Merry Christmas!

Christmas break just flew by. I have enjoyed every second of family time, late nights, game nights, play time, hiking, too much eating, family bike rides and so much more! I didn't take nearly enough pictures.

Mason's spoils:
Bike (a REALLY nice bike. I'm a little nervous it's going to get trashed.)
Bug Robot I helped the boys assemble these bad boys and I'm really proud of myself. This is usually Ron's department so I'm patting myself on the back because they were a little complicated.
"Kingdom Keepers" Book series

Noah:
Bug Robot
A bunch of Pikachu things (stuffed animal, water bottle, wrist watch)
Pogostick
a nice set of Dodgeballs
"Captains Underpants" book series



Callie:
Scooter (she always wants to borrow Mason's scooter so we got her one similar to his)
Tumbling outfits
Hatchimal (a little bird that hatches out of an egg)
A doll that poops (this was all Ron's doing. She really wanted it so he ordered it. Can you see me rolling my eyes right now?) lol
A Build-a bear gift card


April:
Moana doll
Poppy doll
Trolls purse
Puzzles

One of my favorite gifts this year was my baby bike seat for my bicycle. I've already taken April out for a test run and she loved it!!! As a kid I remember going on a lot of family bike rides to freestone park for picnics and play time. I want my kids to have similar memories. Now all we need to do is get Ron a bike.



Mason totally surprised me with a necklace for Christmas. He asked me a while ago if he could make some jewelry and I knew he was making a necklace for April but I had no clue he put one together for me. My necklace is mostly black and has a tooth charm on it! It's perfect. He's such a cute kid.

Ron and I stayed up until 2:30am Christmas Eve assembling a ping pong table. I say "we" but really I mean Ron. I just supervised and provided emotional support while he did all the work. I LOVE ping pong and have wanted a table for years. So excited!!!

Family Hike

The weather this fall has been ridiculously hot. Thanksgiving weekend we decided to hit the trails and hike the Usery Mountain, Windcaves hike. The high for the day was 89 and yes I'm rolling my eyes. Despite the ridiculous heat we had a lot of fun. I think Ron is the only family member who didn't take a clumsy fall. Luckily no one was really hurt although Noah did lose a tooth on the hike! I'm still laughing over the whole situation. We were heading down the mountain and he was eating an apple. All the sudden I hear "Ow! Mom! I lost my tooth!" We looked for a few mins with no luck. So I told him he could write the tooth fairy a note.

Searching for the lost tooth. LOL

When you get to the top of this hike there are lots of squirrels and chipmunks. Mason even got one to eat right out of his hand!

Thankful Heart

Thanksgiving was loads of fun packed lots of family time. I love that this time of year is focused on Gratitude. My heart is so thankful and I know I'm very blessed. Ron's week to hunt is next week so we had him all to ourselves this weekend. Christmas got all set up at our home and we cleaned out the garage. We even squeezed in a family hike! So much to be thankful for. We were fortunate enough to have my grandparents come visit and really enjoyed hanging out with them. By the end of the visit April even recognized them as "Grandma and Grandpa!" So sweet.

I'm so thankful for the relationship I have with these two special people. I think they should move to AZ. Boise is too far and TOO cold!

My mom and I have been studying the life of the Savior in the scriptures and Grandpa joined in on our study session this Monday. Grandpa uses his finger to guide where he's reading so he doesn't get lost. During our reading he chuckled and paused for a moment to share a funny story about someone approaching him at the temple asking if he was reading Braille. I just love simple moments like this that I want to freeze in time. 

Family Pictures

Well... it's that time of year! Anyone that knows me well knows that I LOVE pictures. I really believe that a picture says a thousand words and if you capture certain moments they can be priceless and help you remember important phases of life. Family pictures have become really important to me. I feel like our kids change and grow so fast right before my eyes. I just want to capture every moment. However, knowing how stressful it is to coordinate schedules, outfits, nap-time, and the weather I have decided to only do family pictures every other year. 2017 was a "picture year". I was really excited for November 4th to come. I had scheduled a photographer (way back in September) I'd coordinated the pictures around my work schedule, Mason's basketball game and Ron's hunting season. This was the day! I wasn't worried about my older 3 kids (except for maybe an awkward smile or cheesy grin. I knew they would stand where instructed and try their best). My kids have been through enough of my photo shoots to know the routine. April is ALWAYS generally so perfect (except for those few weeks after we took her binky away a little monster emerged but thankfully she went away and my April came back) I really wasn't worried about her for picture day. She smiles for almost any and everyone (as long as her mom is close by). I had coordinated our outfits and a miracle happened, Ron didn't really have an opinion about the clothes. He was really supportive and kind about what I had picked. This is a huge step in our marriage! (Ron please don't get mad at me for saying that. It's true and I really appreciate your attitude this year.) November 4th arrived and we were off. We drove about 30 mins and arrived at the Superstition Mountains for our photo shoot. April was so happy and smiley in the car I was certain this photo session would be magical... Nope. April had other plans.
She smiled for about 3-4 pictures and then was done.
Really done.
Kicked and screamed the entire session.
I love this little girl but I do not love having a baggie of cereal in most of my family pictures.
At least we got a few good pics. I love my little family with all my heart even if our picture on the wall doesn't look perfect they are perfect people to me.

 You can't really tell but she is literally kicking and screaming in this picture of Ron holding her up.

 "Ring around the Rosie" didn't even cheer her up

Side note: At some point during the kicking and screaming I glanced at Mason (who at the time was off exploring in the desert) and I noticed him nervously trying to shake something off of his hand. Yup. Cactus. Oh Mason. Never a dull moment with this kid. He has such a high pain tolerance he wasn't crying or anything just looked more nervous because he knew we would probably be upset. Or maybe he was nervous when he couldn't get it off his hand. Either way it was funny to watch and I had to chuckle then roll my eyes and of course document it! That's what I do! 

Boys Babysitting

We are quickly approaching the age of free babysitting. I can't tell you how excited I am to stop paying for babysitting. Mason isn't quite there yet but he's close. Currently, I can leave Mason and Noah alone for about an hour or so and they do just fine. It's a little trickier if I try to leave all 4 of them home. I have tried this once or twice and I usually get phone calls about every 5 minutes (usually from Callie). Mason is a very good big brother but... he is a boy who is easily distracted. About once a month Callie has "parent week" at her Let's Play Music class which means I get to attend music with her on these weeks. This is the first year I have left Mason home to babysit April for that hour. Last week Callie and I got back from Let's Play Music and I asked the boys how it went. They responded "Great!"... no more details. Later that night as I was putting clothes away in my room I noticed a few pillows shoved under the covers on my bed. Puzzled, I asked the boys what happened and they explained that when April woke up from her nap she wanted Mommy and was inconsolable. So Noah placed the pillows in bed to trick April and told her that "Mommy is sleeping" I busted up laughing and was very impressed with their quick thinking. Apparently it worked because when I got home April was happy and content snacking on cereal in her high chair. 

Noah lost a tooth

This is a really old family journal post. But I was going through pictures and don’t want to forget this day. 

Hiking wind caves last week Noah was eating an apple as we went. And suddenly turned around to inform me he lost his tooth. We looked for it on the trail with no luck. Somewhere in the Superstition Mountains lies Noah’s DNA and tooth remains. Haha The tooth fairy still came that night so all is right in the world.