Last September, Dave told me about Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks coming to AZ and mentioned he’d like to go. So for his birthday, I got us tickets to take a fun walk down memory lane. But we are incredibly lame about selfies.

When Stevie sang “Landslide” there was a slide show of Christine McVie, who passed away in 2022. It was very moving. She’s still very cool.

But Billy really stole the show. I can’t believe how agile and talented he is at age 79! I also couldn’t believe how many of his songs are the soundtrack of my childhood. It was a very fun night reminiscing with all the other middle aged+ fans.

This year, I actually bought tickets to the Nutcracker again. Rel was in town and Kenna joined us for the first time. We went to breakfast at a very yummy bakery. We stopped at Barnes & Noble for a little Christmas shopping. We enjoyed our girls’ tradition.

On the evening of December 18th, I went to bed early with a migraine. At about 10 pm, I heard a bunch of texts coming through. I didn’t look at them because I was trying to sleep it off. At exactly 4:00 am, I woke up and was wide awake. I got up to use the bathroom. Then I looked at my phone to see what all the texting was about. My dad was going downhill fast. He had taken two bad falls in the parking lot at his assisted living. He was trying to leave to get himself KFC. He was in and out of it. As I laid there, I thought “does it feel like he’s passed away?” and I strongly felt like he had and it was okay. Then my phone rang, it was Becca telling me he’d passed away around 4:00 am.

We scheduled the funeral for after Christmas so everyone could make it.

Christmas pajamas were not loved by anyone this year, but I think they took a fun photo anyway.

It was a super cute first Christmas for the girls. I got their stockings stitched – as well as Kenna’s in time for Santa to fill them up.

Epic skiing sky the day after Christmas.

For my friend’s 40th birthday, her husband threw her a surprise party with a Wicked theme. And to put all other husbands to shame – GLINDA showed up and performed for the party. It was honestly super cool! I did tell her husband later that my name is also “Kristin.” It’s spelled the same way, and I am also 55 years old. I would have been a lot less expensive, but I would have had to lip sync. Maybe he can give B some tips to get Chris for my 60th?? haha

This is the only photo I have from the funeral. I didn’t take any photos but everyone made it to the funeral and back home safe. He was buried in Orem.

In honor of the funeral, here are a couple gems from memory lane: curlers and a cowboy hat?