New Years Goals and Sledding

We didn't have to stay up till midnight to have a fun New Years. ;) For FHE the night before we talked about the importance of setting goals and had each of the kids come up with a goal that they thought they needed. I was so pleased to hear Jaxon and Violet both decided on saying "Bueno mama, lo hare" more often. Music to my ears. :) It's only been a week but they've really tried to stick to it. And if they don't then I remind them to. ;) That night we even had a New Years Eve toast, and cinnamon rolls the next morning.

Then the Ascua's invited us to go sledding with them at Rock Canyon park. We had lots of fun!

Ginger kept taking off her gloves, so when she would slip (which was frequent) she'd end up like this because she refused to touch the snow. It was so funny, but I also felt like a bad parent laughing and taking pictures.

Ginger Turns 2

Somewhere amist all the holiday celebrations, our little Ginger turned 2! This little girl LOVES her protein. The meat is always the first thing off her plate. I felt weird making a pot roast on a Saturday, so we remembered the couple of times she's had bacon and how much she loved it-so we cooked her up a special order while the rest of us had spaghetti.

Don't worry, she only ate one of the pieces before she was full. But she was so happy!

Earlier that day she had her daddy-birthday date and they went to the local IFA to visit chicks and rabbits before stopping at McDonalds to eat and play.

That evening we celebrated cake and ice cream with grandparents. She was unusually quiet and even a little upset towards the end- I think she was a little confused as to why she was getting all the attention, and maybe she had just had too much birthday. :)

Jaxon made a little candy tray for everyone which I thought was very sweet of him.

We just love our little Ginger snap.

Christmas 2018

Once again it was a fabulous Christmas. We had lots of fun family get togethers and activities to get us in the Christmas spirit before the big day.

We had fun at Temple Square, followed by doughnuts and hot cocoa.

The kids loved looking at the window displays at Macys.

Jaxon class put on a cute Gingerbread Man play. He was pretty excited about his part as a dog. :)

For this Christmas Sunday hairdo all I had to do was leave her hair in two braids for 2 days. I was so pleased with myself.

 

On Christmas morning we emptied our stockings...

Read the letter Santa left us saying that he had left us something in our backyard...

A trampoline!

After a yummy breakfast we opened the rest of our presents!

And what other kid would be more excited to receive a printing calculator, and digital door locks for Christmas?

This year we started a new Christmas tradition where after we clean up and put away all the gifts, we give the kids a mini scavenger hunt for their "experience gifts". Jaxon was another robotics class, Violet got a trip to the zoo, and Ginger got a winter tumbling class. They absolutely loved doing this, and they're very excited to redeem their "coupons".

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Decking the Halls

We loved getting the house ready for Christmas this year. Violet especially couldn't wait. We set up the Christmas tree about a week before we actually put any ornaments on it and it just about drove her insane. She insisted on "decorating" it herself with socks, toys, pieces of paper and whatever else she could find.

She was so happy once we finally decorated it as our FHE activity.

I left the kitchen for one minute and Ginger managed to climb on the counter and attack the block of cheese I was about to grate. Say cheese!

We haven't even lost half of our leaves from our gigantic tree out front. Guess we'll have a lot of leaves fall into the snow this year! Jaxon likes to rake leaves to earn a little extra money and this time Ginger joined him.

We got as many leaves as we could before the snow hit. And did it hit! The kids were thrilled that there was enough to start the sleds going down our backyard hill again. The kids just love this, and I love how I can just watch them from the kitchen window. :)

Thanksgiving 2018

We spent a very fun Thanksgiving with Mamie and Papa and most of my siblings this year. The night before we let the kids have a "sibling sleepover" together (we stuck them in the playroom).

In the morning we peeled lots of potatoes. Jaxon was a real sport and he didn't mind it one bit.

We all met up at Aunt Sessely's house and sat down to a yummy dinner followed by lots of conversation, pie, and cousin-time.

We were so glad to be together and especially that Jasmine and Nate could make it down from Montana with the twins. It felt so good for everyone to catch up over wonderful food.

Halloween 2018

The kids were VERY hyped up about Halloween this year... Jaxon was a pirate, Violet a ghost, and Ginger was a pumpkin (a very cute one if I do say so myself).

Jaxon was not in a mood for photos

It was kind of funny- one day Violet randomly told me, "Mom, do you know why I don't want to be a princess for Halloween? Because I want to be scary!!!" We didn't even mention anything about being a princess, she wanted to be a ghost from the start.

We had our traditional Halloween dinner/smores at Mamie and Papa's house with cousins and all went trick or treating together.

Before the big day we had some more fall fun getting in the spirit of things... like a spooky (and wet) FHE up the canyon.

We were "boo-ed" by some anonymous neighborhood friends so we played along and "boo-ed" another neighbor with Halloween cookies.

And of course it wouldn't be Halloween time unless we carved pumpkins!

They already can't wait until next year's Halloween. Really, Violet is still greeting people at the store with "Happy Halloween!" Oh these kids.

Fall Extracurriculars

School is in full gear and we've got our routines down (more or less). We've also been able to enroll in a couple extracurricular activities.

It is SO HARD to find an extracurricular activity to fit Jaxon's interests of anything mechanical/electrical. And that's basically his only interest. Luckily after much searching, I found a robotics class that fit the bill. He's really been enjoying it so far. The class is small and he gets lots of one on one help to guide him through the projects he makes.

We enrolled Violet in BYU's Creative Dance program again after getting a small taste of it last spring. She's so excited to take the class with Laykin! The two of them are so cute dancing together.

 And then there's this one who is so happy to follow me around town dropping off and picking up siblings all day.

She put these on herself somehow.