional trip to the nutcracker!! This was a special one because I think it was our first time going to an in-person performance since Covid. I felt so special taking my boys to this beatuiful performance, and I was so proud at how invested they were in watching the performance, and how they were excited about the live orchestra.

In primary on Sunday, we had a puppet show for Christmas, using my mom's special puppets. The kids sat on blankets and helped with singing songs throughout the story. Then we had a special treat and sent the kids home with some sort of gift. It was really simple and special. Tanner and Dallin helped with all the puppetry (mostly because I didn't want any other kids touching the puppets since they are really fragile).

Dallin using his Minecraft cookbook to bake more goodies. He really likes baking!

The boys in Fort TOD had a little pet preying mantis that died. They created a beautiful little coffin and memorial space for him, and then had a funeral. They were very sweet about it.

During winter break (and my own vacation time) we had some Shrek rehearsals in my home. We were desperate to help the kids get practicing in, since the school was giving us so much trouble about using space there.

Some of the kids lingered after our practice time and had fun jamming together. Tanner on drums, Dallin on piano, a friend (I believe Kyle) on ukulele.

We don't know what these pictures are for but the boys sure do look grown-up for age 11 and 9. Maybe baseball pictures for try outs?

Out to eat somewhere!

Look at this bed head of hair! I love it!

Right near Christmas, my parents stopped by during a layover that they had on their way to Hawaii for their wedding anniversary. We got to exchange some presents and make a gingerbread forest together.