Since this blog is always a December to November recap of our year, I guess I should begin with last Christmas.
We had to say goodbye to the chihuahuas we had tended since May. There were a lot of tears shed. Goodbye Bella and Briggy. The kids got mini pillows with their images on them.
Joyce performed in her last "Nutcracker" with Rise Up School of Dance. Besides being a snow fairy she was also the Rat "Queen."
We hosted a Christmas party for friends, and then took friends to see the decorated windows at the Grand America Hotel.
We also celebrated with family. The Robinsons always have a fun White Elephant Party.
One day during the holiday break, the kids and Sarah went bowling.
The weather was relatively warm and allowed some baseball in the backyard. In fact, we never had to use the snow blower last winter.
The highlight on winter was in January when Sarah's siblings surprised her mom by gathering for her 80th birthday. We created lots of fun memories and laughed as we reminsced on more.
The grandkids partied hard and some even took a trip to the temple together on January 1. It was Joyce's first opportunity to go, and being with family made it even better.
Speaking of birthdays, our favorite library branch (Glendale Library) turned 10. This is where we've taken the kids since they were very little. We made lots of dear friends here. So of course we couldn't miss the party.
In February, John got his Arrow of Light and Sarah finished her duties as a Webelos and Arrow of Light leader. It was sad to say goodbye to so many good friends, but it was also a relief to have one less responsibility each week. John opted not to go on past Cub Scouts. We were pack 3034, sponsored by the Presbyterian Church on C Street. Oddly enough, half our pack attended church at the Cathedral next door, and the other half were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
We were a bit sad in the spring when one of our favorite landmarks was torn down. During COVID, a building in the neighborhood was painted with faces of people who had died unjustly. As we drove by it daily, on the way to school, it prompted lots of serious conversations.
John had a small birthday party this year with his lunch-bunch group of friends from school. Yes, they are all girls. The one on the left has been a friend since they were less than two years old. His favorite birthday present was a large dictionary.
Sarah was able to go on a girls' trip to celebrate a friend's birthday. When they stayed up until 2, Sarah (being more than 10 years older than the oldest of them) went to bed at midnight. The youngest in the group was about 25 years younger.
For Spring Break, we took a road trip to Bakersfield, CA, to visit Joyce's birth family. Here she is with her birth parents, Eric and Patricia, who are still relatively good friends with one another.
She got to meet and spend time with a half sister and grandma.
And of course, Grandma Paddy, who never forgets to send a greeting card for every holiday, including sending one to John.
On the drive home we stayed at a fancy hotel in Vegas, and besides swimming in the pool, the kids' favorite part was seeing a store that sold decorative soaps.
Ever since going to the temple in January, Joyce decided she wanted to attend at least once a week, so on the drive home, we stopped in Cedar City for an hour so she could go. We found it funny that everyone else we talked to were tourists passing through town.
We got home in time to celebrate Easter.
During the school year, the kids attended a monthly activity sponsored by the University of Utah School of Health. Each month they learned a different type of health related science. There were always great hands-on activities, as well as good food. One Saturday, after their class, we toured the Museum of Modern Art on campus, thus the funny outfits.
The kids are finally old enough we taught them to mow the yard. Their enthusiasm, unfortunately, didn't last through the end of summer, but it was nice when they took a turn.
Joyce participated in a Kids' Entrepreneur Market before Mother's Day, and sold homemade chocolates and lotions. She made almost $150 in profits. One customer, through Venmo, sent a compliment later that evening, telling us how she and her son were both separately impressed by Joyce's skills.
Her other skills involve gymnastics and dance. Here she is at her spring dance recital. Her dance numbers were based on the children's books, Frog and Toad, and Where the Wild Things Are. She spent most of the summer mastering her back hand spring for gymnastics.
School wrapped up in May. It was their first year attending Salt Lake Arts Academy. Joyce loved it, but John was ready to return to his previous school, Capitol Hill Academy.
We hosted a summer kick-off party for friends, but failed to take photos. We left up the badmitten net, though, and had fun playing as a family.
Our first adventure of the summer involved camping with Sarah's brother, Ron, who visited town with his two daughters. We even hiked to the Timpanogos Caves together.
Then came Father's Day.
Before June was over, Joyce went to Brighton Camp - her first sleep-away camp. She was beyond excited to go, and thrilled to tell us all about it when she got home. Later in the summer she went on an overnight camp with kids from church.
While she was gone, we took John to the Natural History Museum. He also attended a Hogwarts Camp sponsored by the county library with friends: Sophie and Mikel.
While Joyce was gone, we gave her a bedroom makeover for her birthday. She said goodbye to her climbing wall and swing, in exchange for a loft bed and desk.
One of her favorite presents was a balance beam that she was sent on a treasure hunt to find. Bret is a master treasure hunt maker.
