Easter and "Spring" Break

We planned on spending spring break at the cabin, of course, but we had our annual Easter egg hunt with Mamie and Papa a couple days before we left. Since it was so cold and snowy outside, they had it at their church! It was a fantastic place for an Easter egg hunt, especially for the older kids!

On Tuesday afternoon we left for the cabin. It was definitely not a spring break- it felt like a second WINTER break! It was the first time we've had to use chains on our tires this year. This is the top of our gate...

Needless to say, this is the most snow we've seen up here. Here's our weather vane, which again, is about the same height as Violet, maybe a little taller. We probably had about 5 feet around our cabin.

We had fun sledding all kinds of hills.

And drew on the snow with icicles.

And of course had all sorts of fun inside the cozy cabin.

Travis brought his old homemade weapons he made as a kid. Our kids have absolutely loved playing with them.

Then we came back home to spring again. :) Yes, this was the best photo I could get.

School Projects and Presentations

Violet worked on this Native American project weeks. We even had time to make a small harpoon, and she planned to pass out candy to students who answered questions correctly.
 

Unfortunately it ended in tears as there were far too many kids wanting to visit her poster and things quickly got out of control as they all tried to steal her candy- which some older kids managed to do and ran away with it until a teacher got it back (by that time most of the candy was gone). She was pretty traumatized by the experience, but we encouraged her that things like that shouldn't deter her from trying again. 

The next week, around 8pm, I had finally settled down for some "me" time. Then Jaxon walks into the living room and asks, "Mom, aren't I supposed to turn something big in tomorrow?"

"Um...What?"

Luckily, I already had the costume, but we had both spaced the trifold. After a little talk about responsibility, we went to work. He did a great job despite being sleep deprived. He had to memorize his biographical speech in English and Chinese, and there were buttons on the desk for whichever one you wanted to hear.

Violet participated in school choir this year and they did such a good job. I don't think she expected how difficult it would be getting out of bed early every Tuesday and Thursday just to go to choir. She was happy she did it, but I'm not sure she'll want to do it again next year! ;)

Ginger also had a wax museum in her kindergarten class. She did such a great job! She was so happy to be seated by her best friend Riley.

 They also had a fun spring presentation for parents. It was so adorable.

Contrasting Climates and Pi Day!

It's still plenty cold here, with some snowy days. The younger two like to go feed the ducks Monday mornings despite the cold. There never seems to be enough snow to actually play in...

Until we go to the cabin! Then we've got plenty and then some. The girl's fort is still in good shape, we have to keep digging it out because we're still accumulating inches up there. Nothing seems to be melting yet!

This is our weather vane, it's usually probably about the same height as Violet? This was taken over President's Day weekend...

...and this was a couple weekends later, in March. In fact, we tried to go sledding, and it's nearly impossible for me and Travis to step in the snow without getting stuck. There were several times I my boot would sink and hit a tree branch from the nearest tree. We need to invest in some good snow shoes.

Travis' hats. He's made one for each of our kids now. He made a cute tank top for Ginger, too, to wear over a shirt. A man of great talents, he is.

In addition to crocheting, he also makes great snow forts. Jaxon is also in there towards the back.

Here's the entrance to the fort.

I like seeing the multiple layers of snow on our roof. You can't look through the upstairs windows anymore, they're blocked.

We just love our cabin and spending all that time in the snow. But it is nice to be able to come back home and enjoy the spring weather as well. Jaxon loves taking Talmage on walks. I think they're wearing their hats in this photo.

And, in other news- for the first time in 10 years...we were able to celebrate Pi Day with our original Pi Day friends. After a decade of moving around the country, the Philbricks and Monsons moved back to southern Utah County. We were just missing the Greens, but at least they're only a couple hours away. Who knew I'd still be friends with these guys 20 years after high school?

 

January Fun

We were able to go back to the cabin a couple weeks after Christmas break. Hmm..what's that mound in the distance?

Why it's our woodpile!

If I remember correctly, the woodpile probably goes up to my eye level. Good thing we have lots of wood on the back porch!

The kids tried to dig out their previous snow fort. After they couldn't, I did. Burned my calories for the day!

Trunks are buried.

If you didn't want to go through the garage door, you had a fun snow hill to hike to the front door. 

 

Violet was invited to a friend's Lunar New Year party. She made a Chinese lantern, played with fireworks, ate doughnuts and hot chocolate, and watched the huge fireworks go off at the end. They even had a Chinese dragon. Kids could fill these red envelopes with monetary donation and "feed" them to the dragon. All donations went to the food bank.

She had so much fun, and it was a great cultural experience.

Here we're just enjoying a play day at Mamie's with cousins and pizza.

And now all 3 of my girls have tried to cut their hair. Ugh. I took her to BYU where they cut it all short. I will miss those curls!

But at least Ivy and Talmage had some fun while we were passing through the bookstore.

Christmas 2022 (aka The Year Jaxon Slept Through Christmas)

So I'll be honest, we didn't take a lot of pictures on Christmas morning! We kind of had a lot going on- Grammy and Pappy spent a couple hours with us that morning, and Jaxon was feeling so exhausted from not sleeping well the night before, that he literally went back to bed after stockings and slept through the rest of Christmas. You think I'm kidding?

He stayed in bed until we came home from church, when he was awake for an hour before going back to bed. We had saved all his presents for him (and from him) and he did them as quickly as he could, and ate half a cinnamon roll, before he fell back asleep. Then when it was time to go to the Andersons, he got in the car, got inside, and promptly laid on the couch where he slept for another 3 hours (and through dinner). We were convinced he wasn't going to sleep well that night having slept through the day, but he did indeed sleep like a rock the whole night. In the morning he was his usual self, and quite famished! So, yes. This was the year Jaxon slept through Christmas. Next year we will have to reassess the "siblings sleep in the same room" tradition on Christmas Eve.

The day after Christmas we packed up and headed for a week at the cabin. Travis is really getting this crochet thing down. He's made two winter hats for Violet and Ginger. He also carved a small tray for our keys and wallets. It's so nice for him to have a break and have time to do these things.

We had lots of snow, but not as much as we'd get a couple weeks later! I'll have to include those pics in another post.

Grammy and Pappy joined us for a day and Travis made an incredible sled track for the kids.

Enjoying hot cocoa in front of a warm fire. :)

We made and decorated cookie houses.

Travis helped make this awesome snow fort for the kids. Complete with icicles around the perimeter for defense.

And here's a picture of Talmage just being the cutie he is.