February 2023

This February was full of surprises. Some made us smile and some made us cry and some made us shovel a lot. Brad's oldest brother known as Uncle Dave to us all passed away in Germany. Dad Dennis was able to bring him home and our Dennis family gathered for a beautiful funeral service. Brad wrote a beautiful tribute and eulogy for his brother and sang Black Bird for him. Now whenever we hear that song we will think of Uncle Dave. Funerals are also family reunions so it was great to see everyone, Carter especially loved spending time with Uncle Cam and enjoyed all the ice cream he gave him. We had a lovely Valentines day and surprised the boys with fancy sodas we found at a fun soda shop. We ate chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast and mama once again helped with the valentines party at Jefferson's school. February brought some cold snowy days, including the storm of the year- giving us 2 distance days and a mountain of snow in our yard. But we enjoyed February with lots of play dates, meeting with our Lego club friends, puzzling, and playing at the museum. We got outside and played in the snow quite a few times and enjoyed sledding, making a tunnel in the snow mountain, and Jefferson even tried skiing for the first time (Thanks Uncle Josh and Aunt Mary). We are almost finished with the 2nd Harry Potter book and Jefferson soaks up every word. Carter still has a fascination with bad guys, what he wants for his bday, and what he is going to be for Halloween. And Brad and I are giving each other high 5s because Carter has been having lots of potty success and earned his second big potty reward. Carter has also been doing swim lessons and has made great progress with his comfort level getting his head wet and he and Jefferson love playing together in the pool after. I had an amazing 40th bday weekend celebration, the old spaghetti factory dinner (now Jefferson's favorite), a ski day with Brad, Keys on Main with friends, and brunch at the Grand America. I felt so loved and spoiled. Thank you to all my family and friends- ready to start my fantastic 40s.     

 

January 2023

Snowy January has kept us inside most days but cozy. We started the new year with a huge snowstorm and the boys loved helping Dada keep the driveway clear. Games have been our go to activity, though we have had some emotional Monopoly endings. Mary took the plunge and gave the boys hair cuts without any supervision- a little crazy but not terrible. Carter graduated from seeing the Orthopedist because of his hip click since birth. Carter resumed "mama school" and started making animals with the alphabet letters- and singing the sounds song "a is for alligator a a a". Brad and Mary had a ski date at Brighton, and this year Mary didn't fall once- Brad on the other hand had some nice spills. We started our neighborhood Lego Club and everyone loved it. Jefferson and Mama had a mother son date and Jefferson discovered he LOVES WaffleLove and telling mama all about his favorite books. Carter built his own airplane and discovered the joy of building with cups and having weekly playdates with friends. Jefferson decided he really likes coloring and practicing art while Mama reads Harry Potter.  Our Jefferson cousins celebrated Snowflake day with us- complete with making snowflakes and cookies. We checked out Icefest and saw an ice carving demonstration that amazed us all. We celebrated Chinese New Year- the year of the rabbit at our favorite Chinese restaurant. We had a cousin day at the museums and the kids especially loved baking Ruby Snaps cookies and tinkering with circuits at the space museum. Mary made January 2023 the month of experimenting with new recipes and learned how to make- Bang Bang Shrimp (can't find anywhere in Utah), The Best Pot Roast, Peruvian Papa Huancaina, and Mexican Mole. We had some twists and turns this month and felt the rug pulled out from us a few times but we are still standing and have made difficult choices that in the end have helped us feel more united and light and looking forward to the rest of 2023. Come what may and Love it!