This and That In January!

Happy New Year! 

A quick stop off to visit the Perrys and hear about their stay in a cabin in the snowy mountains.

It's hard for me to put away all of the Christmas decorations because everything looks so stark.  And we can use some light in January too, right?  So I left out a few of my snowman families with some lights...

...and my ice skating scene upstairs.

John sent us this photo of their Hogwarts lego display that they completed after Christmas.

Some Perrys and some Melanchuks got to see the musical, "Frozen," in downtown Sacramento.  And in keeping with the theme, they all went for Frosties afterwards!

Special day: Michael receives the Aaronic priesthood and is ordained a deacon and Daniel is ordained a teacher.

Daniel also had his 14th birthday.

Special birthday dinner was sushi!

Camille celebrated her 13th birthday!

And I even still had some roses blooming before it was time to prune them for the winter.

I have been enjoying this large orangish amaryllis Kathy sent me,

and now the second bloom coming on is red.  

So beautiful this time of year!

We started teaching a new group in Primary: seven boys ages 9 and 10.  Some people told us they felt sorry for us.  But we are loving them.  Look at them with their scriptures open!

And we always do something more active.  Here they are trying to shoot the word they found in the scriptures about the Aaronic priesthood they wrote on a paper and posted it on the board.

Sam was happy to report on some baptisms!

And speaking of baptisms:

We had the Melanchuks for dinner on the 27th after Michael served in the temple baptistry for his first time.

Here are the participants for the evening.  (Amanda was with us at home because Nathaniel was not feeling well.)  Super special: Michael was able to be baptized by his Dad for his Grandpa Melanhcuk who passed away last summer.  Daniel was the proxy for him receiving the Holy Ghost.  Darryl said there was the best feeling that his Dad was pleased.

Back at the house.

Kathryn spent the night with us and in the morning we took her to Folsom High where her high school jazz band (she plays the piano) participated in the Jazz Festival.

There was one other special birthday in January.  Here is Julia age 4 and now you can add 20 to that!

She has always loved books and reading and majored in English in college.

This week she accepted a job as an assistant editor with Quintessence Publishing in Batavia, Illinois and begins March 6th!

It's going to be a great year!

Outing #1: Chico and Gray Lodge Wildlife Area!

I got the best Christmas present this year!  

It's a repeat from a similar gift in 2017 but that was SIX years ago.  Hard to believe.

Our first outing was January 15th to 16th.  The weather was cold and dreary so we were able to play lots of games with the Melanchuks in Chico which included:

No Thanks:

And these games:

We also got to play a game Nathaniel loves: 

Guess in 10 Things That Go:

It was fun meeting (clockwise starting with the left) Quara, Sir Percy, Ninja and Inigo

These will be outside cats.  I thought it was cute.  Their 2 year old neighbor came over to see them and she referred to them as "catties!"

Amelia also did a magic trick: She made a quarter disappear and then reappear in someone's pocket.  Amanda just discovered one in her pocket!

We also had lots of laughs with Grandpa's puns.  I think that game was his best Christmas present.

There was also lots of good food, a piano concert, Family Home Evening, and a trip to the park for some.

On our way home we made a detour to visit 

Gray Lodge Wildlife Area.  

Here is what their website says:  

More than a million waterfowl can't be wrong... visit Gray Lodge!

Gray Lodge's diversity and location along the Pacific Flyway make it a haven for wildlife. Surrounded by miles of rich agricultural lands, the approximately 9,100-acre area is managed for the wildlife that call Gray Lodge home for all or part of the year. Reflective ponds, grassy fields and wooded riparian areas provide food, water and shelter for more than 300 species of resident and migrant birds and mammals.

It was late in the day and so we didn't spend a lot of time here but we saw lots of birds and some beautiful scenery and a magnificent sunset.  Here are a few photos:

These trees normally look gray but this is the last of the sun shining on them making them look pink.

We saw lots of ducks.

Here is a view of the Sutter Buttes.  It is sometimes referred to as the world's smallest mountain range.

Birds coming in to roost for the night.

And some more of the beautiful sunset!

We are off to a very good start with Outing #1!

Christmas!

Christmas Eve night the girls got new pajamas...

...and then we went for a walk to see some nearby lights....

...and the luminaries!

I wonder what is in this package that I think is for me?!

I'll have to wait until morning!

Opening gifts:

Opening a family gift:

It didn't take long for her to put this together!

We're ready for Church!

Later the Perrys joined us for dinner.  

This table was having way too much fun if judged by all the laughter!

This table got more exciting when we started playing a "punny" game!

Melanchuks are also off to Church on Christmas morning.

Thanks for the photos!

 Camille was busy with her new Diamond Art:

And a McClellan selfie!

Goodbye to the Harrisons!

They have a long drive ahead including chains over Donner.

It was a very Merry Christmas!