On the Way Home, and more Jackson in July

The title says it all.  We stopped for a rest in Star Valley at an old park with fun old playground equipment. The rest is just some random stuff we did in Jackson once we got back home.  Going to the pool was just the beginning of a whole bunch of fun Summer activities we tried to cram in before moving.  You can look forward to those in the near future.

Trip to Utah part Three! Sam Fam Reunion

This is all old news I know, but it was fun to remember as we put this together. 
After staying almost a week with my family, Richard joined us and we went to a family reunion with Richard's family in a vacation rental in Heber.  It was an amazingly nice venue, and having everyone all in the same place but with each family to room was so nice.  I only picked out the pictures and videos that were specifically of our little family, since Richard always makes a full DVD for everyone else with all the footage but you can see how much fun the kids had with their cousins and grandparents.  The one part of the video that was purely our experience was the hike to the falls since we got separated from the rest of the group and hiked to the wrong falls by ourselves.  It was a good bonding experience for our family, and you can read more about that experience here. 
Overall, it was a great trip with great people, great lodgings, and great food.  What more could you ask for?

Summer Trip to Utah part two

I know, this is getting ridiculous how far behind we are, but we're not giving up!  It's kinda funny that we're posting this now since we just got back from Utah last night.  We were there for Thanksgiving and when we got there the first thing the kids wanted to do was play in the sprinklers.  Obviously we couldn't play in the sprinklers in the middle of November, but they thought that's what you do at Grandma's house.  I think it also came from watching that last montage a bunch.  They were also sad to find that the trampoline was out of commission. Not because it was put away for the winter, but because there was a hole in it where the last jumper had gone right through.  Still, it was a good visit.
There was one thing that we did back in July though that the kids got to do again and that was ride on the four wheeler.
Back in July we had a lot of fun exploring the fields that still exist around my childhood home, and picking apricots in order to make fruit leather. We also went on a picnic with my brother Matthew's family and went fishing.  While there, the cousins found an old sub-woofer and got the magnet out.  Ethan thought that was pretty cool, and when we found a speaker by the side of the road he wanted to bust it open to get a magnet for himself as well. You can see the fun magnetic toy we made in the movie, but you can also read about it here.
Richard was still working in Jackson, and on the second to last day he drove my mom's car down to Utah to join us.  However, he got stranded several times with an overheated fuel pump and had to wait for it to cool down.  It took him way too long to drive that long hot distance, and we were just grateful that he made it safely.  I had planned to sleep out on the trampoline as a family (with a monitor to keep tabs on the baby) but he was too exhausted, so he stayed inside with the baby and slept.  Although it was warm, it was a cloudy night. Still, we could see a few stars poking through and many airplanes and a few satellites. It was a first for the boys, and they loved it.  Halfway through the night though, well, more like around 4 a.m. Richard came out to tell me the baby had woken up and he traded me places. I slept in the house, but woke up just as it started to get light and I snuck out to take some pictures of my sleeping boys.  Then I left the camera out there and went back to bed to sleep in a bit. The kids were surprised and confused to find Richard there when they woke up, but they regaled him with stories of all the stuff we saw.  After that, we packed up to head over to Richard's family reunion, but that is for another montage.

Enjoy!

Summer Trip to Utah Part One

Right after we got home from the 4th of July trip to Rexburg, my mom came up and traveled back to Utah with me and the kids.  Richard needed to get some work done, and I thought it would be fun to go to visit my family for a few days before Richard joined us for his family's reunion down there.
On the way we stopped at a park to get some wiggles out and to feed the baby.  As we drove down the highway, we passed a semi pulling a trailer full of baby pigs.  It was the funniest thing I ever saw with their little snouts sticking out the holes.  It was a hot July in Utah, so the kids spent many of their days in swim suits.  They also spent a good amount of time on the trampoline, so we decided to just combine the two. My brother's family came to visit and the cousins got along so well.  We built a water obstacle course and afterwards had a picnic out back with yummy steak'n'stuff sandwiches and melon and pie!  Mmmm.  What a great way to spend a Saturday!
My kids loved being at Grandma's house, exploring her beautiful gardens and sheds, and they especially loved the trampoline.  It made me a little nervous, but they were having so much fun.  The baby at this point was just starting to try and walk, although he mostly just crawled around and tried to eat the grass.  He didn't care much for the trampoline but sure loved the kitty and the swing.
we spent the good part of a week there and kept pretty busy, so there are more posts to come.

