February

Hunter has informed us that his new favorite thing is coloring & drawing & painting.  Dallen is right there with him most of the time.

Nana stayed a week after Hyrum's baptism.  We didn't really do anything that wasn't in our normal schedule but we did finally visit the Seaside aquarium.  As always the octopus is my favorite part of any aquarium.

I guess it is supposed to never ever snow on the coast but we were hit the second time in February!  I loved it.  The house was freezing cold because our ancient heater couldn't keep up but that led to fun sleepovers in the living room with the fire going.  I spent about an hour getting all the kids gear together & on them & we went to sled with some friends.  We lasted about 20ish minutes. My kids need to work on enduring the cold around here :)

Indoor bed hopping Olympics

Hyrum successfully put together all of his Ninjago sets

Pink day at our Mommy preschool!  I thought Justy actually looked pretty good in bright pink.

Valentine's Day!

Emma got a cat swim cap for her abundant hair but Dallen thinks it's "MY KITTY!!!!"

The elk (& their droppings) are often found in our yard or close to it

I don't know what everyone whines about with the weather here.  It has hardly rained at all!  Every week for the entire 8.5 months we've lived here we've been able to play outside.  That's what I'm talking about!

Hyrum has taken to scouting pretty well.  Finished his Bobcat thing in one day & is going strong with his wolf.  This is totally new territory for me!  I wish I had paid attention when my brothers were doing all this stuff.

Kid Olympics with friends- so fun

The day before his birthday Dallen tripped outside & landed on his right eyebrow on the wooden corner of our front porch.  I kind of freaked out.  Luckily despite the gushing blood everywhere it wasn't too bad of a cut & no stitches required just an awesome bandaid for about a week.  He was amazing at urgent care.  So happy.  Love this boy!

  

It's Great Being 8!

 

 

Pre Baptism photo shoot baby!

The day before his baptism & birthday celebration we had Hyrum's first ever scouting activity-duh duh duh the Pinewood derby race.  I have to be honest I really just don't get it.  BUT that being said we embraced it & Hyrum came prepared to race his car.  He didn't win any of the races but he was a great sport & had a good time.  We were lucky to have both sets of grandparents with us!

 

 

 

Present opening after a banana pancake breakfast.  We got him an extremely intense Lego set that has taken over a week to complete & his own set of scriptures with a case & crayons for marking.  He's started on his second round of reading the Book of Mormon by himself & told me the other day he wants to read the Bible next.  I think we'll have him start with the New Testament :)  Nana & Poppie gave him some awesome Transformers & a baptism book.  Darlin & Pa gave him socks of course, a book of stories to build faith & a book that's all about the Harry Potter movies.  He has been poring over it ever since.  Hava made him a Gryffindor blanket that she designed & made herself.  He loves it to say the least & curls up in it while reading or sleeping.  Thanks everyone!

 

This was the best picture we could get of the family all together

So grateful these four could drive & fly to be here on his special day.

I feel bad we didn't get a picture of Brigg & Hava & boys with Hyrum but we're so grateful they could all come too.  Brigg was scheduled to work & at the last minute didn't have to go in after all.  Hyrum really wanted him to come so it was a little miracle to us.

Here is Hyrum's program that we typed up.  We let Hyrum pick who was going to do what & all the grown ups from our families had a special job to do.  I have been to lots & lots of baptisms in my life but there was something extra special & a bit surreal to see my husband baptizing our oldest child.  I am truly proud of the boy he is & I can see the kind of man he can become & I am so grateful I get to be his Mom.  I went through all of his pictures & made a photo montage set to Primary songs that showed him from baby to today.  I'm glad I watched it beforehand a couple times so I didn't cry there.  We felt a lot of support from our ward family here too - lots of people came to be there for Hyrum.

Love that Pa

After the baptism, eating lunch & chatting with friends at the church we went home for naps for the youngest two kids.  I had another request for mousse cake & was happy to oblige.  It was hard to pry the birthday boy away from his Lego set but all that chocolate was just enough to convince him to take a break.

We sang to Luke too - he turned 3 earlier in the week

We let Hyrum pick the activities for the rest of the day.  It took him a while to decide between swimming or bowling & I must say I'm sooooo glad he chose the latter.

Dallen didn't actually bowl but he did wear those shoes with style

Nana time

Hunter's friend Vincent-look at those cheeks!  It's those cheeks that get me thinking we should have another baby....and then I come to my senses of course =)

And here are the world famous bowlers in no particular order...

Hava

Poppie

Luke

Me

Uncle Lu

Daddy

Birthday boy

Pa

Emma Lou

Justy

Darlin'

Hunterbug

Justin & Hyrum both scored over 100 & beat their old Momma.  My goal remains to break 100 myself.  It's got to happen sometime right??  I scored a 98 the other day-so close!  We took up 3 lanes & it still took about an hour & a half for us to bowl one game.  It was awesome.  Then we finished the celebration off with dinner at Himani Indian Cuisine.  Yum.

And here is a picture of the final Lego product.  Way cool.

We're so proud of Hyrum for being such a great example to his siblings & to us.  He continues to be our avid reader devouring books as he goes along each day.  A couple of months ago he told me "I wish I had two lives. One for just reading & another one for all the other stuff."  I was basically speechless for like two full minutes.  It was like he verbalized perfectly & concisely how I feel about life too.  I just loved it.  This kid is amazingly creative with words & jokes & drawings & building things etc.  I love to see him use that side.  He started taking piano lessons a month ago & has really taken to it & enjoys it so far.  Hope it lasts!  He is doing well in school & loves to learn especially about animals & the world & maybe less in math :)  He is really improving with his swimming too.  He's inquisitive, perfectionistic, thougtful, detailed & mischievous all in one.  We love you Bud!!