John and Kylee: November 2025

November started out with a bang! The first Saturday we fit in a swim meet, baptism, dance photos, getting Ellie ready for a dance, and two birthday parties. I didn't get home until 1:30am the next morning.

Ellie went to her first school dance. She went with a boy named Davin George, who had never been to a dance before either even though he was a senior. It was Sadie's which is a dress up dance, so she asked him in "Anne of Green Gables" style. She ended up having a great time, which I love. They didn't actually stay at the dance that long, but that wasn't the point I guess. We did pictures, then they had homemade dumplings that they had made the night before at her friend Siqi's house. Then it was the dance and then a movie night. She didn't get home until pretty late too.

Ellie: Sadie's was so fun! I went with Mori and her boyfriend and Sophia and her date. It was super stressful the whole month before to plan it, but the day itself was way fun. I loved picking out my dress and a fun theme. Davin was super nice, and right now we have a couple of classes together and are friends. The dumplings for dinner were delightful, and Stardust afterwards was such a good movie! The dance was fun, too, but not as much. The DJs the school hires never play very fun dancing music, but there were a couple of good songs. I love the pictures I have from it.

I (Kylee) took their dance photos. It is the first time I had taken dance photos before, and I definitely called Patti for all the tips. I think they turned out nice, and Ellie's friends told her their favorite part of the date was taking the photos. The only funny moment was when Mori's boyfriend tried to give me advice for the photos. I don't think they are together anymore.

Holland went to Sophie's 11th birthday party that day. Erica went all out with a Harry Potter birthday. Holland ended up staying the night because she always asks, and Erica is the nicest. Holland went to church with them the next day, and Erica sent me the photo of them in the purple dresses.

John and Darcy went to McKenzie Armstrong's belated 40th birthday party that evening. I met up with them after the dance photos. McKenzie went all out and rented a venue. It also coincided with Armstrong family lore where an Archbishop cursed their family 500 years ago. Duel party.

The next day I taught a gospel doctrine lesson on D&C 124. It was so great to deep dive into the scriptures and look at the original sources. I spent a lot of time on the history of that time, and I felt like it went well. One funny thing was how Joseph Smith just went up to the White House and knocked on the door, asking to meet with the president. We had just gone to DC and the security around the White House was intense.

It was a warmer fall so I did a lot of biking in November basically all of the places I could think of--up the canyon, down to Mapleton, out to the airport, and more. I loved pushing my body in this new way. One scary day though, I almost saw someone get hit by a train. I carried my bike over the overpass and as I was riding away, I heard a ton of train honks. Then I hear a bunch of sirens not too much later. When I was heading back, the whole area was closed with police tape, and as I was carrying my bike over the overpass, I looked down and saw a body shaped lump under a white cloth on the tracks. I later found out via the news that the man was younger than I was. So sad and kinda freaky. I am so glad I didn't actually see it.

We spent one Saturday cleaning out all of the flower beds. Ellie and Miriam were at a swim meet (Miriam got 2 PRs!), and Holland and Darcy were actually very helpful. It was an adorable time playing in the leaves afterwards. They are cuties. I just love playing with my kids, even just silly moments pretending they are food and I am going to eat them. So many giggles. The end of season yard work is a lot but it made me glad we weren't building a pool this year. We dug up dahlia tubers (it didn't work to over winter them inside. How can they be too dry and also molding?)

That night we had a campfire and s'mores (minus the graham crackers), which was surprisingly delightful.

Date night this month was awesome. Fat Daddies with John - buffalo cauliflower, fat daddies pizza, and garden of eatin. Uptown Cheapskate with Miriam - so many good finds!

John gave a talk in church about the most recent talk by Elder Uchtdorf. He did such a good job, and I was proud of him. It was funny because all three speakers in the meeting selected what talk they wanted to speak about and everyone happened to pick the same talk. His main takeaways were that progress is slow and that's okay. God helps us, but it takes effort. That evening Ellie and I went to her friend Elizabeth's Acting Up fireside. It was lovely and touching to hear the songs and messages about Christ, and Ellie is super fun to go with.

I woke up with a cold one day but still made it to Holland's Veteran's Day assembly. She is adorable. I am so grateful for a body that heals from illness. I sometimes think negative thoughts about my body, but really it is amazing. Actually I was sick a lot in November. I think I had a version of the flu.

I got a walking pad to go with the standing desk. The first one was a lemon and didn't work for more than an hour or two, so we went to a lot of effort to work with their customer service, but ultimately decided to return it because it wasn't working. We bought a different work, and it has worked great for months. We returned the first one in the most cobbled together box, but they gave us a a refund.

We started our Taylor Swift dress up Sundays. Miriam's tightly curled hair was everything. I think I am going to do a whole post about that.

Miriam's friend Alessia stayed at our house while her mom was out of town. I think it went well! We went to see them swim at a swim meet. I took Miriam and Alessia to the mall, and they had a great time buying jewelry. While they were there John and I went to two different bike shops and ended up buying a new dryer. Our dryer broke that afternoon. Then we took everyone to Cinnabon and to get everyone specialty cinnamon rolls. They were so fancy!

Darcy got student of the month, and was recognized in an assembly. Ellie actually got student of the month too. Ellie laughed because she got it for a class that she doesn't really try hard in.

We hosted the Deru Thanksgiving this year. We use our china and everything was so pretty and yummy. I loved it! John washed all the china, silver, and crystal. He is the best. We took a photo of the four of us sisters and sister in laws, and Patti had so much fun turning our photo into various versions with AI.

The next day we set up Christmas! And the Jacobsons came to visit! They were in town because of a nephew leaving on a mission. They gave us a Christmas present that is a new game Jeff help develop - Fight 5. We love it. The next day we worked on the advent and garage storage. Man, I am definitely middle age to be excited about better functionality in our garage storage, but it was super needed. Darcy was so cute helping John with the screws for the first shelf.

On the last day in November we had our first snow of the year. Darcy was so so excited about the start of the advent the next day. We had the funniest 5th Sunday meeting. Our kids just aren't shy. They all spoke up. They are just the cutest. Holland said gathering Israel is like making everyone a big family. Darcy told John, "We're not in Israel, we live in Utah."

The cutest Anne of Green Gables.

Hunger games couple, Queen of hearts and the mad hatter, Gilbert and Anne.

I picked some roses before a freeze one day. They are lovely.

Holland is actually the funniest/most alarming.

Quotes for the month:

D: Holland, we're not tenacious.

One day when I was sick and trying to take an afternoon nap, Darcy came in our room and told me how once when she was lost on our DC trip the Holy Ghost spoke to her out loud. She doesn't remember the exact words, but she replied out loud, "Okay, I will." And she followed the instructions to find us. I don't even remember her being lost!

D: Mommy, can I start paying taxes? Or is it tithing? I have a paper and a coin I can give them.

J (singing): You don't know you're beautiful!

D: Yes I do.

While John was exercising:

D: He must exercise at the gym a lot because I can see his muscles.

J: His muscles are almost as big as mine.

D: (Gives John an appraising look and says nothing)

J: Do you like the Christmas lights?

D: Not particularly

J: Why does my phone want me to translate it to English?

D: Joseph Smith knows how to do that!