4th of July

The 4th of July was spent in Rexburg with family.  We went a day early to  fulfill ethan's wish to go to the splash park for his birthday, but didn't get many good pictures. The morning of the 4th, we had our annual family 5K (approx. 3miles or 6 times around the park), and I so graciously offered to watch the small kids, but Ethan and Richard ran it.  Ethan kept right up with his cousins, making it a point to not let them pass him, but right as he was coming up on 1 mile he tripped and fell on the pavement.  He was so exhausted, (I don't think he had ever done something so physically taxing) and he was pretty inconsolable for some time, poor kid. Richard, who had run the 5k last year completely cold turkey in jeans and street shoes, actually worked up to it some this year and even got new running shoes for the event so it was a little less painful for him.  After that we went to the parade. I have to say, Rexburg could be considered a small town, but I prefer even smaller town parades, ones where you get more candy than flyers, and the floats are made by wards and other civic groups, not by businesses. The kids didn't appreciate the loud sirens, but the baby went wild over the otter pops that were handed out.
After the parade we went back to Richard's parent's house for a nap, then for a walk downtown for some ice cream, returned for BBQ and played in the sprinklers.  We had to leave before the others did fireworks, but the next day mother nature provided her own show with a beautiful sunset.

Ethan's birthday and the end of June.

You know, I should really try to come up with more exciting post titles.  I feel like we're so behind though that this is the only way I would be able to find posts from that period of time, so sorry, no exciting title.
We celebrated Ethan's birthday twice, once with family a few days before and then again on his actual birthday.  Nothing exciting like a party or anything (He chose to have his grandparents come instead of inviting friends over which I was happy to hear--I'm kinda boring that way--) but it got a little pathetic when I didn't even wrap his gifts. (I could have sworn I packed our birthday wrapping paper, but nope, it was in storage and I didn't realize until the night before when it was too late to go to the store.  You may have noticed the lack of wrapping paper for Gabe's birthday too though, so yeah, I've run out of excuses.)  He thanked me profusely for the "Kabloon" though, even stating that he had been "waiting for one like that for years!"  So unspoiled.  I love it.  He also enjoyed the various activities I had planned throughout the day, like the frozen dinosaurs, the sprinkler and a family waterfight, super forts, and of course, he loved his presents.  Anyway, hope you like our montage.  I just realized the last little segment on the video is of us on our way to spend the 4th of July with family in Rexburg, so there's our little hint for what's to come.

June in Jackson

Yeah, so much for a post a week.  We're still working on it.

