First Part of January

We've been watching a lot of movies this Christmas break... catching up the kids on some of the classics... Clifford, Home Alone, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and more... one we hadn't watched yet was Rocket Man!

So we went to the Maynes's and watched with them. That was a lot of fun.  Chico laughed SO hard.  It was fun watching him watch it.  Christa was playing around with the camera while we watched it, here are a few of her pictures.

There was a cousin birthday party to celebrate too later in January! Such a fun time! Steve, Heidi, and John came which made it all the more fun. Once again I borrowed these pictures from Christa. Thanks!!!

Looks kinda like Griz was eating blood.

I was in a bit of a dangerous spot getting caught in a bit of the crossfire between Dan and Steve.

SOmetimes Jack reminds me a bit of Griz so it was cute seeing them play together.  Not sure they actually had fun, maybe there was a miscommunication there about the rules. Ha ha.

This is huge... Sanna is making progress with their dog.  She has even touched him!

And now some cell phone pics:

We got the kids snow clothes that fit them and they've spent so much time out in the snow this January. It's been awesome.  Even a few neighbor kids came to play.

I got the kids new goggles too, such a silly girl.

With these new goggles we finally went swimming again.

Phone didn't have a fast enough shutter speed for jumping in pictures but they still look kinda cool!

The kids had a blast at the pool and we even had Brent with us which made it even better.  They jumped a million times.  Griz off the high dive of course.  Chico preferred the lower jump. I don't blame him!

Dang Facebook shows video recipes all the time on my feed. One time Brent was sitting next to me when I saw a tutorial about making pretzel dogs.  He told me he really wanted me to make them.  I decided to give it a try and they were AMAZING>>>

And now for our real camera:

We were sitting and chatting with Ellen after we had eaten the pretzel dogs and Brent commented how nice she looked and went and grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.  I got stuck holding the backdrop. ;) (aka a blanket)

We had Taran with us. Doesn't he look great?

And later downstairs Brent and the kids weren't done taking pictures.

I think Bubba took this one...

I like this picture because it shows real life.

Whirlwind leading up to the move

The Saturday before we were to move was crazy packed.  We had a swim meet in the morning, a baptism for the kid's friend right after, Brent had an errand to run up in Murray, and I was bound and determined to get the leaves out to the road before it rained that night.  Somehow we got it all done and even squeezed a few pictures in there and the kids got to have a playdate with their friend who got baptized.  Don't know how we did it. :)

The kids did great at their last swim meet.  Our last time at the Civic Center.  That place was good for us emotionally and physically.  We'll always have a special place in our hearts for the Civic Center, even if the pool was dirty and the lifeguards didn't pay attention. Anyway, pictures from the swim meet!

Griz's goggles broke right at the beginning of this relay, luckily his teammate's mom had an extra pair on hand right when we needed them.

Can't wait until Sanna can join in on their swim meets!

The kids LOVED raking up the leaves.  They helped a bunch and played a bunch in them.  They had the time of their lives. Wish I had done it more throughout autumn instead of procrastinating until the end... like always.  It sure did make for a giant pile which they jumped in and swam in once I got it by the front porch.

Oh man, going through these pictures is making me really home sick.  I know we're technically "home" here in Utah but I miss having our own place... and I'm missing that non snowy weather!

Sanna and Brent left to go shopping up in Murray for something while the boys and I finished getting the leaves into the front. We got some fun videos of them "swimming" and "diving" through the leaves.  Such cute guys.  They played until they were too cold to continue and it was almost dark. Then I went out and finished getting it down to the road for the leaf sucker truck to get it.

I literally got it done right as it got dark and it started raining half an hour after that. So crazy.

I dropped the boys off for their playdate then met Brent and did more errands with him. 

