I love seeing and hearing these girls sing together
February was time for skiing! We planned a two day trip up to Flagstaff/Snowbowl.
The 3 boys wanted to give snowboarding a try, so that was the plan for the first day. Jonnie joined them, as he's been before, years ago, so he could coach them through.
And the girls and I skied!
It was a beautiful day.
It's so fun that this little girl is such a big skier now! She loves it, and it's fun to go all together.
We met up with the boys from time to time, and it was fun to see their progress.
They did really well! I was impressed.
And us girls had fun skiing together!
Seeing the boys from the lift--
Working on some tricks--
(Janson)
(Colton and Daxton)--
And Jonnie, the coach!
End of the day...seasoned snowboarders! :)
It was a full day. We headed back to the hotel, and had a fun evening, relaxing and enjoying time together.
Sierra put in a full day! :)
The next morning, a snow storm was moving in and it was anticipated to be a big one. With lifts closing, we weren't able to have that second day of skiing. We drove back to Anthem. BUT, we got a credit for another day of skiing...so after it snowed in Flagstaff for 3-4 days....we went back the following Monday. And boy, howdy, we had some great fresh snow to ski on!
On the lifts--
Beautiful day with the snow still on the trees...that's my favorite!
Ryah, Colton, and Sierra--looking for jumps!
Sierra, the adventurer, skiing through the trees--
We all skied this time and had a great time.
Jonnie, looking good!
At the end of the day, some of the kids wanted to go and play in the snow up the bank. There was so much from the storm, they'd sink right in! They loved it.
Both snow days were wonderful and we had a great time. I am so glad that we are able to do it each year, and give the kids the experiences and the memories. It's the best!
Sunset on the drive back....
Sierra took this picture of a sunset one night.
There is a swing dance class at the Happy Valley church building (south of us, where we teach English class to the Taiwanese on Thursday nights)--Janson and Ryah were invited once, by a homeschool group friend, and they loved it! They have been a couple of times now, with plans to go more.
They come home and show us what they've learned. So much fun! I love that they are enjoying it.
Big dip! Ryah says some of the girls have a hard time doing this one, but she doesn't because she totally trusts Janson--and he does a great job!
This is one of my favorites--they're so smooth!
We really love that they enjoy it, that they're learning something new, and that they like to show us what they learn! :)
Valentine's Day!
It was a busy night, with primary and youth activities, so we wanted until the weekend to do the chocolate fountain tradition (which I had to miss out on because of getting my wisdom teeth out on 2/16). But ON Valentine's Day, Grandma came to the rescue and made a delicious Valentine's Day trifle! Yummy!
We had a birthday this month! We got to celebrate Daxton's 11th birthday!
We love this guy. He is such a special part of our family and we are so grateful for him. We got everything decorated and made a specially-requested breakfast for him--and he got to come down that morning to it--
He requested bacon, eggs, blueberries, monkey bread, and chocolate milk-
Oh, we love this boy! (Him doing his eyebrow raise) :)
Grandma giving her present to him--soccer shirts!
One of his favorite gifts from us--
And another--fort building covers!
Grandma was working at the temple that night, so we missed her,
but Daxton chose to eat at a Chinese buffet (he wanted sushi!!).
And when we got home, he wanted to have root beer floats (and Fanta floats) for his treat!
We love Daxton! And we had a fun day celebrating him.
And our new favorite tradition....
We got to join some people in the homeschool group and go see a Shakespeare play. We had learned about William Shakespeare in history, so it was great timing to get to see the play. It was put on by Southwest Shakespeare Company and they performed "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
We had a good time. Afterwards, there was a Q&A with the actors, so that was cool, too--
On that Saturday, there was a Stake Primary Boys activity--Mothers & Sons. I have NEVER heard of it before but have always wanted to have it. And now, for the last year of Primary for my youngest son...we finally got to do it!
Just before we were leaving, I started to get some pain....and I think it was a kidney stone coming on. Ugh!! I took my Stonebreaker herbs, and was determined to make it through because I really WANTED to be there for Daxton.
On the drive there, the pain was getting worse, and I said to Daxton, "Pray for me, buddy." He immediately bowed his head, and offered a silent prayer. We got to the activity, and as we started, the pain started to ease. By the second station, the pain had stopped. I was SOOO grateful!
We had a number of different stations to tackle together.
One was drawing what inspires us:
Another was building a temple:
Scavenger hunt of picture-taking around the church--flagpole:
Welcome sign:
Front steps of south side of church:
Drinking from the fountain:
We also had minute-to-win-it challenges; scripture chasing and decoding; rocket launching & catching; basketball shooting....in fact, Daxton and I quickly made our 3 baskets each, then alternating to get 5 baskets without a miss, and then making it from behind the backboard. And actually, Daxton and I were the ONLY mother/son team where BOTH of us made the behind the backboard shot! We were pretty proud of that. (There were only 2 moms, total, who even made that shot at all!).
Daxton and I had such a great time. I loved being with him, having that one on one time. He is such a great kid. At the end, after our lunch, we drove home and talked about it and he said, "Mom, I'm so glad you could come with me!" Melt my heart. Me, too, Dax, me, too.
We have been having a blast with this BYU basketball season. Their first in the Big 12 league, and they have been awesome. Grandma really gets into it, and we enjoy it, too. We have had Colton's basketball games (proud of him) and then BYU games....and it's fun.
BYU beating Kansas--HUGE victory!!!
In school, the youngers and I have been studying Space Science. We learned about the phases of the moon--and recreated it with Oreos! :)
We tried to create the solar system out of playdough (and a basketball), with the sizes scaled down, in proportion to each other--
AND they had an art project, painting Triton (one of Neptune's moons, which is the only moon that rotates COUNTER clockwise to the planet!). Cool stuff.
Daxton has also been building a lot--he loves to build. Maybe we have an architect on our hands? We will see. It will be fun to see how he develops this interest.
Sierra often likes to help him.
And Colton, too.
But building, building, building is this guy's middle name.
Actually...it's Tanner...but still, he loves building!
(How did we get that expression, anyway?)
And....here comes March!!