This is just the first part of June in Jackson Wyoming.  We took advantage of the nice weather by going out and exploring a lot.  In our small living quarters, it was the only way to survive.  We discovered several new places, and experienced some firsts as well. Speaking of our small living quarters, we didn't have a bathtub in this place for some reason, only a shower, and so we often made do with tupperware tubs full of water.  The kids loved it.
Taking advantage of proximity to family, we had some visits from Grandma and Grandpa Sam, along with Nana (Richard's Grandmother).  Their friend Pam, from England, was there too (although not pictured) and so I fed them a delicious lunch of Philly cheese steak sandwiches made with Elk meat --I mean if you're going to come all the way from England to Jackson, you have to enjoy the local fare right? (--although technically the elk was from Utah).  We also got to see my sister, who lives and works in Jackson, every once in a while as well.
As the weather got warmer, I made a PVC pipe play sprinkler for the kids to run through, and though it was pretty warm outside, I planned to save it for Ethan's birthday.  Well, one day I came outside to find that the kids had turned on the hose and made a big muddy puddle on the lawn (it doesn't drain so well) and they were running and jumping all through it. I took off their muddy clothes, and got out the play sprinkler for them to rinse off under. I decided to forego swimming trunks because I didn't want them to get muddy --hence the running around in big-boy undies.  Even though it was a nice warm day, it may not have been warm enough and the water comes out super cold there so the kids didn't play in it long.  I came out to check on them a little bit later and found them huddled next to the dryer vent where it was blowing warm air.  They still wanted the popsicles I brought out though, and they still got sunburns.    Anyway, there's lots of other random stuff on the montage that is pretty much self-explanitory.  The kids and I had some of our funnest outings while Richard worked and we also had some up-close encounters with various creatures of the two, four, six and many-footed (caterpillar) varieties.  
June is an exciting and beautiful time to live in Jackson, WY.  Hope you enjoy this montage.

Move and first few weeks in Jackson

Yeah, it's pretty ironic that this montage contains footage from our move here, while I am in the process of packing everything up and moving back to Idaho this week.  Crazy.  As we looked through some of the footage, we were reminded that I had a cold when we moved here, and wouldn't you know, I've got a cold again.  I think it's the stress.  Not good for my immune system apparently.  blegh.   Anyway, wish us luck and enjoy the montage.

Random Stuff We Did in May Before the Move.

Yay, we're almost caught up to where we move to Jackson just as we're about to leave here.  For an update, we're moving next week back to Nampa for Richard to teach again at CWI. Ethan will be starting Kindergarten as soon as we get there, and this makes me feel really old.  I'm not a new mother of young kids anymore, I'm a mother of school-aged kids!  Next stop, soccer mom.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the last three installments of our family history via montage. Richard's been   overwhelmed with the amount of pictures and movies we take ever since we got our new camera I think.  He's made a goal to get one montage out every week though, and maybe if we're lucky we'll catch up before Christmas. :)

This montage contains just a lot of random things we did.  Namely visiting Richard's brother and his wife to see their chickens, haircuts, fishing, and just hanging out.
Enjoy!

Three Family Outings

Exploring around Nampa, Fishing (no, no fish were caught), and the Discovery Center.  Fun!

Fun with friends and Gabe's 3rd Birthday!

We did a babysitting swap with some friends who have four children roughly the same ages as ours --it was crazy, like having three sets of twins and one older girl.  While I stayed inside with the two babies, The others made the most of the warm spring day out in the back yard.  Richard tried instigating some games, and it was quite hilarious to watch.

We celebrated Gabe's third birthday, and yes, as usual I forgot to pick up wrapping paper, so he got everything in grocery bags.  So pathetic.  He didn't seem to mind though.

First part of April 2012

Yeah, we're a quite a bit behind, but we'll catch up eventually. After the California trip life resumed as usual, and here you have it --fun things we did as it started to warm up in Idaho.

California Trip part 3

I'm sure you can understand, what with the end of the semester and moving and all, why we've gotten behind (not to mention that the amount of footage to go through from this trip was a little intimidating).  So, to reward your patience, here's the last installment of our Spring Break Trip to California.
(Then it'll just take us a few weeks to get caught up with the rest of our lives).

