What Winter?

We essentially skipped winter. This was the biggest snowman we could make. So sad.

But we still filled our time with lots of fun. 

Making chocolate covered strawberries at Mamie's (such a fun February tradition!).

And we had lots of school distractions. Violet went to district, and then region.

Jaxon has really enjoyed being in orchestra. 

We've also been to band concerts this year!

Travis still hikes with ward friends every couple months. This time he took Violet and Ginger.

And of course, we can't forget our favorite tradition this time of year-

Chinese New Year! The kids always have a big presentation for parents with Chinese songs and dances they've learned. A big thanks to Mamie and Papa who subbed for me as I unfortunately had to work that morning!

In the evening, we have a fun tradition of decorating the kitchen for the Chinese New Year, eating (probably Americanized) Chinese food, and only speaking Chinese at the table. And it's always a treat to have Zyanya over. We could always use another Chinese speaker. :)

I'm always impressed how much their Chinese progresses each year. So grateful we can take advantage of the DLI programs here.

 

One on One Time

I have loved having these last couple of years with Talmage at home. Preschool every afternoon has also been good for him this year. He's learned lots of English and has made good friends. But it's also been a good way to gently help me adjust to having more time solo at home.

 

But we had lots of fun mornings feeding the ducks...

Our weekly trip to BYU Bookstore for fun on the slide and watching some past games on the big screen while enjoying a doughnut and chocolate milk.

We also love going to the BYU Paleontology museum...

And of course the Bean Museum. In fact, we've looooved living so close to BYU, especially while kids were little. There's always something fun to do.

Feeding the birds at Sam's Club.

It's a bittersweet feeling for sure that these days with little ones at home during the day is coming to a close. But I'm excited for their next steps in life. And it'll be a little nice to have some time to myself again. 

Christmas (cough, cough!*) 2025

We started off Christmas break with a night out to eat at Golden Corral. The kids loved it! They'd never seen so many options for food and desserts before! We might make this a tradition.

And of course, we decorated Christmas cookies!

And then things slowly started going downhill. On Christmas Eve, Violet woke up feeling sick. Travis stayed home with her that night while the rest of us had a fun night at Mamie and Papa's.

On Christmas morning, Jaxon developed a cough that got progressively worse as the morning went on. We had to stop asking him to give hugs, or talk as it just made him cough even more.

Violet was still sick on the couch and didn't feel like opening presents. Eventually she and Jaxon went to bed. The whole situation distracted us from taking lots of pictures. We were trying to get through as many presents as we could.

For the next WEEK, it felt like we only had 3 kids. Ginger, Ivy, and Talmage has lots of fun with their presents. 

At the end of the break, Violet and Jaxon started turning a corner, and Violet felt like she could finally open her presents we had saved for her.

We even had an extra day to do something fun, so we went to BYU.

 It was a crazy fun, crazy sick, crazy crazy Christmas. 

Holiday Prep

We got tickets for Luz de las Naciones, and loved all the performances! We saw a bunch of friends there, too!

Ivy lost her first tooth! It's funny because dhe actually lost the other front tooth soon after, so it was just like the song!

Thanksgiving at the Andersons...Ivy wanted to wear her turkey hat she made at school.

This is not holiday prep, but it's just typical behavior around here. Marching around with underwear on the head.

We had a night out with friends and saw Nate Bargetze in Salt Lake. It's always fun to catch up with friends!

We also took the kids to their first movie, at the movie theater! I get a free ticket everytime I work a book sale shift at the library, so it took several shifts to cover us, but it was worth it! We saw Zootopia 2.

The youth always love volunteering at the food pantry. We love our ward so much!

We had a Noche en Belen before Christmas. Our ward truly outdid themselves!

I wish I would have gotten a picture of this cardboard scenery in the dark that night. It was lit up beautifully!

We were at little late to the event because we had Violet and Ginger's Christmas Show!

Then we made it to the church in time to join in the fun. I wish I would've gotten more photos of that night. We just enjoyed ourselves too much. :)

We're Building a House!

We were originally just planning on moving to a bigger house. But when Travis was called as bishop, we suddenly had more time on our hands and our plans changed. We're very excited.