Ice Skating

The stake put on a stake youth activity and took all of them ice skating. Apparently it was the first time for some of our kids, but they loved it! I love that they all have such a good group of friends!

Friday happenings

Grant and I went on a date tonight. I love that we do this every week. I look forward to Fridays so much! Grant had an amazing date planned full of sharp shooting and theater watching events. But I left my purse at home thinking I wouldn't need it. And I needed a license to shoot. So we went to dinner instead and then went to the movies. We watched "Mary Poppins Returns." It was a cute movie that the girls will love. 

 Piper's school had a spirit day today where they got to bring a stuffed animal to school. However, she wanted to bring this new addition. Thinking that her bus driver, and not to mention her teacher, probably wouldn't appreciate having an adult size stuffed animal with her, we took a picture of her with her stuffed animal, printed it out, and sent her to school with the picture and a small stuffed animal instead.

Decorating and De-decorating

Tonight, Ben won the award for the most patient brother of the year! He let the girls do his hair! 

 We finally were able to put away the Christmas tree tonight. We had to reach the top of the tree to get the storage bag on. Grant's genius idea was for me to get on his shoulders so together we were tall! It was scary and fun all at one time!

Mom Spa Day

 I was so tired today after church---completely exhausted. I laid down on the couch and just closed my eyes, and the girls brought me an invitation to have a mom spa day. Nothing my nap couldn't wait for. My nails were super beautiful afterwards. I enjoyed the pampering!

Family Fun Thing

Mr. Trevor was in charge of planning our family fun thing today. He chose to go to Hu Hot. It was yummy as always. The kids enjoyed using chop sticks. Trevor has known how to use chop sticks forever--he's a natural. The girls are getting the hang of it. I personally like the two-handed method that Lucy used. 

Pretty Cool

I'm pretty sure she is the coolest kid on the block!

First 2 hour Church!

Today was our first Sunday of 2 hour church! Don't mind the fact that Grant and I had about 3 hours of meetings combined outside of church! But the potential is there. It has to get better. It was fun. The girls and Grant and I went on a hike/walk. We walked to one edge of the property. The burs were getting to the girls, so we had to come back sooner than we thought, but we loved the experience. I love being with my family.

Saying Goodbye

Our sweet Karmin has the biggest heart. Her snail passed away this week. So we had to make a burial plot. She was so sad. It is hard to see our kids have heart ache. 

Ice Skating

Our stake had a ice skating activity tonight with all of the youth. Grant said that there were hundreds of kids there. Our kids apparently really like to ice skate and they aren't too bad either. Karmin can actually do a 360 spin on her skates. Super fun night for all!

A Night Off

Grant's work gave him a gift card to go to a hotel as a thank you for all the work he did in completing the new building. They gave us enough that we can go two times. It was the first time that we left the kids over night. It is nice to have a son old enough to drive and responsible enough to watch them overnight. This was a big step for our family! A fun step! 

It was a lot of fun to be together and enjoy the quiet.

Our Happenings

Karmin had a hard day today. So Grant took her out on a date. They went for ice cream. And came back after bed time--super fun!

 The girls and I saw a herd of 22 elk on our way to the bus stop this morning! It was a beautiful site.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Our neighbors had a big get together tonight for New Year's Eve. It was a little odd feeling not doing our traditional NYE events, but the kids really wanted to do this this year, so we did. Happy kids, happy parents?!??

And this is the end to our 2018 adventures :)

Church-y Things

Tonight we had FHE and Lydia had amazing lego renditions of the stories that she was teaching. It was pretty awesome. 

Also the boys wore their ties that they got from Nana and Papa from Hong Kong for Christmas. Very dapper dudes. 

On Target

Tonight I had a GREAT idea for a date. We went shooting at Cabela's. It was a lot of fun. Grant taught me how to shoot because let's be real, I had no idea how. Once he taught me, I didn't miss a shot. It was a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day is such a fun day. The kids didn't wake up too early...luckily. We had a fun morning by opening up stockings. Then we ate breakfast, followed by opening gifts. 

 Lucy loved her Octonauts pajamas. I'm not sure if she will take them off anytime soon. Every gift, including undies, were awesome gifts for her. She was so excited. And she was excited when everyone else got something too.

 Our kids gave the most thoughtful gifts this year. Handmade items from school like this one that Lydia gave us, or saving up money to buy gifts for each other. Their generosity and thoughtfulness was great!

 We think that Piper forget for a couple of minutes that she wanted a bike and didn't get it when she got this ginormous bear! She loved it!!

 This one was one of my personal favorites....Piper made me a vest. She took a big piece of felt and cut holes in them for arms. It was great!