This was the reason we came... to see my paternal grandparents in the home that they've lived in for over 50 years.  I wanted my kids to pick tangerines, oranges, and lemons right off their trees, like I did as a child.  I wanted my husband and children to meet my grandfather, and to hear some of his stories.  I wanted to remember all the things I love about my grandmother's house, with her colored glass bottles, and spoon collections, and other fun knickknacks that bring back fond memories.
We got to go to lunch at a tasty little fish n'chips place nearby, where we visited and I learned something new --that my grandfather had been born in a cemetery.  His parents were the caretakers of the cemetery, and lived there in a little house where he was born --a home birth, which was not uncommon in those times.  How's that for a conversation starter?
As we talked, I watched my mother teach Ethan how to blow the paper off his straw, and Gabe danced and twirled in the middle of the floor, even soliciting a little shuffle in return from my Grampa.  I hope the kids took home good memories of both their grandparents and great-grandparents alike.
We had an enjoyable time, but hardly had enough time to talk and visit.  Our trip home loomed before us, and we headed out to make it to our hotel in Bishop before dark.  We stopped once on the way in a little park in the middle of nowhere.  It was a funny little park, with astro turf and old fashioned toys, and it was nice to get out and stretch.
Our choice to go back through Nevada may have cut 2 hours off the length of the trip, but I'm not so sure it was worth it.  After lingering over our continental breakfast the next morning, we made the last 10 hour drive back home.  We stopped once at another park in a small town, but the next time we needed to stop, there was nothing but a little canal to keep the kids occupied.  Our car activities and snacks were all but depleted. Luckily it was just one full length movie and we were home.

We really enjoyed our trip, and we're so glad we went.  I'm especially grateful to my parents who made it possible for us to camp in relative ease by bringing their tent trailer and meeting us there.  I was glad for the time we got to spend with them (having them all to ourselves) as well.

It was a lot of driving though, and it makes me wonder if it would have been cheaper to fly, but then we wouldn't have been able to see and experience so many new and fun things.  It was a trip for the record books to say the least, which is why we've gone to such great lengths to record it.

Enjoy the montage.

California Trip Part Two

I know, it's about time we got around to this.  This is one of the most exciting parts of our trip!



Leo Carrillo Beach near Malibu.  Sorry about the music, we couldn't help ourselves. :)

California Trip Part 1

We decided to make the most of our Spring break this year by taking an epic trip down to Southern California to see my grandparents.

This is just the first leg --driving from Nampa down towards Reno, staying a hotel in Auburn CA (we were lucky Donner pass was open), and then going over to San Francisco and visited the Aquarium on Fisherman's Wharf.  It was awesome.  Finally, we took hwy 101 down to meet my parents in a campground at Leo Carrillo state beach.  The camping spot had a really cool tree that was perfect for climbing.  It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip for the boys (and when I say boys, I'm including Richard).  :)

It was a lot of driving, but we stopped every 2 or three hours to play at parks and play-places, and I also prepared really well with a lot of car activities with the boys.  You can see some of them in the video.  I did a more complete post about car trip survival with toddlers on my personal blog. You can check it out here.  There's also more California Trip details over there if you look in the archives.

More montages of this trip to come!

Beginning of March 2012

It feels good to be back in the pattern of posting our video montages--our months without a camera was depressing.

The video pretty much explains all of it...


Wait, Laura actually already wrote a post for this and I missed it before, so I'll just insert it here...

"So this month actually came in like a lion, an then turned into a lamb, and back into a lion and back and forth and back and forth.  We got to play in the snow, and then just a few days later, the weather was so nice and warm I refused to eat dinner inside.  So we went to a nearby park and had a barbecue.  It was awesome -weather, food, you name it! Ambitious? Yes, but what the heck. (If you were wondering about the fork, that was Gabe's experiment with barbecuing.  No one was hurt).  However, the very next day we woke up to snow again.  The squirrels weren't so happy either.  So we've come up with a lot of indoor activities to chase away the cabin fever that happens around this time of year.  This year it was pvc zip lines, and pirates and what have you.  Of course, within a few days, it warmed up again, and it was so nice we just had to enjoy our lunch al fresco.  The poor dog next door sat and whined through the fence though because he wanted some.  I admit, he may have gotten a chicken nugget that had been dropped on the ground, but don't tell my neighbor.   Anyway, I also used the short-sleeve weather to dress up my boys for a photo shoot.  Aren't they so cute?

