February: Arches, Towers and 6 Year Olds

February is here! We haven't had a lot of snow this year, much to Henry's dismay. He is so disappointed because he really wanted to have snow every day and have it be like 3 feet deep. We did manage to fit a few fun snow things in at our house, but most of the time we had to head up the canyon to find enough snow to play in. One of my favorite things was when we made our redneck hot tubs out of our totes haha. The kids drank their hot chocolate in them and had so much fun! Truthfully, it was SO much work and they got cold as the water cooled off so I don't think I will ever do it again haha. It was not worth it. But they thought it was!

 Henry's birthday sneaked up on me! I feel like I am just trying to stay afloat, but there are so many things that I want to do. To start the day he wanted breakfast in bed, like a little old grandma haha. And he requested crepes! Then he opened some presents and played with them until his party!

For his birthday party we invited the Bartons and Jess and Aaron and Desi and Rick to go to a bounce place with us and then go back to the house to have cake and dinner, but they were at capacity so we ended up going to Coconut Cove. We didn't see them for most of the time, but we did get to play with Della for a little. Henry and Brayden were long gone haha.  The kids had a great time though and were really happy that we ended up there! Amelia is my little Covid baby and was just so overwhelmed by all the lights and sounds haha.

The dinner and cake was all race car themed, per Henry's request. He was so excited about the different food that we made, and even came up with the idea for the apple and grape cars himself!

Valentine's Day! For the kids this year it was understated. Remember me saying I felt overhwlemed with Henry's birthday? Well this is the next day haha. So we had a fun breakfast and Rusty had gotten them some gloves so we gave them to them for V Day. 

It was my year to plan Valentine's Day and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I have always wanted to go to the Melting Pot, and it was one of my 30 before 30 goals so it was perfect. Rusty loves cheese and chocolate, so it was a win all around haha! We left the kids with Jess and Aaron, it was Lia's first time, and then we went out for a fun date! Dinner was so much fun and so unique! It was delicious and so much fun to be able to just be out on a date with my husband! I love him!

Jess laid Lia down and just jangled her favorite teething toy above her the whole time haha

The older kids ate sooo much popcorn and watched Land Before Time

So fun story. One of my goals for this month was to go to Moab and climb Owl Rock and rappel from Looking Glass Arch. We planned to leave Friday afternoon and then we could have all of Saturday because we had to be home for Sunday because Rusty had meetings, which was a bummer because it made us have to hurry. Where it gets fun is that I got sick Thursday night, so we could have stayed home but then we really just wouldn't have time to get back there. So I decided to go even though I was sick. Friday night the kids went swimming with Rusty while I stayed on the side of the pool. They had a great time and I was happy to be out of the car! And I was feeling better.

Saturday morning comes and it is time to climb and summit Owl Rock! I was so excited to do this tower and stand on top of it like I was queen of the world. I was feeling pretty good so we decided to go for it. Aaron climbed it first, then Rusty, and then I was going to follow. As I started to climb, whatever was wrong with me kicked back in on full gear. I thought I was going to throw up, then I thought I was going to have diarrhea, and then I thought I would do both haha. For quite a bit of my climb I was seeing black and my head was spinning. I was throwing layers off like crazy because I thought I was on fire, and then I would be shivering and freezing cold. My hands and arms and legs were shaking and it was just a really rough go haha. There was a couple sitting at the bottom waiting their turn and I felt so bad and so embarrassed, but every time I thought about coming down Jessica and Rusty were like :KEEP GOING! JUST TAKE A BREAK!" So I pushed through and I thought I was going to die. But I did the final ascent and stood at the top. It would be so great if I remembered anything about it, but honestly I didn't even look around. 

As we were leaving Arches, we went right past Balanced Rock. The kids really wanted to go and see it but I was definitely needing to have a minute to just sit and calm down my body haha. So everyone else by Amelia and I went and looked at it and I got to stay in the car and relax a little bit. 

