Feb and March

100 Days of school means fun activities with 100. Katy's class stacking cups.

Diana's class went roller skating- there was some science lesson attached :)

I made an Egyptian themed escape room and had the kids try it out!

After solving lots of puzzles and combination locks they got the treasure!

Valentine's Dinner- Jim's favorite spaghetti and meatballs with salad and sparkling grape juice.

Nicole had friends over to do the escape room and we also watched Frozen 2 for the first time.

Snow! Finally!! Very small amount but since it's been over a year since the last snow we sure enjoyed it and the couple days off school.

I finally had the hot chocolate I'd saved from Puerto Rico and enjoyed remembering the awesome time I had with Jim.

John and I made a snowman. Not sure what the stick coming out of the mouth is but John was sure it belonged there!

Haircuts! Of course she put it right back into a ponytail but it was so pretty straightened.

Nicole went to women's conference and I had her try out some touches of makeup. She doesn't really like it, but I kind of figure it's good to help her learn to do it a few times so if she wants to wear it someday she's not clueless.

Mango nesting in Nicole's hair while she practices the piano.

Snowman remnants! 

When this guy's high octane tank is being refueled, I love just taking a minute to breathe :)

Macarons! Caramel, fudge, blueberry, raspberry and lemon.

Michael's rec team was interesting this year. Four of the kids somehow play club together- and their coaches are highly involved in club coaching. It was interesting to see their coaching style and the attitudes of the kids who played club. Michael did his best and learned a lot. He won't be playing again next year, he loves soccer way more. And it feels strange to say this- but I do too. Basketball seems to be less of a team sport and has a lot of one man showmanship. I didn't feel that way when I played, so maybe this is new or I was just blissfully ignorant. Anyways, I was happy for Michael that he got to end his basketball career with winning the championship. They won by so much that Michael and the other "B" team got to play a ton.

With Coronavirus I'm not sure if we will have our race this year (and it is on July 4th too!) but I finished the shirt design.

Nicole got her passport (good thing too because they've stopped issuing them right now!) so we can go visit my parents in England... when they get back there? :)

Reading to george and bear.

Nicole and I spent a long time during the snow break putting together a 2000 piece puzzle. SO challenging! But it was  a miracle that we could actually do it and not lose any pieces. Guess my little kids are growing up!

We took a day off school and went to Sugar and Beech Mountains to snowboard. The kids are all good enough not to need lessons now.

This was my first time and it was such a learning experience. Very frustrating at times, yet over 2 days I felt finally capable of getting down the hill with a semblance of control. Nowhere near capable at doing anything, but at least I'm not falling every two seconds anymore. THAT was so tough.  Jim had his hands full trying to help me and keep an eye on Diana.

Overnight after the first night was a huge snowstorm. Jim braved the winding roads of this little town to get us pizza.

The best western has this bear the kids love. We always stay here and the bear is the fun mascot. And Michael's favorite color is red, can you tell?

Continental breakfast is equally thrilling as the snowbarding!

Day two of snowboarding was so much funner for me. I had figured out more of what to do. Still wobbly as a baby walking but in the learning phase instead of the out of control phase. The oldest three went off by themselves all morning. Felt crazy to let them loose, but after watching them it was awesome to see their confidence. They all had their cell phones and off they went!

Diana was my buddy. She gave me lots of tips and we made it down a few times before she was freezing. Her gloves weren't good enough so while daddy went to get some better ones we warmed her up with hot chocolate.

It was fun to come down the hill and then randomly see the kids.

They love being independent going down. Michael is so fearless going down, the faster the better! And Jacob carefully works hard to have good form and learn new skills. They make a good team.

For John and Katy, they have childcare but it's a ski school too. They come out for 20 min and go back in and do activities, and then back out, etc. The teachers are SO good with kids it was awesome to watch. The kids ski near the base of the hill, so we got to see them a few times. It was beyond precious. Katy listened so carefully and had good stance. John was clueless, and it was hilarious to see him be like, oh cool I'm moving, oh no I'm falling and oh now I can't get up. 

Felt so much better after day two. My muscles were definitely hurting from trying to figure out which ones I needed to use to do this right. I can't wait to go back and try some more.

Jim was worried I wouldn't end up liking snowboarding, and was so glad that everyone had a good time. It was such a great family day and everyone enjoyed working hard to learn a new skill. It's hard work and I love that everyone went for it! They were also so sweet and encouraging to me. And patient when the first day I was taking forever to come down as I bumped and bruised my way learning.

Favorite character day at school. Girls were fancy nancy. Nicole was a cheetah, Jacob wore a pikachu shirt (not sure if that counted) and Michael was himself because he's already a character.

Pollen is here! About 6 weeks of pine pollen fun has arrived.

We met at a park for cousin Easton's birthday and the boys enjoyed the water fountain instead of the park. When they also discovered the dirt and began making mud, it was thankfully time to go. John was down to underwear for the ride home though!

