Fun February

Like January, February was fairly laid back.  In January it was nice because it was a break from a busy December but now it's February and it's getting a little old.  We need a little more excitement.

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Brigham wanted to wear his Hulk gear on our way to pick up Jonathan from Band.  I asked him to smile for me and he growled.

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The week after the Klondike Derby I mentioned in January the Scouts had their snow caves activity.  I didn't make Nathaniel go because I thought two weekends in a row sleeping in the snow was just a little much.  Jonathan went though, and he had a friend who is 11 and is able to go on three of the camp-outs this year and he picked this one.  That made me feel better.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, the snow was too powdery to make into snow caves so they hung out in the snow and then slept in a heated garage.  I'm glad he had fun, and I'm glad I got the snow camping activities over with and all the gear washed.

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I was super excited to see the new Provo City Center Temple but I procrastinated getting tickets and then I was worried there wouldn't be any.  I considered just showing up Friday afternoon with the boys but I didn't want to risk a long stand-by line.  So, when I heard they were releasing more tickets I decided to grab some whenever I could.  I decided to keep Brigham home from school and take the boys on a Wednesday.  I never take my boys out of school for things, but I just couldn't pass this up.

It was such a beautiful day, but still pretty chilly.

We didn't have to wait long before we were ushered into a room to watch a video on temples.  After that the wait was a little longer but once we actually got inside the temple it started moving okay.

When we got outside the boys noticed all the coins in the fountain and wanted to throw some in so I gave them each a penny.  Jonathan told me that he wished for Super Smash Bros. 4 for Wii U.

It took me forever to work up the courage to ask someone to take our picture, it's hard being shy sometimes.  I loved the temple, though.  It was so beautiful!  I loved how the woodwork was made to look like the tabernacle.  I loved the antiqued design.  I loved that they had the original pulpit in the chapel.  I loved the stained glass window of Jesus Christ.  I even loved the Victorian font of the exit signs.  I'm always nervous to bring the boys by myself to places with big crowds but they did great.  We even stopped at Wendy's on the way home for lunch.  It was a fun day.

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I was walking through our back hallway when I heard a weird hissing sound.  I looked around and realized that water was dripping from the ceiling and the carpet below was soaking wet.  This didn't make sense because there was no water source above that spot so I called my father-in-law over to take a look and he figured out that it was a leak in a pipe that was spraying up and hitting the underside of the floor and then dripping back down.  It's kind of hard to explain and pictures are even more confusing, but here is my FIL pulling down a soaking wet ceiling tile from the hallway.

He knew a plumber and the plumber was able to come over and fix it without too much trouble, thank goodness.

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This is kind of a funny picture, I know.  Remember all our pumpkin drama from last Fall?  Well, when it was time to toss them, Jonathan just couldn't do it, not when we had lost so many to dirty thieves.  So we put them in the backyard in our "garden" to let nature take it's course.  Well, I don't know if it's the paint or if it's because they were covered in snow for so long but they look like deflated pumpkin balloons.  I thought that was kind of funny.

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February was nice, maybe March will pick up the pace a little.

Just January

I don't want to make it sound like January was lame or anything, it's more that it was fairly uneventful.  It's cold and snowy and there's no more lights to make it fun.  It's not entirely without it's charm, however.

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It wouldn't be January if I didn't have a bunch of tiny scratches on my hands from putting away the Christmas tree.

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My piano had been out getting fixed since June.  JUNE!  I love my piano and didn't want to have to get a new one which is why I waited so long to see if anything could be done.  Unfortunately, my piano was just too old and it was too hard to find the parts needed to fix it.  We finally decided that it was time to get a new one.  I needed a digital one but I didn't want to get one that looked like a digital piano.  I also didn't need it to do a bunch of cool tricks.

 I was so pleased when we saw this Kawai at Summerhays.  I loved it at first sight but I didn't want to just get the first piano I saw.  We went next door to the Piano Gallery and looked at some Yamahas but they were nothing compared to the Kawai.  We went back to try it out again and decided that it was the best.  It took almost a whole week before it could be delivered but it was worth the wait.  It plays so nice and it's even pretty to look at.

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Suki doesn't mind being part of my scripture study.  Doesn't mind at all.

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Nathaniel and Jonathan went to the Klondike Derby.  This year they didn't stay in cabins, they actually slept outside in tents...in the snow.

 Meanwhile, Jaaromy, Brigham, and I went to Chili's.  It was tasty.

 Here are some pictures of the derby the following morning.

Looks super fun, right?  They had an interesting experience and they definitely appreciated their nice warm beds when they got home.

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That was our January.  Not much to report, but that's okay.  It made it that much easier to catch up on my blog.  Hurray!

Merry December

So much for being caught up.  Oh well, I'm still close.  December was a good but busy month, as always.  We had lots to do.

