We are builders!

The apartment for Grandma and Papa is coming right along.  After digging for what felt like forever - we were ready for the first round of cement (footings). 

Of everyone Noah has enjoyed the building project the most.  He loves being a builder and when the cement truck pulled up he said (under his breathe to himself), "I'm so excited! This is the best day ever!" 

The three amigos (Gideon, Trace, and Tell) have all been very helpful with the project.  The girls love Gideon's company and I love trying to get a photo of him. 

Leisl was the concrete man's personal cloud - and Darla was the refreshment queen.  Between the two girls all our team was well taken care of in the ridiculous heat. 

 

Jo the Missionary

We drove down to Zion Ponderosa late one night to be there with Kodi Jo when she read her mission call.  

Porto Alegre Brazil is a brand new place I'd never heard of before - but we are so excited for this soon-to-be Portuguese speaking sister missionary. 

Won't lie - there were some tears. 

As VP of her fan club I am completely excited!!!

 

So much fun

Aunt Aimee's goat had babies while we were goat-sitting.  The kids love milking and caring for all of her critters this summer (while we are on an animal ban at our house until some of our projects are done). 

We finally got Cedar Haven Health opened.  Moving the furniture up to the 3rd floor was so much fun - thank heavens there's an elevator and we have big muscles. 

We went to the July Jamboree with the kids and Leisl found her dream car. 

The Delorean is always a family favorite. 

Let Freedom Ring!

We volunteered with the Lion's Club for the 4th and got stationed at the dunk tank.  It was fun to have matching shirts and march in the parade. 

The Daddy and I got to be parade safety walkers.  As he walked down the street the little kids would line up and give him a high-5.  

The little girls climbed up on the Cedar City sign so they could watch the end of the parade over the crowd.

We also got to talk to our patriotic missionaries - and loved every second of it.

We finished off the night with sparklers, glow sticks, fireworks and fresh cherry pie.  

So glad we still have sparks after 21 years together.

February 2018 - Snow much!

This month we went to visit the Portage Glacier as a family.  We thought it was a 4 mile hike across the frozen lake round trip.  Turned out to be 4 miles one way.  Pulling the sled through the snow across the lake we felt like we just kept walking and never got any closer to the glacier.  Aunt Darla joined us for the adventure and about got frostbite. Still it was a memorable adventure and as always the kids were so fun and tough!

The ice literally glows blue! It's surreal.

The kids liked finding big hills of glacial ice to slide down. 

Daddy did a lot of carrying!

More glowing ice.

We had a fun picnic lunch out on the ice.

At home Kabe got to work digging in and building a snow cave out of the hill that Brother Dinwiddie plowed by our driveway.  We are so thankful for neighbors with the right equipment to dig us out!

Daddy and Mom looking snazzy for church!

Noah loves to play nerf and has learned the rule about eye protection.  He marches around like this most of the time so he's ready just in case a nerf war breaks out.

We had a new table build with benches to match.  Tyler put epoxy resin on it so that no food gets stuck in it and it's easy to wipe off.  It's so pretty and we love the benches!

Our homeschool co-op had a Valentines party hosted by our friend Hanna.  It was so fun to make the boxes and all the valentines and then get fancied up for the dinner and dance!  She made the whole thing very special. 

Guess who had a birthday this year?  That's right!  Our little buddy is now 3 years old!!!  My, how time flies and he is still the most loved little guy on earth with all his siblings wrapped around his pudgy little finger!

 

January 2018

Our new house has a lot more space and we are loving our big empty family room - it's our nerf room, gymnastics room, rough housing room, and movie party room.  

The kids have been really working on their cooking skills (a great winter activity).  Ayvri made this bread all by herself as part of her history studies for school. 

Our Noah is a snuggler and gets plenty of love from everyone - how can we not when he's so stinking cute?

Look who is driving?  Ksenya especially likes driving Daddy's VW Bug (and learning a stick is fun too).  

More little chefs and their creations

The boys had fun burning our garbage pile (leftover lumber scraps from the build).  We also lost our guinea pigs this month.  Ayvri was very sad but their funeral pyre was epic. 

Max is in desperate need of a haircut but it's so cold outside that will just have to wait a bit.  For now, he looks like an Ewok. 

Brigham is using the force in this picture - he is a funny poser these days. Mom is in her favorite place too - sitting under the big windows reading with one of her babies. 

 

December 2017 - Home at last!

One of our dear friends, Josh Ivey, came and helped us install the flooring upstairs.  It went really fast and looks so beautiful!

Leisl decided that she needed to be my shoulder angel as I was practicing the piano.  It's a good thing she is tiny. 

Noah loves popcorn and the sound of the machine is the most exciting thing ever to him. 

All the finishing touches on the house are coming together even better than I had anticipated.  This short banister is just beautiful and matches the mantle over the alcove for the wood burning stove. 

The big girls still like to stay up late giggling and talking together.  As we gear up for the move we took their bed apart - they didn't mind! It was a sleepover on the floor.  They are so happy and helpful and I'm very thankful for them. 

Our traditional Christmas dinner had us branching out this year.  Instead of finding a Denny's we decided that we would try a new spot so we went to the V-Ho (The Valley Hotel) in Palmer and had a great dinner together.  I love this tradition because of the conversations that we have and the memories we make. 

Finally it's moving day!  Just 2 days before Christmas we were able to start moving things in. The boys used the mattresses as a slide for a quick diversion between packing in and unpacking boxes. 

The Christmas decorations went up as soon as the furniture did. 

Aaah - home.  We are so excited to finally be moved in!!!

Ready for church on Christmas Eve.

Don't forget the nativity re-enactment.  

We found ourselves doing our Christmas shopping on December 23rd after a full day of unpacking and putting the house together.  Late at night after the kids were in bed we headed to Fred Meyer to grab a few things for stockings.  We didn't care and neither did the kids - being in our house is the greatest Christmas present ever and we feel so blessed to be at this point!

Tyler got a really incredible Alaskan beard for Christmas - and the relief of not having to be working on projects for a minute.