School Week 21

 Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day so we had the day off school. My parents came down and spent a few hours with us. We visited, had lunch, played games, and Tessa and Damon read to Grandma and Grandpa. It was a really fun afternoon!

The kids' school did their STEAM Night a little differently this year. 

They had grab and go packets that the kids could choose from. We bought a can of silly string for each of the kids so they could spray Mr LaBare. They thought that was awesome!

The kids have had fun making the projects at home.

Paul had done a ton of real estate this week. He got two clients under contract, and is working on one more as I'm writing this. The Murphy Barth Team along with Josh, their preferred lender, hosted a First-Time Home Buyers conference Thursday night. They had a great turn out and helped a lot of potential clients understand what to do to prepare themselves for their first home purchase. 

Al invited our kids over to play on Saturday. They thought that was the best thing ever! She even fed them dinner, and then brought them home. Wyatt and Hallee came along and they got to keep playing while Al, Keith, Paul and I ate dinner and sat in the hot tub. It was a fun evening! Al said that Rockwell and Wyatt played with the marble roll for hours.

School Week 20

 We went to the Water Gardens and saw The Croods 2 again this week.

We bought a shelving unit for each of the kids' bedrooms and did a major cleaning of their rooms this week. The kids loved helping to build the shelves. When Damon was hammering in the nails he said, "I was made for this!!" :)

There was a grand opening of a Swig in American Fork on Friday. We drove out there that night and got free drinks and cookies. There was a DJ and a prize wheel you could spin, and we won a $20 gift card! That's my kind of night!

Paul and I played the Exit game that Gary & Julie gave us for Christmas. It's essentially an escape room that you can play at home.

It was really challenging. We didn't come close to finishing in one hour! :) But it was good to use my brain, and we laughed a ton while playing it. It was a fun date night at home!

School Week 19

 We got some snow on Sunday, and Tessa made a cute little snowman.

Paul painted and installed a barn door in our bedroom. It's just been an open doorway between our room and our bathroom, and so the light would shine right on the bed when Paul wakes up early or I am out late at night. It's been nice to have it installed, and I love the way it looks.

Katie and Al came over one day this week, and the kids were so excited that Kenzie and Boston were here when they got home from school.

We tried a couple new foods this week. Paul made vareniki, which was one of his favorite dishes in Ukraine.

I made acai bowls, which we loved when we were in Kauai. The whole family thought they were both delicious!

Tessa joined the 100's Club by reading 100 books this school year. She had some requirements for reading poetry books, books about historical people and places, etc. and then was able to choose the rest of the books she read. She got a certificate, a trophy, and a soda. We're very proud of her accomplishing this goal, and so happy that she loves to read!

We tried to hike to Battle Creek Falls on Saturday.

The kids were excited to see a frozen waterfall, but sadly we were only able to make it to the bridge. After that, the trail was pure ice.

We stopped to watch the river from the bridge, and it was beautiful to see the water flowing underneath ice. 

Paul tested out the trail beyond the bridge, but when he came sliding back down, he said we weren't going to be able to make it up any higher. :) The kids wanted to slide down like Dad did.

There was a great place to slide down further down the trail, and so we stopped there and slid over and over again. It was really fun!

It was so slick to get up. I think Paul was hoping to get a picture of me falling as payback for the one I got of him on the last hike. Ha! I had to hold on to the roots to pull myself up the hill.

When we got home Paul made a fire with the Magic Flames that he got for Christmas. It was cool to see the flames change colors. We had some hot chocolate and just hung out by the fire. It was such a fun day!

Christmas Break Week 2

 We had fun with the new games and toys we got for Christmas this week.

The kids have loved the game Find & Seek. Rockwell thought some of the things Paul found were hilarious! He was laughing so hard when Paul brought a picture of Barney for the word Creepy.

Wyatt and Hallee came and played on Wednesday afternoon. Rockwell had 3 baby teeth pulled at the dentist that morning, and so he refused to smile in a picture because he doesn't like the gaps he has now. He said he's happy that he will wear a mask when he goes back to school.

Matt, Marissa, and Baby Asher came over for dinner that night. We weren't able to go to Red Lobster for endless shrimp this fall, and so Paul decided to make coconut shrimp and Red Lobster biscuits for dinner. Everything took way longer than expected, and it was one of those nights where everything seemed to go wrong. Luckily the kids had a blast playing with Asher and Matt & Marisa, but sadly Paul and I didn't get a ton of time to visit with them. The only picture I took was of the shrimp. :(

Marmie stopped by to drop off a Christmas gift for us. She had a Covid scare herself and so she didn't come in or anything. We have all loved the game she gave us though. I can't even count how many times we've played it.

We got a little bit of snow one day and so the kids went out and used all that they could collect to make snowballs.

On New Years Eve we spent the day at home playing games. We got Costa Vida for dinner, and Grandma Clark gave us her login info so we could watch another Juanito Bandito play. It was a great day!

On Saturday we drove out to Midway and went to the Ice Castles.

It is so impressive what they can make with the ice!

The slide was everyone's favorite part. 

Damon thought it was pretty cool that the snowballs would stick to his gloves. :)

It was fun to see all the tunnels and different designs they have made.

It was fun to get out and do something new and I'm glad we saw the Ice Castles. It will probably be a one-time thing, but they're really cool to see once. 

After the Ice Castles we went to my parents' house for pizza and games. Caleb was in town on his way back to college, and we all wanted to see EJ one more time before he went back to Colorado. It was a really fun night of visiting and games. It's so nice that the kids are at ages where they play with their cousins, and Paul and I can actually sit down and play games again.