Mud Run

This year is about new goals and experiences instead of my typical half marathon races. I signed up for a 5K Mud Run with several friends from church. Everyone voted on matching tank tops, and ironically it ended up being 58 degrees last weekend, so it was a very cold start. Once we got running though, it wasn't so bad.

Before the race

Some of the obstacles:

This one was a blast!

 

I highly recommend! It was so fun to do with friends!! One of the ladies in our group had a hurt knee prior to the race so there was more walking than I would have liked, but I just went home and ran another 4 miles. :)

Spring Baseball

Baseball season is upon us. It is so busy to keep up with the schedules, but it is also so fun to watch our boys play. This season Carter and Bryson are playing baseball. (Caleb made the tennis team for his junior high and Austin is playing soccer with a neighborhood league my friend put together.)

Matt is coaching Carter's team again. He loves to coach!

Carter is working on his pitching (being more consistent). He plays shortstop mostly.

Bryson is playing through a different league than Carter because this league offers coach pitch instead of machine pitch, which we feel is better for him. He has improved so much this season! He typically plays outfield and 2nd base.

Austin gets dragged around to a lot of practices and games. Here's one way he entertains himself.

Family picture after one of Carter's game.

The boys get a lot of support from grandparents cheering them on in the stands!

Caleb's Book 5 Recital

Caleb and his piano teacher

On April 11, Caleb had his book 5 Suzuki Recital. I will always be amazed at his ability to memorize and polish an entire book of songs. This year, he was less polished than previous book recitals; he was just tired of practicing the songs over and over and probably chose to have the party sooner than he should have. He did many things well though, and we celebrated with root beer floats for refreshments afterwards. The book 5 songs included: 

 

Carter's 11th Birthday

This boy was super hard to shop for this year as the only present he asked for was fruit, specifically freeze-dried strawberries. We went out to lunch at Crust pizza for our birthday lunch and both ordered a margherita pizza and caesar salad.

 

He requested a fruit pizza instead of a cake.

Homeschooling this year has been good for our relationship. Carter and I have butted heads in the past, but this year we both made adjustments and learned to work together well. Carter is an amazing helper--he's not afraid of any of the "dirty" jobs. He still has a natural connection with little kids, and has many 2 and 3-year-old best friends who get excited when Carter is around. He has enjoyed learning the marimba this past year and continues to thrive as a baseball player. He has a special relationship with his dad and pretty much worships the ground he walks on. I love that he is very responsible and dependable. He also has a knack of remembering details from the scriptures. We are so grateful he is a part of our family!

February 2021

Here is some of what our February looked like:

Downtown Aquarium field trip

Rock climbing with cousins for Dallin's birthday

I guess this is what boredom looks like on a Saturday before baseball season starts. This is the most random thing I've seen my older boys do! They sat out there for at least 30 minutes being entertained by the reactions they got from drivers as people drove by our house.

On February 15th, the "snowpocalypse" happened. Snow is super exciting here, especially as my 5-year-old has never seen it. The city shuts down if there is ice or snow, so Matt got a reprieve from work and the boys from school. They enjoyed sledding and playing in the snow with their dad. (I was cuddled up inside by the fire reading a book.) 

It was all fun and games until our power went out on Monday. As the temperature in the house continued to drop and word of power not being restored for a few days, things turned serious real fast. The boys all slept by the fire bundled up in sleeping bags and blankets. Matt and I opted for our bed with lots of blankets. It was pretty miserable--my nose was constantly frozen over the course of those days. I voluntarily wore my mask (which I hate) in order to keep my nose warm. We had a generator to power a heat lamp for the chickens. We discovered our neighbors had 3 space heaters but no way to power them, so we traded one space heater for use of our generator. It was a good trade. The space heater helped a ton. 

I was grateful I had done my weekly shopping on Saturday, so we were well-stocked for food. I know that was a big problem with some of my other friends and neighbors. Grocery stores were either closed or crazy busy with huge lines out front.

We spent a lot of family time together playing games as that was our only option! We taught the boys Canasta, which they loved. Fortunately the power came on sooner than predicted--the power companies did rolling blackouts so we would have power for a few hours to warm up the house some, then be without power for a few hours. It was a memorable week for sure!

Christmas 2020

 Christmas Eve festivities at my parent's new house consisted of the usual chimes, dinner, nativity and games.

Christmas morning. Bryson and Austin were up at 5:30 ready to open presents. We sent them back to bed till it was light outside. They went ahead and started on their stockings all on their own though!

After all the opening!

Matt got me some organizers for Wingspan and Terraforming Mars, 2 games that Caleb and I play often. I also got some glass containers. Matt's presents included 5 new work shirts, Oreos, and a new card game. My parents gave us a new Nativity set, white church shirts for Matt, and some Doctrine and Covenants study helps for me.

Universal Studios Part 2

Harry Potter World did not disappoint. It was amazing! The details were incredible. We really enjoyed the wand choosing, and two of the Harry Potter rides were my favorite rides!

Gringotts Bank

Hogwarts Express--the details in the train station were so well done

Inside the train--again super creative once the train took off. They had a video playing on the window, and you could see dementors show up at the door.

Phone booth outside of King's Cross

Trying butterbeer. It was quite tasty! You could have it warm, cold, or frozen. Our favorite was cold.

The Knight Bus

Waiting for our turn in Ollivander's wand shop. We ended up purchasing 2 of the cheaper wands so Bryson and Austin could each have one. Looking back, I wish we would have purchased one interactive wand. (The issue was Bryson and Austin refused to share, and the interactive wands are quite expensive!) There were so many cool things to do with the interactive wand in Harry Potter World such as casting spells in windows and seeing objects move etc.

Hogwarts castle with the ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

The ride inside was awesome but not one that I could ride twice in a row due to some motion sickness. Austin was able to ride the Hippogriff ride, which he loved, as did Eliana. So we rode it probably 10 times over the course of the 3 days. Austin is only 3' 5" tall, so he was 1 inch off of a lot of rides. We rolled up his socks and stuffed his shoes. He still got turned away from some rides, but he was allowed on the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride. This was my favorite ride, and he was one happy camper that he got to ride a "big kid" ride. He rode it at least 5 times and was thrilled. I loved the combination of 3D movie + roller coaster. It was so fun! Hagrid's Motorbike was my other favorite ride.

My boys all really enjoyed the rollercoaster Rip, Ride, Rock It and rode it several times. Bryson was barely tall enough for this ride so he was in heaven that he could ride such a scary ride. It starts out where you chug up the track at a 90 degree angle and then head almost straight down again after cresting the top. Loops and twists and turns. They loved it!

Overall, it was such a great family vacation, and we loved going with friends. We could see ourselves going back in about 3-4 years!