Roper Family Christmas: 2016

Merry Christmas

Another year has come and gone. There are always many wonderful things that happen in the year and things that we plow through and hope we've grown and improved in some way.

Here's how our year has gone.

In January, As we looked forward to the birth of a new granddaughter, Annie and her girls and Millie came to town to help with a baby shower for Abbie. So obviously, Abbie was in town along with James. We had a great baby shower with lots of friends and family members.
That same weekend was the Provo City Center Temple Open House so we were able to attend that as a whole family. Talk about a beautiful temple.

Someone had a BIG birthday in March. I don't know how I ever got to this point in my life. It seems like only yesterday I was graduating from high school, then getting married and having babies and now this....

Then on March 27, Macie Renée Schramm was born. I felt very honored that they chose to use my middle name for Macie's middle as well. She's been a great baby and lots of fun for Abbie and James.

From this:

To this in just a short amount of time....

Kim and I were able to go to California and spend a week with the Schramms and enjoy our 7th granddaughter and 8th grandchild.

The O'Neils went on a cruise with cousin & friends Joe and Liz Dixon. We laugh that all 4 shared a room but when 2 sail free with 2 paying cruisers, you do whatever you have to do. It was well worth it! They had a great time and we enjoyed keeping Esme and Kyson while they were gone.

Then Kyson made the announcement that he was no longer going to be the baby in the family. Katie is due January 9th and they chose to not find out the gender and have a surprise when this new bundle joins the family. We are still waiting and are anxious and excited!

The wonderful thing about the O'Neils living here in Springville is that we get to spend lots of time with them. In April we were able to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.

Annie and her family got a break from all the snow in Castle Rock, Colorado and had a warm Easter Sunday--Haha--NOT. They experienced their first winter in Colorado with LOTS of snow clear into April.

In May Annie and Rob decided to split and get a divorce. Annie and the girls moved into a townhouse across town and she started working full time in the NICU at a local hospital. She and the girls are doing well. They got to attend the Fort Collins temple open house.

In May, the Guillenas, O'Neils and Kim and I all journeyed to Castaic, CA to participate in the baby blessing of Macie Renée. The Webbs were able to join us a couple of days later and experience the beach, some hiking and paddle boarding and kayaking on Castaic Lake.

In May, after losing his job in March, Jacob and Millie were able to sell their home and get a temporary job in Florence Oregon. So after school ended, they moved the girls to Florence where Millie, Ellery and Aayla lived the life of tourists and Jacob joined them on his days off. Kim and I were able to spend a week with them in July and see the beauties of Oregon.

We also spent a week in Colorado with Annie, Brinley, Meggie and Robi. We had a quick visit with my parents who, at the time, were living a couple of hours north of Annie. Sadly I don't have many pictures.

Annie's been good to do some fun things with her girls...camping, trips to the zoo and more.

Kim and I spent the 4th of July in Washington D.C. where Kim had a principal's convention. We brought Brinley with us. She really enjoys the music from "Hamilton" so she loved the history of the area.

In August, Millie moved the girls into our home in St. George where she enrolled them in school in Hurricane so that Aayla, who is in first grade, could start a Spanish Immersion program. Jacob joined them when he finished his contract in Oregon.

Abbie and James made a visit in September when they got a new family member, Cocoa. Macie and Cocoa love each other, but Ginger isn't so sure happy to have another new sister. Esme loves Cocoa too and would love to have her own puppy.

Here's the newest family member in the middle.

In October, Kim and I took a couple of days off and went to Disneyland. Just the two of us!! It was great fun.

We went to St. George and had Thanksgiving with the Webbs.

And then we went full speed and worked every spare minute we had to make/finish a theater in the basement. Kim's been working on it slowly through out the year, but now it was crunch time so it would be finished for Christmas when the whole family would be home!

Mission Accomplished! Everyone enjoyed lots of movies throughout the week.

For our traditional advents before Christmas we all celebrated even though we are spread throughout 3 different states. On the 4th advent, we all had a little fun with some Christmas Photo Props.
Here's Annie & Brinley......Meggie, Robi and Brinley.

Here's Katie, Esme, Brandon & Kyson.

Here's the Webbs..... Jacob, the Aayla with a photo bomb from Ellery, and Millie with Ellery.

Here's Abbie & James having some fun and so is Macie!

And last but not least...Kim & Rhonda.

Then everyone converged on our home in Orem and we had a very Merry Christmas. We even made it to 9:00 a.m. church on Christmas Morning. I love Christmas on Sunday. What better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I love my family and love it when they can all come together. It amazes me how much they all get along. The talking and laughing that can be heard throughout the house are a thrill to my heart.

We now look forward to another year and new adventures. Kim and I will both be retiring from Alpine School District at the end of the school year. That's going to bring many changes and new adventures. Katie will soon have a new grandbaby for us to love and spoil. Who knows what other exciting journeys we will see this next year. We love our family--sorry for the overload of pictures. It's just so hard to narrow it down. We love our Savior Jesus Christ and the life He lived so that we can have joy and peace. We love each of you. We hope you will feel God's love in your lives as you move forward into a new year as well.

Happy New Year