Happy New Year 2017

We celebrated New Year's Eve at the the Zobrist's house with their family and the Howe family from across the street.  We were happy to meet The Howe's darling baby Cole, their third child who they waiting a long time for.  He is so precious!  Melissa made us some amazing chili for dinner and then we munched on all the snacks and treats that filled the counter that we each had brought, because it's not a celebration without a bunch of snacks and treats!  We all ate too much Christmas crack (ooey-gooey Chex mix) while we played Codenames.  The kids watched Miracles from Heaven, except for Izzy and Aspen who wanted to hang with the adults.  Our girls are growing up!  Izzy and Aspen wanted to see who was taller and we learned that even though Izzy is a year older, they're the exact same height!  The men shared bottles of Squirt and quoted lines from "The Three Amigos".  Dahlia came up to join us for a bit and learned to write all of our family's names on some white erase boards from a game we were going to play but never did.  As it got closer to midnight we poured cups of sparkling cider and then counted down to the last second. It was a fun evening with good friends and all the kids managed to stay awake till midnight, including Dahlia, but just barely.  She crashed just after midnight! Happy New Year!

"Illusions"

We went on a field trip with our friends, the Hurds, to the Capitol Theatre to see the show "Illusions" by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company.  It was both weird and amazing, kind of like these kids!

More and More Puppies

To finish out our week of taking care of the Wheeler's puppies we gave most of them baths and took pictures.  We'll miss seeing them everyday! Almost enough to get one. Almost.  Maybe if Harmonie wanted to breed Sugar again and I had more time to convince Adam.  At least we've been invited to the Facebook page Harmonie created for all of the puppies' families and can still see them there!

 Teal, Brown, and Black

Purple, Blue Bones, and Pink

Teal asleep in Aspen's arms

 Poor Sugar.  She was such a good mama. Always so patient as her hungry babies nursed.

 Sugar playing with her babies

Colter was always more interested in playing the xbox than playing with the puppies, but in the end this is where they all ended up!

Aspen Becomes a Baker

This morning Aspen asked me if it was hard to make blueberry muffins. This is how it ended. She did a great job!  The muffins were delicious!

Hotel Swimming with the Kesslers

8 kids in a hot tub

Drinking hot chocolate

Colter and His Paper Robot

Dahlia's First Talk in Primary

It was another big day for Miss Dahlia. She gave her first talk in primary today! Her topic was "I Know the Scriptures are the Word of God." She prepared while we sat around the breakfast table this morning as I asked her questions about the scriptures. These were her answers:

Q: How do you know the scriptures are the word of God?
A: Because of Jesus.

Q: Who gave us the scriptures?
A: Jesus...and Joseph Smith.

Q: What's your favorite story in the scriptures?
A: The pyramid, the blue pyramid (I have no idea what she's referring to) and the Nephites and the Lamenites. 

I loved her answers and was impressed by the things she knew. Her little testimony is beginning to grow. Adam helped her by typing up a few words and was there to hold the pictures and whisper the words in her ear. I was attending a ward conference and couldn't be there in person so we arranged for the next best thing and I watched via FaceTime thanks to our friend Whitney! I couldn't stop smiling after I got off the call! It made my day to be able to watch my little girl! She did a great job! And Adam did a great job helping her!

Dahlia Made Her Own Bed Today!

I was in the kitchen when Dahlia came to proudly announce she had made her own bed! All by herself! For the first time! Go Dahlia! She also said her prayers, got herself dressed, and brushed her teeth all on her own! For a while now Dahlia has been saying she wants to be a baby when she grows up.  Sometimes she says just a baby and other times she wants to be certain kinds of babies; mostly characters from tv shows.  I don't tell her this but I'd love for her to be a baby when she grows up.  I'd love for her to be little forever!  Whether we like it or not, she's growing up fast!  

BYU Gymnastics Meet

Hanging with some of our favorite girls Sariah and Maddie (and Tyson too) at the BYU gymnastics meet. Go cougars! We finished second. Thank you Pass of All Passes for making our girls night possible.

Secret Agent Aspen

This little under cover agent was invited to a top secret birthday party last night for a friend in our ward. Such a fun idea! I love that she wanted to dress up! How cute is she?

Hogle Zoo with Mamie and Papi

Yearly Colonoscopy

Adam took me to have my yearly colonoscopy. The prep isn't much fun, but having a colostomy makes it easier. (I'll take all the perks I can get.) Everything went great and the report from my gastroenterologist was that I only have two whole inches of active Crohn's disease! The rest was clear! And no signs of cancer! He still suggested I stay on Humira to take care of those two inches and keep the rest in good health.

Wheeler's Goldendoodles

Harmonie asked us to look in on the puppies while she was gone on a Zumba cruise.  Her family was staying but would be gone to school and work during the day.  We were happy to help and came to get some instructions on what to do before Harmonie left.  Then we stayed to play with the puppies.

Dahlia and the Target Dog

Dahlia and I went on a little date to Target to buy swimsuits for Aspen, Bentley, and her. Yes, it's January but cute swimsuits at a decent price are not always around, so you've got to get them while you can! While we were there Dahlia made a friend and of course I had couldn't resist taking a picture!

Celebrating MLK

Celebrating Martin Luthar King Jr. Day by watching the "I have a dream speech" for FHE and then getting Oreo shakes at McDonalds. I have been wanting to adopt this tradition of making Oreo shakes from some friends who have been doing it since college.  I think my kids like the idea of an Oreo shake to symbolize black and white together.  I think they would like any excuse to eat Oreos and ice cream! 

Cousin Sleepover Playdate

Family gathering + No school the next day (because it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day) = Cousin sleepover and playing all day! Cousins are the best!  

Making Brownies with Dad

We were hosting the Wrights at our house for our monthly Sunday gathering.  Adam decided to make brownies and serve them with ice cream.  The kids helped him make two separate batches of brownies from boxes and one double batch of brownies from scratch.  The brownies turned out great and there were plenty.  The only problem was we were out of ice cream.  A few phone calls to Adam's family and everyone who had ice cream brought it with them.  Dessert was saved.