January so far

Our recoop from Christmas has been long. It is now the 18th of Jan and we have all been sick since the 5th. So we must have partied too hard. LOL Seriously, though, it has been awful here.

Dan and I did celebrate our 7th anniversary at the beginning of the month. Yay us! We had an adventurous time striking out on sold out movies, trying to eat at three closed restaurants (it was Jan 1st when we celebrated), finally hitting Kneaders to eat, soaking at the hot springs, and buying new sheets for our bed. Dan was awesome and bought the most gorgeous earrings for me that I fell in love with at Kneaders. I have some picture somewhere of what I gave Dan. I need to find it.

In the meantime, here is B -

And the girls eating breakfast -

We have been bombarded by two feet of snow and have enjoyed it while we wheeze and hurl in between outings.

Here is my new CTR 5!!! girl! What? She is in heaven with her new teacher and CTR ring.

And don’t let thaat cute Brookie fool you – she is really a Wookie -

She was such a mess but was being hilarious!

december’s memory and joy list

• abi saying the snow was like powdered sugar
• abi telling me, “mom, how old you are is too many numbers.”
• brookie needing her hands wiped completely dry… or she comes to me again
• brookie reading alone for hours in her room
• abi telling us that food goes down your body and out your drain
• abi sharing her first testimony in fast and testimony meeting – she bore it on Nephi and the “glass” plates
• brookie cuddling so nice just to throw up down my shirt – you are not a mother until this happens
• brookie discovering how to mop the floor – she will get out clean towels and wipe up anything she sees on the floor
• brookie loving to have her hair done and to do mine
• abi setting up the magnetic nativity on the door
• doing the advent nativity with abi every day
• abi asking if pine trees were “pineapple” trees
• brookie learning to say, “here you go”
• my little family jumping on the tramp in a snowstorm
• dan and I doing flowrider, ifly, and anberlin

snowshoeing black canyon

We were able to leave the girls with friends for an afternoon and head out to go snowshoeing with my mom, her friends Lori and Dawnell, and my brother Erik and his friend Aimee.

 

About half way through, someone didn’t stay on the trail too well… can you see him?

Erik… tsk, tsk! On his flight down he figured the only way to stop himself would be to straddle the oncoming tree. Ouch! It was pretty crazy trying to get him out too. He took out a tree – roots and all – because it was so steep! But he survived to tell the tale.

Eating lunch over the beautiful outlook.

And we end out Colorado Christmas baking with Mima – we have come full circle. What a wonderful week.

talking with Elder Thomas

On Christmas Day we were able to google chat with Elder Thomas. It was a wonderful time. He has grown in leaps and bounds in just the past three months. You could just tell that he loved the people and was surviving the area (Seattle rain) well. It was a very nice Christmas gift.

colorado christmas–the day!–photo overload!

Waking up-

It is tradition in my family that we can’t come out until the bells have been rung. When we hear them we can come downstairs.

Kissing uncle Erik under the mistletoe

My sweet family – and the other 40 photos trying to get a nice photo

Dan always makes us do crazy somethings with our hands -

My parents with Erik – this is his last Christmas home

And then the fun started-

B placed her baby all nice in this chair-

Erik and Dan got HUGE steaks in their stockings-

Reading her new Fancy Nancy books with Banka

This is Abi after she discovered that Santa brought her a bike (he had to leave it in Utah since it wouldn’t fit in the car)

And promptly B tried on the helmet

Erik’s Christmas was full of college crap and Missionary supplies like these beauties-

Now check out this girl’s squat – can you get that low? You can even slide your hand under her.

A poof for Brookie from Mima

One of the biggest hits were fairy wings from uncle Erik-

It was a very wonderful Christmas…we came away feeling overly blessed and loved.

Dan and I had a nice and generous Christmas too. He received a “new” phone, hang-gliding lessons, and some kahkis from me and pigeons and a skeet shooter from my parents. I received a new screen for my phone, some great jewelry from my girls, and some essential oils from Dan. My parents gave me some homemade jam and a spin video. My mom also made a special book of her testimony and what she believes, and a great card game she made that is of our family. Love them.