Primary..... That's a Wrap!

 

Today was Ella's very last day of Primary.  Primary is for children ages 3-11 in our church.  I was Primary President for about six years (when all my kids were in Primary) and I've had between 1-4 kids in Primary for the past 14 years.  But all the kids who turn 12 next year will move the the youth program next Sunday (the first Sunday of the new year).   Primary has been such a big part of our family's life for so long, it feels very bittersweet to have it come to an end.  But Ella is excited to join the Young Women program!

Dave snuck this picture of Ella in her primary class on her final day in Primary.  I love the quizzical look she is giving her Dad as she catches him snapping a picture of her and wondering why 🤣

I didn't want that silly picture to be the only one documenting her Primary days, so I'm including this as well.  We took this picture of Ella outside church a couple months ago on the day of her final Primary Program.

We're grateful for the Primary program and for Ella's teachers and all the important lessons she has been taught and songs she has sung and important gospel principles she has learned.  This has provided all our kids with a great foundation and we're sad to see it end.  But there are exciting things ahead in Young Women!

Fun with the Taylor

 

When I found out my cousin John and his wife Miho (who live in Nebraska) would be in Virginia for the holidays visiting their son John and his family, I invited them all up to our house for dinner so we could see them all!  I would have loved to have had them over last night instead of the night before so that we could have all watched the BYU bowl game together!!  But alas, Riley's basketball coach entered them in a tournament this weekend (the weekend in between Christmas and New Years.... 😏 and there were already two missing players so I knew we had to go) and the times of the games were at 5pm and 7pm at a place an hour away - right smack dab during the time of the bowl game.  So, unfortunately we weren't able to make that work, but we still all had a great time on Friday night eating and visiting. 

Ollie, age 5, has started martial arts lessons, so he had fun practicing his moves on Tanner.

Way to go, Ollie!

All twelve of us

The six of us plus John Sr., Miho, John Jr., Youngjin, Ollie and Heidi

We had a great visit!

As for the basketball tournament.... I neglected to take any pictures, but was proud of Riley and her team.  They played three games in the very top division against some very highly competitive teams.  They finished 1-2 so they didn't make it to the Championship game, but we were proud of them for keeping it tight since everyone on their team is really a year-round club lacrosse/field hockey/soccer player who is naturally athletic and likes to play basketball for fun in the Winter.  And they were competing against year-round club basketball players where that is their main sport.  So I was proud of our girls for keeping it close and of Riley who scored 18 points over the course of the three games 🏀

Merry Christmas!

 

On Christmas Eve, we all met at the movie theatre for our traditional Christmas Eve movie.  Thirteen of the 16 of us were there (we missed Jordan, Lexi and Tyler).  Mike and Anne were there as well, just not in this picture.  

We saw Moana 2.

Then we all came back to our house and played Left, Right, Center.  And guess who won?  Me! 😀🤑

Our elves (Jingle and Teeny) left the kids a good-bye note and one final gift/surprise.... Christmas hats that light up.

Around 5 or 6pm, everyone went their separate ways, except Jacque stayed with us and came out with us to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Pats Pizza. 

Then we drove all over town seeing the lights.

Tanner, Ella and Jacque. 

Riley and Frosty

The first "Caution Student Driver" blow-up I've seen 🤣🚗

Perfect for our student driver - ha!

Ella and Buddy the Elf

Bear hugs for Riley

And Jacque.

Merry Christmas!

Then we came back home and gathered the kids together to open their matching Christmas PJs, as per tradition.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight.

The kids all had a sleepover together in Riley's room - another tradition - and then lined up from youngest to oldest on the stairs Christmas morning.

And then they came down to see if Santa came!

And good news..... he did!  We openened stockings first and then made our way to the Christmas tree to start opening gifts. 

Each gift is individually wrapped and we take turns opening gifts so that we can savor Christmas morning and have it last as long as possible!

Another tradition we have is to have the kids pick names for gifts.  They keep it secret so that nobody knows who they are buying for.  It makes me so happy to see how excited they get to see their sibling open the gift that they got for them.  I love to see them excited about giving gifts.

Here is Ella opening Tanner's gift as he looks on.

And then we took a break about half-way through to enjoy Dave's homemade Cinnamon rolls. 

Salty loves the Christmas carnage!

Back to the presents!

An over the door basketball hoop - thanks Hammy and Papa Mitchell!

Ella drew Lacey's name.... she gave her a bulk size box of gum from Costco and performed a rap for her - I have it all on video.... and it was epic!! 😎

Riley opening one of her favorite gifts - a basket full of all kinds of hair care and skin care products. 

Tanner hugging Riley after opening her gift.

Ella knows her way to her mama's heart..... a Dolly Parton cookbook!

Riley thanking Lacey for her thoughtful gift.

Thanks Hammy and Papa Mitchell for Tanner's awesome TKD sweatshirt!  He loves it!

Lacey getting cozy with the new family blanket.

Families that match PJ's together.... stay together!

As we were waiting for Dave's family to come over, the kids announced that they had prepared a scavenger hunt for us.  I have sent them on many a scavenger hunt over the years - it's kind of one of my trademark activities.  So, it was so much fun to have the tables turned and to be the one on the hunt!  Their clues were so creative and Dave and I had so much fun searching all over the house.  We ended up in our room and the kids surprised us with four framed pictures of us in goofy poses.  Very cute!

Then we prepared the house, the food and gifts for Dave's family.  For Dave's parents gift, each of the kids wrote a meaningful note to them.  I should have taken a picture of all of them - they were all so sweet and heartfelt.  Here is Riley's.

Then extended Strom clan gathered around the tree.

Riley's been collecting pull-tabs for a school charity project.  And Mike and Anne presented her with three huge gallon-sized bags full of pull tabs!  Awesome!

And we presented Nana and Grandpa a blanket covered with pictures from our recent trip together over Thanksgiving.

Then we ended the evening with our backyard fire pit.

Then, after all the company had left and dinner was cleaned up and the kids were getting ready for bed.... we gathered them all back together and said that now it was their turn to go on a Scavenger Hunt.

After several clues sending them all over the house, the final clue read, "Now head back to the room where this morning many memories we did make, in order to find out where we're going on Spring Break."  (The kids had no idea we were planning on going anywhere for Spring Break!)

And inside a gift bag, they found this!

They screamed and jumped up and down and hugged us and were so surprised and excited!

This will likely be our final Spring Break as a family of six, since Lacey will be flying the coop this summer, so we're going big this Spring and can't wait to make a million memories together in the City of Light!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!