Jan Random

 The youth have started to go every month to the temple in the wee hours of the morning. I thought the girl would decide not to go but they have loved it. They leave the house at 4:30am and do baptisms when the temple opens at 5am! 

Our drive home from Salt Lake after getting home from Mexico. The weather and roads were yucky but we got to follow 5 snowplows on the interstate. It was a crazy thing to watch. Ive never seen anything like it.

When I went to the mental health night there was a speaker there named Ashleigh that talked about healing the brain and how she taught a class to teach people to do the same. I was intrigued and scheduled a consultation. There is a lot of information but I think it will be something that can really help me. These are the notes I took from the consult. Illl have to update as I continue

Liam has started sleeping with all of his stuffed animals. Each night when he gets tucked in he makes sure he has each one next to him.

I love when the kids play like they are friends and not just siblings. There has been a lot of that lately. Gracie and Hallie have been at young women's or with friends and that leaves Emy and Liam. They have so much fun

We have been trying to stay warm with all the snow and cold. That means lots of cuddles and shows

My relationship with Britt has come a long way in the last several months. It has been great for both of us for sure. They have a lot of big things going on. Last minute Brit let us know that Preston was getting ordained and invited us to join them for that and lunch. It was fun to get together and be there to support Preston.

On the way home from rad recess Matt noticed something in the lake and then realized it was a plane. They had tried to land on the lake but with the warmer days the ice was thinner than expected and the ice cracked and the plane went in. Luckily the pilot and the passenger escaped

Emy got the opportunity to do Snowcrest cheer camp. She had one practice and then the performance. She loved it and said she'd love to do it again.

We have had a few great weather days and it has been so nice to get out in the sun. Liam is loving riding his bike and Milo is always up for a walk

Happy Birthday Gracie....12!!!

 Gracie really wanted to have a party for her birthday but between the baptism and going to Mexico there wasn't much time to plan that. So I told her when we got home we would have a party and we did. She had an eclair tower as her cake. I wasn't sure it would stand up with the number on top but it survived long enough to sing and her to blow them out.

We also did some shopping looking for a Valentine's dance dress for her. We tried the mall and had to get the cinnamon sugar pretzel bites.

For her actual party we did rock climbing. Gracie currently loves rock climbing. We took 3 of her friends and Emy and Liam. Hazel was also going to come but she got a stomach bug and couldn't make it.

Emy got to bring her friend Maxwell

Afterwards we brought the girls back here and did dinner and treats. The girls danced and sang karaoke and Gracie said it was worth the wait.

Riviera Maya Mexico Day 5-8

 On the original forecast for the week there were scattered thunderstorm but they were hit or miss. On this particular morning while we were eating breakfast the heavens opened and it was crazy. We ran to grab our stuff that Matt had put out but it was to late everything was soaked so we did what any other sane person on vacation would do and went for ice cream.

Then after we hid in our room and watched movies for several hours and then the sun came back out. It was kinda nice to go back to bed in our pjs and just chill.

Of coarse there was more water Zumba and Matt even got involved further into the week

Liam loved the pasta bar

Even when the sun came out it still wasn't the warmest and the wind was blowing so hard so we went to try out the mini golf

It went great until about half way thru then everyone was bored and just hit wherever and whenever they wanted

Liam decided to give floating in the ocean a try and he loved it!

One of the mornings we hired a local photographer to do our family pictures. I wish we could have scheduled to do them earlier in the day or in the evening The sun was difficult to work with and the photographer didn't really act like he knew what he was doing. Lucky for us Matt did and was able to set us up better and now has re-edited the pictures he took. Im grateful to have them but maybe next time we'll try to take our own. Such a beautiful place to take pictures

And while at home we got notification that we had a showing request and while we were gone we had gotten dumped on with snow measuring a foot or more. Thankfully Perry came to the rescue and cleared most of the driveway. Im so glad he did because after we got home we had to clear the rest and some of it had melted and it was ice and it was a mess. I was grateful that we didn't have to do all of it.

My breakfast buddy

The kids enjoyed the kids club multiple times. Hallie was to old to go but she was happy to join the adult activities. One of the kids club activities gave the kids that were to little to ride the bull the chance to ride it with the other little kids. So it turns out he did get to ride the bull and he loved it. Even rode it a second time

The morning we checked out we decided to forgo the pools and just do the other activities so we could pack and not have to get everyone ready again. 

Then we packed up and headed for the airport. We met up with Elton and his parents to say good bye. The night before Elton had gotten really sick and we had taken them some medicine we had to share. He wasn't feeling great but we wanted to say bye. Hoping we can get together with them sooner than later. They are welcoming their 2nd baby in May. 

The flight home was uneventful minus everyone having to wear shorts since I forgot to have them pack pants. We were starving by the time we landed so we grabbed dinner before heading home. This was such a fun trip. Honestly the most relaxing trip we've ever been on. We had plans to leave the resort and do excursions but the kids just wanted to stay and play so we did. It was nice to not have to worry about cooking or cleaning. Or what dinner was going to cost. It was so nice when the kids didn't like dinner that we just stopped by the buffet and got what they wanted. Something I'd love to do again and would really love to do with my family so the kids can do it with their cousins. Im grateful we have the time and funds to do things like this. Memories that will last forever. My only question is...when can we do it again?!?!