2015 year in review!

January:

Sledding in a winter wonderland. The car died shortly after this so it was good thing we got pictures!This was also a month of new goals and the awesome time Kayden sent my point and shoot camera on a swim in grandpa's fish tank!

Febuary:

Valentines day 2015, AND I got my camera! We also got a double jogging stroller for me!

March:

We had a vacation, in march we went to Utah! Also I took Jessica and Todd's engagement pictures. Spring break also! This was also the month we bought the Mercury Sable from Grandpa Durrant. The timing was a tender mercy! We celebrated St Patricks day a made a new tradition, Eli brought a party to preschool (it was his first time and my first time begin one of those cool moms).

April:

On the 1st my sweet Eli turned 4! Also we hosted a bridal shower for Jessica, and BIG highlight
Sun Valley! We LOVE going to sun valley each spring. Favorite activity and tradition of us all!
 The month was busy as we Celebrated Easter, watched general conference, gardened, and cleaned up house (I refinished and sold a ton of furniture this month). We also bought the kids first ever matching suits!

May:

Wow! May was a busy, busy month! There are so many favorite things that happened, and big things! Mothers day, first snow cones, The boys first Father Son camp out, Eli's preschool graduation, Eli's first primary talk, Jessica and Todd's wedding , and memorial day! The Hill grandparents visited and we spent some time out on a few date hikes in the foothills.


June:

June was the timing of the amazing trip to Wash-away beach in WA, it was a family reunion and so wonderful. We loved it. The beach was perfect and everything so beautiful.
June was also the month my grandfather died and the month that I had my miscarriage. We took tons of day trip and celebrated summer and Fathers Day! It was also the month we got a job offer in Texas and almost moved.

July:

Of course July was the 4th of July! WE also had a wonderful time camping, we found a new favorite location, went to the Zoo with grandpa (big hit for the kiddos) and went paddle boating and kayaking with the Tanners at their house on their pond! We went on so many day trips to parks I cant even count them, we also took family pictures.  This was also potty training month! We began watching Baby tucker!

August:

August was another jam packed month, we where so busy! First was the first ever family reunion in Park City Utah for the Hill side (organized of course by my amazing sister-in-law Allison), We spent several days there after the reunion as well spending time with other relatives including lunch with grandma Linda. Then we had more family and camping at the Mann creek reunion. Soon after Mitchell began his Masters Program.The kids learned how to ride a bike and cousins Barthlome came to visit (we went boating when they came!)! It was also my birthday month!

September:

In September my sweet Kayden turned 3! Both boys began preschool , oh sweet little Kayden going to preschool with his big brother. We found a leaf bug, The boys went on a Primary Temple trip! (I think this was also right when my dad got put in the Bishopric)

October:

October I was sick with pregnancy but despite that we really tried to make the fall fun for our family.
Big happenings was uncle Michael coming home! It was amazing, we took West family pictures and celebrated. October also had, a trip to Linder farms, the tradition play in the leaves day with grandma, Halloween, the kids first trip to IHOP, our first doc appointment and ultrasound, and we (mostly uncle Michael) painted our kitchen cabinets white!

November:


November was thanksgiving! We once again traveled to Utah for a long vacation, we spent time with the West's and the Hills, we also went to temple square! We announced our pregnancy officially this month at 17 weeks, we made the cutest little video with the kids to announce it!

December:

December was fun and amazing! Christmas, Family Visiting, meeting Santa, and Pinetop to name a few favorite moments from this wonderful busy delightful holiday month! We also celebrated a very exciting anniversary of 6 years, and Mitch started teaching an online class for BYUI! Oh and we cant forget New Years! (also we got some very cute Holiday photos taken in our front yard with a tripod and Uncle Josephs help and some anniversary pics taken by Jessica!)


*bonus picture we took just this month to mimic the January picture!

our traditions

For our anniversary obviously we didn't do much this year. But we did exchange gifts.
Mitch gave me a ring and I got him a gift card and slippers, and a super beautiful overpriced mushy card- because that how I roll. WE also got a new beaches calendar so that we can draw little cartoons of ourselves on the beach (we really do that)!

