This has been a whirlwind, crazy, hectic and wonderful week. It began last Sunday night when Dan and Jieun brought their kids over to spend the night since they were scheduled to go the hospital early Monday morning. They stayed late enough to tuck the kids into bed, so there wasn't much for Roy and I to do to take care of them until the next morning. Roy made them breakfast but they all got themselves dressed and took care of brushing their teeth. I brushed their hair (except for Hyeji's). Then, the three girls were at school all day so it was just Dojin and Roy and me. Roy took care of Dojin while I took my skating lesson, and also when I got my allergy shot. He entertains himself beautifully, so it wasn't a hard baby sitting job. He even allowed me to take a nap while he played with "the little legos" and watched Paw Patrol. He was a sweetheart. The new baby was born at around 5:00 pm (Dec. 14). She was 6 lbs. 2 oz. Dan and Jieun were very happy with her size because they were worried she was going to be too small, and she was 19 1/2 inches long. They have named her Gabriella Yuli (pronounced Yoo-Ri with a tapped R sound that really sounds almost like a d). I have to say, it's the hardest Korean name they've come up with so far. Maybe I'll get the knack of it eventually.
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We think he was sleep screaming because he was instantly
calm and quiet when we put him between us.
Nick brought Avie over for a few minutes while we were babysitting. Above: Jordan with Doyeon, Jennie with Avie |
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| Dojin |
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| Tending the chillin's |
Meeting their new baby sister. Hyeji, Yuna, Doyeon
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| And Doyeon with Dan |
Elise and Harvey arrived Friday morning to celebrate Caitlyn's sealing with us on Saturday. I guess it felt to her other kids like she had just disappeared in the night because the next morning Maverick told the neighbor, "Our mom walked to the airport." The neighbor: "she did?" Mav: "No, someone picked her up in the nighttime." Since Elise was here, we went ahead and had our traditional Christmas Eve Party 6 days early. We may have started a new tradition since several members of the family think it will be nice to be home on Christmas Eve this year to do last minute secret things a little earlier. We all love the party because Roy is so generous, cooking crab legs (which mostly everyone loves except the two newest sons in-law, and apparently Oli), and prime rib. We also started out with our Christmas program at the beginning of the evening, which was varying from tradition also, but was probably a lot better time to do it. Crista took all the kids and used towels and various costumes from our costume bin to do a makeshift nativity. It was a great way to start our Christmas party. Roy and I bore our testimonies to our family, and then we moved on to dinner.
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| They really listened to their grandparents with miminal squirming |
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| Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, a couple of sheperds, sheep and an angel |
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played by Oli, Doyeon and Harvey
We wore masks as much as possible since
even in our own family there are many of us.
We're conscious of the new babies and pregnant
woman in our midst. Yuli came over for a little while
at the end of the evening, and Camden the next day
for the wedding dinner. |
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| A sheep (Finn |
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Wisemen and animals (camels?)
(played by Hyeji, Gunnar, Greta and Ori). |
Ila with camel Ori in background, Angel Effie and Joseph (Oli)
Caitlyn's big day was Saturday. She's been a great sport through everything. First she dates through the Covid pandemic, then she sets a wedding date. She agrees maybe a reception is a bad idea. Her showers are unconventional--one shower was virtual (and lovely, by the way), and the ward shower, which was previous to the governor's mandate. was live, but because of everything, was lightly attended. She agreed to the big family party the night before her wedding, and was content with the small celebration with immediate families only. The only regret I had was that we couldn't very well include extended family without making it a large reception. I have so many siblings, neices, and nephews, etc. and so does Eric Anderson (he's from a family of 10 kids). Since only 16 were allowed a the temple, we couldn't include anyone extra there. We did end up with 19 guests (immediate family only) but thankfully the temple workers didn't send anyone home.
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| Caitlyn and Dallin |
Here they are cutting their wedding cake (made by Adrienne). It was delicious. Caitlyn will never forget getting married in 2020. After the sealing in the temple, we were allowed only 30 minutes for pictures on the Temple grounds. And--she wasn't allowed to change into her dress in the temple. Robin Anderson brought a pop-up tent for her to change in.
Grandma Catharine with Ila Effie, Avie and Ori
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| Ila with Oli |
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| Elise and Harvey |
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| The cousins spent a lot of huddling time trying to keep warm |
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| Dojin, Hyeji, Yuna, Gunnar, Greta, Doyeon and Finn |
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| Matt, Crista and Bridget |
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| Hyeji and Dojin |
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| Adrienne, Oli and Gunnar |
Ori, Yuna and Hyeji
Greta, Doyeon and Effie
Nick and Camden (Effie above)
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| Adrienne, Gunnar, Camden and Avie |
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| Oli and Camden |
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| Jordan and Jennie |
There are so many more pictures of the wedding day and the party, that I'm going to do an extra blog entry with just pictures. I'll just end by saying that this is a year none of us will forget. To end it off with a bang, we've added 2 new babies, and a son-in-law. We have 20 grandchildren in 2020, and will have 21, in 2021. This year we've been tried, we've been strenghtened and we've been blessed.
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