December 2016 Happenings

Made it to December!  Yay!  Okay, so December was busy, but awesome.  I love attending all of the things that my kids are involved in, even if it makes the calendar app on my phone blow up.  It's totally worth it to have them participate in things that bring them so much joy.

I was able to attend an art exhibit for Abbie's art class at school.  She has really enjoyed this class and having it first period has been such a blessing in her life as she has made this jump back into the public school system.  She is a talented artist and I loved seeing her creations and having her tell me about how she created them.

Emma had a test for ice skating and she passed!  Woo hoo!  Now she is down to just one remaining text before she will have all of her Freestyle and Moves in the Field testing complete.  She can hardly wait to have that last one over with.

We are so thankful for her coach, Kelly.  We have been with her since Emma began at four years old.  She is a great coach and we love that she is a part of our lives.

What's that you say?  Josh had more concerts this month?
Why yes, yes he did.  That's what happens when you are in 2 orchestras and 1 choir. 

The first concert that we attended was with the Lyceum Philharmonic and it was, again, absolutely incredible.  They performed with Gentri and Lexi Walker and left me near tears.  The concert was at Abravenal Hall where the Utah Symphony play.  The venue was beautiful, the artists were so talented, and I really feel so blessed that my son had this opportunity to be a part of something so spiritually uplifting and beautiful.

He also had Christmas choir and orchestra concerts and they were both very good.

The week of Christmas we went to see the lights on Temple Square with the youth group from our ward.  It was a chilly night so of course, we had to get some hot cocoa.

The lights are always so beautiful and peaceful.  I love that we live so close so that we can take advantage of this experience.

After Christmas, Ellie participated in a little rec volleyball clinic.  She tolerated the first day and enjoyed the second day.  The jury is still out on whether or not she will be a volleyballer...(although I am secretly praying that she will.)

Some very sad news to end the month and year with.  Our cute Grandpa Ogden slipped on the ice and nearly obliterated his ankle.  It was not good and he ended up having to have surgery to fix it.  Fortunately that all went well and he is on the mend, but the six weeks of no weight on his foot may do him in...

The Entire Month of January

I will admit it.

I am not a slacker.

I almost said that I was a slacker, but that would not be a true statement.

It is true that I have not been very consistent in keeping up on this blog- AKA my family's journal- however, I have been very busy taking care of my family, trying to take the next steps with my book, planning and preparing for my preschool classes, and a whole host of other activities.  Unfortunately blogging has taken a back seat, but that's okay.  Blogging is not my most important endeavor.  My family is.

But, I do have a few quiet moments right now so I am going to take advantage of them and catch up a bit.

The month of January is always a little light on photos.  We just don't do a whole lot and there are no holidays that we really celebrate (other than New Years and I am hit or miss with actually taking New Year's pictures.  This year was a miss.)

But I do have a few things that I want to make sure I blog about before January gets too far behind us.

1.  Assisting Josh in a covert operation.

What was this covert operation you ask?

Oh nothing...just asking an adorable young lady to Junior Prom.

Mission accomplished.

2.  Watching the girls have fun with face paint.

Abbie received a face painting kit for Christmas and this is what I discovered one day after preschool.  Silly girls.

3.  Josh's concert with the Utah Youth Philharmonic.

This is Josh's third year playing with the Utah Youth Phil and I am always so impressed with the quality of sound that these young musicians produce.  They are so amazing and I love that he is having this experience.

(I call this photograph "The Lone Cellist." :)

4.  A Ski Date

Mark and I have been talking about going skiing for years now.  I am happy to say that we finally stopped talking and started doing.  We found a smokin' deal on a lesson/rental/day pass and could not pass up the opportunity.  Mark has not been skiing before (unless you count that one time when he was 14 and made it down the mountain once before going back to the lodge for hot chocolate.)  I have not been skiing for years, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it all came back.  We had such a great afternoon together.  Definitely a date that I want to do again.

5.  Publishing my book

After 2 1/2 years of typing, worrying, pondering, stressing, and staring at my computer screen, I am so excited to say that my book is finally a reality.  I ordered some copies that arrived before Christmas (125 to be exact) and had a lot of fun surprising family members and some friends with a copy of it.  It turned out beautiful and I feel so blessed to have it be done and out there, ready for people to read. 