I'm still getting the hang of this camera, and I think it's going to take some practice.  The best pics still turned out fuzzy, argh. Of course, it was pretty dark in my living room, and I don't think my other camera would have worked at all.  By the way, the other one was found, in an obscure part of my sister-in-law's house, I think in the bedding we had used or something.  Anyway, Richard is excited to have his own camera that he can take to work with him this Summer in Jackson --yes we'll be going back. So you can look forward to documentation of all the amazing places and animals he gets to see during what will hopefully be our last summer there (crossing fingers).

Other notable things:

-That train track was Richard's handiwork if you couldn't tell.  He's not only an expert tower builder, but does amazing things with train tracks as well. Gabe's picture there looks funny to me, maybe it's because his hair made his head look a different shape or something.  The mischievous grin is familiar though.

-Yes we made a purple fort, it's girly I know, but that's all I had that wasn't too heavy, and the boys figure I made it that way because according to them, purple is my favorite color.

-The moon shots were impressive weren't they?  If only we had this camera when we went out to see the lunar eclipse (I still have yet to document that, we took some pictures with an old manual 35mm camera that had a zoom lens and we need to develop the film.  Develop!  Who does that anymore? What a pain.  So yeah, when I remember to do that, we'll get that posted).

So there you have it, the last few weeks: enjoy!"  -Laura

Now let me (Richard) give a few non-video updates, share a few cute quotes from the kids, and clarify a few things about the video.

Firstly, we've heard back about two of the four PhD applications, and, sadly, neither of them good news. Both Miami and U of U said no, but that leaves WSU and Arizona University (our first and last choices) to respond. I'm hoping that the long time it's taken them to respond means that I've made the first cut and they're waiting to hear from the other applicants. So here's hoping that those people say no.

Laura was in charge of a Relief Society Birthday Party this last week for our ward. She's been spending a lot of time and effort preparing for it (and thinking about it). From what I hear it went really well--of course Laura mentioned what could be better, but just judging from what she was planning I'm sure it was stellar.

Here are some cute things the boys have said recently:

Ethan: (while playing a game where they pretended to die) "I was dead, but then I came back to life. Because I have the holy ghost in me. and he made me do that."

(After finding out that I'm 28, Laura asks Ethan how old she is...)

Ethan: "26"

Laura: "I'm older than daddy."

E: "29?"

L: "I'm two years older than daddy."

E: "I don't believe it."

Ethan: "Daddy, why did you come home?"

Richard: "What do you mean? Because this is my home."

Ethan: "But it's not even dark!"

Richard: "What do you want to play, Gabe?"

Gabe: "Hide and go fish!"

In the video, the songs are "Sesenta y Cuatro El Camino" by Bob Minner, then "Brasileirinho" by Yo-yo Ma.

The zip-line wasn't as dangerous as you might think. We made it secure and it wasn't tight enough that they went all the way into the wall.

The barbecue in the park was just on a whim. That was Gabe that burned the fork--he decided he wanted to do a little barbecuing of his own. We didn't have a backup fork either.

Enjoy!

End of February

Finally!  A post since we got our new camera.  We pretty much just missed a month of our children's lives, except for what we could take with Richard's camera phone.  One such outing didn't manage to make it onto the montage, but you can find pics here.

It is saddest when I consider Logan's life and all the changes that happen in 1 month.  He's 7 months now, he's been introduced to the Johnny Jump-up, which he loves, and has acquired some new skills such as sitting and rolling around --not quite crawling but rocking on his hands and knees, and I know that soon the inevitable will happen and nothing  in this house will be safe.  Why can't babies just remain immobile until they get a little common sense (and stop sticking everything in their mouths)? I'll definitely have to up my standards of cleanliness, and maybe invest in a baby gate.  Ugh.  But for now, he's so cute and mostly stays put.  :) 

Ethan and Gabe are the best big brothers, and they are so funny together.  I love watching them play and giggle together.  They get along really well for the most part (they aren't perfect, but are pretty quick to forgive). It is just as I hoped it would be when I gave birth to them so close together (22 months).  They are best buds and they keep each other entertained.  However, speaking of altercations, the other day they got angry with one another and Ethan threw the most hurtful words he could think of at Gabe saying, "I'm so mad at you, I'm not your big brother anymore!"  Gabe was visibly stricken, and lashed back by saying the same thing to anyone who crossed him, including me as I tried to referee the situation, and I'm afraid I had to laugh when he told me that he wasn't my big brother anymore either. Of course, as usual, the contention was short lived and they were out the door on some adventure together soon after. 

