Saturday with cousins

We had a fun day with cousins over this weekend. The girls played together and had a "spa day", meaning that I put masks on them while they giggled, then we painted our nails and listened to girly music.

While we were busy upstairs, all the boys were in the basement, working on carving little birds. All of the boys did a great job, but have more work to do to finish their birds.

 All the kids took breaks playing hide-and-seek, playing video games together, and eating lunch. We are so glad we live close to family again so days like these can happen!

Asher's First Temple Visit

Asher might look upset in these pictures, but he is just extremely sensitive to the sun and squints his eyes whenever he has to face toward it. He tried really hard to look up and open his eyes for the pictures, but none of them turned out very well. We had a pleasant time taking Asher to the temple for the first time and were able to do baptisms some of our family members that have passed away.

 

Sledding

 

We went sledding with cousins after school and everyone had a great time. We brought Torben along too and he had a great time chasing the sledders down the hill, snuffling around, and catching snowballs that Ben threw for him. We only lasted about an hour before everyone was freezing, but it was a very fun time.

And here is a bonus picture of the snowman Heidi made the other day.

Austin's birthday

Austin turned 40 this year! His birthday wasn't very exciting, but the kids still had fun celebrating him. He decided to go into the office, so he wasn't home for breakfast, but he still requested that we have chocolate waffles without him. It threw off our school day a bit because they take quite awhile to make and I wasn't planning on it until he called me on the way to work and asked me to keep up the tradition. The kids were delighted and were good helpers to get them ready. 

In the evening, we had honey chicken, rice, and his favorite root beer, then had brownies. His dad was already at our house in the afternoon teaching the older boys science class, so he stayed and ate with us.

As you can see the kids (particularly Leif) love making silly faces in photos, and I have no idea why Trevor isn't wearing a shirt (and Natalie's is backward).

Snow Day

 

We got about 6 inches of snow over night and the kids were so excited to get up and play in the snow as soon as they woke up. The older boys helped me shovel the driveway and sidewalk and even did a little of the neighbor's driveway, but got exhausted after a bit because the snow was very heavy. This also mean that it was good packing snow, perfect for making snow forts. Because of the snow I only took Torben on a short walk, so we let him frolic around while we were shoveling and the kids were playing. He loves snow and he loves his family, so he had a great time.

Here is Leif in his snow fort. Trevor also made one, but not as deep. We were glad that Austin didn't have to go to seminary because it was cancelled along with the public schools and he also worked from home rather than driving into work. We had a more relaxed day of school, but we still worked on our most important subjects like math, writing, and history.

The Little Mermaid Ballet

 

Heidi danced in her first ballet production this week. She was a fish in the Little Mermaid and danced to the song "Under the Sea"- a dance she has been practicing with her class since September. She got the full experience from wearing stage makeup (she thought she looked like a clown and didn't like how she careful she had to be about touching her eyes), running through hours of dress rehearsals in the morning, then dancing in two shows in the afternoon. Natalie and I went to the first show and I took the girls out to lunch between the rehearsals and the first show. We ended up at Rio Grande and Heidi said it is the best restaurant and she wants to go there again. All she got was nachos and rice off the kids menu, but she loved it. Natalie had fun too, but wasn't as thrilled as her sister.

I was hoping to get a picture of Heidi on stage even if it was after the show, but no videos or photography were allowed and all the kids were sent off stage after the final bow to get ready to get picked up in the back, so the only pictures I got were at the back of the building. She got a little break between shows then Austin took her back for the second show. He and Asher met his parents there and they all watched the second show. It was a long, but fun day for her.