Grandma Skolmoski's Funeral

The circumstances for why my extended family gathered together were sad, but it was wonderful to see them and especially my parents who flew in from their mission from Copenhagen, Denmark. We spent the entire weekend chatting and catching up and enjoying being together (without kid interruptions!).  My grandma had dementia, and I know the last few years have been very difficult for my aunt, uncle, and cousins caring for her. The morning she passed away, we had been fasting as a family that she would join my grandpa. We know they were excited to be together again.

Thursday night viewing

Mom and her siblings

Friday morning funeral

The pallbearers (all the male grandchildren in attendance)

Waiting for the funeral to begin

Mom and her siblings

Mom and her older sister, Stephanie

Pete and his family

Pete joked with my grandma that he would wear her crocheted rags that she was always working on at her funeral. I thought it was such a sweet sentiment.

My family

My siblings (minus Clayton)

Mom and her girls

All the grandchildren, minus a few

Cousins

Ali and I went to Academy for Girls together every summer growing up

Temple Square 

This is where my dad proposed to my mom

Temple square visitor's center

City Creek shopping center

Kolaches for breakfast Saturday morning

Kolaches aren't super popular in Utah. Funny enough we found out the owner of the Salt Lake and Provo stores is actually from Sugarland, TX and had a lot of TX paraphernalia in the store.

Provo City Center temple

We did a session together.

Late night pizza after the temple session

Something severely lacking in the funeral/viewing was people sharing memories of my grandma. I wish that could have been a part of it since I don't feel like I knew her as well having moved away from Utah when I was 7. So after pizza, my parents shared memories of my mom's parents.

Another thing forever memorable and so special about the trip is that my dad gave us all priesthood blessings that night. Such a powerful experience all together. 

I debated over and over again about going because it was last-minute, plane tickets were expensive, my husband couldn't get time off work, and I would be asking a lot from people to help take care of my boys (baseball games!). I am forever grateful to Matt's mom and Kari for helping so that I could have this unforgettable experience. Some things you just can't put a price tag on!

Half Marathon #8

I struggled this year in my training for my half marathon, which was completely frustrating since I didn't have a pregnancy or nursing to blame it on. I was not confident at all that I would PR this time and really couldn't pinpoint it on anything other than maybe my metabolism possibly changing. The last 6 months I've felt like if I even look at a dessert I put on a pound. Even though I tried to be disciplined in my eating leading up to the race, I had put on about 4 pounds that refused to come off and I felt like that was enough to make a difference in my running times. I just struggled with pushing myself to go faster in my speed training! Despite the fact that I was running between 5 and 10 seconds slower per mile on my long runs than my pace from last year, I kept my fingers crossed that the race atmosphere would push me harder.

Due to the crowd of trying to get around runners during the first mile, it was my slowest mile at 7:58. My fastest mile was mile 13 at a 7:27 pace. Overall I averaged a 7:45 mile pace, beating my time from last year by 20 seconds. It's not a good showing for a year of work, but I am so grateful that God is in the small details in our lives: the amazing weather and that I was able to have a great run despite not feeling confident this year. 

Past races:
Half Marathon #1 (2009) 1:58:45
Half Marathon #2 (2010) 1:57:47 (8 months post baby)
Half Marathon #3 (2011) 1:52:13
Half Marathon #4 (2012) 1:48:05
Half Marathon #5 (2013) 1:54:18 (4 months post baby)
Half Marathon #6 (2016) 1:49:32 (6 months post baby)
Half Marathon #7 (2017) 1:41:44
Half Marathon #8 (2018) 1:41:26

Marathon #1 (2011) 4:28:34
Marathon #2 (2014) 3:58:08

The Aquarium

We had a preschool field trip in January to the Downtown Aquarium. 

The Ferris wheel always makes me a littler nervous

My boys look thrilled on this "little kid" ride.

Austin and I did the carousel many times!

Christmas Vacation 2017

Lindsey and her family joined us a few days after Christmas to hang out with us! Some of our adventures included:

 Indoor Trampoline Park

Carter and Bryson's first time roller skating! Carter did really well on his roller blades. Bryson used a rolling support that you can borrow at the rink. He was very timid but doing well by the end!

We also went to Pump It Up (indoor inflatables) and Obstacle Warrior Kids (think America Ninja Warrior).

The girls had a night out to see The Greatest Showman and eat at Panera Bread.

We also did an adult only game night for several hours. So fun, though not long enough!

Shirts from Denmark from Grandma and Grandpa

Christmas 2017

Christmas morning. We started opening presents at about 7:30am.

 My boys were very grateful and happy, so that made everything go smoothly!

The boys with their presents:

And the big present this year was a foosball table!

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which I made the day before. We spent the rest of the day trying out all the presents and playing every game. Such a fun day! My siblings joined us that night for dinner, dessert, and games.

Christmas Eve 2017

Christmas is such a magical time of year. I love the Christmas season. We gathered for a Christmas Eve dinner and celebrations at my younger brother's house.

 After dinner the kids acted out the Nativity story.

Austin was excited to be a shepherd

The kids' white elephant game 

 followed by handbells

Short recital--Jared and I played "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

Then the kids were dismissed to watch a movie so the adults could do chimes, their white elephant game and dice/present game. After that we exchanged family gifts and ended the evening.

December Pictures

Santa visited the neighborhood Christmas party.

(I've never bothered to dress my boys up to see Santa!)

Making gingerbread houses

 Caleb snapped some pictures of his finished product.

 On December 8, we had a snow day in Texas! These are very rare indeed. The boys had a lot of fun and were bummed that school didn't get cancelled (because that's what usually happens if there is snow or ice).

Eating cookies by the fire!