Jalen's Ordination

This year is a big year for Jalen. He turned 12, which means he gets the priesthood and moves from Primary into Young Men's. He was very excited to get a real suit.

My parents flew out from Utah so my dad could ordain Jalen to the priesthood. My dad and Jalen have a very close relationship. I'm so grateful for that.

The weekend of his ordination was Stake Conference so we decided to do the ordination at home.

We were so grateful that Grammy and Grandad were able to be here for Jalen's special day. They show us so much love and support. 

I always get pictures of me and dad to show our health progress. Between the two of us, we've lost 230 lbs., 145 of that with Optavia.

This picture cracks me up.

I love the relationship my kids have with my parents.

North Augusta - Region Band

Baylie had the opportunity to participate in region band auditions. She was excited, but nervous. the auditions were in Augusta - a little over an hour away. We decided to make a day out of it.

She was nervous to go into an unfamiliar school. David decided to walk her in and stay with her. 

She was much happier coming out. She felt really good about her performance. She messed up on her scales, but did well on site reading and playing the assigned piece. It was a relief just to have it finished.

North Augusta and Augusta were delightful places to visit. Every time we crossed a bridge, we changed cities. The homes were lovely, especially on the Savannah River.

 Baylie loved this purple house.

Near the bridge was an old train station. We stopped to take a look and I snagged a brick for Grandad.

We also found some old machinery that used to be used to make clay pots.

We visited a pond that is home to alligators. Sadly, it was too cold for any alligator sightings. It was still a pretty place to visit though.

We had planned to take a boat ride down the canal, but decided it was way too cold for that. So we headed home instead. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday.

Happy New Years 2022

We always have a pretty low-key New Years Eve celebration. This year was no different. We celebrated at home. We even used last years party favors. 

I had forgotten to do the luminarios at Christmas, so we did them for New Year's Eve. This is a tradition from my childhood and it always brings back fond memories.

Over the holiday, we met our friends the Rosses for a Zoo Day. Other than the Lights On celebration, we hadn't been to the zoo in a while. We love our zoo.

It was a fun day.

We had some pretty big challenges in 2021, but we also had some amazing blessings. We are looking forward to 2022 and all the things it holds for our little family.

Pre-Christmas Happenings

We had a wonderful holiday season. One of the best ever. We spent lots of quality time as a family and with good friends.

April and I made runs to Hobby Lobby and Aldi. We found these cute gnome pillows at Aldi. So dang cute! I've become obsessed with gnomes.

Jalen had a day off of school and his friend Clark Faulkenburg came over to hang out. The boys made cookies.

They had a lot of fun frosting them.

We had our second annual - with a COVID year in between - baking with the Batchelors party. 

I made little goodie bags for the girls. They had aprons and cookie cutters in them.

The Alsup girls, April, Esther & Bo Courtney, and Yasmin Baltzegar came. We are blessed with great friends.

Baylie, Ava and Alexa

We made gingerbread cookies, peanut clusters (white, chocolate and butterscotch), English toffee, peanut butter cookies w/ Hershey's kisses, and pretzel sticks.

I had the BYU game playing while we cooked.

Bo and Jalen are best buds. Jalen was glad it wasn't all girls.

She is little, but she is mighty.

Taste testing

Silly girls

I am so grateful for these women. They are a blessing: April, Yasmin, me, and Esther.

The next day we had our first of what we hope will be an annual tradition: Batchelor Soup & Singing. It was a lot of fun. People shared their talents and just enjoyed hanging out together. I forgot to take pictures that night. Whoops! Cool invitation though.

At some point, we went and saw the new Spiderman Movie - No Way Home. It was fantastic.

We met up with our friends the Ruppes.

We went for a walk somewhere in there. 

And we went downtown for the City of Columbia light show. It wasn't nearly as good as Saluda Shoals, but we got in for free because it was part of a package deal with our fair tickets.

One of our favorite traditions is Lights on at the Zoo. It was another great year for that. We noticed last year that they had added additional lights.

We enjoyed every minute of it all.