February 2013

I'm running behind on this blog but am determined to catch up now that the kids are back in school and I have a little more time! 

February is birthday month for Ness and Ty!

 Janessa designed her cake on her own this year. It was a great idea to use her Pet Shops and make an ice rink with a slide and some snow all around it. Love it :)

She turned 10 and had some friends over for a "late night". 

 Tyson turned 7. Grandpa Lords decorated this ball for him.

 He wanted to try Blast-Off this year so he and his friends had a great time running around being boys.

 Such a sweet, handsome boy :)

 Janessa helped him put together his new police Lego kit before church.

 Hallie helping Andrew put together the dirt bike he is building her. She loves to do anything with her dad.

 We left the kids while we went to dinner with some friends and came home to a house full of super heroes.

 Making Valentine cookies at grandma and grandpa's.

 Aunt Nancy sent a cute Valentine package for the kids so we sent this back to her-

SLC Trip

We've wanted for years to take the kids to the Temple Square lights. We have a couple friends that have felt the same way so we all decided to made it happen this year.

An attempt at a group picture of the kids... 

 We went to the new City Creek Mall first. It was so beautiful. It's outdoor but covered in the winter. I loved it..not so much the stores but just the whole atmosphere.

 Kaitlyn was so cute with Grant :)

 After the mall we went and swam for a while and came back to temple square that night. It was not how I remember as a kid! I had all these hopes of giving the kids a spiritual experience that would change their view of Christmas forever. We'll have to go back for that experience another time haha. There were a zillion people there, we could hardly move. It was all we had just to not loose anyone. It was raining yet freezing cold. The kids had umbrellas and kept poking people or getting their umbrellas stuck in people's scarfs, etc.. The building were all so full we couldn't go in any. We definitely need to go back! It's was beautiful though, and we will never forget it :)

 There's a hotel we've been wanting to stay in that has an indoor water park. It was awesome!! The kids (and adults) love it. We for sure want to go back there also.

 I'm so grateful for good friends. We had such a fun weekend!

Misc. November

A few random November events....

I actually have a couple pictures from my birthday this year. Hallie made me this cute candle sugar cookie at my parents on Sunday...

 ...and Doug and Marcie surprised me with cupcakes from Cocoa Bean (my favorite!).

 Grant and his love for anything 'yighting mateen'...

 Ty, G, and a couple friends playing light sabers.

 Don't ask me how spiderman and batman got into my house...

 The sweeter side of Tyson. Such a good boy. He is reading so well.

 More boys and their toys...

 I think it's Josh jumping over Andrew-

 Janessa started basketball season again. It's Feburary as I'm typing this and she is still playing every Saturday! I love watching our kids play any sport. She does a great job.

 Hallie and Malarie had a piano recital of Christmas songs. Her teacher had them do duets also this year which was really neat. I'm so proud of her for sticking with it even when she sometimes doesn't want to...

 We had a neighbor friend in town for Thanksgiving so we had a girls' night. Don't ask me how/why I manage to close my eyes in every picture... I'm so grateful to have such fun neighbor friends.

 The mother/daughter activity for Activity Days was an 80's theme party. Ness and I had so much fun!

And above is my favorite picture for the season....! Man, I love them.

Thanksgiving in Boise

We spent Thanksgiving in Boise this year. This is the only time that Andrew gets 4 days of work off so this has become a yearly tradition. We love seeing everyone!

We also did the annual train ride to North Pole. So fun!

 We thought it was our turn to stay in a hotel this time so everyone else could stay in the house. The kids thought it was great swimming every day!

 On Saturday the boys took Tyson's Traxxis to an indoor race track while the girls met with friends for lunch and shopping.

 We took Great Grandma her Christmas presents. She turned 90 this month!

 Andrew took his helmet so he could ride Kenny's bike.

 Our our way out of town we had lunch at this cute little pizza place downtown...

...Then we stopped at the most adorable candy cottage.

Grant fell asleep as soon as we hit the road with his ring pop in his mouth :)