Monday, March 18, 2019

It has been to 81 stores

Wyatt's drawing won an award in the art show this year.  I think he has won every year since Kindergarten.  The art show is at the beginning of the school year and after they select winners they display the winning art around Provo.  He just got his drawing back the other day and he told me that it has been to eighty one stores.  I'm not sure if that is true or not, but he was sure excited about it.  Wyatt definitely has a talent for art.
Here is one more picture of Caitlyn and Alexa from their fun night together.  
Hallee and Tessa often show up wearing the same outfit to dance without planning it.  Cute girls!
Jonah had to say goodbye to Tanner two weeks ago.  He is having a hard time with it. They text and Marco Polo with each other, but he sure misses hanging out with him.  The boys spent the whole day/evening together the night before he left. They went around to different houses all day and then spent the evening at Hang Time.
Kyle had something that night so he couldn't go to Hang Time with them.  Jonah does so many fun things with his friends.  On Friday he went to the temple after school (they decided that would be better than getting up so early) and then they went to a movie after that.  He is always asking "can I hang out?"
Jonah's March league has been a little rough.  They lost their first two games.  The coach couldn't make it to the second game so Keith and Wyatt's dad filled in.  It was a rough game.  The refs weren't calling anything and the other team was very aggressive.  Our boys were getting hurt a lot. Jonah was so frustrated after the game. He was frustrated with his performance, with the refs and with the other team. Luckily the last two games have gone much better.  
I took the girls to Amarie's dance performance a couple of weeks ago.  We rode down with Tiff and Tessa, which always makes it more fun!
Mel's whole family was there and my parents and Alexys came.  It was fun to all be there together.
I thought it was really cute to see my dad passing out M&Ms to all of the grand kids.
The show was great.  Amarie is such a beautiful dancer.  She is in a trio that was amazing.  The music, costume and choreography were perfect.  I love watching Amarie dance.
I love how much attention Hallee gets from the older cousins. 
Caitlyn had a band concert last week.  She is not excited about the oboe right now.  She doesn't like practicing, but I think she still enjoys playing it sometimes.  She did a good job at the concert.  She asked her teacher if she could leave early because she wanted to get to mutual.  She was able to leave after her concert band played three songs.  She is sure looking grown up lately and so beautiful!
Hallee wanted to show me how she arranged all of her beanie boos into families.  I walked by her room later and saw her reading to them.  It was so cute!  I'm listening to pod casts and reading books that talk about being your best self and I think Hallee is a great example of this.  She isn't too concerned with what other people think and she finds joy in most things.  I love it!
Hallee loves to laugh and have fun.  She thought it was so fun to wear her skirt as a shirt, put her underwear on her head and dance around.  I love just sitting back and watching all of the things she comes up with and finds joy in.
Friday night I got to have a girls night with the group! Katie booked a hotel with her points and we went out to dinner and stayed up late talking and laughing together.  I'm so blessed to have such amazing friends and family in my life.  I always have someone I can turn to, for my happy and sad times and I feel very grateful for that!
Yesterday was a good day.  I decided it was going to be a good day and there were a few times that weren't super enjoyable, but overall the good far outweighed the bad.  I'm working really hard on managing my thoughts and making sure that I'm intentional on what I'm thinking and that it will serve me well.  I love Sundays, I love seeing what the kids will come up with to entertain themselves.  I loved watching Caitlyn and Jonah paint together.
Caitlyn wanted to make a treat for St. Patrick's Day.  I'm glad she loves to bake.  I don't enjoy baking and I used to feel guilt around that, but there is no reason to feel guilt.  Obviously the fact that I don't like to bake hasn't had a negative impact on Caitlyn.  We all just have to find what brings us joy and choose that and thank goodness it is different for everyone!
We like to play card games.  I saw a good deal on Exploding Kittens (Matt and Lori introduced us to this game) so I bought it.  Caitlyn's birthday is coming up, so why not make it a birthday present!  We had some free time last night and I wanted to play the game so we let Caitlyn open it early.  We had a lot of fun playing the game together.  Everyone enjoyed the game, which was really nice.  It was a nice way to end a nice day!

