Who Says January is Boring?

Sometimes I have a bad attitude when it comes to January. It is a very looooong month right after the excitement of the holidays and sometimes it seems to drag on forever....

However, this January flew right by and we were as busy as ever!

The second weekend we headed up to Salt Lake to attend an awards luncheon for our oldest.

He and a classmate placed fifth in the statewide Stock Market Game. Each team is given a hypothetical $100,000 to invest over a ten week period. It was a fun learning experience.


Our daughter spent several Fridays at friend's houses for late nights.

She may not have any sisters, but she doesn't lack any girl bonding time!

What do 9 and 10 year-olds do at late nights?

Apparently blind-folded lipstick- application tops their list!

January has been unseasonably warm...hence I have switched running from 5:00am to noon. Check out the tan line I've gotten in just a few weeks!! Yep, just my hands are tan! (it's hard to take a picture of your own hand!)

January has also been a season of growth for us! We have a tracking wall in our kitchen and our kids are sprouting!

Especially our older two boys who have grown 3 and 3 and 1/2 inches in just four months. Our oldest is exactly the same height as his Dad...and dang proud: 6 feet 1 and 3/4 inches! Our second oldest is shooting up even faster!

In January, our daughter participated in 3 dance performances in just 2 weeks!

Her dance team has perfected their routines and looks forward to several competitions in the next 3 months.

The most looked-forward-to event of January happened on the third weekend: the State Junior Olympic Championships.

This year the boys encountered some serious opposition at the small-bore match. Not from competition, but from the match host. I don't have anything good to say about him, so I will keep my mouth shut.

However, I will say that I am proud of my boys and my husband and I'm grateful for the learning experience that they had together.

Despite a rough competition this year, our Junior Rifle Club came away with a lot of hardware! Congratulations to a great group of shooters!

We Love Our Handyman!

I love my Dad! Whenever he is here he always asks me if there is anything he can do around the house.

Not that he's bored or anything...it's his way of showing me he loves me. And I sure do love and appreciate all that he does.

After finding out that we did have a couple of projects that needed attention, he jumped right in! Our dishwasher has been on it's last leg for many months and while he was here, my Dad laid our old one to rest and installed a brand new one. (Yes, my dishes are sparkling now!)



I loved that he involved the kids. They will have good memories of working with Grandpa.

Grandpa quizzed them on electrical, plumbing, and righty-tighty lefty-loosy!

The dishwasher was a breeze and in about an hour it was up and going. The next project initially seemed like a cinch, but it turned into a 2-day project!

Not a very glamorous place to spend 2 days, but my Dad can conquer anything...be it the wrong size plumbing, or an uneven floor, he will succeed! Thank you Dad!! We love our new dishwasher/toilet!!

Emily's Baptism

The first weekend of January was a lot of fun!

We headed down to Cedar City for my niece's baptism.

It was a beautiful morning and we were so excited to be there with our family. Our Star War's fan turns eight in April, so he watched very closely since it will be his turn soon.

Afterward we went to my sister's house for lunch and a birthday party!

Her birthday was just a couple of days earlier, but they held off celebrating it so they could have her party on the same day as her baptism.

She blew out all her candles...

and opened a big pile of presents.

The kids had fun outside...

and some girl fun inside!

Displaying their artwork!

Our youngest was pleased to find some cool girl toys.

We sure do love our Cedar City cousins!

On the way home we were treated to a beautiful sunset. A wonderful end to a fabulous day!

Intro to Music

The second day of January my parents arrived from Oregon. They were on a multi-purpose trip to take wedding pictures/attend a granddaughter's baptism/and pick up my Grandma for the winter. We were really excited for them to arrive...

because my mom promised the kids she would give them each their very first piano lesson.

I am so grateful to have a piano in our home!

My mom lovingly spent several hours at the piano introducing each of our children to the world of music.

She even taught them Great-grandpa Pingree's warm-up exercises. I spent hours listening to my Grandpa play the piano and I used to listen in on the hundreds of lessons he taught day after day his whole life. I love the legacy that he left!

A couple of lessons were given right before bedtime.

Thank you Grandma!!!

Our youngest feels so special because Grandma taught him how to play the Star Wars theme song.

Great-Grandma Pingree was there to tell her great-grandkids that she wants them all to learn how to play.

Our oldest was delighted that he got a guitar for Christmas. It is a treasure to him.

He especially loved the time Grandpa spent with him showing him the world of guitar. He is loving the guitar and is really enjoying this semester at school as he is taking intro to guitar.