Family Night

A friend of mine posted about a FHE that she had done about missionaries and it looked like such a great idea so I totally copied it. So, Jana, if you're reading this, thanks for the awesome idea. We pretty much did everything they did, so I guess we're not very original. Either that or the original was just that awesome!

First we looked at Jaaromy's missionary book that I made for him last year. Jaaromy enjoyed talking about his mission and the boys liked looking at the pictures. After that we had them dress up in Jaaromy's suit coats and I gave them name tags that I had made earlier.

I don't think I would have thought to do this on my own, but honestly, this is what sold the entire FHE. They thought it was so fun to dress in Dad's suits and ties. Even Nathaniel who doesn't usually get silly like this got into it.

Brigham was a little too small for Jaaromy's clothes, so we put him in Nathaniel's and that was big enough.

Jaaromy had them knock on their bedroom door and pretend to be missionaries. They had to say "Buenos Tardes!" since that's what Jaaromy had to say on his mission.

And to make sure they got the real missionary experience, he even yelled "No!" and shut the door. The boys thought that was funny. I hope that positive attitude sticks.

Then they told Investigator Jaaromy all about the Gospel and that he should totally get baptized.


Investigator Jaaromy totally agreed.

After that we wrote letters to Tim. I'm so glad we have a cousin out on a mission right now, it really helped the lesson. The boys had a lot of fun and I hope they will remember this when they're old enough to go on their missions.

If I were a romantic I'd say he gave me the stars

I wasn't very coy about what I wanted Jaaromy to get me for Christmas. I try to be because I want to be surprised, but I also don't want to be disappointed. So I end up saying all but the exact words.

I wanted a camera that fits into the eyepiece of my telescope so I could take pictures. I had a mount for my regular camera but it was just too hard to get it to do what I wanted. So I was pretty sure that was what Jaaromy was getting me. When it came time for the purchase it would have been pretty hard for him to hide the amount spent since I'm the one who does the finances in our house. It was a noticeably larger amount than I had expected.

So, instead of a camera to fit into my telescope, he got me a whole new telescope that comes with a camera!


I feel like I need to explain what I'm wearing. It's cold in our house and I just grabbed a random long-sleeved shirt to cover my arms. Also, I apologize for the background. It's currently being stored in our back room which is unfinished. It makes it the ideal place to put our exercise equipment and my craft table.

Back to the telescope. It's much smaller than our first telescope but it reflects twice(or something) so the image is about the same size. But the real bonus is that it's a motorized equatorial mount so it follows the Earth's rotation which makes it much easier to keep an object in the field of view. Perfect for taking pictures!

Jaaromy is more excited that I am to try it out, so on our first relatively clear night we did just that. Jupiter is the most exciting thing to look at right now and it's in the low Western sky at night. Which means we, and by that I mean Jaaromy, had to shovel our back porch. It was so cold, plus, I had just showered and my hair was wet. I put a hat on to keep warm but my hair outside the hat froze.

In spite of the cold, we managed to get some pictures. The sky was mostly clear. It looked plenty clear with the naked eye, but there was still a lot of atmospheric disturbance. I think that will just be the case during the Winter, unfortunately.


So there you have it, our first picture of Jupiter. I hope the blurriness is because of the atmosphere. We won't know until we get out again when the skies are clearer. I hope we don't have to wait too long since Jupiter is only getting farther away. You can clearly make out the Northern band. The Southern band has mysteriously gone missing over the last several months. Hopefully it will come back. It just wouldn't be Jupiter without the two dark bands.

I'm super excited for my present, and so is Jaaromy. He's actually been the one behind all the set up and picture process. I'll have to give it a try by myself so that it will officially be my present and not Jaaromy's. Think of the episode of the Simpson's when Homer gave Marge a bowling ball for her birthday.

I can't wait to take more pictures. Perhaps when it's warmer.

Our Christmas

So Christmas has come and gone. I feel like my brain is still recovering. My December was so busy that I was worried that I wouldn't have much time to pause and reflect on the Nativity. I kept waiting for things to slow down but they didn't. Well, they did eventually. I had just hoped that it would be before Christmas Eve.

Then Jonathan came down with a fever. Jaaromy's family had planned a get-together for Christmas Eve and we decided that Jonathan shouldn't go. So Jaaromy went by himself. While I wish that Jonathan hadn't been sick and that we had all been able to go, it was the first time in what seemed like weeks that I had been able to relax and not worry about anything. We watched some Christmas shows and read Christmas stories. Jaaromy read the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon and we left all the Christmas lights on that night to remind us of the sign of the birth of Jesus. I think it ended up being one of the best Christmas Eves ever.


Here are the boys in their new pajamas. I went with a Phineas and Ferb theme this year. I think the boys like it. I got Brigham to smile but not sit still.

Just like last year:


And the year before that:


And the year before that:


The year before that he couldn't walk yet, and we hadn't started the pajama tradition so we'll never know. Maybe next year I'll be able to get him to sit still.

Christmas morning was nice. Our boys are late sleepers so I was thinking we'd have a 9:00-9:30 wake up time. Since Jonathan was sick he slept for a long time and Jaaromy and I didn't wake up until after ten. Nice!


Brigham had to go through his usual routine. The older boys probably wouldn't have stood for it but Jonathan still wasn't feeling well.


I told him he looked too happy in the pictures and that he needed to frown to show that he was sick.


That's better!

Finally it was time to go down stairs!

Brigham took one look and went back upstairs to finish his breakfast. My boys are really low-key so we don't have a lot of outward displays of excitement.

