Hello!
Happy 2025! On New Year's Eve, as we turned on the TV at 11:58 for the countdown and 2025 flashed on the screen, I stared at the TV, hardly believing it! It was almost like in an instant, I was flooded with memories of new year celebrations from my life and I had this surreal moment of realizing it was 2025, I am 41, and I cannot even believe it! I clearly remember celebrating new years as a child in the 90's, and I was just stunned with how quickly time has flown by! Speaking of time flying, the last three weeks have flown by! We made it through the insanity of the last week of school before Christmas break and the term/semester ending. Rachel, especially was in high stress mode because of a big school project, a piano lesson she felt very unprepared for, and just a generally busy week of dance and musical rehearsals. Marshall also had a couple of very late nights doing homework. On top of all of that, we hosted Rachel's dance team Christmas party, and on the same night, my YW's class was in charge of the combined YM/YW activity. Bless Richard who heated up three gallons of chocolate milk at the church while I wrapped up the dance party. The next day, I also helped with Gretchen's school Christmas party. I was so happy by the time Friday rolled around and I could finally catch my breath! We ALL breathed a huge sigh of relief that day!
But, the BIGGEST news of that week was that our almost 11-month home remodel finished! FINISHED!!! Praise the heavens! Our house was a buzz of activity Monday and Tuesday that week. Duncan was here addressing some last minute things on Bluerock's end. The flooring guy came back and finally finished the stairs from the kitchen to the dining room that have haunted us since July. And the painters spent all of Tuesday at our house doing major paint touch-up and it looks amazing! Duncan came by one more time the next day. Both Richard and I were home, and I am glad we could both see him. It all felt very anti-climatic, but he took the lockbox off our door, grabbed the last things out of our garage, we shook hands, and said good-bye! This remodel has dragged on and on. What was supposed to be a six month project, turned into nearly an eleven month project, and the progress since August has been painfully slow! But, we are very happy we did it (unless you talk to Gretchen about it!) and we are even happier that it is done!
Okay! I am going to recap Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then just try to string together the other highlights of our Christmas break...
Christmas Eve: We had a chill day at home, and with the exception of a quick run to the store, we were home all day. We made our traditional sugar cookies and everyone pitched in and we had a great time. I also prepped our homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast the next day. We played games, watched The Santa Clause, and got a quick visit from our builder, Dave, and Richard's Aunt Randalin and Uncle Allen. That evening, we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, frosted the cookies, cleaned up the main floor, read scriptures, and watched a nativity movie. Once all of that was done, we opened our Christmas pajamas. something Gretchen had been dying to do all day long! Once we all put on the new pajamas, we did the traditional pictures, which obviously brought a fair amount of goofing around! After that it was cookies out for Santa, we placed our stocking on the couches, said prayers and put everyone to bed! With this being our first year with all the kids knowing the secret about Santa, this was our most carefree Christmas Eve night in years! In recent years I have been in high stress mode worrying that one of the kids would stumble upon us frantically wrapping/assembling/stuffing. We always sequestered ourselves in the movie room, and then it was so much up and down the stairs, I was usually in a full sweat sometime around 1:00 am! Haha! This year was a dream! Rachel and Grethen both slept in Rachel's room and took melatonin. We told all the kids we were going to be working in the family room, so just stay in bedrooms and we'll see them after 7:00 am! It was a breeze! Richard and I got everything to the family room, shut the doors, turned on Christmas episodes of our favorite sitcoms and got to work. It was seamless and zero stress and we fell into bed right around midnight.
One of the best things we have done as parents, and I actually don't remember exactly when we started this, but I am SO glad that we did...we have a rule that the kids can't come into our bedroom before 7:00 am on Christmas morning. And much to our kids credit, they abide by this! Marshall was the first one up at 7:20, Rachel and Gretchen about 7:30, and then we woke Bridget up shortly after. After gathering in our room, we made our way down the stairs, moved Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and placed baby Jesus in the manger. Always tender. After that, the kids made their way to the family room. It was so fun to see them take in the gifts Santa had brought. :) Everyone was genuinely happy. Marshall got Manchester City shoes, Bridget got Uggs, Rachel got new bedding she has been begging for, and Gretchen got Elphaba and Glinda dolls. We just had a laid back time going through stockings and opening the wrapped gifts from Santa. Once that was done, we had our amazing Christmas breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls, baked eggs, and sausage. I love this tradition that is all our own-and we all love that I have mastered cinnamon rolls! Once breakfast was done, we moved back to the family room to open family presents. The kids started by opening their gifts to each other and then making their guesses who bought for them. This is our third year of this tradition, and it is a keeper. The kids love it. Before long, we had opened all the presents and we all had big smiles on our faces. We spent the rest of the day relaxing! We played games, watched White Christmas, napped, prepped food for dinner and FaceTimed with Bob and Becky. My parents and my Uncle Steve came over about 6:00 pm. The kids showed off all their gifts, Steve played the piano, and then we had our Christmas feast! Smoked prime rib, potatoes, bubble bread, fruit, veggies, and we topped it off with mini cheesecakes from Juniors. Yum, yum, yum. We ended our day with more Christmas scriptures before climbing into bed. Another wonderful Christmas day.
