First Snow

The cats don't like the wet as much.  Sam and Evelyn have been bringing them into the kitchen to cuddle while we do scriptures at night.  Syl especially likes it.

Seth and the daycare kids had so much fun building snowmen and throwing snowballs.  I love that the first snow happened when the kids were off school and had friends to play with.

 

Big trip

 So we've been saving for a big family trip for years now.  We decided that we wanted to take our kids some places before any of them left the house and now that they're all old enough to remember some of it.  We had put together a list of places that we wanted to go as a family and then watched prices of tickets on some sites.  That coupled with the fact that my Aunt and Uncle are serving a mission in Lisbon, Portugal we ended up going to Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Morocco.  

When we left Utah, we got this picture... we were glad to go.  But now that we're back... 45 degree weather is freezing compared to the 95 degrees that we left.  One of the things that was nice about being out of the country was being away from the politics going on right now. We saw one gay pride flag the entire 3 weeks... we didn't hear a peep about how horrible the right or left wing people are... and most of the men that we saw are real men... none of the dying your hair and painting your nails kind of thing. It was mentally refreshing.

My amazing parents got up early to drive us to the airport.  First we flew through Houston, TX... then to Paris, France and into Madrid, Spain. The kids took turns doing their online and paper worksheets for school.  Overall, everyone was able to stay up on their schoolwork except for Ada's math class.  She has 4 tests to make up and he has yet to send her any materials to review for the tests. Frustrating.  

Houston was lots of walking, but they saw that we might miss our connecting flight in Paris because our plane was late so they helped us get a new flight that would give us time to get there.  They also noticed that Jer was walking with a cane and offered him a wheelchair.  They put it in their notes for all the other flights that he needed some assistance.  That was nice because they streamlined us getting through lines and customs quickly.  Jer was not up for standing the whole day.  We didn't have enough time to leave the Paris airport and with all the riots going on, we had little inclination to leave it as well. In Paris, the assistant was all business and didn't care that Jer had a whole family following him through the airport. I had to work hard to help Seth and Evelyn with their bags and walk as fast as I could to stay within eyesight distance of them.  Jer had to remind the guy to wait for us several times. We got to our next flight with 3 hours to spare, so we took turns wandering the shops and looking at the food.  We did get some yummy chocolate pastries and some macaroons while we were there. In Madrid it was a different story.  The guy paused at the bathroom to let us take a break before taking us all the way across the airport and talking to several people to find out where our rental car company was located at.  He was amazing and kind.  He was tickled pink when I asked what we should see and eat while in Madrid. 

Houston

Paris

Paris

The flight from Paris to Madrid was smaller, so they bussed us from the terminal out to the plane.  We did the whole climb the stairs into the little plane on the tarmac thing.

Cousins and weather

We got to play games with our NC cousins.  It was fun and the kids stayed to chat for a while when they were done with games. 

Ada's all registered for High School.  It's surreal and exciting.  I hope she loves her classes.  We have an appointment for her to take her drivers written test when we get back after Spring Break. 

We've had an amazing amount of snow.  It's great because we need moisture.  A little frustrating when it gets warm and then cold and warm and cold... but I'm glad for the water.

We inherited a plastic trombone.  Seth's excited for it, but I need to buy a new mouthpiece.   Jer knows how to blow into the mouthpiece too so that will be fun to learn.

 

Winter storms

 We've had record snow storms this year.  We've had more snow in February this year than in recorded history.  It's good because we need the moisture. It makes for some fun sledding too.  The kids had a digital learning day, so Jer took the boys sledding on his lunch break.  They had fun.  Sam had a bunch of friends that were already there.... so they had a blast.  Seth and Jer did snow angels.   Between all the different storms this week we had about a foot of snow in our yard.  We usually don't get very much at all in the valley.  I had daycare, but we couldn't go out in it because my fence that was supposed to be finished by the Wednesday was delayed because of the snow.  Hopefully it will be up by this next Wednesday. 

Sledding in January

We have had a lot of snow.  We've had more snowstorms in the last three months than the last three years combined. It makes for great sledding and Seth is a big fan. 

Jer and I got to go do sealings with my parents, Aunt and Uncle, and Tom and Inez.

Jer got the toilet in with the help of the kids.  I LOVE seeing him teach them new skills and to be unafraid of learning something new.

Our neighbors got the Orem decoration award.  They work so hard to make their yard fun and interactive.

Evelyn got her first temple recommend.  We're taking her to the temple next week for the first time.... then we'll go with cousins in February.

Last day out of school, the girls and I went to go dress shopping.  The place we were going was closed.... and the next store we stopped at was also closed.... so we stopped for pizza.

 

Getting ready

The last day of school before Christmas break was Seth and Evelyn's STEAM day.  Evelyn had a fever and her partner has brain cancer, so we decided to keep her home.  Seth built a catapult and they tested them in the halls. 

We had some good snow storms and they've been beautiful.

The kids did their piano recitals.  They all played so beautifully!  Ada has a beautiful musicality to her music, Sam is starting to work on some new skills, Evelyn identifies with her music and Seth is so proud when he memorizes.  None of the kids had to start over or forget their songs.  They all played so well.  Seth got shy at the last minute.  His was a possible duet and both his teacher and I offered to play with him, but he grabbed Sam and asked his brother for help.  Sam was very willing to. He even sang the words to help them both keep the same timing.  My favorite moment was when the two of them hugging did a bow together.

On Jer's birthday, the kids didn't want to just give him his present.... so while he was at a meeting they made a treasure hunt for him.  It was so funny.... they kept having to shush each other so they didn't give up the spots too easily.

For his birthday, Jeremy wanted an apple pie.  So we made a steak dinner with homemade mashed potatoes and delicious pie.  It was Evelyn's first time making the dough so Jer had to tweak it a little bit, but overall it was very good.

Happy birthday my Jer.