Valentine's Day 2018

This Valentine's Day started the Saturday before with making and decorating sugar cookies. This is my kids' favorite part about Valentine's Day.  Doing this on a Saturday is so much easier than a school day...and it spreads out the overall Valentine's Day sugar intake. Win-win!

On Valentine's day morning, the kids woke up to a candy trail leading to the table. Ginger enjoyed gathering all the candy.

...Where a special Valentine's Day treat awaited them.

Candy, glow sticks, and a book. 

That evening we had our traditional candlelit dinner and shared notes we had written to each other over the previous days and stuck in our Valentine's mailbox.

So much love to go around! :)

Backyard Sledding

It's been so nice having a yard. It has a little slope on one side, which made for an AMAZING sledding experience for the kids. When I was a kid we had to trudge through the snow for blocks and through a field, hauling our sleds, to get to our sledding hill. Our kids are lucky enough to spend hours sledding in their own backyard.

Back when Santa visited us at the Andersons he brought along these sleds for all the kids. They work super well!

I like watching through the kitchen blinds. Here Jaxon tries to haul Violet uphill.

The trail-blazing phase didn't go without a few incidents...

But fortunately that didn't stop her. After they made their trails they got going pretty fast! They had SO MUCH FUN! Jaxon's now worried about the snow melting. Every time I pick Jaxon up from school he always asks if there's still enough snow in the back to sled.

Now we have something to look forward to every time it snows!

Snow Much Fun!

We finally got our winter storm last weekend so we decided to take advantage of it and have some fun as a family outside in the snow.

We made a snowman... That lasted a good 10 minutes before it toppled.  

 Ginger loved to eat the snow.

Travis made a snow castle for the kids to use in.. 

A snowball fight!

Afterwards we warmed up inside with cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa. It was a great day! 

Ginger Turns One

Our little Ginger cakes turned one a couple weeks before Christmas. She "chose" spaghetti for dinner, her favorite.

We then celebrated with cake, ice cream and presents.

Please excuse the partially opened moving boxes, it was a busy time of year

We love this little girl. She's definitely got her own personality. She loves to "dance" to music (raising her hands up and down), and try on clothes (putting clothes over her head).

She says "mas" and "mama" and "mwa!" for kisses. We're still not walking yet, but I'm sure it's just around the corner. Happy birthday, Ginger!

Goodbye Old Place

I took some last pictures of our old place before we let the new tenants move in. Can't believe we spent 9 years here. It's been the only home our kids have ever known!

I would be a little more sad if we had sold the place instead of just renting it out, but since it's technically still our place, I don't feel like I'm saying "goodbye" to it.

But our kids prefer our "big house" now. :)

Christmas 2017

We thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas in our new house this year.  On Christmas Eve, we let the kids move their beds right next to the fireplace and stockings.

Poor Violet had a difficult time waking up.

After stockings we took a break for cinnamon rolls and got started on presents under the tree. There was lots of love and gratitude shown.

The kids have been playing almost non-stop with their presents. And it's been so nice to have a place for them to play!

Christmas Train

We previously lived close to the Provo Station and the kids loved seeing the train and constantly asked when we would get to ride on the train. Then a couple weeks ago UTA announced it would have a Free Fare Friday where all its services were free to the public. This was the perfect opportunity, and a fun activity leading to Christmas.

They had special treats for the kids and there was a special appearance by Santa himself. :)

We had a grand time, the kids absolutely loved it. Hopefully we get to ride the "Christmas Train" again next year!