The pictures at the end of the barns were from a date Richard and I went on to test out our new camera. In case you were wondering, it's a Lumix FZ150, fixed lens superzoom camera.  It's got so many bells and whistles that it's going to take a while before we really figure it out, but even without much experience we were able to take some pretty good shots.  Every time we passed this barn we wanted to take pictures because of how it defied gravity with its saggy roof.  Don't worry, we didn't go inside.  We did peek in there though, and it was super creepy.  I didn't want to include some of those pictures in the montage because they're kinda gross, but Richard said we needed to include the whole experience. You can find even more pics here. It really makes me wonder what the story is behind this place.  Everything was completely abandoned as far as we could tell, and for a long time.  There was also evidence of recent inhabitants of the homeless nature, and probably many of the 4 legged variety as well.  Really spooky, but a fun adventure.

Anyway, enjoy the montage.

2011 Holiday Season part 2

We made it safely to Utah to spend Christmas and New years with family (I know, that last post and montage was kind of a cliff hanger. :)  It was less snowy than we were expecting, but with all the driving, that was a blessing.  The kids still managed to make the most of it, and it wasn't too cold.

As usual, we spent a bit of our holiday making some gifts for people in my dad's workshop.  Richard tried to include the kids, in a safe way, but I don't know if they were that into it. My parent's cat liked the extra attention, though.  I was hoping it would get them excited for their tool set and work bench, and I think it kind of did.  This year they got some working play power tools, so I came up with the idea of a project they could actually put together using their tools.  My dad perfected and executed the idea, and together we created a wooden bird feeder.  It was a hit.  Even all the cousins had to have a turn taking it apart and putting it together with Ethan's tools.  The kids also got some little appliances, to go with their kitchen set that they got last Christmas, and they really work.  We had so much fun making ovaltine and hot chocolate in their little blender (we'll just ignore the fact that it's pink), it was definitely worth it. 

We had fun seeing our cousins.  Both of my brothers' families came, one before and one after Christmas.  The kids were so happy to have people to play with.  Just after Christmas, we had the privilege of going to see my Brother Matthew's family sealed to their baby brother that they adopted who was born this summer just a few days after our little Logan was born (you may notice that although they may be the same age, but they are definitely not the same size).   It was so great to see that little guy get to join such a great family.  What's more, the sealer just happened to be my mission president!  He saw the last name on the list and picked it in case there was any chance they were related to me and that I would be there.  I wish I could have talked to him more, but it was still pretty awesome.  We were also so blessed to have Richard's sisters watching our kids while we were in there.  They walked around temple square and saw the lights and some movies in the visitor's center, then we went to dinner.  What a fun time!  

For New Years, we went to Richard's sister's house in Park City, and although there wasn't even much snow there (which is not usual for that time of year), Richard and the kids made the most of it with their cousins.  They were just going to go for a walk, I thought (hence the lack of gloves and snow gear), but they ended up finding a great sledding hill and playing on it for quite a while.  The kids also had a lot of fun playing basketball with their cousins.  I'm afraid I wasn't much fun though, since we all got sick, but it was nice just to sit and visit, eat good food (including delicious green smoothies), watch movies on the big screen, share music, and play games. We even got to see Richard's parents as they came through on their way back from visiting other family in TX and AL. It was too short but good to see them.

