Cornelius Chronicles

Bekah's home for Christmas Break!!!!!  You know what that means?!?!  Lots of fun craft time fun in the kitchen!  Bekah is the best!  We miss her while she's away at school, but we're proud of her and the effort she is putting into her college experience.  She's amazing! We also decided to start another home renovation project.  Dustin is busy moving walls around to turn 1.5 closets into 3 amazing closets!  It's going to be a game changer around here!  Wish us luck and speed!  

Our beloved friend Grant the Gerbil passed away on Friday, December 19th, 2025 in Loyd's loving hands.  Grant lived a good life.  He was 5 years old and brought all of us a lot of joy and fun.  He was Loyd's guy. Loyd would hurry home every day from school to hold and play with his fuzzy little friend.  Grant loved to eat, chew crazy amounts of cardboard, and run around on Loyd's bed exploring for great spots to burrow into the blankets.  Grant was gentle. He never bit anyone and was so patient with little children when they wanted to pet him and feel his silky, black fur.  He loved to wink at Loyd, and this gave Loyd a big smile every single time.  Grant was a beloved member of our family and will be greatly missed.  His brother Jay Burino morns his loss the most.  It will be lonely without him.  Thank you for the gift of your loving and kind life, Grant.  We love you and miss you!  

With the exception of a day or two of light snow, we have been having the warmest winter weather on record.  It was over 20 degrees Fahrenheit over our normal average temperatures for most of December.  The garden has been a bit confused by this.  Flowers are still popping up here and there, the trees can't decide if they need to push their buds out yet or now, and the rose bushes even produced a few flower buds.  I won't turn down less cold weather, but we sure do miss all of our snow.   Just playing with friends in the backyard and eating popsicles in December.  Just regular climate change winter stuff in the mountains.    Diana with what might be the only snowman she gets to see this winter season. Thanks Library Frosty for making our January day!

 The only thing better than my 6 foot tall pink flamingo made especially for me by my favorite big brother is that same amazing flamingo decorated in pink Christmas lights!  Merry Flamingo Christmas!

It's the Christmas season and we did a few things to celebrate the Christmas cheer this year.  Diana and I and her friend Everett and his fun mom got a personal tour of the Ogden Christmas Village by none other than Mrs Clause herself!  We even got a train ride too!  I think it was the highlight of the season for Diana.  Then we took the entire family to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point to enjoy the spectacular lights throughout the gardens.  As always, it was awe-inspiring!  We attended the annual Phillips Family Christmas Party.  Santa made an appearance and handed out gifts to all of the kids.  Diana was terrified of him and quickly hid behind my chair when the jolly old elf came into the room.  But, she quickly found her inner bravery and ran up to his lap when he produced a prettily wrapped present and called Diana's name.  She was not going to miss out on her very own gift.  It was so funny and so cute! Wishing a Merry Christma...

Some days are best spent snuggling your super soft bunny friend.  CiCi bunny sure is a fantastic snuggle bunny for this cute girl.  

Happy Birthday to the cutest Diana ever!  Diana requested a unicorn cake and we did not disappoint.  We spent the day with family and meeting our new baby cousin DJ.  It was the best day ever. I am so in love with this wild, energetic, independent, demanding little girl.  Diana is strong willed and never gives up.  She loves being with her family and friends, but she also loves the quiet pleasure of snuggling in with mom to read a stack of good picture books together.  Diana is snuggly and loving and gives the best loves and whispers the sweetest, "I love you, Mom"'s.  I am the luckiest mom in the world to call Diana mine.  I love you, Diana!  Happiest of Birthdays!  

It's Owen's birthday and we just had to celebrate!  This fun kid had a few friends come over and they played laser tag at the park and Grandma Phillips' backyard.  Then they played with glow sticks, ate smore's and had the best time running around together in the dark. Owen had a great time.  I am so proud of this kid.  Owen is kind,  patient, obedient, and hard working.  Owen is a rule follower and a leader amongst his friends, encouraging everyone to be good to each other and have good fun.  My heart sings when I catch him reading his scriptures by himself at night.  He loves God and is working on growing his testimony.  Owen is the best big brother a little sister could ask for.  Diana things the world of him.  He's probably her favorite person of all time.  I'm so glad we could spend a day celebrating Owen and showing him how much he is loved.  Happy birthday, Owen!  I can't wait to see you grow!  

John did a thing!  Check out this cute kid!  He played two roles in his elementary school's first musical play ever, Finding Nemo Kids.  John was snappy as a background crab, and funny as Bloat, the funny blowfish in the tank gang who helps Nemo escape the fish tank.  John worked so hard and did such a great job.  I'm so proud of this cute, talented little guy!  John, you are "o-fish-ally" amazing! John and the Tank Gang on stage Crabby John John as Bloat the blowfish