Auri + Christmas Time = A Whole Lot of FUN!

Auri started December off with her piano recital in Orem. She played Jingle Bells and did a great job. She is now in her 4th year playing, she doesn't complain about practicing but definitely needs a daily reminder 

Since Mom volunteered to be Auri's 6th grade room mom, she was able to attend and be in charge of all the class parties. Christmas parties are always super fun! We had stations the kids rotated through every 10-15 minutes; Crafts, cookie decorating, Christmas Bingo, Pictionary and toss the ring on the antlers. It was actually sad that this would be mom's last time helping with an elementary Christmas party after 16 years of volunteering!

Auri was able to perform in her last Elementary Christmas concert this year. She loves and has always loved to sing. She took singing lessons for a few months before her teacher had to quit after having a baby.

It wouldn't be Christmas time without a Dance team party! Cami, the team mom of the Arise team always does such a great job making sure the girls get together occasionally to hang out and have fun outside of dance. She planned a Christmas party with a gift exchange for the girls which includes lots of screaming and laughing. She is a brave woman and we appreciate her.

1st Dates... sometimes leads to Marriage

Jayden asked if he could come over for a Christmas decorating competition with a double date. He and Colin took their dates to the dollar store where they found items under $20 to decorate a Christmas tree, then Auri would judge the trees. They both met their dates on the Mutual App. After decorating, Auri didn't know whose tree was whose and chose Jayden and his date's tree as the winner. Although Colin lost, he actually won by taking out the girl of his dreams, Abby. They were married 7 months later!!! It was fun to be part of their first date!

It's not over... Soccer Beyond High School!

Jayden has loved Soccer since the early age of 3. We probably started him a little late in the Club world at age 10 after 7 years on a city league but he found his way and was part of many amazing teams and made some pretty amazing friends because of it. After playing in high school and serving a mission, now in college he has had the itch and continues to play. He put together a friends indoor team with his roommates Todd, Kyle and Colin and recruited a few others. They were an amazing team and so fun to watch winning a majority of their games. We hope this continues as a tradition so we can cheer you on.

Let the Christmas Parties BEGIN!

Grandma and Grandpa Pikus sold their home and needed to be out by the end of December (Don't ever plan a move in December ;) Grandma wanted one last Christmas party at their house before moving. To make it easy, we ordered Pizza and everyone brought and appetizer or dessert. The Nativity play was of course a "must" as well as the annual gift auction with play money. We all really look forward to it and Grandma does a great job finding gifts, gift cards and money to make it really exciting. Our favorite gift given this year was a pair of girls Christmas pajamas that Uncle Rob paid a high price for (it was wrapped of course so he didn't know what he was paying for but had a strong feeling it would be something amazing). He owned them though! He tried them on and even performed a little dance for all of us, definitely a site to see. There is never a dull moment at the Pikus Parties!

The Yates Party was a little more subdued this year without any gift exchanging games, but we had such a great time. It was held at Troy and Darcy's house in Salt Lake. It is always fun to see the cousins on the Yates side since we don't get to see them as often since Grammy and Grandpa have passed away. The family is getting bigger and busier. Aysia loved holding Zach and Ashley's triplets. Once again, the nativity is the staple of every Yates party and the kids did and incredible job including Auri's amazing performance as an Angel. 

Luxelle's Time To Shine

Aysia's second year of being on Westlake High School's Luxelle team was ready to kick off with the competition season. After tryouts in April, learning and practicing the choreography starts in June with approximately 15-18 hours of practices each week with only a 3 week moratorium in July when no practicing is allowed. It can be grueling, but Aysia rarely complains unless she in injured and even then, she usually just takes some pain medicine and sucks it up. Between her High school team and her dance team at Synergy, she usually averages 20-25 hours a week. Definitely not much time for a job with school work and squeezing in a social life. 

Luxelle's character dance this year was "Thor", Westlake's mascot. It really was an incredible dance with retractible hammers used during the routine. The girls finished strong for all 3 of their dances (Dance, Show, Military)  at their first 2 competitions in December. Mom is always there to support her and usually extra family members when they are available. They are fun competitions to watch and witness the creativity of all the dances from the other schools as well.

Aysia was also able to perform her solo at a few of the Drill Competitions this year. She definitely had some successful competitions. She has come so far with dancing and we love to watch her perform with her team or as a soloist. This years solo was performed to the music "Twilight Zone", considered Jazz/Open and was choreographed by Nolan Richter. 

DECEMBER 2022