January and other news

Mark's birthday was January 7th.  He's 47 now, and handsome as ever!  We had a fun quiet birthday party.

Daniel made this great Duplo guy one day, he's so creative!

Daniel also took it upon himself to decorate the wall the other day, so funny!  Luckily it came off pretty well.  And Mark has some touch up paint for the rest.  The touch-up paint is also coming in handy as we get our house ready to sell later this year.  A few months ago, we signed a contract to build a new house by Black Cat and McMillan.  We're not quite sure yet when it will be done (we should get the build schedule soon) but hopefully it will be done by the end of the year. 

We were busy in November and December choosing some design options for our new house.  It was pretty stressful, but we're happy with what we came up with. Here are some of our selections.  

Here's our lot on a frosty day a few weeks ago.

Here's the official drawing of our house.  The big garage is for our big van and for storage.

We took this picture at sunset the other day of the view across the street from our lot. Directly across from our lot there is a path and in the distance you can see Squaw Butte, which has been a favorite view of mine for years.  Eventually there will be houses over there, but it's a beautiful view now.  

So that's our exciting news, for our friends who haven't heard yet.  We still have several months here, so we're not ready to say our goodbye's yet, but we're excited for our new adventures to come.

 

Christmas Eve and Christmas!

I really wanted to get matching pajamas for the kids this year and luckily I found some.  I had to alter some women's pants for Andy because they were out of his size 😂, but it turned out.  

It is hard work to get a good picture with all the kids, but they are super cute and getting so big!

Christmas Morning!  Ready for presents!

Andy got lots of Legos this year

BethAnne got a 3D printer and she was so excited.  We ended up having to send that one back, but we got another, better one and she has been making some awesome things.  

Grace's friend, Lexi (our next door neighbor), dropped off a present on Christmas and Grace was so touched.  She has really missed social activities this year, so this meant a lot to her.

Daniel and Joy got lots of fun presents too!

The boys and the family got lots of Lego presents for Christmas which meant that Mark and I spent a lot of time on Christmas (and the following days) doing Legos!  I made the castle below over a couple days and Mark made the Quidditch set.  I wish we had saved these sets for when we didn't have a 3-year-old 😆(they only lasted intact for a few days), but now the kids have so many Legos to play with every day and they often play with their Lego table for hours every day.

So, Christmas was a success!  My favorite Christmas moment this year was on Christmas Eve.  We celebrated with just our family and it was fun, but kind of quiet (and a little lonely).  As we were watching Home Alone, the door rang and standing in front of our house (socially distanced) were my parents and my siblings (Chrissy, Rick and Carl) and their families.  They came to carol for us and I was so touched.  I didn't realize how much I would miss our big Christmas Eve party, until the day came.  But they brought some of the party to us and I'm so grateful.  We are hoping that in a few months life will get back to normal and we'll never take big gatherings for granted again. 

December!

December was quiet this year, as we were isolating due to the pandemic. But we still had some lovely times together as a family.

One of our favorite December traditions is making Gingerbread houses.  Daniel especially loved it this year and kept asking to decorate them again.  He loved to eat them too!

The whole family made houses

This little buddy is still attached at my hip and I love it (usually)!  He's such a sweetie, though he's been a bit more busy and mischievous lately.  

Here are the final houses!  It's getting harder to tell whose is whose, the kids are getting quite talented.  

Daniel's house was pretty funny because it looked like a crime scene 😆

I was in charge of our Ward's Humanitarian Project in December. We collected all sorts of items for the City Light Home for Women and Children in Boise.  The ward really came through, and on the collection day they brought enough items to totally fill our big van (all the seats in the back were out).  We even had to put a few boxes in the minivan.  

We collected items at the church on a Saturday morning (December 12th) and it was freezing and I kind of overdid it, but after a day in bed I felt much better.  

Then the next day we had our first snow and Daniel was so excited!  He said "It's Noing!!" (how he says snowing).  We've had very little snow this year, better luck next year. 

Our dogs get groomed every 4-6 weeks.  This was right before Christmas, they're so cute!

Next post- Christmas!

Holidays

We had a quiet Halloween and Thanksgiving this year, due to Covid 19.  We got to spend a lot of time together with just our little family and it was nice and quiet and fun.  The kids, especially the older ones, are going a little stir crazy and they miss their friends and activities, but I think they will be okay.  We're hoping that Covid 19 gets better by next summer or so. A vaccine is coming any day now.  But right now, the infection rates are crazy, hospitals are nearly full, and a lot of people are dying.  It's been especially sad to see the politicization of Covid.  People are refusing to wear masks or social distance in the name of freedom. Some of these same people also keep insisting that Trump won the election even though Biden got more votes and won the electoral college soundly.  Trump and his followers say the election was stolen, though they offer no proof that has held up in court so far.  We are hoping that the transition of power is normal and peaceful and hopefully we never have a president or election like this again.

In better, more festive news- Grace, BethAnne and I sang a song for a Relief Society Christmas Activity the other day.  It was great to sing with my girls.  

We also had fun making gingerbread houses the other day.  It was a great family activity that even the older kids seemed happy to participate in.

We're looking forward to Christmas this year.  It will be quiet, but we are so lucky to have a loving little family with lots of dear souls to share it with.  

September part 4- Superhero Fun!

 About a week ago, I came downstairs, and Andy and Daniel were trying to use blankets for capes.  It wasn't going very well.  I had been thinking about getting them some capes for awhile and that sweet scene made up my mind.  Andy likes the capes, but Daniel loves them.  He wore them all weekend, sometimes changing every 10-20 minutes.

Captain America

Spiderman (I think that's his favorite, that's what he's wearing right now) 

One night, batman came to dinner, he even said the prayer 😊

On Sunday night, after a weekend of playing, Daniel sidled up to me and said "Thank you, Mom".  I said "for what?"  He paused for a second and said, "Thank you for you."  It was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever told me.  💗

September Part 3 - Happy Birthday Joy!

 

Our sweet Joy turned 11 on September 28th.

Her good friend Norah got to come over after school and she stayed all evening. 

We bless the day that these girls met, it is a gift to have a true friend.

Joy and Norah did a great job decorating the sides of the cake.

I did the writing and flowers on the top.

Happy birthday Joy!  You are such a blessing to our family and a light to all who know you!  I'm so grateful that you're in our family!

September Part 2

 September 25th was Dave and Carma Rogers' 50th Anniversary.  Lisa Rogers had the idea to throw them a surprise Anniversary party and we all chipped in.  

Mark and I were in charge of dessert and decorations.  

The party turned out really well, it was a special night celebrating a wonderful couple.

This month, Joy and BethAnne started taking horse riding lessons in Eagle (halfway to Emmett).  Daniel came with us to the first lesson and we spent the whole way there explaining to him that he was just going to watch, not actually ride.

But near the end of the girls' lesson, the teacher offered to let Daniel ride and he loved it.  But he kept asking the horse to go faster, it was very funny.

Both girls love to ride and and it's a great hobby. I'm a city girl myself, I wish it wasn't so dusty out there 😆, but I love that they love it.