Around Our House

Paul took a day off work a couple weeks ago, and Damon tagged along with him while he did some errands. They also played Nerf guns in the basement. He absolutely loved that one-on-one time with Dad!

Tessa and I spend a lot of time reading every day. She is doing awesome with her reading, because she's putting in the hard work to learn something new. I'm very proud of her and love to watch her progress.

Tessa and I were sick this past week, and it was a perfect storm week for Paul where he really wasn't home all week because of work, his calling, and real estate. My boys sure take good care of me when Paul's not around. Rockwell came home from school and did his usual routine. I wanted him to take a shower that day, so I went upstairs to ask him to take one. The shower was running and Rockwell was about to get in. I told him I was just coming up to ask him to take a shower, and he said, "I figured you wanted me to since I didn't yesterday. I'm trying to be on my very best behavior because I can tell you don't feel good." Damon was so sweet that night. I had put a show on for the kids, and was resting in the recliner. Damon came and sat with me and put his arm around me. I loved it! 

Paul was absolutely exhausted on the few sightings we had of him that week. But he spent any time he could paying attention to the kids. He really is an amazing father.

We had Cade and Emilie and their friends over for a Superbowl party. Paul and Emilie tried making their Grandpa Carmona's recipe for tortillas. They weren't very happy with how they were turning out and decided to just toss them. Paul tried again the next week, and was much happier with them. I sure thought they were delicious!

Paul was wrestling with Tessa and Damon the other day. Tessa accidentally punched Paul in the mouth, and when Paul told her she had done that, she said, "Ha! I gave you a knuckle sandwich!"

Paul and I went and did some family sealings at the Mount Timpanogos Temple with my parents, Al, Keith, and Kyle. We went and got yogurt and churros afterward. It was a fun afternoon.

My sisters and I took my mom out to dinner for her birthday last week. We went to El Pollo Loco, talked and laughed about how hard it is to raise teenagers, and then went to her house to play games. I'm glad we could spend a night celebrating her. She definitely deserves it!

My dad was so sweet, and had Valentine's chocolates for each of his daughters waiting at the house. 

We celebrated the February birthdays with the Ham Fam. Rockwell loved his gifts. You can see his tongue out as he pulls out all of his bags of popcorn. :)

Rockwell's 9th Birthday

Rockwell turned 9 yesterday!! 

This past year has gone by so fast. I swear he was just turning 8 and getting baptized. But somehow, he's 9 years old now. 

Rockwell is such a reasonable child. His friend Flynn went home sick from school on the day of his birthday party, so we assumed he wouldn't make it to the party. Rockwell asked if he could invite a couple of other friends in his place, but I didn't think that would work on such late notice for a couple of reasons. When I told him no about inviting anyone else, he just said, "That's fine. At least my besties will be there." I have always loved that I can talk logically with Rockwell and he responds just as logically.

Rockwell is a very hard worker. The bigger the project, the more he loves it. He genuinely loves physical labor. He was such a help when we redid our landscape this past summer. When we would call it a night and head inside, he'd tell us how good it felt to work hard all day. I have never had to ask him to do his homework. He comes home, gets all his stuff put neatly away, washes his hands, and starts on his homework and reading. 

Rockwell is a great brother. Tessa and Damon both love him so much and think he is the coolest. He patiently teaches them both how to do things. He will always read books to Damon, which Damon loves. Tessa loves it when he makes up games for them to play together. He likes to check on Damon when he goes into bed, and cover him up if his blankets have come off at all. They have a great big brother to look up to!

Rockwell loves to make up jokes and think of crazy things that could never happen. He has a great laugh, and loves to watch America's Funniest Videos and epic fail videos on you tube. He loves playing soccer and basketball, playing video games, anything Pokemon, and playing with friends.

We are so blessed to have Rockwell in our family! We love him and are so proud of the boy he chooses to be.

Rockwell wanted to have his friend birthday party at Hang Time again this year. Luckily it was a false alarm, and Flynn was able to come to the party after all. He and Wyatt came to our house and we opened presents before going over to Hang Time. 

They both gave him Pokemon, which he was thrilled with!

Traffic was crazy, so Boston met us at Hang Time. They all had a blast jumping and running constantly for an hour and a half.

We had a great day celebrating Rockwell as a family on Saturday.

He got plenty of time to play his new video game, open his presents, play with the new toys, and watch old family movies from when he was much younger. 

He chose Texas Roadhouse for dinner, and didn't mind the long wait to be seated at all. He got to sit right by the bin of peanuts in the waiting room, which is his favorite part about the restaurant.

Some nice person anonymously sent a couple desserts over to our table. Rockwell had his heart set on the brownies and ice cream waiting at home though, so he chose not to eat any at the restaurant. He enjoyed his treat later that night in the comfort of his Pokemon jammies. :)

Happy birthday Rockwell!!

Fun Stuff

I took the kids sledding again the day after the last snow storm. The hill was complete ice. It was so hard to walk up the hill without falling. But man, we could fly down fast and far!

I had fun going down with each of the kids.

Tessa wore her cheetah shirt and cheetah coat the other day, and said she really wished she had cheetah pants too. The next day I was at walmart, and they had cheetah pants on clearance for $1! She was so excited to be a full cheetah. :)

Paul and I went to Social Axe Throwing for a date last weekend. It was so fun!! We both really enjoyed it. 

They have a coach that teaches you how to throw, and then gives you games to play. I won the first one, where you had to be the first one to spell Social Axe.

And Paul won the next two games. One was similar to darts, and the other one was moving across the target hitting certain places in a certain order.

It definitely took some learning and practice to get the hang of it. The coaches were super helpful, and we got better and better as the night went on.

The kids' school had a Family Night this week. They got to make led jewelry, paper airplanes, constellations with food, and we read books in the library. It was a lot of fun.

The kindergarteners celebrated being 100 days smarter by dressing up like Smartie Pants.