November 2020

November brought not only brought with it a month of gratitude, but time of reflection and remembrance,  new memories with family and friends, and saying goodbye to loved ones.  

It started with Grandma Wayment coming to stay with us for a few days.  Of course that meant ice cream runs, lots of playtime, and showing her around to our favorite spots. 

We also started our Grateful Tree. A fun tradition that helps us remember all the things we have to be grateful for. 

We also took Coco out to take some 2 year old pictures...

And then Grandma and Grandpa Payne came for a visit and it worked out that Quincy had 3 out of 4 grandparents at one of her volleyball games.  

Grandma Payne always helps us make our home beautiful.  This was our creation during this visit

So fun seeing what Coco is grateful for...

We never see rain, so when we do we have to play in it...

Cute Quincy wearing my dress...

Coco decided that this was the way to wear her sunglasses, no matter what anyone else says...

This was a bitter sweet time as we had to say goodbye to our sweet Grandma Johnson.  We find joy in knowing that she has been reunited with Grandpa, in a place where she is no longer in pain, but goodbyes are never easy.  Due to Covid, we hadn't had a chance to visit with Grandma in a long time and that made it that much harder. We will miss her easy smiles and her tight hugs until she greets us in heaven with both.  

I was asked to speak at the funeral and asked Addie to sing I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus.  It was a beautiful tribute to the life that Grandma led. 

Afterwards, the Wayment crew met up for lunch.  Its always good to be with family during these times.  

The girls were allowed to take a rose off of Grandma's casket and Aunt Cathy gave the girls a couple of Grandma's stuffed animals.  Quincy set up this in her room.  She is such a sweetheart. 

Silly girl...

With the death of my grandma and knowing the health of my other grandparents isn't great, I decided that I needed to put more effort into spending time with them.  I called my Grandma Wayment right after the funeral and asked if she would be willing to recreate one of our sleepovers that we used to have.  So, I went and spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Wayment and it was such a great time.  I love hearing their stories, watching old movies, and just being in their presence.  I have always adored them and every moment with them is precious.  

Our grateful tree and our hearts are full...

Thanksgiving preparations...

We decided to host our first Thanksgiving dinner and had our new friends/neighbors The Gibb Family join us.  It was a great day and so nice to be home for once.  

Cutie Pie knows her ABC's...

And just like that we were decorating for Christmas...

And then we took a day to explore more of Snow Canyon.  We found the Lava Tubes and decided to climb down in...

It said that bats no longer hibernate here.  I beg to differ...

And as we wrapped up our November to begin the season of celebrating Christ, we hope we are moving forward a little better than we were yesterday, striving to be grateful for our blessings daily, and reaching out to others with love more often.