Nicole flew to Chicago with Jim for a prosthetics conference. She has asked for years to see where she was born. This was a great opportunity to both learn more about Jim's work and see her hometown.

View from their hotel room.

We used to stroll with our baby Nicole on Navy Pier, and it was surreal for me to see my teenager there. Memories!

I walked home from the hospital with Nicole the two blocks from the hospital to our apartment. We were on the 10th floor, apartment D.  And 13 years later, there she is in the same spot!

I got Jim and Nicole a room that included club access so they'd have free food all day (paying for that was cheaper than going out to eat constantly). Apparently all the big names in prosthetics also paid for that, so Nicole got to meet a bunch of leaders in the field, including this guy who opened the conference.

Nicole chose which classes they'd see each day. One she chose was pain management which she told me sounded great. And then they started off the class by saying they tried not to have pics with a lot of blood and Nicole told me she ended up just staring at a tablecloth because it was so gross. Haha oh well! She did tell me lots of things she learned from that class, however, so I guess it was okay. I told her she had to take a break at lunch and go see the bean! It was pretty cold, especially with wind chill which she has a whole new respect for, but they did it!

Some of my memories of the last time we were in Chicago! Jim surfing Oak Street Beach, being super pregnant at the beach by Navy Pier (same spot Nicole was in an earlier pic!) and then Nicole a few days before we left for NC on that same beach. How time flies.

Michael and Jacob have gotten into making campfires from scratch using flint. 

I made treat boxes for teachers. Lucky Charms cupcakes.

Coconut cupcakes

BYU mint brownies

Plus some spritz cookies. Can't say thankyou enough to teachers!

Jacob asked for a boston cream pie cake. Vanilla cake, bavarian cream inside, with chocolate ganache on the outside.

John and I made an awesome marble run. He totally understands how to make a run and it's fun to see him put things together.

I made a St. Patrick's day escape room and we'd invited lots of friends over to do it. With the increasing numbers of the coronavirus, we decided to play it safe and cancel the parties (including Jake's bday party poor guy!) However, we did have a blast as a family and I was thrilled that the room turned out so well.

With church cancelled, we had services at home after a good long walk to get wiggles out.

Nicole was in charge of the program.

Michael taught the older Primary class.

Jacob taught Sunbeams.

Then we all played some minute to win it games that we had planned for Diana's time with her friends that we had to cancel. (It was actually great to have so many fun things already planned!)

S'mores and devotional

Months ago, we set up our kitchen and floors to be redone. We fully anticipated maybe going to a hotel for a few nights while the worst of the floors was being done. With everything cancelled and hotels not being a good option, we had quite an adventure being at home 24-7 while so much work was being done. Nicole's room and my room became depositories for everything from downstairs.

Lots of family time with no school! Our charter school got right on top of things with virtual classrooms going a few days into the week.

We set up classroom on the back porch- we had windows put in and flooring as well.

This mini split keeps the room same temp as the house so now Mango can be outside.

Mango has been thrilled to hang out with everyone all the time. He's amazing and as long as we give him a few minutes in his cage every hour, he doesn't have any accidents. 

The kids went to the neighborhood pond to fish while Nicole played with the net. She scooped up a turtle- somehow she finds one every time they go!

Katy's project from her art class.

We also discovered a harmless snake in the backyard. This was especially exciting though, when Diana went running through the house yelling that a copperhead was in the house. The poor guy doing our kitchen got quite concerned. He told us later that he thinks he has several more grey hairs after that experience. Diana! :)

Mango happily nesting in Katy's hair.

We got our back porch furniture and I had the kids do all the hard labor to get the boxes to the back. It was great to see them have to figure things out. The boxes also made for a very fun afternoon. With the indoors being completely off limits for 2 weeks, this was a welcome diversion!

John was pretty bored when the kids were in school. He played lots of starfall and made lots of k'nex cars. These are our all time favorite toys, especially for the boys.

Sunday morning lesson and talk preparation. I've loved hearing heartfelt talks and lessons given by the kids as well as me and Jim. Growing together in the gospel is so sweet.

Floors getting done. All the spindles off the stairs made it tricky. We had to put a plank from the stairs to the outside to get in and out of the house. So every time someone had to use the bathroom I had to put the plank down, carefully walk them up and then same going back down. After 5 days of this, it was SO wonderful to have the downstairs back. Then they did the stairs for 2 days, but that wasn't nearly as hard for us.

Another project by Katy for her school art class.

Ducks on  our walk

Diana and Katy have loved doing these art classes on youtube. They sit together and draw cute waffles, happy volcanoes and cute pandas.

We had a school teacher workday (aka no virtual assignments) so we made it special by playing Duck Duck Goose and ordering Duck Donuts.

We also planted some seedlings in our garden. We had a leftover bag of cow manure from fall, and when we used that it was SO stinky!! Being home 24-7 with the kids has been great in so many ways. Their relationships are much better as they work and play together. Some things are tough, but there are so many great things too. Love my family and these times together.