Ringing in the New Year

Low key New Year's Eve for us again this year but we broke out 2 huge bins of games and played tons of them with our kids until about 9:00 pm. They were loving all of it and it was fun for us to see how they are getting old enough for things like Catchphrase and A to Z. Livs is still pretty little but she's such a giggler and loves join in—she made us laugh a lot that night. Good times as a family!

Earlier in the week Tye and Stace were still in town for Christmas break so we convinced them to come out to Herriman for sledding and Cafe Rio. It was Luke's first time sledding and he was game but after 3 or 4 runs he didn't like it anymore. Such a tough, funny guy though :)

 

 

As far as goals go this year I am feeling very overwhelmed and pulled in a hundred directions with my busy, beautiful family and demanding church callings for me and my hubby. I am opting for the more subtle approach of appreciating good things in every, single day and trying to plan ahead just a little at a time for things like date nights and temple visits and good, long bike rides, but I don't want to beat myself up for not getting to everything I set my sights on. I read an article about resolutions in December that opted for 30 questions to ask yourself rather than feeling the need to make a list of goals. I really like the list and found a few that truly spoke to me. I like looking back on these and reminding myself to focus on the things that bring me peace and joy (#26, #28 and #29):

2014 Goals

These are too fun to make and have become such a great tradition for the first FHE of the new year. Here's to 2014!

 

Our December

Besides adventing (is that a word?) we still had plenty going on during December. It's such a crazy, busy time but I love everything about it.

 Caroline's jazz class with Miss Laura. How does my daughter suddenly looks 12 in these pictures?!

 The littles made good use of the Santa hats for playtime

Temple Square with the youth. So beautiful, so freezing and so dang busy there that night. But it's always good to be in such a lovely and holy place with these crazy, cool teenagers.

 

Another teenager we adore: Tausha who stopped by with Christmas gifts for the kids. She is such a sweetheart. My kids are so lucky to have the best babysitters ever! 

  

Beautiful/fierce icicles on the west side of our house. They reminded me of lyrics from Frozen: "beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold. Ice has a power can't be controlled..." Frozen songs are played around here on a regular (nearly non-stop) basis. I know every word by now...time for new music!

 The gorgeous sleeping girl. This was after she had barfed 9 times in just a few hours. Poor, sweet thing. The next day I caught her bug and threw-up just once (thank goodness) but felt awful all day.

 Olivia's ballet presentation

Several pics from our girls night at Ballet West's Nutcracker. It is too much fun for these darlings to bring their dolls along with them.

My little sis and her kiddos were in town for a quick December visit so we planned our night out while she was here. So fun for Livs to have Sadie there with her (those girls were so cute and curious about the whole thing and were very good even though they wanted to chat and giggle about so many fun things like Clara and the party brat and the scary mice :)

 

 

Blurry pics but they capture Luke's first time out playing in the snow with the big kids. Since then he's been out a few more times but he won't leave gloves on and pulls them off first chance he gets so he doesn't last very long. Funny little dude sure enjoys jumping around and playing with the kids though, and it's surprising how long he does last with his bare hands!

 Delicious shot of tiny Abby in town from MN

Love the sun on a snowy winter day, even when it's low in the sky and fighting to warm things up. Took this shot after a lovely afternoon run while I was stretching on the back steps. It's been awesome to have my 4th grader babysit for me every so often while I exercise or run to the grocery store.

 Rubberband bracelets overtook most of our Christmas break :)

Saw these guys in our neighborhood on our way to Livs' ballet class one morning 

(not unusual around here up the foothills but still pretty)

 

Cares' ballet presentation. 

Miss Marcia taught them a little piece of the party scene from the Nutcracker.

  

Sibling gifts! My pics are bad and I hardly took any but these kiddos make me so proud when they give gifts to each other. They earn the money themselves (except Luke :) and really take it seriously to babysit, rake leaves, pull weeds, shovel snow and do any odd job starting in the summer to save up for Christmas. And then they browse Amazon and the American Girl website to choose out just want they want for their sibling. Caroline gave Luke an Elmo backpack and water bottle, Livs gave Bean a Star Wars Lego ship, Bentley gave Cares a mini AG doll (Felicity per Cares' request) and Luke gave Livs Hello Kitty legos. Happiness all around!