Then we went to the grocery store and got some food for lunch and I went to the bathroom. Then it was our next stop: Looking glass Arch. Luckily, I started to feel better by the time that we got over there. Then it was time to climb up the side of the arch. It was my first multi pitch I'd ever done, and I was starting to have some serious second doubts about this plan. Now I was feeling sick to my stomach but not in a real way... just in a nervous way haha. Why do I do these things to myself?! Anyways, as we were climbing up it was so scary and then it started snowing so I felt stressed about that. At the very end it was time to start the rappel and I was like ehhhh... nah. But it was too late haha! Rusty went first and then I went down, but for the first time my hair got stuck in the figure 8! That was a bit of a crisis, and I had to just rip out a bunch of my hair haha. After we got down safely, Jess and Aaron rigged a swing for the kids to do! Henry did it but cried the first time he was so scared, and Della did not want to do it at all. In the end, Henry did it a few times and actually enjoyed it! I was so proud of him! After the arch we got dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then saw some dino tracks on the way out of town. What  a crazy, and busy day haha. Yikes.

This month we have been keeping busy with forest school, swimming lessons, story times at the mall and our homeschool. I can't watch the swimming lessons because of Covid, but there was one time where they opened up the top and I got to watch! The kids are making so much progress. Della is more comfortable in the pool than Henry and I think that Henry's experience last summer when he was almost drowning has a huge role in that. So we're taking it easy and making baby steps with him. He doesn't fight going, but he struggles with floating on his back.

We go to story time every week and we love it! This month they did a fun one for Valentine's Day where we heard about Cupid.

His handwriting is getting so good, and his spelling is so great! He really is such a smart little cookie.

Snow fun! Rusty and the kids had a fun snow play date in the front yard while I stayed in with Lia one afternoon. They made some awesome snowmen!

One day we decided we wanted to do a family outing outside, and Rusty had seen a cool walking path by Utah Lake that was new to us. We decided to check it out! It was really cool, but about the time that we turned around it started snowing and it got sooooo cold! This is definitely somewhere that we want to revisit as the weather gets warmer.

I finally got around to taking pictures of Amelia in some of my clothes that I wore growing up. It is so fun to be able to pass these down to my babies and see them in them! I love it!

Adeline got this hair cutting set for Christmas and she just loves it. One night she got so excited and we spent the whole night with her doing my hair and make up. It was very beautiful haha.

Henry's Highlights

• I swear he teaches me about being soft hearted every day. He is the sweetest kid. One day he just gathered up some money and gave it to Della. His writing is going so well!

• He is six! I cannot believe that. He is growing up too fast. His favorite color is still dark brown (he always asks for that color when people ask him what color balloon he wants), he loves brownies, cars, and has recently gotten into coloring a lot. He wants to do a bunch of different things when he grows up and will not choose just one haha. He plans to change his job every day and rotate through them. He is handsome and growing up to be a fun kid to be around. I love him!
• This little exchange was hilarious

Adeline's Adventures

• One day I was trying to close my eyes while Lia was napping and she was so sweet and brought me this blanket and sang me a song and told me "goodnight"

• She loves all things girly. I got a beautiful set of three gold layered necklaces for Christmas, and before we had even left for Bear Lake she had hidden two of them so that she could wear them. I never did find one of them so I had to spend my special monthly money to get it again haha. I finally got them!

• She's been super into coloring lately. Markers especially. She colored me this picture and I think it will give me nightmares

Amelia's Updates

• My baby is 5 months old!

• She is working on sitting up! It is so funny to watch her sit up and then slowly tip over, like in slow motion
• She rolled over! February 4
• We stopped swaddling this little lady! She did great with it and only took a few days to get the hang of it. She is still waking up every 2 hours and I think I'm going to die soon haha

• Towards the end of the month, Amelia started eating solid food! She started with banana. We tried the mashed banana that I gave her with a spoon, and a chunk of banana that follows the baby led weaning path. She MUCH preferred the chunk that she could hold herself. 

Extra Pictures

He wanted to carry this giant stick home haha

Groundhog day!

One day we surprised Rusty with a snowball fight inside. The kids and I were hiding with cotton balls and white pom poms throughout the house, and he walked in to find some pom poms and some of his favorite screamo music blasting haha. Date nights are hard these days but I hope Rusty knows he is important to me!

I made sourdough bread!