The never ending January

I think I feel this way every year, but this January feels like it has been a year.  Once Christmas is over the winter seems to drag on.  Depression always hits me in January. I know I should push myself to get outside and exercise, but I have no motivation and no energy!  It's a hard cycle to break. I think we all get a little bit of the winter blues and feel a bit stir crazy.  

Some days I'm good at pushing myself and the kids and other days I let the kids play on screens while I read.  I made Hallee go outside one afternoon and she wanted me to time her while she rode her bike around the block.

The kids love it when I make smoothies.  Hallee likes to put a cucumber on the side of her cup to fancy it up.

Wyatt is almost finished with the Harry Potter books.  After he finishes a book he watches the movie with Jonah and Keith.  One night we watched the first movie with Wyatt and Hallee.  I found Wyatt asleep with his Harry Potter (it's actually Caitlyn's, but she gave it to him) wand that night. 

Jonah has been playing Jr. Jazz with his friends.  He is enjoying that.

Wyatt's friend Dallin signed up for a Parkour class at Lowes and asked if Wyatt wanted to join him.  I debated because it was expensive, but we finally decided it was worth it to get out of the house in January and have somewhere warm to get some exercise. 

I think they have more fun goofing off together than doing parkour.  It's a beginning class so Wyatt is a little bored. 

When I read that siblings could jump for free during the class, that sealed the deal.  Hallee loves to jump every week during his class.

Last week we stayed after class for an hour and half to let Wyatt and Hallee jump together. 

There have been some beautiful sunsets to cheer up this dreary January. 

Caitlyn and I went and got pedicures during Wyatt's break dancing class a couple of weeks ago.

Caitlyn decided to splurge and get her nails done.  She was a little worried that she would want to do it all the time if she did it once, but when it was time for her to pay she decided once was enough.  

We were excited to hang out with the Barth's over Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend.  They came over on Saturday and the kids had so much fun playing and I loved talking to Tiff.  I didn't get any pictures, but when they left I snapped a couple of my kids.  I love that Hallee and Tessa always play some real life game that involves dress up.  They were explores and this is what Hallee changed into. 

The boys built this cool fort.  We were hoping to hang out with them more that weekend, but they ended up getting sick, which was a bummer. 

My kids had Tuesday off of school as well.  Caitlyn and Jonah stayed busy with friends or school things. I took Hallee and Wyatt over to the school to play at the park.  It was one of those days that all I wanted to do was lay in bed, but I pushed myself and we went to the park, go me!

I was so happy when Wyatt and Hallee played together outside.  They made a little fort in the tree house and had a great time together.  It is seriously the best thing ever to see your kids have fun together. 

Wednesday was a virtual learning day.  A ton of teachers and staff are out sick so they added on a virtual learning day to try and help with the staffing shortage.  It made it feel like Christmas break 2.0!  I'm so grateful that my kids are hard working and motivated.  They all did their school work without any problem.  Wyatt had a zoom call and he did it from his hoover cart.  

Monster Jam

A few weeks ago Keith and Wyatt went to Monster Jam.  I saw it was in town and I knew they would love it so I got them tickets.  Jonah debated on going, but decided not to in the end.  His work schedule was tricky and also he would have to have a negative Covid test to go and they are really hard to get right now.  There has been a big spike in cases again with a new variant and the testing sites have been overwhelmed.  This new variant seems to be less severe but more contagious, so there is some hope that this could help us get the herd immunity we need.  I personally think we just need to stop testing and move on with our lives, but what do I know.  If the vaccinated can get it and you can get it more than once, I'm not sure what we can do besides treat it like the normal flu and stay home if you are sick. Anyway, Wyatt didn't have to have a test or a vaccination card because this event didn't require it if you are under 12 years old.  It will be such a relief when we can stop thinking and worrying about all of this!

Wyatt and Keith headed down town early and went to Crown Burger for dinner so they could park there.  Wyatt said it was the best burger ever! Wyatt appreciates a good meal!

Wyatt took his noise canceling headphones.  I made sure to get them seats in the middle so they would have a great view.

Wyatt thought it was pretty cool that one of the trucks was named Rockwell Red.

These two had a great time together.

Wyatt has grown and matured so much in the past year.  His confidence has really grown and so has his sense of humor.  He is so fun to be around.  He wants to be older than he is and loves to do things that are grown up.  I surprised Caitlyn and filled up her car with gas and he went with me and pumped it for me.

After we got gas I took Wyatt over to the church parking lot and let him drive around. I knew he would love that and he did!

He did really well.  He begs to go all the time now.  Keith took him one day and I took him one other time, so he has driven all of our cars now.  He says he likes driving Caitlyn's car the best. 

Ordinations and Temple Trips

On January 2nd Jonah was ordained to the office of priest and Wyatt was ordained to the office of a  deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood.  We were grateful that Bishop Blevins was on top of it and getting all of the boys ordained as quickly as he could because we had some temple trips planned.

Grandma and grandpa came down to participate.  We love having them with us at these special events. We all met in the Bishops office and he asked us all to share some advice or things we loved about Wyatt and Jonah before they were ordained.  I love that he does this, it is always really special.  When we came home we did the same thing for Caitlyn and Hallee.  It's good for the kids to hear the good things other people see in them. 

Jonah was ordained first so he could stand in the circle while Wyatt was ordained, that was pretty cool.