Other highlights from the break:
Richard had 11 days in a row off! It was a dream! We didn't do anything grand, but staying home and enjoying our newly finished home was grand enough! We stayed up late most nights, slept in most mornings, had lots of meals together (something that rarely happens in our regular life). We played games, we completely cleaned up the movie room-both of our moms know that was a HUGE feat! Haha! The kids were really helpful, and it is so nice to have that as a usable and pleasant room again! We have done Mario Kart races, put puzzles together, watched a lot of hilarious Instagram reels. We also finished organizing the loft. That was the last remodeled room for us to put together. The girls are loving that space too. And every time I am up there I kind of wish we had carpeted the family room, but I am also grateful we did not. Anyway, it was just so nice to have Richard around.
Yancey Christmas party: On December 21st we gathered with most Utah Yanceys for our annual Christmas party. The girls and I all played the piano for the recital portion. I played duets with Bridget and Rachel. I loved practicing with them and performing with them. Gretchen played Jingle Bells while I stood by the piano for moral support! Afterward, we had a great lunch, the kids played, adults talked, and Danny jumped over tables! Haha! It was grand, and also a really great way to bring in the Christmas week.
Two swimming outings: The girls and I managed two swimming outings. One before Christmas and one after. We are headed to the Caribbean in a couple of weeks and the girls and I plan to snorkel with sea turtles. I have only snorkeled once in my life and it was far from successful, so a couple of weeks ago I bought two snorkels for us to practice with, because I do not want this opportunity to go to waste! Bridget immediately got the hang of it, it took me and Rachel a bit longer, but I now have much more confidence in my ability to do this. Rachel needs a bit more practice and so does Gretchen, but I think we can pull it off. I am also thrilled to say I navigated slippery, wet floors and a pool with my ankle. I am pretty sure when I was not in the water, I had a look of pure fear on my face as I walked around, but I did it! The girls and I had a lot of fun that afternoon. On New Year's Day we met up with Danny's family at Surf and Swim. I sat this one out and just observed from the side, but the girls had a blast, despite it being cold! It was a fun outing with the Layton Toneys.
Beauty and the Beast at Hale Theatre: The day after Christmas I took Bridget and Rachel, along with cousin Cadence, to go see Beauty and the Beast at Hale. Richard and I saw this a few weeks ago and were amazed, so we quickly snagged tickets for our girls before it sold out. I am so glad we did! The girls loved it, and we loved having Cadence with us.
Johnson Files: On the 27th, we all ventured down to Provo. We stopped in Sandy and had a great lunch at Shake Shack-it has been a long time since we have been there, so that was a fun lunch out. When we got to Provo, our first stop was, you guessed it, the BYU Bookstore! Shockingly, no one bought anything, but it was fun walking around. After that, we drove to the athletic building and I went in with the three oldest kids while Richard stayed in the car with Gretchen-she needed a minute. :) Within minutes of being in there, we ran into Devin Young. We knew the Youngs in Milwaukee, Devin was our home teacher, and they moved into our beloved green house in Wauwatosa right after we left. Devin is now one of the men's volleyball coaches at BYU. It was so fun to see him. He talked to all the kids, and was blown away when Marshall told him he was 16 and driving...Marshall was seven when we moved. :( Anyway, that was just such a fun surprise. After talking to Devin, we kept making our way through the athletic building...the kids spent a surprising amount of time taking it all in! After that, we made our way to downtown Provo for the Johnson Files! We met up with my parents, Danny, Stacie, Jaxon, Ben, Lisa, Kevin and Audrey. Johnson Files put on a great show! This was Gretchen and Rachel's first time seeing Johnson Files, and I was a little worried it would move too fast for them and they would miss out on the jokes, but they ended up loving it and laughed heartily. That then set Gretchen on a kick of watching Studio C for days on end. Haha! After the show, we drove to JCW's and had dinner with my parents and Danny, Stacie, and Jaxon. It was a super fun afternoon and evening.