We could tell, though, that we had been on vacation too long when Gabe started asking if we could go home.  When we started packing up, the kids were anxious to leave (like buckled into the car for a half hour before we were ready), and I'm afraid we left quite a few things there in our hurry to get on the road.  (Thanks Jill, for sending those things to us.)  The one thing we never did find was our camera.  Luckily we had gotten most of the pictures off of it, but still... (It's probably here somewhere and we'll find it when we move, but in the meantime we missed at least a month of the kid's lives!  Luckily we were able to get a new one, but more on that later).

It had been a long trip (three weeks) and when we finally pulled into our driveway Ethan exclaimed, "I don't even remember what our house looks like!"  They were especially happy to see some more new presents that we had left behind because we couldn't fit them into our car (aka the workbench, a small folding table and chairs, and some new train tracks). 

Of course, two days later, they were begging to go back to Utah and see all their cousins and grandparents.  I try not to take it personally.  I admit, I was a little lonely too and was probably a little spoiled with all the good company and tasty food (most of which I didn't have to cook myself), but it was good to take it easy and have some time to let things calm down before Richard started into teaching school again.  We just can't wait for reunions this summer.

Enjoy the montage!

P.S. Richard was eating breakfast while holding Logan--a dangerous thing to do with a boy who likes to kick. Logan kicked Richard's bowl off the table and got both of them wet. Richard did not wet himself.  :)

2011 Holiday Season part 1

We've kinda fallen behind, and things just kept piling up, you know how it goes, but since we got back from the holidays we've been given a breather as far as incoming pictures and montage material goes because we lost our camera.  So, it's about time we got one of these out, and then we'll be caught up just in time to start taking more pictures and videos.  By the way, does anyone know a good kind of camera to buy?

So this video goes back to before my Birthday in November (yes the big 3-0), covers Thanksgiving with Richard's family here in Boise, and ends with us driving to Utah for Christmas.  So.... basically a month.

Highlights on the montage include:
1. Sundae Pie Tea Party/Birthday Party with the kids,
2. Going to the Zoo, (forgot our real camera though)
3. Thanksgiving Dinner, -- By the way, that was a fake turkey my sister-in-law is holding.  They made it for the kids table and it is filled with popcorn.  Just a side note, the Saturday after, when we pulled out some Thanksgiving leftovers, Gabe asked for popcorn.  He automatically connects the two now, and I think it may become a tradition.
4. Richard's parents and Grandmother visiting, --I hope the kids treasure these memories.
5. Having my sister come visit for a few nights, --although we stayed up way too late every night chatting.
6. Logan getting to a really cute and fun age--his squeals and coos are so cute, but we've yet to get a good belly laugh out of him. He sounds more pained than anything.
7. The Christmas party with the ward --Gabe was not bashful at all around Santa this time, in fact he cut in line to go sit on his knee.  Ethan was disappointed that this Santa forgot to ask him what he wanted for Christmas --I had prepped him too well I guess. Luckily he got what he wanted from his aunt and uncle (see below).  Side note, in the part with the primary singing, the little girl on Ethan's left has a huge crush on him.  It's so cute.  He's completely oblivious, except that he came home one day from church and told me, "Grace, she really likes me."
"Oh?"  I asked.
"Yeah, she touched me even when she wasn't supposed to when I had germs." (Meaning the week before when he had a little cold and we told him not to cough on people at church).
8. Having Richard's Brother and Sister in Law over for dinner --to which they brought gifts for the boys -Thanks guys!
9. Making handmade gifts for family, --you can see a picture of me woodburning, which is pretty much all the pictures we got.  We made a replica of an old game called The Scrabble Sentence Cube Game out of wood blocks, and we made name plates with the boys' names and meanings in biblical Hebrew --they're all bible names in Richard's eldest sister's family of 5 boys.
10. Having good weather for the drive to Utah even though snow was forecast --what a blessing!

11. --Not pictured, but will be featured on an upcoming post, Our Lunar Eclipse Adventure!


Here is the montage. Enjoy!