The Coria Family

December was a fun, busy month.  Ryan and Nicole had their first baby!  We are smitten with her and are so excited.  They named her after Daniel which was very sweet.  Ava Danielle.  It was Gracie’s birthday wish to hold baby Ava.  This wish was granted as Ava came a few weeks early.

We are so excited to have a new cousin/niece!

Birthday wish!

Other notable events in December were gingerbread house making, Gracie’s 17th Birthday, Christmas, an early anniversary trip for Marc & I, & New Years!  It was a beautiful holiday season filled with family and friends.  We have a blessed life!

I can’t believe my Christmas baby is 17!

Audrey showed us what she learned in her organ class at BYU.

I was impressed!

Lara Family Christmas dinner!

Gingerbread houses! Another annual tradition.

On New Year’s Eve, our neighbors had a fantastic fireworks show in our cul-de-sac!

I feel very optimistic for 2019.  Looking forward to growth, change, and love!

Thanksgiving was great!  Audrey came home and all was right in the world.  We hosted as usual, which I love!  I was a bit sad that our yard was a mess from the tree having fallen & the fact that we did not plant a winter lawn this year.  It worked out fine though, eating inside.  The basketball court was available to play on & I think the kids appreciated it.  We also got to spend some time with Uncle Clark’s family as they were having a big reunion.  It was fun catching up with cousins that we don’t see very often.  Thanksgiving night, we had dessert together at Taft’s house (my cousin) and then we all went to see Wreck it Ralph 2 together.  We also got together with Uncle Clark’s family the next night for visiting and a sundae bar.  While Audrey was here we got a jump start on Christmas festivities and went to go get the kids’ picture taken with Santa.  It really was a very nice few days with Audrey home.  We even got our Christmas decorations up so Audrey got to help with that.  Here are some pictures from our long weekend.

This warmed my heart, seeing all of my children on the couch together.

We made our cute turkey sugar cookies again this year. One for each place setting.

At the movies Thanksgiving night.

Marc and Ginger on Thanksgiving.

One of the Thanksgiving tables.

Marc carving the turkey. He smoked 2 and fried 1. We LOVE Thanksgiving!

Mom, Daniel, Ryan, & Nicole.

I found these cuties like this in a corner at a wedding reception we went to that weekend. They really do love each other!

We love this Santa. He’s been our Santa for many years off & on. His first appearance in our pictures was back in 2002 (I think). We had him for a few years then lost him. We found him again a few years ago at Bass Pro and were so excited to see him again.

The kids table.

Aside from Grace finishing up band season this quarter, Carson and Sophia also kept busy schedules.  First off, Carson.  Carson participated in Cross Country for his Junior High, Willis.  This was his second year running for his school.  We are so proud of Carson for his dedication to the sport.  He had to give up homework hub after school to attend practice and run at meets, which was a sacrifice, but very worth it to him.  Carson was not the fastest runner, but he NEVER gave up & he ran every single race without stopping!  He’s got some great endurance.  He also won the Triple Impact Competitor of the Week award for keeping positive and not giving up.  We are so proud of you Carson!!!

Triple Impact Award Recipient

Along with cross country and scouts, Carson also finished up this quarter with a piano recital.  Carson has been taking private piano lessons for about 5 years.  We decided as the demands on his time and attention he needs to put toward his school studies, private piano lessons have come to an end.  Here is a picture of him performing his song from “The Greatest Showman”.  He is also a good friend and decided to stay after his recital to support his friend’s Talon and Lincoln and hear them play their pieces in the recital that followed Carsons’.Unfortunately, Sophia was sick the day of the recital so she could not perform.  Luckily, she will continue with her private lessons through the end of this school year so she will be able to participate in the Spring Recital.One activity that both Carson & Sophia got to participate in together was the Sanborn/Willis Holiday Choir Concert (One of my favorites of the whole year).  The elementary school hosts this every year and invites the Jr. High choir to join.  Many years have our children participated in these concerts.  It’s so fun when we have kids in both the jr. high and elementary choirs.  My dear friend, Mary Davis, also happens to be the music teacher at the elementary school and all 4 of my children have been blessed to have been taught by her.  She is a great asset to Sanborn Elementary!

