Feb/March 2015

February and March (2015) randoms

4 wheeling, listening to daddy play guitar, reading stories, and visiting the Joseph Smith memorial building

My mom always made us big heart sugar cookies for Valentines day and I've carried on the tradition. By the time I remembered to take a picture, the rest of us had already eaten ours, so it was just Neal's left :)

Making marshmallows and playing under the bunk beds.

January 2015

For some reason, Lydia has decided that she likes sleeping behind the couch. Even if we put her to bed in her room, she comes out in the middle of the night and this is how we find her most mornings. Bottom rght: they are always finding something to make a mess with. Today was all the ads that came in the mail. :) 

We went down to the new(ish) Aquarium to check it out. It was pretty fun and we liked looking at all the different animals.

Watching the penguins and fish.

They have a huge rainforest room with tons of birds, a small petting section (with sting rays, fish, etc), a big rope bridge to cross, etc. 

The kids like playing on the giant whales. We  also saw a couple of short movies in their 3-d theater. The had a really cool on about "monsters under the sea" but it was a little to realistic and scary for Lydia. She liked the animated one we saw better. Left: our family in the giant shark mouth. Middle: crossing the rope bridge.Lydia loved it and wanted to go again and again.  

December 2014

December is always busy and goes by too quickly! Just like that, another year has come and gone!

When you have an older sister, you sometimes run around the house in pink fairy wings. :) The kids were having fun playing together: wresting, and doing tricks. 

The kids found a package with this foam forms inside (I don't really know what it's called) and had so much fun with it! It got everywhere though and took forever to clean! 

We love all the family get togethers around Christmas time. I was terrible at taking pictures, so I only have pictures from the Swalberg family party.

We're so lucky to live 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake and temple square! It's always pretty cold, but the lights are so beautiful!

The candy windows (across the street from the temple at City Creek), and more lights!

Neal decided to make popcorn chains for the tree this year so we popped a bunch of popcorn and got started. After a while, Neal changed his mind because Jacob kept grabbing his string and was eating the popcorn faster that Neal could put it on! Lydia thought she'd put popcorn on anyway, so she grabbed a handful and started decorating.

It was one of those crazy stressful days, and we needed to grab a few last minute things from the store. We loaded everyone up in the car and headed to Walmart. After getting everything and waiting in line, I remembered something else. Neal and Jacob stayed in line while Lydia and I ran to grab it. While I was standing in the isle, a little boy came up and handed me a little bag, then continued on with his mom. I looked down at what he had given me. It was a bag with a five dollar bill inside and a not attached that said, "You've been R.A.C.K ed!!! Random Act of Christmas Kindness" It really touched me and made me stop and reevaluate what was truly important. I had gotten so caught up in trying to get everything done, that I was not in the spirit of Christmas.  I'm so grateful for a mother who remembered to teach her children what the real reason and meaning of Christmas is. I  truly needed the reminder to stop, take time, and look outwards for ways that I could be kinder and serve more. It was a little Christmas miracle to me that I'll never forget.

We spent Christmas Day with Neal's family this year. We were all spoiled by Neal's parents, especially the kids. Neal's favorite gift was the BYU jerseys his parents gave to Lydia and Jacob. :)

Bradley made a snowman with the kids. They loved it!

November 2014

The weather was still pretty good for November, so we enjoyed playing outside a lot.

Raking the leaves so we can jump in them is always so fun!

Somedays you just let your kids out of the house in whatever they put on... even if it is a tinkerbell dress with pink fairy wings. :)  Bottom right: the kids love to make "foamy soap" (just mix a little dish soap and water until it is foamy). This picture is super blurry, but it's the best I had. Middle: Lydia was so excited to make her own funny face pancake. I think we made them for a few days in a row. Top right: Ok, so this one is really embarrassing! I actually went to  work with two different boots on and didn't notice until I had been at work for almost an hour! In my defense, I did get ready in the dark that morning and remember pulling 3 boots from my closet. I thought that I threw the one that didn't match back in, but I guess I grabbed the wrong one! After I noticed, I just wore my socks for the rest of my shift.  

Watching out the window and having fun with play dough.

We're so excited to welcome Mikayla to the family (she is marrying Neal's brother Kevin). We had so much fun going out to lunch with her and her mom. Neal's brother, Bradley also came home after serving his mission in Canada. Welcome home, Bradley! 

October 2014

We love living across the street from the elementary school. We have the playground to ourselves during the summer!

Happy 1st birthday Jacob! We thought it was appropriate to make him a car cake... since he was born in one.

Happy Halloween from Cinderella and Prince Charming

We went to a BYU football game. While we were there, people kept turning around and looking behind us. We discovered that Elder Perry was sitting in the box right behind us! Go Cougars!

September 2014

We love when the weather is warm and we can stay outside all day! Lydia taking her kitty for a ride on her bike. Visiting the llamas, and playing at the splash pad.

Annie came over with her umbrella and Lydia loved it! She had to take it outside right away and try it out. I guess it's time to get her own...

Jacob thought it was so fun to hit and pull Lydia's hair over and over again. Poor girl... she must have been really tired though, because she didn't even wake up!

Our little cougars. Jacob getting into everything (again) and horse rides on daddy!

August 2014

Wow! I didn't realize how far I have let myself get behind on blogging! I have a few posts with pictures already put together, so I'll just put some subtitles on them and call it good. I don't know if I can remember much more than the basics!

Hogel zoo! My friend, Heather, had some passes to the zoo, so we loaded up our 4 kids and went to the zoo. It was so much fun!

Family hiking! The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to get out! This is on the way up to Elephant Rock. We didn't quite make it to the top because it was getting late, but Lydia walked the whole way up. She got tired on the way down though and wanted to be carried for that.

This tepee is about halfway up on the trail. I think it was Lydia's favorite part.

Happy 3rd birthday, Lydia! She requested a strawberry cake this year.

More birthday fun. Playing in the water and getting ice cream!

Lydia also wanted to go to the chocolate factory, so we went on a tour for her birthday. She loved it, especially the free samples we got.

After the chocolate factory, we dropped Jacob off at a friend's house and went boating with Neal's cousins. We loved it! I was surprised that Lydia went on the tube all by herself, but after her first time, she wanted to do it again and again.

Playing at the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving point. We spent most of the day and could easily have stayed longer!

Last time we came here, Jacob got soaking wet and we had to leave early. This time I thought I was being smarter and brought his swimming suit and an extra onsie. However, I didn't anticipate that the outdoor splash pad would be open... and Lydia got drenched! All I had were Jacob's extra clothes. Ha ha. Obviously I couldn't snap the onesie, but I somehow managed to get them on her (middle picture) so she could have something dry to wear. Next time I'm bringing extra clothes for both of them!

Lydia was so brave and did the zip line all by herself!

Our busy boy! Jacob is always into something and making a mess.

Free smoothie day at Jamba juice! The kids loved playing with the blocks while we waited.

Neal took me to the Garden (downtown Salt Lake) for a date. The food was so yummy!

Washing the car. Jacob loved watching Daddy spray him with water.

We went through the Ogden temple. What a beautiful place! Lydia wouldn't wear the white booties on her shoes, so we had to carry her the whole time, but it was so nice to go and be there with our family. I'm so grateful for the temple and our forever family!