Happy New Year 2025

 2024 went really really fast.  It was such a better year than 2023.  I actually killed it on my 24 in 24 goals!  Wow.  This is partly the result of setting the right goals and keeping it where I could see it frequently so I wouldn't forget about them.  Anyway, we had a fun little pizza making celebration at Maren's last night.  Again, small and simple.  We played SCUM, I held my own--staying mostly in the top half (VP often!) and chatted.  We rang in the East Coast New Year (9 pm) and I was home in bed by 10.  Love it.  I have a huge to do list for the next two days.  So gotta snap to it! 

Merry Christmas 2024

For some reason these pictures refuse to drop into the post in the correct order.  So they feel as chaotic as our Christmas season has.  Pretty appropriate! We celebrated Christmas eve at Maren's.  It was weird for me not to host, but after our exhausting weekend at Hammerhead, I was very okay to not host.  (Plus I hosted Christmas morning for our small group, so it was okay.)  We had a small group for Christmas eve too, so it was simple and nice.  But sadly, no group photo since we didn't do a nativity.  And no group photo on Christmas morning either.  I was off my game!  So here are random pictures of Christmas eve and Christmas day, as well as the Clark outing on the 23rd. 

 

Each kid got a new beanbag.  Ben is loving his.  His new system is stacking the old and new beanbags on top of each other for gaming on the new monitor he got for his room. 

Sarah got staph for Christmas.  Thankfully our good friend helped us get meds on Christmas so she could clear it enough to wrestle on Friday and Saturday. (We held our breath through skin checks--but she passed.) 

Libby got an airfryer for when she moves out (she did not like hearing that.)  The reality of graduating and moving out seems a bit daunting right now.  But now that she has her own airfryer, I know she'll eat! 

Ben with all his loot.  He got loaded up with fortnite V-bucks! 

Sarah's big gifts were a paddle board and the lego succulent set.  She and Libby also got tickets to Colter Wall from Dad.  And they got a spa day with mom.  We probably won't have time until after wrestling.  But it will be fun.  

Before they went down to see presents.
I got Derek a new suit (we have to exchange it, but he's excited I think.)  He got me some new attachments for the kitchen aid.  It will be fun to try them out. 

We did some traditional Christmas Eve stuff...the ring toss! 

Opening PJs on Christmas Eve

Adorable

The Uncle Clark outing was small this year.  But they had a great time.  

It was a very lowkey but Merry Christmas.  I'm so thankful for my Savior and all the blessings we have in our life because of Him.  It was a pleasure to give gifts to those I love in his honor. 

Wrestling Life

Wrestling has been so good this year.  And also so hard.  For the Norton girls, it's most been fantastic.  Sarah has made some huge improvements.  Her official record in Track is 9-9, but she's won at least 3 more than that, 2 at the Edmonds Woodway scramble which never made it into Track, and 1 at NW Duals that was an exhibition.  Libby is 19-3, losing to 2 state champs (one a Utah State Champ and one a WA state champ at Gut check, and one to Winter West, a freshman stud that is thankfully 4A.) 

Our girls team overall, though, has been gutted by illness, injury, mental illness, and grade issues.  So our numbers are down to the point that we can't be competitive as a team.  That's been hard--as we went into this season with VERY high expectations for our individual wrestlers and our team overall. 

 I guess life is about adjusting expectations, right? 

I am so excited to be spending so much time with these girls and the crew though.

We created a really aggressive competition schedule this year--because it was going to be our year.  And now we are taking a skeleton crew.  But it's still worth it...right? 

Sarah's choir also had an aggressive Christmas concert season--3 concerts in one weekend. (Of course also a weekend with a wrestling tournament).  It was worth it--she sang beautifully. And the collaborative concerts with the Evergreen Ensemble were especially amazing.  (I went to 2 out of 3 concerts.)  The wrestling tournament that day was thankfully perfectly timed so I could see Libby take first and then still make it to see Sarah sing! 

 

Christmas Decor & December 1st--a New Tradition?

I usually spend the day after Thanksgiving decorating.  This year I had to spend it cooking 2 turkeys for a Thanksgiving thing at church (Derek was supposed to do it but called in to work), picking up Ben, and at wrestling practice.  Then on the Saturday I took Ben to the only wrestling tournament he could compete in (the rest are on Sundays).  So getting the decor up took WAY longer than usual.  It was very frustrating for me.  But by Dec. 1 it was all done. (This was honestly made more frustrating because I wanted to do some new fun things inspired by watching too many holiday decor facebook reels.  I had to abandon these ideas and focus on getting the decor up and done.) 

New Tradition: 

The girls (especially Libby) wanted new headphones for wrestling season.  They were on sale early in the shopping season.  Ben really wanted a Lego advent calendar.  I decided to combine their desires with a new little gift event.  December 1st we had a special holiday family dinner (it's hard to even have a regular family dinner these days).  We gave them each headphones and an advent calendar (which they have really enjoyed.) 

I guess it's too late to start a new tradition when one of our kids will likely be out of the house next year...but I can send an advent calendar and another gift wherever she is, right? 

For our special family dinner, we had holiday pizza and spaghetti (one of my coping mechanisms for this insane time is to make 2 dinners on Sunday so we can have leftovers throughout the week.) 

Sarah requested this salad. 

The new headphones! They have gotten a lot of use! 

Thanksgiving 2024

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Maren's house in Woodinville.  It was a full and fun day.  I got in on the Rummikub action, but did not win A SINGLE GAME.  Sarah was on fire, winning 1/2 the games.  Veronica Fehlberg took the other 3.  We had a great time eating and hanging out. 

I made a veggie tray to snack on while I was cooking.  Haha.  Not exactly like the example.  But it was yummy. 

My pies were really pretty.  And they all timed out perfectly in the baking.  But somehow the coconut cream reliquified.  Weird.  The flavor was delicious, but the texture was all wrong.  The chocolate mousse was the biggest hit.  I promised to send someone from Woodinville the recipe. But I haven't done it yet.  (One of the many dropped balls lately.) 

Libby played all the games with us this year too.  That was super fun. :)

 It was a hard day for Geneva without Brion.  But she made it through.  It's been interesting watching her go through this grief, knowing that it is a part of life and the plan.  I'm glad she decided to do Christmas in Arizona with the Great Grands to mix it up.  

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I'm thankful to be living this full and rich life (even when at times it seems overwhelming): seminary, wrestling, teaching, parenting, serving in nursery, all the things.  

No Post Record Yikes!

 So wrestling has started.  Haha.  And I've been buried under a mountain of things to do.  But today is a catch up day.  Christmas is over.  Our first two big tournaments are over (2 day travel tournaments have taken up a lot of time and mental space!).  And now I have a few pockets of time to get things done this week before our next 2 day tournament on Fri/Sat.  Thank goodness it's close enough we can sleep at home this weekend.

So, how has it been going? I'm going to do a few different posts to catch up.