To fill her summer, outside of camping, Joyce attended a couple summer programs. She also volunteered at Glendale Library by helping with their summer reading program and Book Baby events. They let her design a display featuring her favorite books.
We took a quick mini-trip to Idaho to see Sarah's sister, Alicia, and her daughter, Lizzie, in a play.
On the way, we stopped in Ogden to watch cousin Cody play in a soccer match. It was probably our first time watching a sports game together and it was fun seeing the kids' excitement.
The kids and Sarah went to Jordan Park (just up the street) to watch the Fourth of July drone show with friends.
Nearly every Sunday we visit Sarah's mother for dinner. The kids find ways to entertain themselves. They often ask her neighbor, Gem Morris, to give them rides on his four-wheeler. He introduced them to geocaching, which we've now shared with others. Sometimes a larger group of cousins gather and stay to play games after dinner. One time Joyce got the idea to deliver snow cones to all the neighbors. She had so much fun that when their cousins, Silas and Phoebe, were visiting, she recruited them to help. It was great watching them make fun summer memories together.
Once a month we also get together with the local Robinsons for family dinner and lesson.
Other cousins, on the Robinsons side, visited, giving us a reason to gather for some backyard summer fun.
In August, Sarah had a birthday.
She decided to celebrate by taking the family on a road trip to Mount Rushmore. It was a bit chilly and wet the day we saw the actual heads.
The kids loved the hotel where we were next door (literally the entrance was right outside our room's door) to an indoor water park.
We stopped at Chimney Rock.
Checked out the dinosaurs looking out over Rapid City.
Took a tour of the Wind Caves where Sarah paid too much money for a souvenir sweatshirt because John is never warm enough. And we toured Bear Country. It was a fun, quick trip before school started.
We attended a neighborhood end of summer party where the kids acquired a lot of helium balloons.
At the end of the harvest season we found ourselves lucky to have five huge watermelons, the biggest one weighed over 33 pounds. We were able to eat three of them The others we shared with friends.
Joyce started school, back at Salt Lake Arts Academy. John went to Capitol Hill Academy, but started about a week or two later. We almost forgot to take a photo so we grabbed one while we were in the car on the way there.
In September, the city redid one of our favorite parks from when the kids were really little. We always called it "Ashtyn Park" after the name of one of our friends who lived next door. It is really called Jefferson Park. We decided we couldn't miss the grand reopening. This is where the kids learned to swing on their own. We took an old friend, Sophie, and a new friend, Zion, with us. In the fall we began a routine of playing with both of them on Friday afternoons at the library doing crafts.
October began with the usual General Conference treats.
We also finally got around to taking our annual fall picnic dinner up the canyon. Instead of going to Millcreek Canyon like we've done in the past, we opted for a picnic site up Big Cottonwood Canyon.
For our Fall Break, we took a quick trip to Idaho to visit Bret's brother, Troy, and family. We went geocaching with them and visited their local aquarium.
Joyce's new dance studio, Dance Crew, has a performance in October.
She used one of her dance outfits as a Halloween costume. It's based on the Demon Hunters movie that was popular. John had fun trying on the hat since his hair reminded us of one of the demons from the movie.
For his real costume, he went as Hagrid. He insisted on crocheting his own beard. He said he "always has to make a part of his costume."
We even got Bret to put on a costume. He's part of a group that went as characters from Lilo and Stitch.
The kids opted to trick-or-treat separately. John went with his friends who we've been trick-or-treating with nearly every year in the city. Joyce wanted to go with cousins in the suburbs.
They had fun comparing their candy hauls.
Before the holiday we went to a couple parties. There was the neighborhood trunk-or-treat as well as a school party for John. On the way home from John's, our driver's side window shattered and fell on Sarah's lap as she was driving down the freeway. Luckily we were safe, but it was a bit intense and scary.
After the holiday was over, the kids lamented not carving pumpkins. Since we had a few mini ones we got from Grandma's garden, they decided to try carving them.
And that brings us full circle, back to November of 2025. Ron came back with his girls for Thanksgiving. Sarah's other brother, Stephen, also came with his family. Ron took the girls to the temple one early morning.
We spent a day in Orem, with Ron's older boys, touring the amazing history of the world stained glass wall at Utah Valley University, and then got sushi for lunch. Sarah's dish was lit on fire.
With all the cousins in town, they decided to help Grandma decorate for Christmas.
And now just two last bits of exciting news that snuck in the weekend before Thanksgiving, but no there's picture proof. First, we started homeschooling John. We felt his homework load was more busy work and time consuming than it needed to be. He's a voracious reader and we felt he could enjoy learning and learn more if he had more freedom and time to do so. Second, Bret was called to serve as the second counselor in the stake presidency. That last bit has honestly been the hardest one to adjust to for all of us. We miss Bret already.
And that's where we leave you until next year. Merry Christmas!
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