Cello Lessons

Andy has been begging to go to music camp every year, so I asked if he was willing to practice well enough to actually attend. He decided he wanted to give it a shot and picked the cello. We got him into lessons at the Ferguson Studio with Thomas at the same time as Aj's violin lesson. Much more convenient for me.

We are excited to see how he excels here. It is a slow process on a stringed instrument, but I think his excitement will keep him going.

It Snows in our Basement!

I was teaching a piano lesson upstairs when Ariana came up to ask if she could watch a show. She was absolutely covered in styrofoam pieces. I sent her back downstairs, finished up my lesson am came downstairs to what I can best explain as a snow storm in our basement.

Andy admitted it was mostly his fault, so he helped me clean up what we could. It was a very very long process. Something to laugh about in the future I guess.

Salad Swap - Soup Mess

I'm still a part of our wonderful neighborhood salad swap. Since it is snowy and cold i decide to switch things up a bit and make soup this time around. I have a super delicious recipe for pumpkin curry soup that even my kids love. I had a pretty relaxed morning, so I decided to let Ariana help me with the soup...the relaxed morning quickly turned into a massive mess and stressful morning when Ariana pushed the button on our blender before I had the lid on...

It was EVERYWHERE! I had to spend all day cleaning it off the walls, floor, counter, Ariana, and even out of the inside of our toaster. It was an adventure that is for sure, and probably one I won't wish to repeat. In the end everyone got a little less soup and we delivered it a little late, but everything was back to normal by naptime.

Happy New Year! 2019 is Here!

New years was filled with fun, food and friends. We had a few families over for fondu and games. The kids managed to last until 10:00 when we celebrated the New Year with NYC.

 The kids had a blast watching movies and holding their own game night downstairs while we played more sophisticated games upstairs. when 10 o'clock rolled around we pulled out he poppers and the bubbly!

After our friends went home and the party was cleaned up I sat down to finish what i started.
President Nelson offered an invitation to read the Book of Mormon in its entirety (underlining all references to Christ) in 86 days. I did it! (With only 30 minutes to spare 😖) It was hard and extremely rewarding. I learned a lot about myself and my savior. My main takeaway was “his hand is stretched out still” he never pulled himself away from his children even when he was being pushed away. Time and time again they rejected him and mocked him and yet he still waited with open arms to pour blessing on them if they would just have a desire to believe. I love this book and I love my Savior! I can’t wait to see what the new year brings as we study the New Testament and  focus on the life of our Savior!

A late night, too much sugar, and too much fun. A wonderful way to bring in a new year! 2019, here we come!

Christmas 2018!

Our Christmas morning was relaxing and super chill. It lasted forever!It is always so hard to capture the excitement of Christmas morning in pictures. Most of the time I forget to take pictures all together. This year I managed to catch a few of the kids favorite gifts.

Aj was floored when he got the slinky he asked for.

Andy has been waiting forever for his own bath bomb.

Out of all the exciting things she got in her stocking, her favorite was her pony toothbrush, 

 Santa did not disappoint this year. Small and simple, but exactly what the kids wanted. Aj got a lego video game, Andy got a box of 1000 legos, Ari got a sled and Alex got a new floor toy. It was the most wonderfully relaxing Christmas morning with almost no fighting! Maybe we should go simple every year.
Ariana's favorite gift this year was her sled from Santa. She wanted to be pulled around in it all day. She called it her sliding throne. She really is a princess, isn't she?

Joe eventually made it outside before it got dark to take her for a sled run.

 Aj's favorite gift of all was his new set of Percy Jackson books. It only took him 10 minutes after finishing opening his gifts before he was digging in.

 Andy's favorite prezent came from Grandma. It was a learning and quizzing telescope with removable slides. He was captivated for hours.

 The mess was massive, and didn't get cleaned up until bed, but the kids were entertained all day. We hardly saw them at all.

 Our big surprise of the day was our trip to Disneyland in February. We made these fun matching sweatshirts for everyone. Even Gammie and Potts! we are so excited to take them with us. And what the kids don't know is that their best friends are coming too! Shhhh. 

Big day. Big Fun.

Christmas Eve is here!

We all got dressed up in our Christmas Best for church on Christmas Eve's Eve. Even though I wasn't feeling my best I decided to go so I could lead the primary kids as they sang Samuel the Lamanite. It was a disaster...not the kids, they did great! It was me. I came to church in a dress that I squeezed into...and right before i got up to lead the kids the zipper split from my neck to my waist. I didn't know what to do. I was in shock and couldn't get myself to react! I eventually punched Joe and made him leave during the sacrament to go get my coat so I could cover it the best I could. I was sweating like crazy, but wore my coat through the entire program. For the first time in forever I did not sing in our ward christmas program (which was probably a positive thing at this point). I had to sign my solo away to someone else (who did a fantastic job) and just sit and listen this year. It wasn't the same, but I still enjoyed it. The kids looked darling. We wanted to take some traditional pictures in from of the tree, but they didn't want to cooperate, so Joe played copy cat and finally got them all to smile. 

 Alex was sleeping like an angel that whole time, so we had to take a picture of him later. Just the most dashingly handsome boy out there.

Christmas Eve was full of fun and friends. Not living super close to family has it's down side around the holidays, but we make it work by finding friends to spend it with.
This year we joined the Morgans for our fancy Christmas Dinner and Nativity. The kids were hilarious acting it out. I have never seen such figity angels.

Alex debuted as baby Jesus

 After the nativity Marinda pulled out their holiday bells and we played through some fun carols. it took awhile for the kids to catch on, but in the end we finally polished up a few to where they were recognizable.

So much fun, too many sweets and now to wind things down with a story and some milk and cookies.

This is the most amazing "Night Before Christmas" book ever made!

Good night my sweet little angels. Sleep well and in the morning we will have an unforgettable family Christmas!

Alex is 4 Months

 This boy! What a charmer. 4 months now, and such a joy to have in our house. He drools so so much, but his sweet smile makes up for all the wet mess. He sleeps heavily through the night, as if nothing can wake him up! He is growing like crazy. Already wearing 6-9 month clothes (like this sweet outfit from Audrey​ and Matthew​, thanks!) . I can’t seem to keep up!

He is now a champ at holding up his head and spending the majority of his time on his tummy or in his bumbo watching the whole world around him.

He is never hurting for entertainment. Andy's reading has really picked up speed so he loves having a captive audience. 

Smiles for everyone and anyone who will even glance his direction.

He was great company while I had pneumonia. Smiling and cooing all day long.

Alex got to experience his very first Christmas Eve. It was so fun to watch the kids try to include him in all our traditions...especially insisting that he be Baby Jesus.

Tomorrow Christmas is coming and our sweet little baby will experience it all as a 4 month old!