January 2020

For New Year's this year we let the kids stay up until midnight.  They had asked for a few years but this was the first year we allowed it.  It ended up being a fun night.  We played mostly played games, ate treats and snacks and then watched the countdown from New York and celebrated.

Some of Siena and Aria's friends asked if they wanted to play on a 2nd grade Jr jazz basketball team with them.  They had just finished watching Jaron play his season so they were excited.  When I went to sign them up I noticed I could sign up a 1st grader if we helped coach.  So Shane and I decided to coach all 3 of our kids plus Siena and Aria's friends.  We had 2 other girls join our team that were twins.  So it ended up being 7 girls and Jaron on our team.  We had such a fun season.  My goal at the beginning of the season was to have every person score at least one basket.  And we did it!!  I was so excited as each girl would score.  We had some good games and although every other team had 1 girl and all boys we actually won a game and we were competitive and had fun.  Siena was aggressive out there and had a great season and really got into learning the game and plays and moves she could do.  Jaron had a little bit of a rough season being with all girls and being the youngest on a 2nd grade team but still had a great time.  Aria I know had fun and was proud of her that when things didn't go the way she hoped she still kept playing and trying.  She became less afraid of the ball and improved so much in her shooting over the season.


I got to take Jaron to a BYU boys basketball game.  A girl in our ward offered us her parents season tickets which was on the 6th row.  It was so fun and we had a great time.  Jaron was super into it and every time they scored we would throw his hands into the air and cheer.


I also took the girls to a BYU women's basketball game a couple weeks later and for whatever reason didn't get a picture.  But we had so much fun.  They both watched the whole game and it was interesting to hear them understand more of the game since starting to play.

For the last few years...yes years...Jaron has been begging me to 'get another baby' At  least once a a week as I would put him to bed he would start to cry with big tears coming down his face tell me how he 'just wants company' and someone to share a room with.  He didn't think it was fair that everyone in the family got to share a room and he didn't.  He wanted to share a room with me.  I kept reassuring him that one day he'll be happy to have his own room but he wasn't having it.  Finally the girls decided it might be fun having Jaron in their room and so between some begging and crying we moved Jaron into the girls room.  We moved all their toys into Jaron's room and all the beds into the girl's room.  They were so excited.  I mean look at their faces.  So far it's gone pretty well.  We have nights here and there that they talk too long but overall they're pretty good and Jaron has been so happy being in there with his sisters.


All 3 kids got gift cards to Swig for Christmas and/or their birthday, so we went and had a Swig date.  It was a fun afternoon and they were so excited to choose their own soda and eat a cookie.


We celebrated Gilbert's 1/2 birthday on January 27, which was 6 months after he came to our family.  The kids were so cute, they made him all special little toys and treats for him.  This guinea pig is such a joy to these kids lives.  They play with him every. single. day.  They love him and I love seeing how they take care of him and play with him and how they've taken on the responsibility of caring for a pet.  Don't get me wrong they complain when it's time to clean his cage and try to get out of it but overall they do a good job and they love him.


Since Jaron's birthday falls over the summer, I promised Jaron on his 1/2 birthday that I would come eat lunch with him in the cafeteria like I did for the girl's birthdays.  It happens that I had to go into an office at Thanksgiving point for the week of Jaron's 1/2 birthday but luckily I was able to sneak out of there and was close enough I could go meet him for lunch.  It was fun to see how cute he was and excited he was to eat lunch with me in the cafeteria.


Jaron got to dress up as a grandpa for the 100th day of school.  I thought we had grey hair spray but it ended up being glitter like not grey, so we had to hurry up and shower him before school and threw this outfit together.  I cracked up when I went to take a picture of him and he pulled this pose/face on me.


I got a call from the school that Jaron's self portrait from his Art class was selected to be framed and hung in the office.  I thought it turned out so cute and it was fun to go into the office each time for a month and see his self portrait looking at me.

December 2019

All things Christmas for the month of December.  I love having kids that are so excited about holidays...any holiday.  But when they also understand the real meaning, it makes it that much more special.

Most of the month my kids will be found sleeping in santa hats.  It's too cute not take pictures of.


We had our ward Christmas breakfast.  It was Hawaiian themed and the primary sang Jingle Bells and Christmas Bells.  This was the only time we saw Santa and sat on his lap this year.


VaLois came into town and not sure why but we didn't get any pictures.  The kids love having her here and it's always a fun time to get to see her.

Siena's primary teacher challenged them to write a note for Jesus telling him what they are giving him for Christmas.  Siena took this very seriously and this note sat in our tree all of December.  I loved seeing it and she often looked at it and told her she can't wait to tell me what it said.  Christmas morning she read the note and talked about how she wants to be better, treat her siblings and others better and not hit as much.  It was cute and sincere and I loved that she just did this on her own and I could tell it meant a lot to her.


