The Pollard Place: January: Boys Trip, River Otters, and Random Trips

We celebrated New Year in Bear Lake. We stayed up for a little bit, but not very long haha. We are all tired and Lia is not sleeping well here. For one of our activities we went around and said a fun goal we were going to work on in the new year. The adults said things like riding my bike more, doing a triathlon sprint, etc. Then it was Henry's turn and he said, "I'm going to try to not be scared to play with people that look different than me, like that have dark skin." As a family we have been spending a lot of time talking about racism and prejudice, so I wasn't surprised by this but it was definitely very sweet and impressive and also something that I was like well.... okay then. Haha. This boy and his sweet heart. Rusty and Dad went snowmobiling together one afternoon, and we also finished our 1,000 piece puzzle! Woo hoo!

There was one particular day that Rusty was feeling stressed with work, so the kids and I decided to give him a “Daddy Relaxing Day”. They got to come up with ideas, so they drew him pictures, read him a story, and put cold cucumbers on his eyes while they rubbed his arms. It was so cute!

Nature School and home school are still going strong! We love getting outside even in these winter months and enjoying the activities that are available! This year Henry has really taken to sledding! He LOVES it! Della constantly wants to build a snowman.

This was Lia's first time sledding! Henry was so proud that he got to take her

Henry is making huge strides in his school work! He is doing so well with writing and reading, but his strongest subject is Math. He reads so well though that it is close!

We are still doing the story times at the mall and the kids love it, and honestly so do I. I think it is adorable and so fun for them, and they do such a great job! Della loved meeting Anna and Elsa but was too scared to take a picture with them.

The kids wanted to bring their bow and arrows to meet Mulan!

Rusty got to go on a brother's trip to Colorado in January. They met at the cabin and went snowboarding, met up with Kandi, and played a four hour game of Risk haha. I'm glad they got to get together!

While he was gone, I hate being alone at night with the kids so we went to Morgan for a few days. We did some fun things like seeing the Ice Castles in Midway and seeing the Aquarium in Ogden. I had never been to that aquarium, and although it is much smaller than the one in Draper it has some pretty amazing interacting opportunities! I had no idea, and it was so much better than I thought it would be. Henry, Della and I got to feed some river otters and they were so cute! They would stick their hands out and give you a little high five and I just loved it. So did the kids haha. We also got to put our hands into the water and have those fish eat the dead skin off of your hands and my kids still talk about it (I'm writing this in April). We also went into a little room and had these birds fly all around us and land on our hands to eat seeds from us. It was really cool!

At the cabin we set up these tents and made a city that the kids LOVED. They played in those tents for hours and had a great time. Della is in this weird phase where she carries her Book of Mormon around with her everywhere. And then at the end of the month she had it in a laundry basket with her and she peed, so it ruined the book. She was pretty devastated.

Her hoop skirt was not made for laying on her tummy haha

The Ice Castles were really fun too! It had been a few years since I had visited there and we had a great time together there. I can't believe how beautiful it is! It was FREEZING cold but we still had a great time.

I gave Rusty his one ice skating adventure for the year haha. We went to Herriman where they have a cool outdoor ice rink that goes around in a ring. The Bartons met us there and I remembered how much I hate ice skating haha. But everyone had fun and then we went and got dinner at Cubby's.

One of my 30 before 30 goals was to go on a road trip with no plans. This is so not what I do ever, which is exactly the reason I wanted to go. Jessica came and picked me and Lia up one evening and we went to Wal Mart to get snacks and then rolled the dice to decide if we were going North or South on the free way. Then I picked a number between 1-150 and that's how many miles we drove. That exit ended up being in the middle of nowhere with just a gas station and a Subway haha. From there we decided to go to Capitol Reef because it was the only thing over there, and I was so happy about that! At the gas station I called and made a reservation at a hotel to make sure we wouldn't be driving around without somewhere to sleep with my sweet Lia in the car with us. We checked in to the hotel that night and planned some things out before we went to bed!

The next day we ate some leftover food for breakfast and then started our day by stopping to see some petroglyphs before starting our first hike: Hickman Bridge. I love being out hiking, and with only having Lia we could go at a good pace. It was so peaceful and we only saw two other people on the whole hike. The arch is beautiful at the end!

Our next hike was to the Rim Overlook. This one had really gorgeous views at the end!

These looked like the trolls from Frozen!

After this we were pretty tired and we went back to the hotel and got some pizza from a place that was on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives. They do Curry Pizzas. It was pretty yum!

Day 3 we got up and got breakfast from this little cafe place that I STILL think about. I don't know why it was so yummy, but it was. They also had Native American artifacts for sale so I bought the kids dream catchers because Henry has been asking for one for a while. Then after breakfast we headed out to hike Old Wagon Road Trail, but first we stopped at Goosenecks Overlook. It gave us some great views! This was cool because it went through pinyon pines and junipers and was just really beautiful.

Then we hiked Cassidy's Arch. It started snowing on us while we were out! But we made it to the arch and then started home! It was a great weekend. Who knew that Capitol Reef was so fun!? And who knew that we would end up there?!

I'm so grateful to Rusty for watching the kids so i could go with jess! They built a fort and I told them to keep it so I could see it when I got back. Then I realized that it was just a giant mess and I didn't want to see it at all haha. Like. Look at that chair. What is it even doing.

Amelia is four months old! We love our sweet Lia and find so much joy in her smiles and squeaky laughs!

Rusty went to Key West for work and had a great time learning and growing. He is doing so much good!

Henry's Highlights

He was talking about a wiener dog and called it a penis dog hahaha
The song 500 miles came on and I told him that I would walk a million miles for him because I love him so much. I would do anything for him. He said, "You want to know how many I would walk for you? 5." I laughed and said that wasn't that much and he said, "But I have little legs! Ok, I'll walk 100 miles but I would have to take breaks."
Then Henry told me that he would protect me from any animals and showed me his punches. Then he said, "This is an uppercut. Aaron showed me." Hahah what?!

Adeline's Adventures

She is still my mother all of the time. She mostly just says "honey" all day long haha
She told Rusty that she wanted something and he could not understand her at all, which is not very common anymore. So she said, "Say it with me" and just said it slower haha
Della is very into fashion. When we go out in the cold and she only wants a dress on I tell her she needs to wear pants under it, and she gets so upset because that won't look good. She dresses herself every day. Like 5 different outfits every day.
She told me she wanted crab boobs like a mermaid
One day she told me that she had a little Corona Virus in her "pangina" (vagina) haha. WHAT? Then she told me that there was a crab in there. And that she had two panginas. Yikes.

Amelia's Updates

She gives the biggest smiles.
First time in a swing on Jan 5!

She doesn't laugh too often, I have to work really hard to get one unless she is tired and punchy. Rusty can get them pretty easily. But she smiles a lot!
Lia does this smile where she puts her chin down on her neck and looks up at you. It is so nerdy and hilarious and I love it
She has become super flirty and loves attention from people

Extra Pictures