January Tidbits

 January was an absolutely fantastic month. I didn't start school until the middle of the month and I jumped right in with finishing up projects. I knew January would be busy with traveling every weekend, Daphne's birthday + party, and trying to get prepped for it all before I started the new semester. Whew! I feel accomplished looking at these photos!

First of all, this project was still going on. Paint, paint, paint. My Christmas decorations were still up and driving me nuts. A couple days after this photo I stayed up super late and got it all put away. I couldn't look at it for one more minute!  It felt so nice to have my living room back!

Crazy cousins at Sunday dinner at grandma's house.

 A man in my parent's ward collects trains and lets us come see them after Christmas. The kids really enjoy it.

 Ice-Skating! Every year I make a list of fun things to do in December as a family and I always try to go ice-skating. For the last two years we haven't made it in December, but we usually go the first week of January. I should just make it a January/Winter tradition.

 Ice-skating is hard work! It's fun to go early in January when all of the Christmas lights are still up. Fun family night.

 Sad painting face. I had one piece that I ended up doing about 5 coats on it because this weird blue tint kept peeking through. It was bizarre. I finally got it covered though!

 I made a goal this year to get Magnus out of the house for a fun activity once a week. He is such an easy going kid and plays so contently by himself that I kind of forget about him needing stimulation in other atmospheres. I was constantly on the go doing fun things when my older kids were younger (for my own sanity) because I hated being stuck in the house. We were always out doing fun things. Now I love being at my quiet house during the day, so this kid suffers from my lack of "Fun Mom" skills that I've lost somewhere... Anyway, my mom got a groupon for this fun place called Scales 'n Tails and we spent a couple hours there one day. To say Magnus loved it would be an understatement. He loves reptiles!

 He was able to feed the bearded dragon, water the tortoises, pet and hold snakes, and look at lots of fun creatures.

 This huge snake kept curling its tail around his finger. He thought it was so funny.

 Thanks for the fun day, mom!

 Since Kaylie was getting married we had to make a decision regarding her hair for her wedding day. She had loved her "fire hair", a red to orange to blonde ombre, and so had I. But I told her she would regret having such trendy hair for her wedding day. We talked about having her go back to her natural brown, but ultimately she decided that she loved being dark red, so that's what we did! (Much to the chagrin of my mom ;) Her fiance loves it red, she loves it red, and I have had so many people tell me how amazing she looks with red hair. I agree, it fits her very well. 

The above photo is before, and below is after.

 Beautiful!

I had finally finished painting all of  the girls' new furniture EXCEPT Daphne's brass bed. I was planning on spray painting it but was intimidated, and Rachel finally told me to bring it to her house and she would help me. She's an amazing sister! Look at her, 8 months pregnant and painting this bed! I love her!

 We painted these cute brass frames as well.

The first weekend in January was Jonah's soccer tournament in Mesquite, NV. Our whole family was planning on going originally, but the two girls had a few things come up and I was stressed about getting their rooms put together before the semester started the next week. Andy finally suggested that I stay home with the girls and they could do their things and I could finish their rooms. He took the boys down to stay in my parents house in St. George and would take them to all of the games in Mesquite. I was sad to miss Jonah play, but I got SO much done that it made it SO worth it.

 Cute boys leaving their mama. One of Jonah's teammates joined them on the way down. Jonah got sick halfway down and threw up in the car; luckily Andy got him a bag in time. Andy was hoping it wouldn't be an omen for the rest of the weekend, but he ended up being just fine. We think he might have gotten car sick.

Since Andy was staying in St George, he had to take stuff for the boys to do in between games. They swam at the hotel where some of the team was staying, they played electronics, they ate out, and they went to movies. The team all had a blast together and it was a fun bonding experience for them. 

 They ended up having not such a great day on Friday and lost both of their games, but they played amazing on Saturday and won! Jonah scored the final goal with a header into the goal! He has never been so excited. I wish Andy got it on video, but he said he was too excited and didn't get his phone out fast enough.

 I just love this cute team!

While the boys were having fun in St George, the girls and I were working hard getting stuff done! We had switched rooms around last April and given the girl's their own rooms. For their new furniture to work we had to swap their rooms yet again! First we emptied everything out of their rooms and gave them a good cleaning. Scrubbing walls, doors, windows, baseboards, vacuuming carpet, and throwing out trash. My living room was a mess!

I finished painting Daphne's bed and was so disappointed when the paint crackled due to the cold temps outside. Luckily this part was covered up by the mattress and it didn't end up being a big deal. Phew!

I finished shopping for decor on Friday night and we spent all day Saturday getting their rooms put together. It was so much fun!

 I thought I might have to wait for help from Andy to get the furniture in and put together. After looking at it for a minute I decided we could do it ourselves, and we did! Girl Power! Laylah was such a huge help. She has some muscles and helped me carry everything up to her room, including her heavy mattress.

 Her bed-skirt took over an hour to iron. Worth it. Look at that ruffly goodness! Perfect for my girly-girl Laylah.

 We finished most everything, but had to wait for Andy to hang decor and put up her chandelier.

After Laylah's was done we moved onto Daphne's. Again, we had to wait for Andy to do certain things, but for the most part we got it done! Girl Power!

 Since these photos were taken we have finished with the decor and everything else, so their rooms are actually completely finished now. I will post actual "After" photos later.

 I just wanted to include a few photos of their old decor.

 Very "little girl". The girl's LOVE their new rooms and I had so much fun doing them!

 This cute boy got 3rd place in his class spelling bee and didn't even study. Way to go, Bear!

Jonah threw some pancake batter on the griddle one morning and it turned into this:

 It looks just like Chicken Little in the cartoon! We had a good laugh about that.

Daphne had a horse birthday party and while I was setting up, Magnus rode Luna around our yard. 

I just love this gold ribbon in our front yard. Some friends put it there when we came home from the hospital 18 months ago with Magnus. It is the symbol of Pediatric Cancer Awareness, and it has been on our tree ever since. 

 Swimming Night! On MLK Day we went to the movies and then afterwards went swimming. We were going stir crazy in the house and a day out was just perfect.

 Wrestling with dad

 Magnus' preschool teacher is so cute and often texts pictures of what they did in school that day. here they are playing with shaving cream.

 And making a big mess!

 Here are Laylah's "After" photos of her completed room (minus the chandelier! Andy needs a part for it and then he can install it) Also, I added another gray pillow between those pink ones after these photos were taken. Her color scheme is pink, white, and gray with gold accents.

 i also need to put a photo in that gold frame.

 I absolutely love the way it turned out, and more importantly, she does!

 The day came for Andy to go to ski school! My mom got him a package for him to learn how to ski for Christmas. He was kind of nervous, but ended up LOVING it. I got a text from him when he was on his way home that said, "Skiing is so AWESOME!" I was thrilled and we can't wait to go skiing together.

Just a random photo of Daphne playing soccer. She has gotten so good. I love watching her play. 

Jazz game! We got tickets from Camp Hobe that had been donated by one of the players. It was lots of fun. 

 Plus, we won! PLUS, we got free chick-fil-a sandwiches because the other team missed two free throws in the fourth quarter. Woo-hoo!

January was such an amazing month. I still have three or four more posts to do from January including a couple of trips I took in January, Daphne's birthday, and her party. Stay tuned!