Lunch Dates

One of my favorite parts of being a stay at home mom is being able to go on lunch dates with these cute kids.  I love being able to just sit down and eat with them and talk to them, rather than waiting on them constantly if we eat at home.  It gives me a chance to get to know them better and enjoy each one of their unique and fun personalities.  I'll be so sad when all my littles are in school and I won't get these moments anymore. 

The Rose Bowl

2015 was a dream season of college football for Tyson.  The Iowa Hawkeyes had an undefeated season, which was the Cinderella story of the year.  They were projected to come in last in their division and shocked everyone by making it to the BIG 10 Playoffs in Indianapolis (which they lost to Michigan St. in a nail biter) and then being selected to go to the Rose Bowl.  Tyson and I always said that if they ever went to the Rose Bowl we would go for sure, since it is such a rarity.  Tyson's boss was generous and kind enough to buy us Rose Bowl tickets as a Christmas gift and we were so excited to go!  We were even more excited when we found out our friends JonDavid and Sarah Sparks would be coming out for it as well and that we would get to see them too.  JonDavid is Tyson's Iowa football BFF.  Sarah and I laugh about the fact that they spend hours on the phone after every Iowa football (and basketball) game discussing the game in great detail and sharing their opinion about every call made.  

We headed down to Pasadena early on New Year's Day.  The Iowa fans impressed us with their uncanny ability to tailgate even on a game that was so far from home.  We waited before the game with the rest of the Iowa fans for the busses to arrive and got to cheer the players on as they proudly made their way into the Bowl (not that it helped much).  The Hawkeyes didn't make much of a game of it as Christian McCaffrey pretty much dominated them the first half and most of the second too to be honest.  The Iowa fans still had a good attitude about it and continued to have fun regardless of the loss.  Most were probably too drunk to care.  Even though they lost it was such a fun experience to be there at the "Granddaddy of them all" and experience everything that is the Rose Bowl.  We headed to LA Live afterwards for dinner and got to eat away the sadness of the loss with other Hawkeye fans and even ran into some of the players, past and present.  Tyson and JD were really excited to see Dallas Clark there but were a little too shy to ask for an autograph.  

Early morning heading out to support the Hawkeyes.  Even decorated the car for it.

Seriously the coolest tickets I've ever seen.  The picture doesn't do it justice!

Tyson and JD

Me and Sarah

It really was such an amazing experience just to go there and the weather was perfect! Sunny and warm

Still smiling because the whooping, I mean game hadn't started yet!

A little time with my family in Utah

It's so hard balancing time with two different families in one place like Utah.  My brother Tom and my sister Bridget and their families live in Utah and I was happy that we got to spend Sunday evening at Bridget and DeVere's condo in Provo.  Did I take a single picture? Of course not.  We must have been having too much fun to even take a picture!  The cousins had a blast together playing with the Legos DeVere got for his birthday and Nina and Susie kept asking when they would get to see Billy again.  DeVere gave the kids beanies from his family's company Paige Steele, which the kids loved and wore for several days after.  Susie actually wore hers to bed that night she loved it so much.

Ice Skating

Another fun first for our kids was going ice skating for the first time.  Nina and Eli were up for the adventure while Susie had zero desire to give it a try.  We headed over to Seven Peaks in Provo one morning and had a great time.  Dad was so great and patient with Eli and Susie.  We rented one of those walkers and Eli hung on tight while Dad skated him around for about 15 minutes.  He had a great time, even if it was a short time, then he joined Mom and Susie as cheerleaders for Nina and Dad.  Nina did such a great time for her first time on the ice.  She refused to use the walker though, claiming that it was for babies.  She was so hard on herself and got so frustrated that she wasn't skating as well as some of the other people out on the ice.  We tried reassuring her that she really was doing amazing and that most the other people had been skating for years.  She wasn't convinced.  It's just so hard as a parent to see your child doing such a great job at something, only to have to be so self-critical and hard on themselves.  That's just part of her personality though.  I hope that overall she had a good time though.

Nina and Dad out on the ice

Skating like the pros

This little cutie had a blast being there and those little ice skates were to die for!

My little cheerleader and her new Christmas presents to keep her busy and happy while everyone else skated.

Christmas Eve

The kids in their Christmas Eve best

All the cute Fieldsted cousins listening to Mack read a story.  LoAnn was listening comfortably from her huge recliner.

After sledding all day we headed back to the condo to get ready for Christmas Eve at Tyson's parents' house.  We got ready and made a salad for dinner that night.  We had dinner at their house and afterwards Tyson's parents had a "program" planned out.  Mack gave one of his famous speeches and then read a Christmas book for the kids.  Grammy LoAnn had put together a game of pictionary together for the kids to play.  While we were leaving their house it started to snow, which I hear is every person's ideal Christmas: waking up to snow on Christmas morning.  It's hard to understand being from Southern California where we never had a "white Christmas", but it really was a beautiful sight and I started to "get it" a little bit.  The kids wrote a note to Santa and left out cookies and milk and an apple for the reindeer.  We left our stockings on the coffee table for Santa to find. I absolutely love having kids this age at Christmas time.  The excitement they have for it is contagious and has really made Christmastime the best!

Got this cute shot of Eli looking out at the falling snow on Christmas Eve before bed.  It really made Christmas magical for the kids.

Our note and cookies to Santa

The stockings were hung on the coffee table with care this year.  

Sledding

It was so much fun being able to take the kids sledding for the first time.  We went up to Rock Canyon park in Provo, which has great hills for all different thrill seeking levels of sledders.  We have been blessed with kids who aren't the thrill-seeking daredevil type.  We haven't had to deal with toddlers climbing onto counters or bookshelves because they have honestly been too scared.  So when we try something new, like sledding, it takes A LOT of time to warm up to the idea.  There was a lot of fear at the beginning with no one even wanting to give it a try.  After forcing Nina to give it a try, she ended up loving it and couldn't get enough.  Susie eventually tried it from about ten feet up and Eli tried it out a couple of times the first day and really got into it the second time we went.  He loved going with mom or dad and would scream and laugh down the entire slope.  Dad, Mom and Nina seemed to get the most thrills out of it while Susie and Eli were great cheerleaders to everyone else.

I'm glad someone documented one of the few times Susie actually sat inside the sled.  She's just not the thrill seeking type and would rather build snowmen or make snow angels.

Eli was rocking the pink pants and boots.  That's what you get when you have two older sisters and it was much better than being cold.

Miss Nina doing her thang

Christmas in the Condo

We decided to be somewhat crazy this year and spend Christmas in Utah.  We packed up the old minivan to the top with all of our clothes, Christmas gifts, food, kids, and even a small Christmas tree.  The kids were champs on the long (12-14 hour) drive.  Now that they all enjoy sitting through an entire movie our lives have been forever changed.  We rented a condo in Provo, which ended up being so much fun for everyone.  It was fun for the kids to sleep somewhere new and it was great for us to be able to have our own space and have a few of our own Christmas traditions.

A car load of happy travelers.  If it was light outside our little bookworm Nina would just read her Junie B. Jones books and the little kids watched movie after movie.  Mom was happy as long as she had a Diet Coke and candy handy and Dad stayed awake by eating several bags of sunflower seeds.

Our cute little Christmas tree in our cute little condo

The girls were so excited to see their cousin Ambree again and Susie and Ambree were BFFs by the time we went home.

Just eating breakfast in the condo

We loved the location of our condo because it was a couple of blocks from the new Provo City Center Temple.  It was such a beautiful sight to wake up to and to come home to at night.  Quite the view!!