Baby, it's cold outside (January)

Monica is so great at taking pictures of Ryan with the kids.  She has so many and they are awesome.  I am trying to take more pictures of Blake, even though he hates it and usually doesn't look too happy about it.  Blake was reading scriptures to the kids one day.

Blake took William and I to a great restaurant that is super expensive for dinner and regular priced for lunch. It was delicious and fancy.  It was fun to go out with them.

I got these curtains two years ago and they happen to go perfectly with our house.  Blake hung up a bunch of curtain rods we had sitting around forever.  It makes the room so cozy and hides the brown blinds that I kind of don't love.

William loves to get into the oats and drive his trains through them.  This was after part of it had been cleaned up.  I really don't mind. It's an easy clean up and it keeps him happy.  Besides he is a good cleaner.

We took the kids out of school 20 minutes early one day to go see the new Star Wars in comfy seats.  It was so worth it.  I won't ever go to another theatre! The kids were all grumpy about our "surprise".  Hailey was mad because she was missing Iowa history and Brooke was mad because she was missing music.  They stopped complaining once they figured it out!

I refused to let the winter weather destroy me this year.  We went on a winter walk on early out one day. It was beautiful outside.  The kids pretended they were animals and it was great to get some fresh air.

Upside down but not bad.

Blake was working on making us a bed and had a bunch of tools in the dining room so we ate on the kitchen floor for a few weeks. It was a quick clean up but it was nice to get back to the table when he was done.  We even had to eat in the front room when the missionaries came for dinner.  The bed looks awesome though and it's almost done.

I feel like half of these pictures are of William asleep but seriously, this kid and his sleeping. I have never had a kid with such poor sleep habits.  He woke up one morning at 4 am wide awake.  By 9, we were both through with each other so we both went to bed in his bed.

Whenever I have to do something I really don't like (like mountains of laundry), I watch the food network. It makes it more fun.

William got his cardio in for the day by running all the clothes to the different rooms. He thought it was a great game. So did I!

Our friend, Karen Tidwell, took pictures of our family as a birthday gift for me.  I love how they turned out but the kids were playing with my jump drive and now I can't find them! So, I need to get them again and send them out to grandparents and print them off.

Got the wedding dress out one night while I was going through clothes in the closet.  The girls love when it comes out.  And I even fit into it too.

Some of Brooke's favorite things: frogs and shorts. I think she's trying to bring back the 80's?

Hailey and Maple.  The guinea pigs have adjusted really well and now share a cage.  They snuggle together and it's pretty cute though I am not an animal lover.  Now if only I could figure out how to cut their nails!

Another crazy temperature, -33 degrees. I am happy to say we are acclimatized and feel pretty normal with this kind of weather.  We just get out more games and house projects.  Though I am excited beyond excited for spring.

Spencer came up to me one night while I made dinner and told me why he would make a great President of the United States.  He would have all the criminals leave the country.  He would make it so people would need to dress modestly.  He would take all the alcohol and drugs away. He would make the country a better place.I would vote for him.  This is his best presidential face.

These two are either playing nicely or fighting like crazy! Either way they are pretty funny.

Spencer is the owner of all these puppies.  Pretty awesome.

The underwear crew.  Yes, they are clean.  And I found piles of underwear around the house after this!

Kid sandwich

First time I played pie face.

I went to wake up Brooke one morning and she looked so precious sleeping there that I just laid by her for a little while.  She is a busy girl and doesn't love snuggling much so I will take what I can get.  Her eyelashes and freckles and her cute button nose. Just a sweetheart.