Marshall running: Marshall has been a consistent runner this entire Christmas break. He has met up with friends every single day, excluding Sundays, but including Christmas day, to run. He has set his alarm for 8:30 every morning, he's out of the house by 8:50, and most days, doesn't get home until 11:30ish. I am sure there is a fair amount of socializing also happening, but he has been getting great workouts in every day. The Saturday after Christmas, a mom of cross country kids hosted a pancake breakfast at her house for kids after their morning run. Richard and I said we would help her. We chose not to tell Marshall, and you should have seen his eyes as he ran past us as we pulled onto the street. Haha! Maybe by the time he is a senior he will realize it's great to occasionally have your parents at things! Good grief! Richard and I had a great time though. We cooked dozens and dozens of pancakes and had great conversations with other parents. It was a fun morning.
BYU's bowl win: Weeks ago, I promised Richard I would watch BYU"s bowl game with him. And not just sit by him and do other things, but actually watch the game. I kept my promise, and for so many reasons, I am very glad I did, because Marshall went out with friends and didn't make it home until the last several minutes of the game! We don't even know who this child is anymore! But, I had a great time with Richard, and we are both glad BYU handily won that game, because it made it way less emotional for Richard, haha! Rachel was also home and watched most of the second half with us. She has become hilarious to have around during sporting events. She has a comment for everyone and everything. It was a very fun night and a great victory for the Cougars. I then went down a rabbit hole reading all about Dion Sanders and his sons-haha!
Centerville lights: Last Monday night we finally made it out to see the Centerville lights. We took Ziggy with us, and had a great time. On the way home, we stopped at Dutch Bros to use a giftcard and got delicious hot chocolates for everyone. They were great!
New Year's Eve: We tried to be fluid in our planning of New Year's Eve, knowing that we could have kids leaving, or kids' friends coming. We kicked off our celebrations with a 3:30 pm dinner at El Matador! We were with the extremely elderly crowd having such an early dinner, but it was great! The kids had never been there, I had not been since I was a young teenager, and Richard has been once. But, we had a really great time talking about our insane 2024 and we all ate great. We got home just before 5:00, and before we knew it, Rachel was off with friends and Bridget and Gretchen had Naomi and Cambria over. Marshall and Richard were set on watching a college football game, and so with no one to take care of, I sat down and pounded out the Toney Family 2025 calendar. Once the game and calendar were done, Richard, Marshall, and I played Risk...and I WON! I am most certain I have never won Risk in my life, but by golly I did it. By that time, it was almost midnight, we opened the bubbly, turned on the TV and rang in the new year! By the time we got Rachel home, and everyone settled into bed, it was 1:00 am! Haha! Thankfully, our kids have mastered sleeping in, so we weren't too sleep deprived!
Danny's family: We had one more evening with Danny's family last week. They came for dinner on Thursday. The kids played to their hearts content and we had a baked potato bar and had just a really wonderful evening together. We are glad they live close by!
Friends: Even though we have spent a lot of family time together, the kids have also had loads of friend time. Marshall has been with friends for movies, ice skating, sledding, making cookies, playing games...he definitely seems to be living his best life. Bridget and Cambria have had a blast jumping over homemade hurdles. They have also been beyond kind to involve younger siblings in all their fun. They are great girls. Rachel has been with friends for trips to Target and movie nights and her amazing New Year's Eve celebration. And Gretchen has had a ball with Naomi, Afton, Evelyn, and Mary Grace.
Physical therapy! I took the week of Christmas off from PT, but jumped back in last week. We have shifted our focus to help me get back to all the things I want to do, that I currently can't do, or can't do well. This includes walking down the stairs more normally, going up on my toes, jumping, hiking, doing yoga, and going up the stairs quicker. We really ramped up some exercises at PT last week, and I can already tell that I am making progress with this increase. Mobility of my ankle joint remains my biggest obstacle, but I know it will continue to improve. My strength has significantly improved, and I am very grateful for each bit of progress. Being able to walk Ziggy around the park in a shorter and shorter amount of time, and being able to go down the stairs better first thing in the morning are bits of progress that are not lost on me.
Okay, I think I hit all the highlights! It's a miracle! Here's to 2025!
Love each of you.
Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)
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