December- not really Christmas related

We love playing family games! Especially because it gets dark so early these days!

One day when we went to the library it was actually not too cold to stay and play at the park! We miss our park time for sure!

Yes he has no shoes on. Not my choice! You can only put shoes back on a kid so many times!!

One day while making pilaf I really felt so grateful for my mom. I don't make this recipe like she did when I was growing up, but I still think of her each time I make it. 

I'm posting this for two reasons. One is to show that Caleb builds with legos everyday. The other one is to document that he has had to change the way he smiles so that his lips won't crack open and bled. Poor kid. This dry winter is killing us!!

I am studying Preach My Gospel for my scripture study curriculum now, and I LOVE it! It is so well written and organized in such a helpful way. 

Caleb was so proud of doing this puzzle on his own. They are all loving Star Wars anything lately!

Caleb is doing basketball for the first time and LOVING it!! 

Jenna and Seth can't handle the games though, so I'm not sure how many I will be able to watch. 

Now I understand why people pay so much money to live in southern California. Shoveling snow is hard work!! This first major snow storm was more snow then they got all last winter combined!

I sent the kids out to knock the snow off the trees because they were all bending over with the weight.

The was a huge hill in the field next door because of the construction and the kids had the best time sledding down it for hours!!

Natalie loves the snow. It is so funny because she keeps trying to convince me that it is fun to live in the snow. This night when I put her to bed she asked me to just watch it come down for a minute because it was so beautiful. 

This was the same night that she told me that just like bears hibernate, the school part of her felt like hibernating now that it was snowing. Silly girl!

She took this picture.

The next day we took a snow day! Seth had never really played in the snow, and it was so sunny and inviting that we just couldn't resist!

We really did have such a great time!! I love playing in the snow, it is just living in such a cold place that I am struggling with.

Watch out for killer icicles!!

One of Caleb's friends asked if Caleb wanted to come play, and Caleb invited him over to our house instead because he had some lego things he had to show him. Lol!!

Such a happy day!!! I am pleased to announce that we have officially completed our home storage! It is a miracle. We have been so blessed!! Now it is time to refine our plans and start our rotation system!

Cal and Kathy came out for a visit. Caleb wanted to do nothing but play games!

We went to the winter gardens at Thanksgiving Point with them. 

And then out to dinner at the cafe there, which we had never tried but turned out to be good!

It was cold outside!

We also went out to dinner for Kathy's birthday while they were visiting. She loved the present that we got for her- a Mickey Mouse snow globe from 2012 that she was missing from her collection! She was surprised and thrilled to say the least! Notice also that we have become those parents that allow their children to be sucked into the screen at restaurants so that we can actually eat. 

Jonathan got to spend the night with us before heading home from school. The kids always love to get to play with him any chance we get!

We are super grateful to him because he watched the kids after we put everyone to bed so that we could go see the new Star Wars movie!!

We decided to splurge and get this commemorative popcorn tin, because we thought the kids would like it.

It was so cute to see Kent so excited! We thought we weren't going to be able to see it until January! That morning we didn't have tickets or a sitter, but here we are! It was a miracle! =o]

We were right, they loved it! Caleb did too, he was just at his bball game when I took this picture. 

Since there has been an emphasis lately on the Sabbath Day, I have been studying it, and plan to incorporate/solidify some traditions in our family to make it a more holy day.

For our anniversary, I got Kent new garments. MUCH NEEDED! lol! And he TOTALLY surprised me with these paintings! One of his love languages is definitely giving gifts. He is so good at it and it makes him so happy! This painting has been one of my favorites since I first saw it in college, but I never thought I would actually get to have it on my wall!

We hung them both up that same day and everything. He gave me the Iron Rod one first, and I was floored, but then after lunch he busted this one out too and swept me off my feet! =o] 

We got to go hang out with the Murrays and had a great time, even if it was rough driving there through a storm. The kids played so well we didn't even do the craft we had planned. Rebecca and I just talked the day away. I love her. She is such an awesome person! I am so grateful to have her as my sister!! I think Heavenly Father knew that I would need her steady example throughout my life.

I know this is supposed to be non-Christmas related, but can I just say that Kent is at his best at Christmastime? Here he is eating lunch and reading and talking with Natalie like there is nothing more important for him to be doing. I know he has to work to provide for our family, and that he can't just be on vacation all the time and that we are so blessed to be able to see him as much as we get to now, but I sure do appreciate when he makes time to build his relationship with the kids in a thoughtful way like this. 

Kent got called to be a primary teacher in our ward pretty much right after we moved here. He and another guy team teach Caleb's class. I have loved watching Kent grow in this calling! I got to substitute in his class because his co-teacher's wife had her baby. I'm so glad I got to see him at it one last time! They moved him up to senior primary now. =o] 

This is from the last Sunday that Jenna and Seth went to nursery together. Jenna was so excited to become a Sunbeam, but also sad to be leaving her "Sethie" behind. 

They were the dynamic duo apparently! But she kept reassuring him that everything would be fine and he would still have fun even if she wasn't there with him. So sweet!

I hate it when blogspot flips my pictures because they don't have a way to rotate it back! GAH! Anyway, I discovered the phrase "law of love" under the entry for miracles in the Bible Dictionary and it has totally changed my perspective of so many scripture stories and doctrines! As I study more and more about I can't believe it isn't taught specifically more often in church! I mean, have you ever heard that phrase? And yet, Jesus said that the greatest LAW is to LOVE God, and the second is to LOVE others as we LOVE ourselves, and that everything else stems from this. Wow. WOW! It just hit me so hard and I am going to continue to study more about it.   

Have you read this book? It's a great resource! Our ward is choosing to focus on protecting our families from pornography so we had an FHE lesson about it which included reading this book. It is such an important topic and I'm grateful our bishop is working to make it less taboo and be proactive instead!

One morning Natalie yelled for me to come quick and when I ran over thinking something was wrong she announced that she had performed a hover charm in real life. =o] Wingardium Leviosa!!