Bahamas

Tim qualified for president's club again this year.  Since we did Europe last year, the company decided to do a beach trip this year.....Bahamas!

I still had to get my runs in for my marathon training....I had a really ugly view!  I did most of my runs outside with one of the other wife's.  It was a great way to tour the island.

Working hard on the beach....taking one for the team.

I drank way to many strawberry smoothies.  But when a waitress comes to you on the beach and asks YOU if YOU want a drink, I'll take it!

We took a tour of the island and went to a local zoo.  Tim was able to feed the birds apple slices.

I got a chance to hold the Toby bird....I'm not much a wildlife gal!

We had dinner at the Poop Deck.  The name just made me giggle.  I even got a t-shirt.

It was great to get away for a few days and soak up the sun.

February Update

Every Valentine's Day, we have a "heart attack".  Everyone has to write something they love about each other on a heart.  I love hearing what the kids have to say about each other.

Loom bracelets are all the rage in the 4th grade.  The bracelets are made on a loom with small rubber bands.  We have 3 looms and a gazillion rubber bands.  The girls make several bracelets a day and everyone in our family has several.

The big kids recently participated in the 4th grade play.  The play was about Utah history.  Carter was a mountain man.  Annie was a rock climber.  Abby was a beehive.  Everyone in the family knows all the songs!  It was a great experience for them, but I'm really glad it is over!

Lots of cub scouts and the Blue and Gold Banquet.

I'm still running lots and sometimes question my current goals.  I still have a long ways to go to accomplish my goals.  It takes a lot of time.  Running is the easy part.  It is the strength training, stretching, diet, and icing that requires a lot.  Hopefully it is all worth it.

I have a far-fetched dream of having a small farm some day.  This will probably never happen, but I often think about how I would run it.  I've been reading a lot of books about it lately.

We have neighbors that have a lot of chickens, rabbits, horses and turkeys.  They are truly self reliant people.  They believe in growing their own vegetables and raising/killing their own meat.

They recently butchered their turkeys (I won't post the pictures).  They invited me to the event.  I was beyond excited (for real)!  I got to watch them shoot the turkeys, skin them, and pull out all their guts.  The wife was going to can all the meat.  Watching this process made me even more excited to dream!  Someday.....

January Life

BASKETBALL

Carter has been playing on a rec center basketball league. His mind and body are finally starting to coordinate.  He is really starting to take off with his shooting skills and lay ups.  He has scored more points than anyone else on his team.  Tim has been the coach!

4 GRADE UTAH PLAY

Having three 4th graders means finding a lot of costumes for the upcoming Utah play.  Annie was chosen to learn the harmonica.  She has to learn to "Come Come Ye Saints".  She will play the song as the pioneers come into the Salt Lake Valley.  I love harmonica practice.

Carter is a mountain man and Abby is a beehive.  More pictures to come!

ST GEORGE HALF MARATHON PART 2

On the way home from the race, I found 5 nails in one of my tires.  Yikes!  Thankfully, we were at an exit that had a tire store.  It was a tender mercy!

I always love seeing my running buddies at races!  Such wonderful friendships!

A race picture.

15 Beautiful Years!

Tim and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary.  Actually, we got married on February 12.  But we celebrated early.

We went to Midway, Utah and spent the night at the Zermatt Resort.  We had a marvelous dinner and it was awesome to sleep in!  It was snowing like crazy up there.  So it made our day of cross country skiing even better.

I've been wanting to go cross country skiing for awhile, but the timing never worked out.  Cross country skiing is so different than down hill skiing.  The skies are significantly skinner and the poles are much longer.  I absolutely loved it!  It is such an amazing total body workout.  I was shedding layers all morning.

There happened to be the Junior National Cross Country Skiing Championships going on.  It was super fun to watch the different races!

By the end of the day, I was beyond famished and exhausted.

Next, I want to try snow shoeing!

Fun Family Fridays

Every Friday from Thanksgiving to Christmas, we do a FUN FAMILY FRIDAY.  There are small presents under the tree that the kids get to open every Friday.

Friday #1 (Friday after Thanksgiving) - new Christmas pajamas to wear throughout the holiday season!

Friday #2 - we got the game Headbands.  The kids had a lot of fun trying to describe the picture on headband.  It's hard!

Friday #3 - painting small ceramic animals.  Now....where do we put these fine masterpieces.

Friday #4 - we took cinnamon rolls to the AF Fire Department.  We are sure grateful for their service to us.

Lessons Learned on Service

Over the Christmas holiday, I had one of my children tell me they didn't want to ever help "hobos".  YIKES!!!!  I felt like I had obviously failed in the "giving service to everyone" department.  

At that very moment, I was on a mission to teach my kids about service.  We read in the Old Testament about "feeding those who were hungry and giving clothes to those who were naked".  

We went to the Utah Food Bank.  We sorted all the incoming food.  We did this last year too.  Both times, the kids really enjoyed it.  They said that giving service was fun!

A homeless shelter in Salt Lake, The Road Home, was asking for donations especially blankets.  I challenged each of the kids to help make 6 blankets/quilts.

Georgia made all the tie marks on the quilt and snipped the ties.

The big kids did all the knot tying and I bound all the edges.

Even my Activity Day Girls helped in our family project.  Here they are writing Christmas letters to the missionaries serving from our ward.

Activity Day Girls knotting blankets.

I printed off word searches, coloring pages, and other paper games.  The big kids put them into "packets" for the children at the shelter.  They REALLY liked doing this "service".

Our final stash of quilts, blankets, and activity packets for kids.

On our way to deliver the goodies to the Road Home.

This seasonal Road Home location is only open during the winter.  It is just a large warehouse.  Our children could see some of the residence outside.....just normal families like us.  I'm not sure if they understood that these families were living there because they didn't have a house.  But it sure makes me grateful for all of my many blessings!

Christmas

Christmas festivities!

Annie's piano recital

Carter was a wiseman during the ward Christmas party

Abby and Carter Christmas shopping for their siblings.  It is by far the best shopping trip of the season!

Hitting the piñata at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  They won boxes of sugar cereal.

Georgia and her buddy Lucy at the library waiting for Mrs Claus to read them a story!

Enjoying gifts that neighbors dropped by.  Yeah for chips and salsa!

Caramel apples were gifts to our friends and neighbors.  I ate way too many of those!

Our dryer decided to die in the middle of all the Christmas festivities.  I love making trips to the laundromat.

Abby had a gymnastic meet.  She did awesome and got lots of ribbons!  Go Abby!

We decided to work on a few big puzzles over Christmas break.  Everyone helped with it and there were a lot less electronics!

Carter, Georgia, and Abby found elf hats at Target.