The first week of December was concert week for me.  I decided to let the boys come on Thursday night since we were playing along to the video of The Snowman.  It was fun and they really enjoyed it.  I don't have any pictures, however, but I wanted to mention it anyway.

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We got the tree up before my concert because I knew it wouldn't happen unless we did.  A friend of mine sells these cute Biblical Names of Christ ornaments and I was excited to get some from her.  This is the best picture I could get though.

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 My family Christmas party was fairly early in the month since it's so hard to get together.  We did our Nativity and Brigham got to be Joseph.  He looks bored but he really enjoyed it.

 He liked seeing "baby Jesus."

 This is how he smiled when I asked him to smile.

 We also celebrated December birthdays.  Poor Jonathan wasn't feeling well.

 He was still excited to open his birthday present from Grandma.  He had to close his eyes first.

How exciting!

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 Nathaniel's orchestra spent a day performing at several elementary schools in the district.  I grabbed these pictures from their Facebook page.

My parents came to watch since they wouldn't be able to come to his regular concert.  You can see them in the back.

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We had a busy day on the 17th.

 First, Brigham's school sing-a-long was in the morning.  His class sang Mario the Mustached Reindeer.  He put on his mustache a little prematurely.  They also sang It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas/Pine Cones and Holly Berries.  He actually sang the songs.  This is the first time he's ever sung the songs with the class.  It was so fun to watch.

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Second, we had Nathaniel's Christmas concert that night.

 For some reason they decided use the formation that has the cellos in the middle so I couldn't see him.

 Later when they combined with the Jr. Youth Symphony he was a little easier to see.

He looks annoyed in this picture because it was taking me so long to get a good picture.  I had to reach way over to get him in the shot which made it hard to frame and keep in focus.  He did great, though.  They're a really good orchestra.

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Third, was Jonathan's birthday.

 We celebrated after Nathaniel's concert.  He chose plain brownies.

 He was super excited for his present.  He wanted to close his eyes for this one too.

 What?  A BB-8!

So cool.  He had fun trying it out.  Suki went a little crazy trying to catch it so we had to pick her up.  It was a great birthday.  We went to the planetarium the next day, too, but I don't have any pictures.

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This is how we have to play with BB-8.  She tries so hard to catch it but no dice.

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Christmas Eve!  The boys got new pajamas, of course.  But this year there was a little surprise with the pajamas.  Nathaniel and Jonathan got new phones!  Well, they actually got Jaaromy's old phone and my old phone.  I decided I wanted a new one for Christmas since mine was getting old and Jaaromy wanted the bigger model.  I was just going to let him get a new one and then use his old one but when he went to get a new one they were having a deal where if you buy a 6 Plus, you get a 6S which is exactly what we wanted so it all worked out and I even got a new phone out of it instead of a hand-me-down phone.

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Christmas morning!

I didn't get a picture of it but Jonathan got some cool games.

Nathaniel got a subscription to all the Adobe programs!

Brigham got a roller coaster, a slot car track, and some of his favorite books.

Nathaniel often complained that he plays such a big instrument so I decided to let him try out a viola.

Brigham loved the slot cars.

Nathaniel got some cool books.

Jonathan was excited to start his Amiibo collection.

Brigham really enjoyed his art projector and star lantern.

Jaaromy got me the coolest new toy!  Unfortunately, it's too cold and snowy to try it out.

After we opened presents we went to my parents' house for breakfast, it was super yummy.  I spent the rest of the day assembling Brigham's roller coaster.  It was kind of a pain but he loves it so much it made it all worth it.  Also, we added it to the list of toys that make Suki freak out.

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Christmas break was great.  The boys loved playing with all the fun new toys.

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We went to see the lights at temple square the Sunday after Christmas.  It's the perfect time to go.

 Brigham saw me trying to take a picture and he happily turned and smiled for me.

 Then he saw me setting up for my next shot and again happily stood right in front of me and smiled.

 This is the shot I was setting up for although I'm happy to take pictures of Brigham.  I take this shot every year and it's almost always blurry.  I got it on the first try this time.

 We waited in line to see the Christus, Brigham loves to go see it.  When the sister missionaries were done talking he hurried up there so I could take a picture of him.

 Then we tried a selfie with my new phone.  Indoor pictures are still hard.

 Jonathan wanted to try one too.

 Jonathan was excited to have his own phone to take pictures with.

 Then we saw the Nativity.  I used my phone for this one because of the wider angle.  I was able to get the stable and the star in the same shot!  Not bad.

 I love the floating lights, it makes the pool so pretty.

 Another wide angle from my phone.  Sweet!

We walked around the plaza looking at the different nativities.  The steam coming off of the fountain was kind of cool.  I love to see the lights and this year we all wore our thermals so we were able to stand being outside longer than usual.

So there you have it, our December.  And that concludes 2015.