Mama bear happy to have her cubs home!

I had been counting down to Thanksgiving, when everyone would be back together again under one roof since the day I dropped the boys off at BYU in August.  Unfortunately when Jack got sick with Covid a week before Thanksgiving and was stuck in Utah our family reuniting was pushed back another couple weeks.  But how grateful I was when everyone was once again under one roof and how nice it was to have the boys home from Thanksgiving through the new year doing school work remotely during this time.  Now it was time for the festivities to begin like decorating the house!  One of my favorite holiday traditions is Jack making his breakfast of champions.  He may not be known as the cook in the family but he makes a mean cheesy egg! One day we'll trade in using this old griddle from our wedding for the one that remains untouched on our cooktop...ha!

Sadly the day has arrived when I am no longer the only woman in the boys' lives.  Connor was very excited to return to Florida to see his girlfriend Abby and Ty had given me a few days notice to alert me that his "Friend" Lael would be flying out to see him over the break. I think by the end of the visit it would be fair to say she was also his girlfriend.  I certainly couldn't complain about having a few extra hands to help with the decorating and what sweet girls they both are.

It wouldn't be the holidays without Jack purchasing several different types of egg nog to enjoy.  This year we had everyone participate in a taste testing contest to see if price/brand matters.  Ty took a pass on this activity after throwing up all his egg nog last year but it was fun to see which one each person thought was the brand name one vs the Publix brand and then to see which flavor everyone preferred!

I have to give Ty credit for doing such a great job giving Lael a true Florida experience.  He took her to DisneyWorld, they snorkeled in a spring, drove through a nature reserve to see all the wild gators, and watched the sun set at the beach.  In amongst these and all their other adventures he assured me his classwork was still getting done.  Here are just a couple photos he shared with me!

While Sage didn't get to hang out at home between Thanksgiving and Christmas like the boys did since she's in school, she did manage to enjoy her holiday break doing some fun things like her jingle row on the lake with her crew team, ice skating and a holiday party with her church youth group, and hanging out with friends!

I don't know who was happier, me or Ty when he told me that Basin had asked him to return to work during the holidays.  He had worked for them briefly at the beginning of 2020 (and by briefly I mean like a total of 7 shifts before everything shut down due to Covid).   By Christmas though things were starting to pick up and Ty was thrilled to be asked to return! At the rate he blows through money, it was a good thing.  He was also missing his college lifestyle of being busy and social so this was a great way to keep him from getting too bored during the break while earning a little bit of extra spending money! I loved going to Disney Springs to spy on him. It was so sweet to see how much they loved having him there!