2016 Flew By

I am FINALLY updating our family blog.  Since my last post in April, so much as happened, and I have been busy with all the happenings.  Now, it is the day after Christmas 2016, and I want to get back to blogging, so here is a quick summary of 2016:

January:
-We bought our first house in Lakeport, CA.

-We took a quick trip to Santa Cruz, CA to see Josh's Grandma and Grandpa Mayo, who were vacationing there.

February:

-Josh and I went to Costa Rica.  See the blog post here.

-Payson turned 4.  See his special post here.

March: 

We didn't do anything too exciting in March except 

-Steve and Deana came to visit

-We went to the cub scout carnival

-We had a huge Easter Egg hunt at our house with over 20 kids.

-We got pet chickens

See the blog post associated with these fun events here.

April:

-We had  great day at the Oakland Temple for Stake Family Day.  See the blog post here.

-We went to Yosemite National Park.See the blog post here.

May:  This is where my blog posts end!!

-My Mom and little brother, Aaron came to visit us in Lakeport. 

-I was a bridesmaid for my friend, Vess Reyes, who's husband got baptized the same day they got married. 

-Josh went a little crazy planting trees. :)

June:

-Molly and Spencer came to visit us in Lakeport.

-We took an interview trip to Parowan, UT, but on our way we had the following adventures:

*Sequoia National Park.and King's Canyon National Park (We think Avenly got West Nile Virus, so she slept a ton on this trip). 

*Stop in St. George, and a trip to the Temple with Grandma Bosen.

*Great Basin National Park (Avenly started to feel better at this point).

July:

My parents, Aaron, and Sister Tina's family came Lakeport for the 4th of July!

-We went to Lassen National Park.  (We had to do this before our move to Utah.  Josh accepted a new job as City Manager of Parowan, UT).

-Avenly turned 2

-We had a fun moving away birthday party for Avenly at a friend's swimming pool.  We were excited to move, but knew we were going to miss everyone in Lakeport.  (We do miss our Lakeport Ward family and friends, and we are glad for one last party with them).

At this point in the year, big changes were happening.  Since Josh accepted a job in Utah, July and August got pretty crazy.  We sold our house in Lakeport, and bought a house in Parowan, UT.  We also found out I was pregnant.  Basically, I was sick the whole time I packed and unpacked, but I am not complaining.  These changes were/are great blessings for our family, and we owe Heavenly Father a lot for what he has blessed us with.

August:

-Josh started his new job as City Manager of Parowan, UT.  (Parowan is only an hour North of St. George where my parents live, and around 4 hours south of Josh's parents.  We are so glad to be back in Utah by family, and Josh is doing a great job with his new job. (The blog is for bragging, right:). 

-Josh started his job the beginning of the month, but the kids and I didn't come out until around the 12th of August.  Josh came back to Lakeport to help us move.

-Before moving into our house we went to Midway, UT for a conference with Josh.  Here Molly and Sadie met up with us and we went to Park City Park and rode the Alpine Slide.  (I rode it once before I was sicker than a dog.  That was it for me, but the kids loved it, and kept going back on it with Sadie, Molly, and Stella- Josh's cousin).

-We started our life in Parowan, UT, and bought the most amazing house.  The original house was built in 1893, and has been added on and updated. 

September:  My phone port decided to stop working, so I lost all my pictures from September, and some of October, but that doesn't mean we didn't do anything.

-Benji (my brother) and his family came to watch the Parowan Labor Day Parade with us.  Then my parents and Aaron joined us later that day for the fair.

-Another weekend we went camping at Cedar Breaks National Park.  They all joined us for that, as well.

October:

-Josh's Grandma Mayo coordinated a big "birthday" evening for all the fall family birthdays.  She bought tickets for a good group of us to go to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  Then, the next morning, Josh and I hosted breakfast for everyone.  We also visited the Parowan Gap and Cedar Breaks.

-We finally announced number 3 to the Facebook world. 

 November:

-We had a Baby Gender Reveal Party.  We found out we are having another girl.  Payson was not too happy about it, but he is good now, and we are excited for another little sister.

-This was the first house where we have really had leaves.  I raked a pile for the kids to play in, and they loved it.

-Josh and I left the kids at my parent's house and went back to California.  We flew to Monterrey, and drove down the coast to LA for Josh's Great Uncle's 80th birthday party at the Beverly Hills hotel.  On our trip we saw Big Sur, Mcway Falls, Elephant seals, Hurst Castle, US Iowa, and of course the party with Josh's family.

-We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house in St. George, where we helped my younger brother, Jason, go ring shopping for his now fiance.

-The weekend after Thanksgiving we took part in the "Christmas in the County" parade.  We got to ride on the Gingerbread house float.  Then, we saw Santa later that day.  We also, picked out our very first REAL Christmas tree.

December:

-We went to an ugly sweater Christmas Party.  We didn't win the ugly sweater contest, but we did find the mistletoe.

- We continued our new tradition this year of opening a Christmas book a day (weekdays), and doing the activities with the book.  Some of those activities included making Christmas presents.

 -We went to our Annual Bosen Family Sock Party.  It was in Lava Hot Springs this year.  While Jason and Chelsea (his then girl friend) went to the hot pools with my family, Kayla (my sister-in-law), and I set up a candle pathway leading to hot chocolate.  Then we hid behind a tree, while Jason proposed to Chelsea.  She said yes!!

 -The next weekend we had Christmas with Molly after Josh went skiing with his Dad and siblings. Then, we went to the Jones Family Christmas party at Steve and Deana's.

 -My parents came for Christmas Eve and Christmas.  We went out to Chinese food Christmas Eve, and then after our movie that night, we had an Apple Cider Tea Party.  The next morning, the kids woke up to bikes from Santa.  We went to church at 9 am, where my mom and I did a piano/ organ duet.  Then after church, we opened presents, and had a fabulous Christmas dinner.

 I wanted to add these cute pictures to this post.  I took them for their Christmas ornaments and Christmas cards.

It really has been a year of blessings and adventures.  We are grateful for all our experiences, and we look forward to 2017, where our new baby will join our family!