Having the kids do a "Year in Review" is one of my favorites. We somehow missed doing this over the New Year holiday, but luckily I remembered before the year really got going. It is amazing to look back and see how much the kids have grown and changed. It was especially fun to listen to the conversations the kids were having while they completed their sheets.
Sunday morning snuggles are my very favorite. Luke has always been so loving and affectionate. With all of his growing up, I sure hope he never loses his willingness to snuggle his mama.
Just chilling with their leap pads.
The kids spend a lot of time at the table creating. Ruby's favorite is her paints, she does big beautiful pictures and also likes to write in her unicorn notebook. Luke currently likes to color and is almost always coloring and creating a book or project that has something to do with Pokemon.
Tim and the big kids spent an afternoon at Crystal Springs
As always, there have been a lot of afternoons in Ogden visiting Erika and Brycen
We have had the strangest weather with no snow and weather in the 40-50 degree range. We need the snow, but it has been so nice for the kids to be able to walk to school and play outsides.
Luke was so sweet and worked to try to help Ruby learn to ride.
There have been plenty of days at the park
And lots of time in the backyard.
We finally got to take advantage of my Christmas gift and see Aida at the new Hale Theater. Tim hadn't ever seen the play and didn't know much about it, but it has been one of my favorites for a very long time. This production was incredible - I spent a large part of the show trying not to cry at the beauty and emotion of it all, and the rest of the time I was just amazed by the spectacle. We had the best afternoon and loved a chance to have a little time together.
I've been battling SI pain and this is supposed to help.....
We have been looking for a new bed for Ruby for quite some time but everything we found was either super expensive or really poor quality. Tim kept watching the KSL classifieds and was excited when he found a great bed for a fair price. Ruby was beyond thrilled when he arrived home with her new big girl bed. We spent the afternoon cleaning and organizing and getting everything situated "just so". It has been fun to watch Ruby's reactions every day to her bed - she is the most excited and so proud. She tells us that all of her pets love the new bed as well.
A few weeks later and the new bed is still her favorite
It may not have happened until the end of January, but we finally had a real snowstorm! As soon as they woke up Luke and Ruby wanted to take advantage and go outside to play. They played for a little while in the morning and then we went back out that afternoon with the main goal of building a snowman. After a few snow angels we got to work. Well, Luke to to work. Ruby spent most of her time "on break" eating snow. Our snowman was not very impressive, but we still had the best time.
Unfortunately, within a week, the snowman had pretty much disappeared.
There's really nothing better than spending a Sunday afternoon reading stories with Grandpa.
Tim and I were able to run away the last week of the month to recharge in the sun. While we were gone, Luke and Ruby had their own "vacation". They spent a few days in Santaquin with Grandpa and Grandma Broadbent where they loved being next door to the cousins, then came back to our house where Grandpa and Grandma Whitesides kept them entertained. They both thought it was so fun to go to church in Santaquin with Gavin and Juniper and Luke told me that he liked the class because he knew all of the answers. Ruby was just happy to color. I think the best part of their time in Santaquin was Saturday afternoon when everyone bundled up and took the four wheelers up the canyon to go sledding. Both kids told me how fun the hill was because it was really long but not too scary. It definitely helped that either Grandpa or Cory would pull the kids back to the top of the hill.
Back at our house they made sure they did all of their favorite activities with Grandpa and Grandma. They played games, did puzzles, and mastered Luke's new balancing game, Suspend. Luke was a little sick one day so he stayed home from Kindergarten and got the full attention all afternoon while Ruby was at school. We were sent lots of updates along the way and were so happy to know what a great time the kids were having. At one point Tim asked my mom if the kids were missing us. She asked and Luke tried to make sure no one had hurt feelings and basically said that he missed us some but was having fun. Apparently Ruby didn't even pause to think before letting grandma know that no, she was not missing us at all. Such a perfect reaction for both of their personalities.
