(Link to 13 minute end-of-year slideshow)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NedjM76axo54KRWi8
We hope and pray that this finds you and your loved ones healthy, happy and safe. We hope that 2024 treated you well and that you are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead. Our family has so very much to be grateful to our Creator for this past year. We acknowledge Him and his grace and mercy in our lives. Some highlights for 2024:
*Big Year for McKinley! In February, McKinley got to perform her cello at Carnegie Hall, she graduated in May, and got her mission call in August - see her section for more details :)
*For Spring Break we did a cemetery/temple tour of Utah - lots of driving, but it was SO neat to see where many of our ancestors were buried and read their stories! We ended the tour in Manti for the temple open house, which was wonderful!
*End of May to middle of June, Heidi, Jason & Kezia went on her 14-year-old trip to Europe! We spend a week in Paris and 2 weeks in the Canary Islands, so so neat - see her section for more details.
*We spent some good time at the cabin this year! Middle of July, Heidi's family all came to Brian Head where we converged at our cabin for our annual Potts Retreat, in September Jason's family came up for Labor Day weekend, and our friends, the Graffs, came later in September and we had fun 4-wheeling in the gorgeous fall leaves. In addition, Heidi & Jason had a couple getaways at the cabin :)
*In August, for McKinley's family senior trip (her choice), we drove to Santa Cruz, Northern California. We stayed in a cute Airbnb within walking distance to the beach and we just enjoyed every minute together!
*We loved watching some Olympics this summer!
*In October, we went to General Conference in SLC. The girls had never been and it was a wonderful experience!
*For my future grandchildren: Here is some current kid/teenage slang that you can have your parents explain to you one day: The Gram, Skibidi Rizzler, Cap, Bruh, Sigma, Rizz, Chad, Giga-chad, dogs (not the animal), low-key
JASON:
-Jason continues his work at APHIS doing budget. He enjoys the work and the people he works with and we're blessed that he is able to work from home 3x/week.
-Jason started working in the temple this year - on Tuesday evenings and is now the endowment coordinator for that shift.
-Jason was called as a Stake Executive Secretary assistant this year and was able to serve with some wonderful men for about 5 months before our ward split from the Cross Hollows Stake (we are now in the Cedar West Stake)
-Jason is just an amazing husband, father, and friend. He is able to connect with people wherever we go - in Europe or California or Cedar City, our family is usually waiting on him while he chats with someone he just met. We sure love him and are thankful for him every day!
HEIDI:
-Heidi is grateful to continue to be home to help her girls out. It has been such a blessing to spend these
last months with McKinley at home before her mission, and with Ireland when she comes home from school early. Heidi is helping her mom with some marketing for her new book this past year and has enjoyed learning about that as well. -Heidi got to serve with Jason as temple and family history coordinators and loved that calling! Even though she no longer is in that calling, she continues to love family history & the calendars we made with our ancestors' stories was used heavily as we visited each ancestor's gravesite in April. Her latest project is downloading the pictures from Familysearch, adding names to the pictures, and putting them in a Google album that we can display on our TV.
-Heidi continues to serve both in the temple on Friday mornings and with the Share Families of Southern Utah on the board. They are both very fulfilling and she loves the people she serves with.
-LOTS of time at the cabin this year, getting it ready for the Potts Retreat. She cleaned, organized, and her big project was refinishing the cabin floor - wow! that was a lot of time! But she's happy with how it turned out & we can enjoy it so much more now.
-Heidi continues to enjoy the gym & makes it to classes 2-3 times a week as well as walking or running or hiking.
McKINLEY:
- 19-year years old & graduated! Yes, what a year for McKinley! It was her first experience flying alone as she went on her NYC adventure! She got VERY little sleep while there, and she learned she is not a big-city girl with all the smells and noises, but she loved her roommate Emily, and really learned a lot from and enjoyed her conductor, Catherine Birke. Performing at Carnegie was epic! And they peaked onstage!
-Senior lasts: Winter ball with Ezra Cox and Grads with McKay Voorhees. 1 rating for her quartet at state, and superior rating for her orchestra at state, graduating from Seminary, and last hangouts with all her friends.
-McKinley graduated with a 4.0 GPA and received amazing academic scholarships to SUU, the U of U, Snow College & Utah Tech. She also received a cello scholarship at Utah Tech. McKinley has deferred most of these scholarships and is still in the process of deciding which college to attend after her mission :)
-Almost all of McKinley's guy friends are out on missions! Jared Schofield, Hayes Longhurst, Cole Hanson, Caleb Lewin, Johnny Vega, and Ben Norton. McKinley LOVES when she gets emails from them and is inspired by all their adventures, hard work, and even craziness :)
-McKinley went on a girls Senior Trip up north. They got an airbnb and went to the mall and Lagoon and had lots of fun playing games, doing puzzles, watching movies, and eating yummy food.
