January Happenings

Here's a peek into our month.  We still have LOTS of time at home.  We've finally started going back to school slowly.  First Braddock started back, then Landon joined him, and soon Tanner will be going back as well.  It's still hybrid so they're only in school Wednesday and Friday, but we'll take it!  Bridger's loved having his brothers home more and gets in on their schooling and is constantly creating something with Braddock.  We've also had tons of snow this winter so the boys are always out sledding or playing in the yard.  We've only upset the neighbors once or twice for sledding into the road when they drive by.  Haha!  Oh well....it's worth it!  

No amazon boxes or packaging material is safe around here.  They're turned into something far more fun almost immediately after arrival.

Bridger gave himself a crayon uni-brow and mustache.

Tanner tried to pull a prank on Landon.  He made this pill bottled and claimed to have ordered them online.  It ended up flopping but it's a little freaky to me how realistic he managed to make this!

This is basically what the house looks like 100% of the time these days.  I keep reminding myself that they're using their brains and being creative instead of focusing on the mess.  Ask me how well that's working! ;)

Dean made this cute new light for our bedroom from a basket I picked out for Christmas.  I LOVE it!

These two cuties sneak into each other's beds every night.  At first it bugged me, now I just think it's sweet.  Guess I should have invested in a queen bed. 

Landon had to make a salamander habitat for school, so he pulled out the sculpy and got to work.  Braddock and Bridger had to get in on the sculpting too!

I love it when big brothers read to little brothers!

We braved the cold to meet up with some friends at a cool new park.  The boys LOVED the zip line.

This was the result of some playdoh letter practice with Bridger.  I hope he never grows up!  His endless love notes are the BEST!

I spent a lot of January prepping some fun crafts for the new youth theme, "A Great Work!"

With virtual school it's harder to get the boys in bed at a reasonable hour at night.  This poor kid just can't keep up and ends up crashing at some point ever couple days!

There has been a LOT of hoverboarding since Christmas.  They better enjoy it while it lasts, cause once we start the new flooring they won't be in the house anymore!  Dean and I are getting awfully fed up with the scrapes and dings up and down the walls.  And Bridger looked way too cool with his mohawk and hoverboard.

Braddock and Bridger made themselves a smoothy and then shared it like this. ;)

The boys randomly made me breakfast in bed.  LOVE them!

Bridger's just sneaking in a little 5th grade learning.

We're mildly obsessed with these tortilla wraps.  We've made lots of different combos and cook them up on our panini press.

More playdoh creations.

What virtual learning looks like.  What a crazy time we live in!

The picture doesn't do it justice, but the snowy sunset was gorgeous!

Janna's 43rd Birthday

January 2nd is Janna's birthday.  It's always the last hurrah of our holiday celebrations. Luckily Geoff and Dianne were able to stay long enough to help celebrate too.  We were all blessed to try Janna's request of seaweed salad.  Haha!  But Tanner was a big fan and even went back for seconds and thirds.  We gifted Janna some heated gloves to keep her warm when she's at the computer.  And Mom and Dad, and Geoff and Dianne took the cake with the coolest gift of all.....she got an animated, stuffed cat that moves, and purrs, and responds to your touch.  

HAPPY 43rd BIRTHDAY JANNA!!  We sure love you!

The little things...

We certainly partied hard over the holidays.  It was cousin time from sun-up to sun-down and my boys couldn't have been happier.  Here's all the extra's and little things we don't want to forget....

Hyrum and Landon teamed up to play some trumpet solos.

Bridger can't get enough of Uncle Jared, or his phone. Hahaha!

We partied so hard we didn't even make it into our own beds at the end of the day before crashing.

And these two crashed on the couch minutes after waking up in the mornings.  Hahaha!

Kyron's everybody's favorite.  Hyrum was passing on some piano skills.

All the kids perked up at the offer to play pie face with Aunt Janna....

Now that's a genuine smile!

Thanks to Uncle Geoff we learned lots of fun card tricks.

There could never be enough video gaming.....Among Us, Wii, Pop Tropica, and DS games....

Movie watching

Kyron would back up slowly and then plop down in Braddock's lap.  Braddock was honored and happy to hold him and give him back rubs through the whole movie.  Too CUTE!

New Years 2020

We were thrilled to have lots of family still in town for New Years Eve.  We started the night off with Grandma's pizza and wings.  Tanner had even talked them up to the physical therapist earlier that day and they did not disappoint.  We started pretty early in the evening leaving hours and hours for game playing, food eating, movie watching, and fun with family.  The kids were SO excited for Grandma and Grandpa's bingo game and all the prizes they won.  And we finished up the night with the kids watching "Soul" downstairs and the adults watching "Knives Out" upstairs.  And of course there were noisemakers and confetti poppers at midnight.  Happy New Year!! I know the general consensus is good riddance to 2020, but man am I grateful for the things I’ve learned this year, and the growth it forced on us. I loved the ability to slow down and focus on my family. I’m grateful for the lessons in adapting and dealing with disappointment. It helped us turn to the true source of peace and joy, which is our Savior, when the world was bleak. Now we’re looking forward to great things in 2021! 🎉🎉🎉