Getting the eBook up on Amazon has been more challenging than I expected and there have been a lot of tears, frustration, and anger in that process.  I even spent one night saying very hateful things about my book.  They were all in my head (or muttered under my breath), but they were said.  I was finally able to clear through all of the unknowns and technical difficulties and now my beautiful book is available for purchase in eBook form.  I haven't had a lot of eBook sales yet, but I do know that the book is finding the people who need to read it.  I have had so many kind and thoughtful things said to me and I really appreciate all of those remarks.

I also ordered some business cards and...what can I say?  I love them!  I am very happy with how they turned out.  It still feels very weird to refer to myself as an author, but I am slowly getting used to it.

December Happenings...

I was going to post all of December in one, giant post, but I decided that I needed to break it up a bit.  So this post will include everything but Ellie's Birthday, Christmas and New Year's.

Let's start out with a little creativity on Abbie's part.  Her first doll, Paige, is not a real American girl doll, so she has some issues.  One of which is a head that is not so stable anymore.  Abbie decided that she needed to make her a neck brace so that her head will not fall off, which meant that before she could get a neck brace, she would need neck surgery.  Not to worry though, Dr. Abbie is a skilled surgeon with a very loving bedside manner so Paige was in good hands. :)

Miss Bailey decided that she liked my warm just-out-of-the-dryer-freshly-washed blanket so she moved right in.  I guess it's not so freshly washed anymore...

Miss Abbie had her second orchestra concert and they did really well.

Josh had his 2nd annual White Elephant Gift Exchange party.

From the looks on their faces, I would say it was a success.

The night ended on sort of a sour note when Josh's friend had a small car accident, but fortunately he wasn't hurt to badly and we were able to be right there to help him.

The girls and I decided to take advantage of the freshly fallen snow and spend an afternoon on the sledding hill.  Once again, it is moments like this that makes homeschooling worth it.  It was so nice to just have my two girls, my niece, Penny, and a couple of other homeschooled friends.  It was the perfect way to spend a bright winter afternoon.

And way back at the beginning of December, not long after our Thanksgiving dinners had finished digesting, we set to work putting up our Christmas tree.

It always gets a bit crazy, but somehow we manage to get it together, make all of the lights sparkle, and the end result is a perfectly perfect family Christmas tree.

Why Hello, Mr. Snow. We've Been Waiting for You.

This has been the strangest winter I can remember.  We had a bunch of snow on Christmas Day (when we were trying to drive to Texas...) and then nothing.  Maybe a few little flurries here and there, but nothing that has stuck.  It has been so weird to look out at the ground in January and February and not see one speck of snow anywhere.  We have even had days in the 60's!  It has been crazy.

The kids have been dying to make a snowman.  Especially when they saw pictures of their cousins making one (who live in Southern Utah by the way...)  They finally had their chance last week.  The day after my birthday, we got dumped on.  Three days later, it was pretty much gone.  But it was fun while it lasted!

Beating the Winter Blues

I love where we live, except the month of January.

January is cold, snowy, and the air is terrible to breathe.

It's a little on the depressing side, unless you can find a way to beat the winter blues.

We have found a few ways to smile and be happy in spite of the nasty weather.

1.  Cheering on Emma and her friend in the school spelling bee.

They both did a great job.

2.  We took advantage of one of the few days that we have had where we could actually breathe the air and went up to the zoo.

3.  Ellie finally built up the courage to let me pull her first tooth.  By the time she let me pull it, it was hanging by a thread.  I can't believe that my baby has lost her first tooth!  She looks so grown up now.

Goodbye January, and don't come back for at least another year. ;)

What a Whopper!

Our first snowstorm of the year and it was a whopper!

It pretty much snowed for 2 days straight.  We have over a foot of snow in our yard and it is beautiful! 

The best part about having this much snow is all of the fun things you can do in it.

You must have the proper attire of course...

Our laundry room has turned into snow clothes central.  It is nice that my kids are old enough to get most of the snow stuff on by themselves.  Now instead of taking an hour to get the snow clothes on only to play in the snow for 15 minutes...we get ready in 15 and play for an hour or more. :)

Abbie was lucky enough to need new boots this year.  A girl is always excited for new shoes, even when they have to be snow boots.

Now that we are buttoned, zipped, tied and buckled, it's time to go have some fun!

All you need now is to invite a few friends over for a snowball war!