December Moments - 2023

Our big and little and silly moments in December:

Noah likes to make different faces with his syrup and pancakes and then asks for a picture.  :)

Ready for church.  Cheese!

I still get surprised by Kira's creativity.  She played a game at school.  It was a lego coding game.  So she replicated it with her legos.  :)

Kira stayed home "sick" one day.  We did some Christmas origami together.

Pics from school.  Kira's the cute one in pink.

Robotics club.

Sofie with her poodle that she got for her half birthday.  She looked so cute all in pink.

The girls were invited to a friends house.  Sisters that are close to Kira and Sofie's ages.  They play so cute together!

Their mom helped them make squishy balloon balls and other activities.  They had a blast.

They stayed from 3:30 to almost 8.  

So the boys wanted to do something...we popped popcorn and watched a movie.

Noah finally lost a tooth that had been loose for a while.  He was very happy with the tooth fairy money.  

Isak built his 1400 piece lego set!

One Sunday morning, Isak surprised me by making ham and eggs.  Nels supervised, but Isak did pretty much everything.  So proud of him and thankful for the yummy breakfast.

Noah worked hard putting together the world puzzle with flags and capitals.

I saw a blimp!

Poor Sofie had the awful throw up flu.  She threw up all day.  It was awful.

Thankfully, she bounced back and recovered well.  We enjoyed a walk in the sunshine together.

Dad with his girls.

Sunday...

Kids took turns taking pictures...

December 20th a beautiful baby boy was born to my sister Jenny and her husband Craig!

Forrest Dale!  I love how Lydia is checking out his toes.  :)

First family pic.  So happy for them!

I hope I get to meet him soon!

Isak started playing chess.  We played several times.  He tries to get his siblings to play too.  

School pics.  

Can you spot Isak?

Sofie in front with a black t-shirt and Noah - you can barely see in the back with a green shirt.

Kira...so sweet.

They wore their house shirts to school one day.  So picture time.  :)

Christmas break = puzzle time.

Kira made a new rules sign for her room.  :)

Noah wanted a bear sandwich. 

Kids and I played our new game Suspension.   Pretty fun.

Bear pancakes.

Isak and Nels worked on the puzzle a lot.

I asked Nels to take a pic of me.  I wanted to see what I looked like.  Not bad.  

I took the girls to the library one day.  Sofie did a puppet show.  She laughed so much I could barely understand what she was saying.  But her laugh is contagious so we all just laughed with her.

Sweet Sofie reading.

Aunt Britta gave the girls a make up kit.  Oh how they love it!  

I gave them a foot soaker for Christmas to add to their spa day fun.

Last Sunday of 2023.

Last time in Primary for Isak and Kira.  They got to sing their favorite song "A Child's Prayer."  And Kira gave the scripture.  So excited for them to go to YW/YM.

After church pic.

I loved the long ribbons.  :)

December 31st another nephew was born!  Braxton Michael.

He's so cute and cuddly!  So happy for Nels's sister Anna-Lisa and her family!

New Year's Eve!

We had our traditional Nyborg New Year's Eve party.  We ate Papa Murphy's Pizza and then we ate donuts.  Of course, we took our traditional donut photo.  While I was setting up the camera the kids took a few of themselves.  😂

I photobombed this one.  Haha!  It was so fun to do.  😂

Then we all hopped in and here we go...

We played our new game called Mantis.  So fun.  We played it five times.  Then we watched Mario Bros. the movie and ate lots of popcorn.  Nels and I went to bed at 11 p.m.  Sofie went to bed too.  The rest of the kids stayed up until 12:45 a.m.!  

And that's it for 2023!

Major Highlights:

Disney World trip in March.

Cabin at Fall Creek Falls in May

Isak played spring soccer and Nels coached his team.

All kids swim lessons

Mandi's visit - waterfall and kayaking adventures.

Trip to Idaho and Utah (Timp caves, rappelling, kayaking, Old Faithful)

Isak and Kira - finished 4th grade, started 5th Grade and turned 11.

Sofie and Noah - finished 1st grade, started 2nd Grade and turned 7.

Isak and Kira piano lessons and robotic club

Dollywood and Anakeesta in October

Some Hard Things:

Nels's job continues to be stressful and difficult.

We learned that Noah and Kira are both healthy but struggle to grow.  Kira's estimated adult height is 4 ft 10 in - 5 ft.  Noah's adult height is estimated to be 5 ft.  The endocrinologist recommended growth hormone shots.  Both kids do not want to do shots.  So we are putting shots on hold.  I just really pray that whatever height they end up being they love their bodies.  I love them no matter their height and I hope they love themselves no matter their height too.

The transmission died in our civic - $8,000 repair.  Yuck!

Some Other Favorites:

I really enjoyed making videos.  I finished 2015, 2016 and 2017.  It was fun to "relive" those years and now the photos and videos are edited and all in one place.  

Reading books - I read 38 books and listened to 11 for a total of 49.  So close to 50!  I loved the ones I read for my sister's book club.  It helped branch me out from my YA fantasies.  :)

Watching the kids grow and develop their talents!  

Serving in YW's.  Even though it's hard and out of my comfort zone, I really enjoy going to youth activities and being with them.

Going to the community events like Hummingbird festival, Wilderness Survival Skills, a play, Fall Harvest, and Christmas Tree Lighting.

Hopes for 2024 or looking forward to:

A new job for Nels

Going to the temple with Isak and Kira!

Sofie and Noah's baptism!

More swim lessons for the kids

Continue documenting and making videos.  Maybe buy a fancy camera!

Declutter and organize our home.  

Reading 

Try something new like embroidery?!

We'll see.  It's fun to look back and it's fun to look forward.  But I'm trying to just be present.  Especially, with our kids.  They just seem to change and grow so quickly.  I feel time slipping between my fingers with them when I look too far forward.  

Well, I definitely hope to make wonderful memories with my family in 2024!  Happy New Year!