We had a nice morning of opening presents and trying out new toys. We all went to my parents' house after everyone else had gone home. We didn't want to get anybody else sick. We had cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, and egg nog. It's the best meal of the year.

Then we opened presents. Jonathan was really pleased with his present from Grandma.


The cousins at Grandma Patti's house couldn't be avoided so I took Nathaniel and Brigham with me and Jaaromy stayed home with Jonathan. It was fun to visit with everyone. Especially Jimmy and Emily who came up from Vegas. We got to see them again on the 28th for Jim's birthday when all the siblings and Jaaromy's parents went to dinner. Without the kids! It was great.

So, Jonathan getting sick was actually a good thing. It forced us to take the holiday slow. I'm still recovering from December but I'm getting better everyday.

School Christmas Concerts

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the school Christmas concerts. I always worry that Nathaniel will forget to tell me about them and I'll miss them. I was so worried that I would miss it this year that I e-mailed Nathaniel's teacher about it specifically. Luckily, I hadn't missed it.

First was Nathaniel's band concert. This is my favorite one. I love LOVE seeing all the young musicians trying out an instrument for the first time.


I won't upload a video but I did take a few pictures.


I am so impressed with the participation!


Since all the classes came to watch, I got to see Jonathan and give him a quick hug and a kiss as he came in. They let him wear headphones for the noise. I honestly didn't think it was a problem, but I guess given the choice, he took it.

The next day was the Sing-A-Long. Jaaromy was working from home that day because his car was getting fixed and he was able to go with me. Bonus! Since Nathaniel was in the 5th-6th split class, I didn't know which group he would be singing with. I looked all over for him during the 6th grade songs but I never saw him. I assumed that he would be singing later with the 5th graders. But just as they were about to leave the stage I saw him behind a really tall girl.


I managed to get this picture after the first row exited but before his row did. So I wasn't able to record his songs but at least I got a picture of him in his elf hat that he made.

When Jonathan's grade came out, I could hear his ask out loud "Where's my mom?" This was so sad for me to hear because I knew he'd never see me since we were way in the back.

He did great though. I loved it.

We thought we were done after Jonathan's class sang. Some parents left after their children sang and we thought we should stay. I'm glad we did because when the 5th grade came out and started singing, Jaaromy noticed that Nathaniel was with them. Since I had missed his first songs, I hurried and started recording. So I got about half of his first song and all of his second. Whew!

Brigham was keeping himself busy with my phone while I was recording.




What a cutie!

I'm so proud of my boys, I really love to hear them play and sing.

"Christmas Eve" at Rachelle's House

As the title of the blog suggests, "Christmas Eve" was at Rachelle's house this year. We usually combine Birthday Sunday with the major holidays like Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. So before we did any Christmas-y things, we celebrated December birthdays of Maddy, Jonathan, and Melissa. I took some pictures but they were with my phone and my phone is notoriously bad when taking pictures inside. Oh well, you get the idea.

After the birthday celebrations(I don't remember if the kids blew out candles) we moved on to the Christmas portion. We opened presents from the siblings and did our Nativity. Not necessarily in that order.

Since we have three little baby boys and ample cousins, we decided to have three Marys and three Baby Jesus'. Nathaniel might have been the only Joseph though. Hmmm.


I took a lot of pictures, but this one is my favorite. I love how Maddy is magnifying her calling as an Angel. I love that Dallin is giving two big thumbs up. I love that Brynna is a blur as she runs as fast as she can to no one in particular. I love that Nathaniel is giving the role of Joseph the quiet dignity that it requires. Maybe that's why Jonathan was very adamant that Nathaniel be Joseph. He looks up to him more than Nathaniel knows.

It's always so chaotic and noisy but I love that my boys know this very special story.

Jonathan's 7th Birthday

I can't believe how behind I am in posting. I thought I just had Christmas to do but I was wrong. Time to play catch up!

Jonathan had been looking forward to his birthday since the summer when all the rest of us had our birthdays. Poor Jonathan has to wait until December for his. He was so excited when we went from November to December because that is the month his birthday is in. Of course we had to go to the Planetarium. We didn't see a show or anything so it was nice to just look around. As soon as we got there Jonathan went right to the store because he already knew what he wanted for his birthday: a planet game for the computer. I tried to tell him that we already had his birthday presents at home and that we'd open them when we got home. He wouldn't let go of the box and he started to leave the store so I had Jaaromy, who was in the lobby keeping an eye on Brigham, use a little more force to get it back. Well, that didn't make Jonathan very happy and so he curled into a ball and cried. I took the game back and was wondering if I should switch it for what we had already gotten him since he was so excited about it. I went back to see what Jaaromy thought and found him in an argument with random strangers about his fitness to be a parent. Apparently they had seen Jonathan crying and assumed bad parenting to be the culprit. They also strangely thought that confronting Jaaromy about it would somehow be the best thing to do. They got the security guard and the planetarium management involved to let them know exactly how disappointed they were. Luckily, the security guard and the planetarium management were normal human beings and let it go. After they had left, Jaaromy apologized for his behavior and they told him that she, the random stranger, has come in before to complain about exhibits and such saying that she's "with the University". Upon further questioning, they found that "with the University" means she's a student. So she must really know what she's talking about.

Despite this diversion, Jonathan had a great time at the planetarium. Being his parents, we knew he'd stop crying in a minute or two and have fun.

After that we went to Arctic Circle for dinner and came home to open presents.



Hey, planet software! "Mom, how did you know?!"

Then we had birthday cupcakes that look curiously like Christmas cupcakes, but don't tell Jonathan that.


We will always remember this birthday, but Jonathan will probably only remember it as just another fun birthday. That's why I love Jonathan.