The next day was Sunday, time to say good bye to our Branch Family.  That was hard but not as hard as it was when we went up to Sister Newtons to visit her one last time and say goodbye to her. She's so sweet and dear to us.  A kindred spirit. We wished we could have taken her with us. She and my Grandma could be roommates. I think they'd get along so well. :)

That night Brent and I stayed up late working hard to get ready for the moving truck.  There is always so much more to do than you realize when you're moving.  Around 12:30 we finally collapsed into bed and then I was up again by 5:45 telling Brent it's time to get working again! We got the moving truck picked up nice and early right at 8:00 am in Union City.  The missionaries and a few guys from the Elders Quorum came to help.  We didn't get Patrick in this picture but he stayed most the day and helped with a lot of things and helped entertain the kids.

Elder Olsen was awesome to have in our Branch, we sure will miss him!

It took all day to get everything out of the house and crammed into that truck.  We were so grateful to the Roses for taking our washer and dryer. Those 16 foot trucks are sure smaller than I remember when we moved OUT to TN.  Somehow it all fit pretty much, we had to leave a few children behind but that's all. ;)

A few minutes before 6:00 pm we were all packed and ready to go and completely exhausted.

February March and April

Life has been pretty good.  Kinda busy but still good.  Brent is enjoying rotations. Anything is better than last year, lol

These last few weeks I've been really focusing on getting a painting done before we go out to Utah at the end of the month to visit because I'm giving it to my mom.  It's a large painting so I'd rather not mail it.... and i want to see her reaction. :)  Luckily Sanna loves to paint with me.  Unluckily the house doesn't clean itself.  Nor does the laundry fold itself... Guess it's time to put my little minions to work!

Sanna and I are home alone for a lot of the day and since I've been painting so much she has to entertain herself a bit. Every two hours I stop to take a picture of the painting and sometimes I have to stop and take a pic of her cuteness.  My instagram shows some of her really awesome paintings she has done while we paint together.

Chico has been on a baking stint. He loves trying to make things from his own recipes. They don't always turn out great, these cookies weren't too bad though! 

Always love it when Brent is able to join us for fun things like easter egg decorating! He documents it so well and I get to concentrate on having fun decorating the eggs with the kids!

So sweet when she's crying.

She loves when I draw her, so I drew this for one of her eggs...

and so naturally I had to draw one of Griz...

 they even got to sneak and eat a few that day...

Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday Morning...

 it was nice having a yard again to do the hug hunt in. I love our yard!

Who needs easter baskets anyway right? Heh heh, yeah forgot that detail this year. :) Brent got oranges and strawberries instead of a bunch of candy. We did get one little package of reeses pieces for each of them though. 

And some more pictures of the kids trying to be with me while I'm painting. They set up a nice comfy spot by the warm sliding glass door and were chillaxing.

Thank goodness the kids were such good sports about me getting the painting done. I spent over 80 hours on the painting. Definitely at least half or three quarters of that time was while they were awake.  Thank you kids for being wonderful models for the painting and letting me finish it in time for the trip!

That's my painting set up. She got up on my stool when I was taking a picture of the painting.

Not exactly sure where she learned push-ups I haven't done any in several months, lol.

3/11/16 Griz lost his first tooth! Chico is holding it in the pic above. He was pretty excited for his bro.

This cute Grizzly Bear is always keeping us laughing. The other day he said the prayer for dinner and halfway through he stops and says, "and now I'll say it in Spanish"...and starts babbling in some made up Spanish. Brent was annoyed because he thought Griz was trying to be silly so he opened his eyes and turned to remind him not to be silly while praying but discovered Griz had the most intense concentration on his face. So we just sat and silently laughed (maybe not as silent as we should have been actually). As soon as he finished (he had to tell us he was done by saying "that was amen in Spanish") and Chico reaches for his fork shaking his head and said under his breath "super weird". Love these silly kids. And I think it's time to start teaching Griz Spanish.

Well, I feel like a lot more happened in this 3 month time period than I have documented. But with this account and Instagram combined it's pretty accurate I guess! Brent did two family practice rotations and a pediatrics rotation.  He really enjoyed his first rotation at a rural family practice clinic the most. His preceptor was awesome and he loved the small town feel.  It was a great way to start out the year.