We had yummy sparkling cider and we completed this years puzzle! We get a new puzzle ever Christmas for us to do together. 6 years in counting. It is a very fun tradition I love it!

Taking the tree down

On January 1st 2016 we took our Christmas things down.
The white stocking tradition and taking tree down day. special and bitter sweet. until next year.

We took down the tree(s) while listening to the Piano guys Christmas CD Mitchell got me for Christmas, and we filled up boxes all together. I get set up with my boxes and tissue paper and everyone takes things down off the tree and gives them to me to pack up carefully.
After everything was down we wrote a spiritual goal on the paper and put in in the White stocking for next year. We got the stocking from the bishop and his wife in our newly wed student ward years ago, the idea is that its your gift to the Savior.

As a side note the poor Joseph from our nativity took another fall! That's four times this year that he has been knocked over and beheaded. Poor thing! It felt like every time someone walked by he fell down, one of the 3 wise men also took a fall or two but mostly poor Joseph! He is recovering with some gorilla glue on the workbench in the garage while the rest of the Nativity sits in its box waiting, hopefully my man can fix him, this time he lost his head and most of the base of him shattered, ouch!

New Years 2016!!

What are you doing New Years, New years Eve? I love that song
This year it was the day we got back from Pinetop. My sweet husband indulged me and let me buy some hats and noise makers and stuff to make special treats for new years eve.
We went to my parents house, invited by Rebecca and family we had fun playing a few games and having treats with the kids. We made Gluten free funfetti cupcakes and sherbet and sprite floats. It felt very festive. The kids had way too much fun with the noise maker and although grandpa was very patient I think he was pretty close to confiscating them.
Unfortunately most of the kids had fevers so the night ended very early. Poor K had a huge messy accident in the bathroom that my amazing hubby cleaned up. E had a really high fever so I took them home after treats at around 8:30 and let them sleep in our room.
I did have time that night to film interviews with each of them, which was and idea/goal I had wanted to do and so I call the evening a success!

Snow shoeing

Pine top gave me the opportunity to go snowshoeing for the first time! This has been on my bucket list since my first year of college!
Mitch didn't feel well- he had hurt his back a little going down a very steep icy slope on a sled, so Rebecca and I set out together for some sister time- kid free.

It was so breathtakingly beautiful and silent and wonderful. Unfortunately Rebecca was in the bad pair of snowshoes because she didn't want her pregnant sister to get hurt, so she did not have as much fun because, her ankle got twisted a few times and she fell twice- that got our heart rates up, it was scary!
In the end we took a trail my dad had made earlier (so several miles more then we had already gone).
I will say that I personally LOVED it. I want to buy some snowshoes and go all the time!  I think my dad enjoyed it too, he said he though he had found a new sport/ hobby for himself! :) It was so still and beautiful, the world and trees covered in white and the untouched snow..... *sigh*
Thank you Uncle Darryl for sharing so generously with all of us!

PIne top 2016!!

This year we went to Pinetop again!
 It is almost a yearly tradition, although some years we missed because we could not travel from Rexburg, and some years we didn't go because...? But I think the first year we went I  must have been in the neighborhood of ten or twelve. I was little. SO it has been a fairly consistent West family tradition for about 15 years now, crazy to think about. They already reserved it for next year too! cousins from far out of town will be here so they went ahead and scheduled us a year in advance. This year it was a last min schedule because several people (my smart mamma included) asked on the right day if we could,  but it was perfect. 2 ft of snow everywhere with higher drifts in places. Perfection!

We got there first out of all the families- that has never happened before, so we got a big ole corner and set up our stuff. Rebecca and family came too and Jessica for the first day, so we had a big bunch of us together like old times.
We played in the snow and sled on the hills and hiked and played games and ate junk and yummy meals and let the kids play hours of air hockey and ping pong.
The snow was just wonderful!
Pictures say it best. It was 3 days and 2 nights. the 29th-31st.
Emily and Jessica went on a snowshoe hike, Eli and  Emily played in the snow for hours, Emily made a dragon in the snow, Mitch and I both played in the snow, Mitch and Caleb played many rounds of Ping Pong, the kids watched movies on grandpas projector, and we all had fun visiting together.