Leaving 2022 with a BANG

We got home from our travels to Arizona on the night of Dec. 28th. Although we loved going to Arizona for Christmas, our travels took a bulk of Christmas Break, so it was nice to spend some down time at home again on the 29th. I had to work at the movie theater that night, so I spent the morning finishing my Christmas Break puzzle that I'd started on the 23rd before we left for Scottsdale. I love completing puzzles, but I limit myself to only doing a couple of them each year, usually over Christmas Break! After I finished this particular one, I glued it together to hang in my classroom (since my classroom is decorated with hot air balloons). 

I really liked this colorful design!

(After Christmas Break, I hung the puzzle in the center of the window wall in my classroom)

I had to work at the movie theater again the following day for the matinee showings on the 30th, but then I was free for the night. Josh and I spent the evening at the Hobbs' home playing "Pennies" with them and the Oswalds. This was our last game night all together before the Oswalds left for their mission the next week. We loved our game nights with these couples! We usually played Pennies when we got together (a game that Craig's family created), but we also played other card games occasionally, too. 

We were blessed with a lot of snowfall on the last day of the year, December 31st. We had decided to have a New Year's Eve party with friends, since we were gone for Christmas Eve (we'd hosted that party the last 2 years), so I prepared for the party all day inside by cleaning and cooking and Josh worked outside to get our driveway and parking area ready.

We had so much fun at our New Year's Eve party! We ate great food, watched the football game on TV, and played games. We mostly played "Code Names" (my FAVORITE group game), taking turns between all the couples to be the "Spymaster" representing both the girls and the boys teams. There was even involvement from the youngsters in our game this year! Sadly, the girls team lost once again although it was SUPER close!

The families that joined us for New Years were the Oliversons, Deschaines, Williams', Hiltons, and Woolfs. There was also a DFY New Years activity in town with a free movie that night, so Kanyon and most of the other teens voted to hang out in town (except Abby), which left just the adults and kids at our house. While the adults and older kids played games, some of the younger kids played in the bedrooms, and apparently did some art projects, too! Sidney and Pyper surprised us by showing us a bunch of New Years signs they'd made to decorate our spare bedroom with! It was SO adorable!

In the upper right photo, there's a piece of taped string--we had 
to cut the string that was draped across the open doorway to
even enter the room, and that was the remainder of it. So cute!

At midnight, we went outside in the cold to light all the sparklers we had (which were left over from July 4th) and a few random bottle fountains, too. It was a fun way to end the year--with a BANG!

While we partied in Salmon, Ammon and Gabbie celebrated New Year's with her family in Las Vegas. I liked seeing his adventures from afar--but I still preferred spending the holiday at home!

Happy New Year!