We had our traditional trip to Temple square to see the lights but we also decided to go the same night as the sing a long at the Vivint Arena.  It was fun to be there and seeing the lights are a highlight of the month each year.


Ridgeline Christmas singing program never disappoints.  The girls sang a song from The Polar Express and Jaron sang Mele Kalikimaka, Hawaiian Christmas song.


I got to help with Jaron's 1st grade Christmas class party.  I helped with decorating a ice cream cone to make it into a Christmas tree.  It was a fun day and to be a part of the celebrations.


All 3 kids had their very first piano and violin recital.  It was at Lucy's house, Siena and Jaron's piano teachers but since they are her only students, we asked if Aria could join in.  They each played 2 songs.  Siena played Silent Night and It's a Small World and Jaron played Good King Wenceslas and We Wish you a Merry Christmas.  Aria played We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Allegro from her Suzuki book.  All 3 did such a good job and I enjoy hearing them play...when I'm not fighting them to practice!


The Sunday before Christmas we signed up with the rest of my family to go feed the homeless downtown.  We signed up to bring and serve cake.  When we got there it was very crazy because there were for sure way more people serving then there were homeless people.  The kids got discouraged because they would come through a line and the people before us would give them cake and we didn't get much of a chance.  But we stuck around and pretty soon it cleared out a bit and we had fun serving cake and trying to give as many pieces of cake away as we could.  It ended up being a fun night.


We set up Grandpa South's train tracks a couple days before Christmas.  This year Shane got out the big trains and the kids loved playing with them and making tunnels for them.


The kids got to sleep by the tree 2 nights before Christmas.  This is our 2nd year and I can see this being a tradition for a while.  They love it.


The kids spent one entire day preparing a stuffed animal show for us.  They love doing stuff like this.  I had to film the whole thing and it was cute to see them all getting along so well when they do little shows like this for us.


We also had our traditional decorating sugar cookies.  We made some at home and then took them to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas eve. Christmas Eve was spent at my parents.  It was just us and my parents this year.  We decided to have Carne Asada tacos and they were so good.  I didn't think the kids would act out the nativity but they did and it was cute. They also got to open their Christmas even presents which was pajamas this year.


Christmas morning is always fun.  The girls got these HUGE stuffed animals that they of course love.  Aria got some unicorn books that she has read over and over again.  Siena got some sewing projects to work on and Jaron got more Hot Wheels tracks, cars and his beloved Football gloves that he sleeps with every night.


Christy and her family came to town so we all decided to meet up at Classic rollerskating one day.  It was so fun, even all the adults got in on roller skating.


 We also had an adult dinner and bowling night courtesy of my parents.  We went to Brick Oven for dinner then headed over to Fat Cats for 2 games of bowling.  It was so fun to get out with just the adults and have a night out of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun night!


We got an email that Funtopia was going to be closing for good.  The kids were so sad so we hurried and signed up for one last hour of fun there.  Lucky for us their big slide was finally open again and working so they got some turns going on that and all made it to the top before letting go and sliding down.

November 2019

Novermber started out on a sad note when we discovered our Beta fish, Diamond died.  I had noticed the last couple weeks that he wasn't as active and didn't eat as much so I kind of knew it was coming.  The girls had their friend Finley over for the first time and went to show her their fish and she said 'I don't think he's alive'  oops.  I told them to go outside for a bit but pretty soon they came back and I couldn't keep it from them, Diamond was gone.  The kids were devastated.  I knew they were going to be sad when she died but seriously I've never seen more tears over a fish.  They did love him a lot, and talked and fed him every day.  We said our good-byes and then made some fish out of felt which made them a lot happier to have something to remember him by. It was fun remembering how Diamond magically came into our lives on the girl's birthday the year before.  They were also happy they still had Gilbert to play with.


Jaron played Jr Jazz basketball and it was the cutest team all made up with boys from our neighborhood.  He had some much fun playing and practicing with them.


Shane and the girls got to go on a Father/Daughter Date night put on by the Primary Activity days.  And since I'm the primary president, I got to go and help as well.  It was a cowboy themed night.  They ate dinner and then rotated around to play different games.


Thanksgiving fell kind of late this year so we decided to decorate our Christmas tree the weekend before Thanksgiving which I usually do not do.  The kids were excited and definitely got us in the Christmas spirit.  They even let Gilbert join in on the festivities.


The 2nd graders learned all about the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and then put on a Balloon parade.  These 2nd grade teachers helped their class make them all.  I was impressed at how different and creative they all were.  Siena's was a butterfly and Aria's was a unicorn.


We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house like we usually do and had a good day.  Before we went over there we took the kids to see the new Frozen 2 movie that had just come out.  We got a snow storm that morning so the kids were excited to see Frozen 2 on a Frozen morning at Thanksgiving Point on Thanksgiving Day!


We got a pretty good snow storm towards the end of the month so the kids of course wanted to go sledding. It was a fun first time sledding for the season.