-McKinley worked at Pizza Cart all year. She could be a walking billboard for them as she LOVES their pizza & gelato and she also loves her boss and co-workers. It has been a great experience for her to work there.
-McKinley opened her mission call on August 24th (Oaklyn's baptism day - she waited 4 whole days till everyone got here!). She is called to the Iowa Iowa City mission, Spanish speaking leaving for the Mexico MTC on December 18th!
-McKinley has been so cute, doing something special for each of her sisters before she leaves. She bought Ireland a Nightmare Before Christmas PJ onesie, took Kezia to an Alec Benjamin concert in SLC, surprised Noelle by taking her to see Brandon Mull when he was in Cedar, and she took Oaklyn ice skating!
-McKinley was hoping to leave around her birthday for her mission, but she's had a few extra months to prepare. Her time this fall has been spent exercising with mom in the mornings, working at the Pizza Cart, going to Institute, reading as many books as she can, connecting with friends over breakfast or lunch, making herself wake up at 6:30am, and completing the long to-dos before she leaves. She has been antsy, but the wait is finally over and she is excited for her upcoming adventures!
-McKinley had her farewell on December 15th and left on December 18th from the St. George airport. We had to be there at 4am and those last goodbyes were hard, but we've already seen tender mercies and know that her brother will *link* our hearts together over the miles.
IRELAND:
-Ireland is 17 and a senior! Her current things she's into: fashion, her dog Ember, flute, getting her Certified Nurses Aid, her friends (Annie, Mahina, Faith) and her boyfriend Sikai.
-Ireland did so well for her Solo & Ensemble this year. She literally went online and wrote “hardest solo flute piece” and what came up was “Syrinx.” She worked for almost a year with Tanisa on that piece for her solo. While the execution wasn’t what she wanted, she still did wonderfully and got a 1 from the judges! Her duet with Sophia was 7 minutes long & was so good! The judge had some suggestions for them, but he said it was the best thing he’d heard that day and told them they were going to region! They did awesome in Region as well. Great job Ireland!
-Ireland finally got her driver's license this year - yay!
-Ireland got to go to FSY and girls camp this summer and had some awesome experiences and met some rad people!
-Grandma Potts has had a lot of health issues since her fall and Ireland has been worried about her. She took the St. George shuttle to SLC and took care of grandma for a whole week! She made yummy meals (including a beautiful apple pie!) and brushed her hair and spent time with her! The whole family was so thankful that grandma was so well taken-care-of.
-Ireland worked for a few months at Fyre Wings with her friend Henry before she started her CNA course with Henry's mom, Amy. She's not sure if CNA work is for her long-term, but it will be a good short-term money earning job and a good back-up for her. She's almost done with her tests & has completed all 24 hours of clinicals.
-Ireland is wonderful, loyal, and kind. She's had a couple friends this year with some heavy trials, and she has been there to help lighten their load and help them know they're loved.
KEZIA:
-Kezia is 15 years old and a freshman! She gets to be in the same school with Ireland (her pookie) for 1 year of her life :) She really likes her high school classes and is in a great group of friends who hang out a lot! She's very into music and just got a job at the Pizza Cart (she's wanted a job since she was little, so she's pretty excited about this)!
-Kezia worked SO hard for her audition this year for CCCMT’s Matilda - She had fun and got to be with her friends & learn fun songs and dances :)
-Kezia was voted as 8th grade’s “MOST LIKELY TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES” ! So cool!
-Boys are definitely still in the picture for this girl. She was "together" with a boy named Ephraim for 5 months this year & they messaged a LOT and went to hangouts and enjoyed each other's company :)
-Kezia had an awesome violin year! Strings festival, going to sweepstakes as a CMS orchestra (top 15 against 9th graders!), and making symphonic orchestra for HS (she worked SO SO hard for that!), she has grown so much!
-IT HAPPENED!! It really happened! After months and years of dreaming, planning, saving, budgeting, and booking, WE WENT TO EUROPE! At the beginning of the year, Kezia made a paper countdown chain that wrapped all around her room. The last chain was an Eiffel tower cutout, so cute! Kezia’s favorite Paris memories are when she went on a daddy-daughter date for dinner in the Eiffel Tower, learning to bake eclairs, or all the food she got along the way. Kezia’s favorite Islas Canarias memories were Charco Azul, Whale and Dolphin Watching, Calle Triana, and going to the beach 24/7.(see her trip book for all the deets) 🙂
-Kezia loved going to girls camp and FSY this summer. She still messages people from her FSY group :) And even Oakcrest!
-Kezia got her learner's permit in October & has done really well with driving!
-Kezia still loves baking and uses it to bless the lives of many. Her family, obviously, is the primary beneficiary of this gift, but she loves to go drop off treats secretly to lift her friends who need a smile.
