2025 In Review

I KNOW a lot happened this year, normally it feels like nothing did, so lets see if I can keep this to a minimum:

 January

-January was such an eventful, but low key month. I started it off with my surgery (which means A LOT of down time spent healing). I'm very excited to say this year was the year that ALL girls were officially, fully potty trained (Gwen became night time trained this month). So that has been a super nice transition! We also found out that Cara passed her A.L.L. test so we got her prepared to start those classes this year.

February

- February always starts out fun with the Superbowl. I wasn't able to stand up straight, but I was still determined to have fun that day and I think I succeeded (which was a nice game to watch). We had a different, but very fun, Valentine's Day. I think I did good with not spoiling the kids too much with stuff. I started to get back into my normal stuff after my surgery (and I'm super happy to say I think I'm officially to the point where recovery is not my first though in the morning - yay!).

March

- March is normally one of our slowest months (the calm before birthday season is what we refer to it as), but this year it was SO busy and so much fun. We went to our very first Disney on Ice (first for ALL six of us and it was so exciting and fun and such a good memory maker event!). Clearly I was feeling a lot better at this point, because it was filled with Memory Maker Days: Color Me Mine, Dreamwalk Park, and a few Thanksgiving Point places (this membership has served us well!), all of which were a hit! 

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day, I got to see my first Hale Center Theater play, and I spent a good amount of time and money updating some house items (including our kitchen appliances!). Gwen went on her first field trip this month. We also started the swim lessons at Goldfish this month (which was SO nice!).

April

-April started off with the Kids' Spring Break, so you know it was filled with activities: Curiosity Museum, Little Beakers Lab (a first and the girls still talk about how much fun it was), The Treehouse Museum, and ended with the Minecraft Movie in theaters. We celebrated Pierce turning three (which included a fun "party" at Jurassic Jungle and Leatherby's dinner). We celebrated a very busy Easter Weekend, which included breakfast with the Easter Bunny. And more home updates, Spring Pics, plus surgery appointments/updates (I finally started feeling more normal this month)

May

- May started with Cara's birthday (and her party at home she really wanted and it turned out more fun than I expected). I celebrated an awesome (but busy) Mother's Day. Mom, Rachel, and I took the older girls to see Wicked (SO great!). We also marked the end of the school year with a fun art adventure.

My biggest thing was going to D.C. with Stace, which ended up being one of my most favorite trips with her (I went into it with very low expectations and it surprised me with how much fun it was).

We had a lot going on with the end of school. AND we had Lucy's ballet recital (which influenced the older girls to try dance this year - most for the awards though, haha)

June

- June was our first official month for Summer. So, naturally, I took them out to Gardner Village for the petting zoo and a fairy hunt. We decided to end with a trip to the Chocolate Covered Wagon for funsies haha. We also hit up Tracy Aviary and finally did the Liberty Amusement rides, which ended up being really fun. Lucy turned five, so we had fun party at Uptown Jungle AND went to our first Fairy Tea Party at Gardner Village (I'm glad we finally got to try that out). We celebrated a more low key Father's Day. We checked out the new Imaginaria at Ashton Garden's. We had a SUPER fun family day at the Zoo and seeing How to Train Your Dragon (Pierce's first theater experience). We threw a really fun Summer Beach Party at home on Friday with the neighbor kids. We had an unfortunate first  Baseball game experience (but that was made up later, no worries). AND we took the kids to their first trip to Lagoon, which went as great as I had hoped!

We also did lot of Frazil Friday runs and the girls got to do a campout with dad. This might be the most fun month we had all year long! 

July

- July started with Larry's birthday (where he went to Wendover and I tried to take the kids on a fun adventure that didn't quite work out how I'd hoped). We had a fun, albeit a little lazier, Fourth of July. We got to have SO much fun at Monster Trucks this year (some hiccups, but overall a very memorable experience). We had a VERY fun day at Cowabunga Bay as a family (being at a water park when everyone else was at work and shutting the place down made it almost feel like a mini vacation). We attempted a day fishing as a family....hopefully we can fit more of these into next year because this didn't exactly wow them as much as we hoped. We hit up as many Thanksgiving Point activities as we could this month (and were very grateful for our membership, we used it up every chance we could this year). We did a lot of swimming! We did a lot of crafting, some other smaller adventures, and attempted another Bees game (which didn't work out) so it was a very busy month!

August

- In the beginning of August, we met up with Marie and Jim and had an amazing time at the Sundance Scenic Lift (something I would so do again!). I also took the girls to the Harry Potter Exhibit, which they seemed to enjoy (Cara still plays with her stuffed Phoenix). We hit up Imaginaria one last time before school started. Our 3rd attempt at a Bees game was successful (it wasn't too cold, the Bees won, AND we got to see the drone show, finally!). All the kids started school this month (Pierce's first year, Lucy was in her real school with Gwen, Gwen started her 1st real grade, and Cara moved to a new school where she is thriving!). The kids started soccer, we went to Thanksgiving Point more, and I got more into decluttering the house. It was a really great month!

September

- At the end of August/beginning of September we went on such a fun (first) family camping trip (this has gotten the camping bug in my system so I'm making it a goal to go more next year!). I had a lot of fun taking Cara to the Harry Potter Symphony (which she still remembers going to). We tested our social anxieties a lot this month, haha (but it was all fun so it was good). Larry and I got our first real date night this month, seeing Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin, which was SO much fun!! I took the kids to Red Butte Gardens, which was a quick visit (because I didn't realize how big it was), but it was very beautiful (pretty comparable to Ashton Gardens, but I prefer Ashton Gardens a tiny bit more)! We also switched the girls from gymnastics to dance, fit in one last swimming day, and started our prep for Halloween. Such a great month!

October

-I finally got to go on one of Gwen's field trips, and it was to the zoo (I love the zoo!). Mom and I tried a new Vintage Market Days spot this year (it was pretty good). I saw another play (I really, really enjoy going to see these now). We celebrated a fun Halloween. I got to have a fun volunteer opportunity during work, soccer finally ended (phew!), and we did more smaller house projects.

November

- In November, Lucy got to go on her first field trip (and I got to go with) to the aquarium (which was a lot more hectic than the last field trip there! We, of course, celebrated Gwen turning 7 (with a lot of 6-7 jokes). We did our first ever North Pole Express that was so magical and wonderful! We had two Thanksgivings (one had only okay food, one was amazing, but we got to see SO much family so it was great!). We also crossed off doing family pics, I did a lot of Christmas shopping, did our annual Santa picture, and saw even MORE family this month (it was a really good month)!

December 

- We started December off with Larry and I having ANOTHER date night (two in one year is going crazy for us haha). We had another food related Memory Maker doing Breakfast with Santa (which was a HIT). We threw something new in our December activities with a Jingle Bell Bubble Rave for the kids. The girls and I went with Nana to see the Nutcracker. We had an amazing, giving, and very messy Christmas. I had a very wonderful birthday. Larry got his spa membership he's been wanting and I got our activity closet cleaned up (and hopefully functioning better!). It was a great month.

I have to say it was a great and busy year! I think we definitely took advantage of all the things that we wouldn't normally do (and who needs a vacation when there are SO many good things nearby?). I think next year we'll definitely not go as hard, because this year seriously flew by, which I knew it would. I'm just glad at the end of it all we have so many fun moments to look back at. Now onto another exciting year, with LOTS of exciting plans. Happy end of 2025, bring on 2026!!