Life Goes On

Meanwhile life goes on in our home. :)

Annual strawberry dipping with cousins...

Jaxon is in a Chinese yo-yo club at school. He really enjoys it! They're preparing for their end of year performance next month- can't wait to see it!

Kids still working at the laundromat, or just looking cute for the customers. ;)

One day Jaxon came home with a bag of waffles. Apparently, school lunch that day was popcorn chicken and waffles and he traded his popcorn chicken for his friends' waffles. Ended up collecting a lot of waffles, these are just what he couldn't eat. Sounds like something on the black market...

Travis has gone out of town a few times this winter but one night we had a lot of fun goofing off.

More Time at the Cabin

We've been able to spend more time together at the cabin. We love our time there.

They're are a lot of wild turkeys around, so the kids go on turkey hunts made a turkey trap (behind them).

One night we played Monopoly with the kids till pretty late, which the kids loved. Violet was the winner! Jaxon and Violet love playing Monopoly, which is strange to me since I always thought it was so boring as a kid.

I found out that a glue stick and pieces of scrap paper will keep Ivy busy for an hour.

Kids making English muffin pizzas. Hey, this is a vacation for me too.

When you can't see the valley that usually means a storm's coming in! Time to get nice and cozy. :)

 

Our Cabin

 Welcome to the cabin!

So we have been wanting a cabin for years...but we've never been big spenders. However this year we decided that our family actually needed this. This wonderful cabin listing popped up on our radar and we walked through and loved it. Despite that, we still decided against it because we couldn't justify getting something fun instead of putting that money to work on another investment. A couple weeks passed and we couldn't stop thinking about it. Then, lo and behold, we saw the price dropped by a good chunk and that was that. We weren't going to let it pass us again! We've got 5 young kids and with Travis being bishop, his demanding job, side contracts and investments- we realized that we need to force ourselves to take a break and spend time together as a family and make some amazing memories while the kids are still young.

And it has been FANTASTIC!

We have the best views!

On our first trip up there, it hit a record breaking cold temperature for the area! And we had tons of snow. We need to invest in some snow shoes.

The kids love playing out in the snow. Mostly sledding down our long driveway. I like it too, it's fun. :) The also build fun things out of the snow.

We have fun inside too. The previous owners left about 50 puzzles for us to work through...they must've really liked puzzles!

It's always sad when we have to pack up and say goodbye to the cabin. But at least we know we'll be back soon!

Christmas 2021

Once Christmas break was here we were in full holiday prep! We enjoyed multiple cousin days and made Christmas cookies...

Saw the lights at Pioneer Park

Enjoyed sledding at Lakeridge and in our backyard

And made gingerbread houses

 Everyone was so excited for the big day!

And then before we knew it, it was Christmas morning!

A good chuck of our presents were homemade. It was actually really nice.

One of Jaxon's presents was a scanner. Like the kind at a checkout stand. That's just Jaxon for you.

But our biggest present for the family was...our very own CABIN! I'll have to make a separate post about that one. ;)

We had an unforgettable Christmas. It was so nice to just spend time together and relax. We are so grateful for this time special of year and for the birth of our Savior.

Ginger Turns 5!

Ginger turned 5! She wanted drumsticks and potatoes for dinner, and was very specific about the kind of cake she wanted.

She loves preschool and is so excited to start kindergarten in the fall and go to the same school as her older siblings. She talks about it every day. Once I told her about kindergarten shots I joked with her that she didn't have to get the shots, that she could just keep going to preschool if she wanted. She very firmly stated she wanted the shots. Pretty sure I was still squirming during my shots at this age.

Happy birthday, Ginger! We love you!

Violet's First Ice Skating Performance

Violet had her first ice skating performance the week before Christmas. Her coach asked her a couple months ago what song she'd like to dance to and she picked "Feliz Navidad". They choreographed a cute dance for her to memorize and perform for the audience.

 

She was a little nervous, and I would have been too if I had been skating in front of so many people. The audience really got into it and really cheered her on. We were so proud! She slipped and fell towards the beginning but got right back up and continued on with her dance.

When she got off the ice Travis went to go find her in the tunnel. Once she saw him she broke down in tears vowing she never wanted to do anything like that again! But once he showed her the flowers he bought for her she perked up a little bit. She's now talking about her next dance. :) Laykin was able to hitch a ride down with my parents. Seeing her also helped Violet feel better.

 Anyway, we were so proud of her for doing something so scary. Way to go Violet!