Natalie is 17!

 We celebrated Natalie's birthday a day early this year since she had a big weekend ahead of her--state drama! I talked about that in December. She requested butternut squash soup this year. We were hoping to recreate the delicious soup we had in Seattle. It turned out pretty good! Unfortunately everyone else in the family hates squash and hated it. She and I enjoyed it at least. We also made a raspberry sorbet for her dessert that was yummy. I can't remember now what we gave her except that I think she got some airpods and we gave her my old macbook. We watched The Office and had fun relaxing that night. Then we got some snow on her birthday which was fun too.

It was a big year for Natalie and she grew a ton. She became a better actor and singer. She got more leading roles--Katherine in Newsies and Macbeth. She worked concessions at the school and then she got her first real job working at Texas Roadhouse (and learned that customer service isn't always the best). She did great, though, and is really skilled at talking to people and being friendly so it suited her well. She had her first boyfriend and then got through her first breakup. She grew closer to her friends and they were a big support. I love that she has them:

She struggled a bit with school in her senior year but only because she had a lot on her plate with plays and drama competitions and she procrastinated. She realized the thing that most seniors do--grades don't really matter that year so it didn't affect her much. She is still super smart and I love having deep conversations with her about a character, psychology, politics, or just human behavior in general. She's a deep thinker and a deep feeler and I love that about her. She is still cooking and making amazing food that she frequently shares with all of us. She is always coming up with beautiful arrangements of songs that she sometimes shares on Instagram and I just love hearing her sing and play. I'll sure miss that when she moves out.  She is so funny and still makes us all laugh. She loves people and has a ton of empathy. She just glows and people want to be around her. We don't know what we'd do without Natalie.

December

 I loved a snowy walk in the canyon to start out the month:

Nate carried Eve out to the snowman to help put in the carrot nose. He's such a good big brother:

The finished product:

We had our ward Christmas party and Eve loved getting a candy cane from Santa and Mrs. Claus:

The month started out with the excitement of state drama. We drove out to Pocatello to watch and it was so fun. First I have to share the awesome pictures taken of Natalie and her partner Dawson doing their "Spamalot" musical theater piece. It was so funny and so good:

Lizzie came up too to watch:

Joe, Lizzie and I had fun discussing all the talent after rounds and fretting with Natalie while we waited to hear the results. She made it through every round until the finals. Then it was time to wait and hear the results:

They got 3rd place in the state!

We were so proud and it was well-deserved. 

I loved this cute selfie:

All the Primary activity boys picked people they wanted to visit and bring treats to for Christmas. Eli picked Sis. Meservy and I loved getting this picture:

Eli and Maddy tried out for Beauty and the Beast at Ovation and had a fun rehearsing the show:

I love seeing Eve's preschool pictures. She's in the white coat:

I also loved this picture my parents sent:

They finally began digging for our pool. This process ended up being a huge pain but it started out with lots of hope and anticipation:

Nate had to build a Rube-Goldberg machine with his friend Benny:

They worked on it for a long time but it kept not working. Benny went home and I ended up staying up very late with Nate setting it up over and over filming until we finally got one that worked well enough. It was a very stressful night but it worked out in the end, thankfully.

Natalie had her Christmas choir concert:

Nate had his band Christmas concert:

It was the first one I was able to go to and we loved it! Joe went to Uganda for two weeks so it was just me managing a lot of the December events. It was nice having Marsha there too.

Our pool shell was delivered right around Eli's birthday:

Another Evie selfie:

I decided to get tickets to go see the Nutcracker with all the kids. It had been a few years but they did well and liked it I think. Eve didn't want to take this picture though:

That's one of my favorite traditions.

Right before Christmas, I got a call one day that Natalie had slammed her hand in the car door while out for lunch with Vanessa and Jaydon. They were kind and helping her out but I drove there and took her to urgent care:

Luckily it wasn't broken but since the skin was broken they gave her a tetanus shot and gave her a nerve block to clean it which was probably the worst part for her. Thankfully it healed well.

Nate got to show off his cubing skills at the school assembly and I loved getting this picture from Aunt Laura Lee:

We loved having Lizzie home for Christmas break, especially Eve:

I can't remember the context for this picture but I love it:

Eve had a pizza party on her last day of school:

These two fell asleep on the couch one night:

Christmas Eve was on a Sunday this year and sadly Natalie and I were both pretty sick. We stayed home together. She was supposed to play the piano with Eli on the cello but he had to go ahead without here. He played "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and did a great job:

We gathered at Chris and Regina's house again on Christmas Eve and this was our tree charcuterie board. Natalie and I stayed home, sadly.

We gave the kids their new jammies:

I love those crazy kids.

Eve fell asleep during our little Christmas program:

These kids slept in the same room and watched the first Harry Potter movie and then woke up and played board games:

Love these pictures Joe got of the kids coming out:

Eve loved her bike she got:

We had another quiet Christmas day--snacking, puzzling, and enjoying our gifts. The kids got a lot of musical gifts this year--a used violin for Eli, a guitar for Lizzie, fancy recording stuff for Natalie, and a steel drum for Nate. 

We got some snow the day after Christmas:

Jon and Jaime came to visit over New Years and we went on fun hike one morning with them (this was my Be Real which doesn't have them in it sadly).

Eve loved wearing her new Africa dress and a necklace Joe brought back from his trip:

We had a fun gathering at Chris and Regina's for NYE and Eve and Ross just clicked and had a blast playing together. It was cute to watch:

Us adults played Catan and Dragonness:

Eve didn't quite make it to midnight and fell asleep watching something on Regina's phone:

It was a fun way to celebrate the end of another year.