-Cross Country! Kezia only got a few runs in with the high school team in the summer before school started, but then she was consistent and really making progress. She even took 1st in JV at the Murray race (and met the McFarland USA guy)! Unfortunately, after feeling dizzy after a couple races and the Samsung Health watch showing some strange things, we took her to the doctor who said no more cross country until she sees the pediatric cardiologist. We saw him up north in November & he verified through EKG that Kezia has Wolfe-Parkinson-White (WPW) Syndrome (we knew she had SVT as a baby), which means she still has an extra electrical node on her heart. She has a scheduled procedure for next year to remove it and hopefully will be cleared to compete in track!
LINK:
NOELLE:
-Noelle hit double-digits this year & is the big 10! She is queen of the elementary in 5th grade! She reached the "ear-piercing rite-of-passage" and looks cute with her earrings. She is still a VORACIOUS reader and has earned all the reading awards she can possibly earn. Some books she's read (and re-read) this year: Almost all the Brandon Mull books, Harry Potter books 1-3, the Percy Jackson series, the Michael Vey Series, Roald Dahl books, and of course the KOTLC series (Keeper of the Lost Cities - she's been reading this with mom), and her "battle books" (Nevermoor, Wild Robot, Crenshaw, Pet Heist, Mouse on the Motorcycle, The Boy Who Failed Show & Tell, Charlotte's Web, Metilda, etc)
-–Noelle was NOT a fan of getting her tonsils out. She didn’t have a great attitude going in, even though she got to watch TV for a while in her hospital room. But afterwards, she was REALLY not happy. She would just crawl around in her bed. She hated that her brain felt “muddy.” And she kept saying “why did you sign me up for this?” The ice cream afterwards helped cheer her up, but she had lots of pain for a week or more afterwards. We’re glad that’s over with!
-It was so fun to see Noelle in her audition and her performance of Matilda. She had a little solo and she did so great! It’s so fun to watch her perform!
-Noelle's teacher, Mrs. Vanarsdale, dubbed her "Webster" and it stuck :) She is a dictionary for sure!
-Noelle did recreation soccer in the spring and yellow was her color. They were the "duckies" and she did awesome! Scoring lots of goals and having some great assists.
-Noelle still loves to go fishing and asked her dad many times this summer to go!
-Brother Watson hired Noelle to go to his house every day and take care of the clippings in his yard. She did this for a couple months & made a lot of money in quarters! :)
-On October 8th, Noelle came home from school all excited. She got to meet Brandon Mull at school! Brandon Mull is one of her FAVORITE authors and she's read almost all of his books - multiple times, so he is quite a celebrity to her. Little did she know that McKinley was already planning on surprising her by taking her to meet him at Deseret Book! McKinley & Noelle waited for over an hour, but finally got to meet him and Noelle had him sign a book and McKinley had him sign a Brandon Mull plate she created.
.jpg)
OAKLYN:
-Oaklyn turned 8 this year & is in 2nd grade. She continues to be our most social child & just can't resist going around talking to everyone (wonder where she gets that from?) and giving them a BIG HUG!! Some of Oaklyn's fave friends are: Charlotte Price, Macie Durbin, Amor, Berklee, Link, Grady, Belvine, Andi, Karla & Adaline.
-We’re thankful that Oaklyn was able to get her tonsils out, she went from around 6x strep/year to no strep this year! Recovery was rough and nights were tough, but Oaklyn is tough too and before long she wasn’t complaining about the pain anymore. She loved the attention and cold sweet treats and screen time :) She now actually tells me that she loved getting her tonsils out :)
-Oaklyn is always so much fun to watch in the CCCMT plays! We were so proud of her for auditioning this year - she was so brave and did so well.
-After 30 minutes of everyone looking, it was OAKLYN who found the golden egg with $20! She wanted to buy walkie-talkies for her & Charlotte, so we immediately ordered them and the BFFs have had fun walkie-talkie-ing.
-Oaklyn has gotten more into reading this year. She really loved "The Pain and the Great One" by Judy Blume and she also loves Junie B. Jones books!
-8 is great!!! What a special birthday for Oaklyn! We celebrated on her birthday, where our family happened to be also vacationing in California. What better birthday than spending the day at the beach? Then, on August 24th, Oaklyn got to be baptized on the same day as her BBF, Charlotte! What a special day! On that same day, McKinley opened her mission call (Mom found Oaklyn in the basement crying after she opened it - she will miss her sister so much!), but later on she got to have her 8th birthday party! Lots of cute friends from the neighborhood & from school came to our home & they had lots of water fun, a dance party, a piñata, and of course cake & ice cream!
-Oaklyn wanted to try tumbling this year & we signed her up at the same place Charlotte goes. It took her a bit to get into it, but pretty soon she was doing cartwheels all over the house :) Her end-of-year tumbling recital was so cute too :)