Spring Fever

We have a major case of Spring fever over here.  It seems like we have had cold, winter weather forever.  Every once in a while we get a day or two of warm weather and then it goes back to freezing cold. 
Wyatt has been asking if he and I could go for a walk on the Parkway together.  Last Saturday it was warm enough and we only had a short window of time, but we ran over there and took advantage of it.  Wyatt loves one-on-one time.  
We had fun exploring and finding sticks to throw in the water.  He was really excited when I helped him throw a really big branch into the water.
I love that the Parkway is so close and that even though we didn't have a lot of time we could still fit in a quick adventure together.
Wyatt wanted to go back the next day and Hallee really wanted to go.
Jonah was at a fireside for the deacons and beehives so we took the other kids and went over to the Parkway.  We are all going stir crazy with this cold weather so we really enjoyed being outside.
Keith didn't have any meetings yesterday so we went to the Parkway after church.  It was nice to get out, but the kids didn't like it as much because there were a ton of bugs. Wyatt especially hated the bugs.
Cute sisters!
The kids have had fun playing outside with friends and cousins whenever it is warm enough.  Wyatt and Charlie decided they were going to sell rainbow loom bracelets to earn money.  Hallee helped them make signs and set up.  My ministering sister bought one when she came over and they were thrilled.  I really hope that Spring comes to stay soon!

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Life Lately

Alexa is Caitlyn's best friend here in Provo.  For Alexa's birthday she chose to have a fun night out with Caitlyn.  They went to dinner, went to Color Me Mine and then back to Alexa's house to make ear rings.  Caitlyn was so excited for it and had so much fun.  Kari sent me this picture of the girls.
Jonah and his friends planned a surprise going away party for Tanner.  Erin was nice enough to host it and help the boys make it happen. Jonah asked me to make a Jell-O cake for the party.  The boys had a blast together and really made Tanner feel special.  Tanner leaves this weekend and it is going to be hard on Jonah.  They have only lived here for seven months, but Jonah and Tanner are together every day with very few exceptions.  I've seen Jonah try and pull away from Tanner to try and make it easier, but I think he is realizing that it won't help, he is going to miss him and it's going to hurt! Luckily Jonah has a lot of good friends around here, but I think they will all miss Tanner.
Jonah finished up his basketball season a couple of weeks ago.  They finished the season 8-1 and it was a heart breaker to see them go out of the play offs in the first round with a two-point loss!  
They were disappointed, but I think they are all proud of their season.  They worked hard and gave it their all every game.  Now we are on to March league.  They play six games in March and three of them are this week.  
Wyatt loves to watch You Tube videos.  He has been watching some about building box forts so he wanted to build one.  He spent his money on boxes and got to work with Keith making a fort.  
Caitlyn helped him decorate it and Wyatt said he has to shoot you with a dart if you want to come in.  He has added all sorts of fun things in his fort and had some frustration because it is not as durable as he would like.  I love Wyatt's passion about things, he gets so excited about things!
Wyatt also likes to watch Life Hack videos on You Tube.  When he told me that he wanted to make something I knew Caitlyn was the perfect one to help him.  This is right up both of their alley.  He stores all of his special rocks on this tray.
Hallee and I were playing a game together and Keith came in the room and said we looked so much  alike, so we had to take a picture!  I sure love my sweet girl.  She is so easy going and very thoughtful and considerate.  She always asks me how my day was and tells me that she loves me all the time.  
Hallee loves to write notes and they are so sweet!  Keith and I love the sweet notes that she writes us.  She has really good hand writing too.  This note was for Tessa and says, "I love my friend Tessa.  She is 6 years old.  She is a bright star.  She is the best in the world.  She is my BFF because she is silly and kind.  Sometimes we fight but then we are friends again.  We wish we were twins."   
Hallee always draws cute pictures to go along with her notes.  I just love the stage she is in right now.
Jackson begs any time one of us has food.  He may drive me crazy, but he is cute!
We celebrated my dad's birthday on Sunday.  I was searching for gift ideas on Amazon and I saw this shirt and knew that is what I wanted to get him.  
Wyatt and Rockwell well did a drum roll before every present.  They are so cute.
Hallee wrote grandpa a nice note and drew him a picture.