Carson, Mary Davis, Sophia

Not only does Sophia sing in the school choir, she has also taken up a new instrument this year.  The Baritone!!! I didn’t even know what it was before she started playing this year, & I’m still not completely sure.  All I know is that it’s kind of like a tuba, but smaller.  It’s almost as big as Sophia.  She loves the fact that she plays a large instrument, & her teacher says she’s really good at it (I wonder what he’d think if she practiced outside of class???!!!)  She had her first recital.  She sounded great and looked beautiful.  Good job Sophia!

1st band concert!

Ok, so piano lessons, activity days, choir, band…. what am I forgetting?  Oh yeah, student council & running club.  I’ll have pictures of Running Club next quarter when the races begin.  On top of all that, Sophia managed to WIN THE SCHOOL SPELLING BEE!!!!

Sanborn Elementary Spelling Champion!

She was just as surprised as the rest of us with the outcome!!!  On to the District Bee later this month (January).  Grandma took us to Sophia’s favorite restaurant for dinner that night to celebrate.  Yummy Smashburger!  Thanks Grandma! I don’t have a picture of that 🙁

Grace also had a holiday band concert.  The best part was when the Symphonic band and the chamber orchestra played together a Star Wars Epic.  Very cool!

We finished out the quarter with Thanksgiving and some Christmas festivities which will be in following posts.

Busy, busy, whirlwind of a quarter!

Ever since we moved into this house, Marc & I have wanted to take down 4 horrible, giant, pod dropping trees that are in our backyard.  They drop pods which sprout up quickly, growing more annoying trees.  Their shade isn’t the greatest, & they are so heavy.  We worry every monsoon season that a wind will come and one of the trees will topple over destroying who knows what in it’s path.  The problem was that due to their size, they are not cheap to take out.  Well, on a still, quiet, random afternoon in early November, I was in my bedroom folding laundry.  Marc wasn’t home from work yet and Carson was still at school.  Grace & Sophia were home working on homework or hanging out in their rooms.  All of a sudden, I heard a strange sound.  It sounded like a big crunch.  I yelled out to the girls to see if they knew what the sound was.  Sophia said she thought it came from the church parking lot.  I didn’t agree.  I told her it sounded like our garden shed was just crushed.  I walked into the back yard to find this…

Bad News:  I was right,the tree crushed our shed.

Good News:  Marc submitted an insurance claim & money was deposited in our account the next morning.

Bad News:  The insurance money was NOT enough to remove the tree and replace the shed.

Good News:  The insurance money WAS enough to take down ALL FOUR of our giant annoying trees and buy ourselves a new TV.

Bad News:  We still don’t have a shed.

Good News: OUR TREES ARE GONE!!!

Base of the largest tree

Bad News:  We don’t have a fireplace to put this wood to good use.

Good News:  Nothing else was damaged, no one was hurt while taking the trees down, it truly was a blessing in disguise to get enough insurance money to cover the cost of taking all 4 trees down, even though we couldn’t replace the shed too.

Another busy band season is in the books.  I’m always so impressed with Gracie’s dedication and talent.  Band practice takes several hours each week, for many months.  Camps over breaks, late nights, early mornings, heat, cold, you name it.  We volunteered in the concession booth much more this year.  Sophia joined us for a couple games.  It was hard work, but fun.  We are fortunate to have a very talented football team as well as band, so both marching band and our football team went to the State Championship.  The Wolfpack Pride Marching Band placed 4th in Division 2 (same as last year).  I wouldn’t be honest if I said we weren’t a little disappointed that we didn’t place higher (we were robbed!!!), but I’m still so proud of the band.  They had a great show this year (War Dance) and they performed very well.  Our football team, on the other hand,  Won the state high school 6A division football game for the 3rd year in a row & for the 4th time in 5 years.  So fun!!!  Below are pictures from Grace’s band performances, concession fun, and the state game.

Walking to the car after concessions. They like each other sometimes.

We Won!!!