It was a great way to kick off the new year. 

Wyatt was excited to pass the sacrament the next week.  They learned how at their young men's activity and he felt ready and excited.

We are still dealing with Covid and masks. Wyatt has done a great job passing the sacrament each week and you can tell that he takes it very seriously and wants to do it just right. 

It is tough to get an appointment at the temple for baptisms for the dead.  They open up on the first day of the month for the next month and are usually gone really quickly.  I grabbed what I could get in January because I knew Wyatt was anxious to go. I got one for when the kids were off of school in the middle of January, but I knew Keith wouldn't be able to go because he would be getting ready for convention at work, so I booked one during school so Keith and I could both be there with Wyatt for his first time. 

Cait and Jonah weren't able to miss school so it was just Wyatt.  I'm still having a hard time believing that Wyatt is so grown up.  Wyatt said he loved the temple.  All of the workers were so nice and kept fawning over him.  Keith was able to baptize him and I was able to be a witness.  It was so fun to have that experience with him.

Yesterday the kids didn't have school and I was able to get an appointment at the temple.  Wyatt was excited to go back and he was glad he knew what to expect this time.  It was so fun to take all three of the kids, Hallee was sad that she couldn't go.  Jonah was able to baptize Caitlyn and Wyatt and one other girl.  It was so cool to watch him do that.  I'm so impressed with my kids that they just jump in and do things even when they are a little scary or intimidating. It's so fun to watch our kids progress spiritually . They are all very different and go about things and learn very differently.  Some of them have an easier time believing and having Faith and some of them have lots of questions. I used to think that I needed to be able to answer all of their questions or they might struggle with their Faith, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with saying, "I don't know."  I'm learning to strengthen my own Faith and know God will help them on their Faith journeys and that they have a Savior who understands them perfectly and all I need to do is teach them and love them.  Sometimes I forget that they have a Savior and I think it's all up to me and that brings a lot of stress and fear, but when I put my Faith in our Savior, I know that they are going to be okay. 

Peace Out 2021

Katie invited us over for New Years Eve.  We were excited to spend it with them and Tiff and Paul.

The kids had a blast playing together all night.

Caitlyn and Kiara played games with the adults.  We had a lot of fun and we all laughed a lot!

Katie always throws a great party.  The kids loved all of the party favors and there was so much good food!

The kids had plenty of energy to stay up until midnight.

It was a little harder for the adults.

We all made it until midnight! 

Jonah went to Kyle's house with a group of his friends.

I'm glad it worked out for Caitlyn and Kiara to hang out that night. 

Katie had sparkling cider for everyone at midnight.

2021 has been good to us.  It's a bit depressing that we are still dealing with Covid-19 going into 2022, but other than that it really has been a great year.  We have been blessed to spend a lot of time with family and take amazing trips.  I have been so blessed to spend so much time at the beach this year.  I'm grateful that the kids have all been able to do their activities and the things they love this year.  Keith has a job that he loves and we are blessed with so many things that make our life so comfortable and convenient.  Most of all we are thankful for our testimonies of Jesus Christ and the hope and joy that brings into our lives.  Life would be so depressing without our hope in Jesus Christ and our eternal perspective.

Christmas Break

We enjoyed sleeping in during Christmas break!  Hallee and Wyatt don't sleep in, but Caitlyn and Jonah sure can. I brought Caitlyn breakfast (it was actually lunch time) in bed one day.  She was grateful, but had a hard time waking up to eat it.

Paul did a movie night for his clients and Keith and Wyatt were able to go.

They were both excited to see the new Spiderman movie.  

Jonah passed his test and got his learners permit.  I teased him that he looked like Spanky, from Little Rascals in that hat. 

He practiced driving when we got home from the DMV.  He is already a pretty good driver. 

Keith had Thursday and Friday off before Christmas and New Years.  He took Hallee and Wyatt to see Sing 2 before Christmas while I finished up some things at home.

The kids had fun playing with their new Christmas toys.

We loved spending time with the Barth's this week.  They all had fun playing Just Dance.

On Wednesday Trinity came over for most of the day.  She brought Hallee some Christmas presents and her mom sent them a craft to do at our house.  These two were so excited to see each other. Wyatt had Dallin over that day too.  I was able to get a lot done while the kids both had a friend to play with.

Wyatt had fun giving Jackson rides on his go kart. 

Keith and I saw Hamilton on Wednesday.  Keith was able to get off early and we got some dinner before.  We were hoping to eat at the Cheesecake factory, but there was a two hour wait! We ended up eating in the food court at City Creek.

The Eccles theater is really nice.  Keith was excited to see it live.  It was hard not to compare the cast to the originals since we have watched that multiple times on Disney, but it was still really good.  The whole production is just so good. 

Jonah watched the kids for us while we went to Hamilton.  Caitlyn was at work, she worked a lot of hours during the break.  Jonah worked some as well.  Jonah decided he wanted to pay for door dash and get McDonalds for dinner.  Keith and I tried to talk him out of it, but he wanted to do it.  It was nice of him to pay for Hallee and Wyatt since both of their orders weren't cheap.  Jonah spent way too much for a McDonalds meal, but I think it was fun for them. 

We had a few snowy days over the break.  Hallee and Wyatt helped Keith shovel yesterday and made this snowman.  We all enjoyed the break and we are all going to have a hard time getting back on track with going to bed early and getting up early!