our february at a glance

 :: dinner at one of Justin's coworkers and Adeline fell in love with their barbies + this February weather ♥ ::

:: love the idea of Sunday pictures, but this is what we get all the time + cooking up princesses and pizza :: 

 :: superbowl party - it's all about the food ::

:: his first field trip :: 

 :: discovery gateway + Adeline's favorite person ::

 :: Adeline loves Branch + I have the kindest VT partner ::

:: sunsets forever!! :: 

 :: I had some serious motivation this day + poor Adeline shocked herself, it was the saddest thing ::

 :: sick for days and Adeline was the cutest caretaker ::

 :: we put Valentines together at the very last second...as in the morning of February 14th ::

:: broken hearts for being sick on Valentine's day + she got used to having me clean out her nose :: 

 :: 30 minutes apart ::

 :: since Rudger stayed home most of the week, we managed to get some reading in so that he didn't lose his momentum + Taylor and Hunter's medieval feast on Valentine's day ::

:: so much sleep happened :: 

:: really...a ton of sleep!! :: 

 :: a late Chinese new year party ::

:: winter camp out with Hunter!! (the two younger boys came home later that night, it was kind of cold...after being warm all month long!) + Levi had a sleepover with cousin Grey and then they had a snowball fight :: 

:: snowy sunset ♥♥ ::

 :: just one reason why I love this daddy so so much!!! ♥♥♥ ::

f o u r t e e e n

Corbin is fourteen today! I'm not sure how that many years can go by so fast. There are days that I am so not okay with this, he only has four years until he's 18! What! (We've lived in this house six and a half years and that's flown by.) But then there are days where my heart is bursting because I am so proud of this kid and the kind of choices he is making. 

These last couple of years have totally made those earlier, energetic years worth it. :)  

Corbin has a great sense of humor that began as a baby. He has the most adventurous spirit I know and he's pretty certain he will raise a family in the mountains, surviving off the land. That love of nature has resulted in almost no issues with electronics. He owns a phone, but it rarely causes problems. He might be the only kid I know who begs everyone around him to get off their phones and go outside to play. 

A couple of Saturdays ago, when it felt like April outside, Corbin came inside and asked if we could have a no electronics day and spend the whole day outside as a family. Um, yes!! So we wrapped up any chores and headed outside. We played a variety of basketball games for a good hour. Everyone! We tossed the football and skateboarded around. We went on a long bike ride. Found a rope swing that we all played on. Headed to the park and played. When we got home we collected sticks and wood from around the yard and had a BIG hot dog roast. (the fire was seriously huge) While the fire was going, daddy and some of the kids played on the lawn, they were laughing and have the happiest time. Then Justin took all the younger kids inside to get ready for bed while Corbin and I tended to the dying fire. It was a moment I never want to forget. This kid got us all outside that day and helped create one of the very best memories for our family.

I hope that love of nature and adventure never ends. I just love this kid!

lately

:: I wish Corbin was in this picture ::

At the beginning of 2018 I sort of made a goal that I would be better at documenting our family life here. And here we are, almost at the end of February, and not one post. I think I'm making it more difficult than it needs to be. :) Time to change that and get these stories, pictures, and moments on this page because my memory is horrible and I don't want to forget these happy (and hard) times. Right now feels like the ideal time in our little family. I wish I could pause time for a while and just soak it up even more, but I've said that before. So I'm hopeful that I'll say it again in the future.

The last couple of weeks has been, if I could sum it up in one word, ROUGH. Two weeks ago Corbin came home with a headache and then hardly left the couch for nearly a week. In his fourteen years, I have never seen him so sick. It's been a week since he has started to feel better, and he is still EXHAUSTED. Yesterday he came home from school and slept the rest of the afternoon, woke up to eat a couple of bites, and then went back to bed for the night. We're not sure if he's still recovering or going through a serious growth spurt :) 

During that time, Rudger missed almost a week of school (he even missed Valentines day) :( Taylor missed a few days, Adeline was a little under the weather and Justin and I kept feeling like we had something but it never knocked us down. Last Friday I was talking to Levi's teacher and she asked how we were all feeling. She said Levi came to school and told her "I do NOT want to go home, everyone in my family is sick and I don't want it!" Then he told her he was just going to avoid the couch because that's where all the sick people are sleeping.  So far it's worked out for him :) (and he really did come home)

During that time, Adeline threw my phone in the bathtub and I was terrified that I had lost all 3,475 pictures and 100 + videos that were on there (that I am silly enough to not have backed up). Although we did figure out that Taylor's tablet has all my pictures from my phone on there. Something to do with the cloud and that his tablet is under my account??? I really don't get technology. But thank goodness.

Luckily, after a couple of days in rice, my phone was perfectly fine. I offered a lot of gratitude prayers and then spent a couple of days trying to get pictures off my phone and then organized all our photos from 2012. (I was on a roll) During that time, I don't know how on earth I did it, but I lost almost all the videos from 2016. I. was. devastated. I tried EVERYTHING to find them, but had no success. I cried over the fact that those were videos of Adeline as a 3-11 month old (some of my very favorite stages) After many tears, I just came to terms with the fact that they were gone and I would cherish the few videos we do have. (There are a couple on Instagram and we do have the videos from her first birthday and everything after that) 

Life moves on and I realized we are so lucky to live in a time where we CAN record so many happy moments. And as bad as my memory is, I won't forget that precious year with Adeline. They are some of my happiest memories. (And we still have hundreds and hundreds of pictures) :) 

So the past couple of weeks has been rough, but there have been so many good moments too. The cuddles on the couch, smiling while looking through thousands of pictures, evenings at home watching the Olympics together. I'll take them all. 

our january at a glance

:: 2 years and 2 months and the hair is slowly coming + the last of our Christmas snowman ::

:: must be january - green smoothies + healthy dinners ::

:: tried making spaetzle - not too bad + lentil coconut curry soup that I LOVE, but no one else really does ::

:: january walks ::

:: taylor rocking the rollerblades + daddy will always be the fun parent ::

:: the coldest fog that came rolling in fast, three minutes after we got to the school playground ::

:: girl time + nap time ::

:: never, ever will I get tired of these sunsets in our backyard ::

:: this is the day I decided I really could have a dog in our family ::

:: something incredibly fascinating + our new first presidency ♥♥♥ ::

:: MLK day hike + traditional chocolate cake ::

:: this girl has style + leftover chocolate cake ::

:: still january ::

:: one of Adeline's last naps in her crib + snow white nap ::

:: early morning snowy temple date in Ogden ::

:: it's kind of nice that Rudger's not on any electronic device + driving home from cousin Abby's farewell ::

:: walmart for the win + getting his zone done ::

:: trying out Adeline's new toddler bed + she would rather nap on the couch ::

:: watching Little Mermaid together + Adeline and Taylor ♥♥♥ ::