Emma loves to have playdates and especially loves to play with her friend Ava.  While they were at Ava's house they made peanut butter blossom cookies and even brought some home to share with us! 

photo taken by Mary

We got the best package in the mail today from our neighbors in Japan.  We love the Murata family and miss them so much.  When we opened up the box it smelled so much like Japan.  It was such a good, familiar smell.  We loved everything from the beautiful card to the fun gifts for the kids and the yummy snacks that reminded us of how much we truly miss living in Japan.  

We headed over to the Brunswick zone to go bowling with our good friends, the Seaquists.  The boys bowled on one lane while the little girls bowled on another.  It was fun to see the friendly competition between the boys.  At one point my boys stopped trying to get high scores and decided it would be more fun to see if they could just hit one pin.  Mary and I just enjoyed sitting on the bench chatting while the kids had a good time bowling with each other.

It has snowed so much this month and the temperatures and wind have been pretty nasty.  The boys always ride the bus home after school and then walk the short two blocks to our house.  By the time they get home they are quite cold.  It is pretty hilarious to watch their glasses fog right up when they walk through the door.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of that today.

It's been far too long since my boys have been on a good exercise routine.  The occasional ski trip just isn't enough to keep them in shape.  This week I decided we had better do something about that so I told them they would be running with me twice a week--outside if the weather permitted and at the gym if the weather was bad.  We also decided that they would start swim team at the YMCA.  I do love being able to run with my kids and I hope that my love of running will rub off on all four of my children.  

Every month Emma has a book project due in school. This month she had to read a Historical Fiction book and then make a game.  She read, "Star in the Storm" and made a Clue like game to go along with her book.  She and I found pictures online to use as the different places on the board and then I found some non-violent objects to use as the weapons you would normally use in the game of Clue.  We used some silver bottle caps I had in my drawer and made those into the people game pieces.  We used epoxy dots as the seal on the bottle caps.  This was definitely a team effort to get this project done.  She was so excited to show her friends and play the game in class.

The moments a mother lives for are those special times when one of your kids just does something without having to be asked.  Tonight after getting home from the Priesthood Preview for Peter and the TREK fireside,  Andrew decided that he would shovel the driveway and sidewalk without having to be asked.  I was so impressed by how touched Andrew was by the TREK fireside and I could tell that a spark was still lit up in him when he got out of the car.  I love watching how the spirit works in our youth when they allow the spirit to be present in their lives.  I was so proud of Andrew tonight. 

We have had bad luck with some of our appliances over the last couple of months.  About a week ago Mike went down to check and see why we weren't getting any hot water to find that the hot water heater was slowly leaking out of the bottom.  Our 9 year old hot water heater had rusted through the bottom and needed to be replaced.  After a few days without hot water we were finally able to get someone to come out and install a new hot water heater.  I realized that after experiencing many household inconveniences while living in Japan, not having hot water was at the top of my list as one of of the hardest household things to live without.  I was so grateful that we were able to use the club at Flying Horse to go and shower and for kind friends who also offered to let me shower at their house.    

Our poor little Emma was sick for 6 days straight.  She missed 3 days of school and spent most of our long holiday weekend inside the house.  I felt so bad for her.  On her 3rd day of not going to school I made a bed for her in the living room with the futon and gave her my iPad so she could watch movies during the day.  Being sick is no fun. 

With all of the accumulation of snow we have had this week the school has delayed the start of school 2 hours 2 days in a row.  This morning I had the boys go out and sweep off the driveway that Mike had shoveled before he left for work.  Then Andrew shoveled the walk to our house and Peter shoveled part of the driveway that had not been done.  I have such good boys to go out and do those manly duties.  Thank goodness for that!

Mike and I took the girls to the elementary school family dance.  Since it was the 50th Anniversary of their elementary school all the kids were dressed up to represent the different decades.  Mike and I sported our Grease costumes and the girls put on their poodle skirts.  The girls were so excited to see their friends, eat pizza and drink soda, and cut a rug on the dance floor.  It was a fun night.

It had been a late night on Friday so I knew that it wouldn't be an early morning of getting everyone ready to be to the slopes when they opened.  Instead we all woke up at 7am and got ready as quickly as we could.  We decided that it would be less stressful to drive to Eldora  as opposed to sitting in traffic on Hwy 70 heading to Copper Mountain.  The kids all love skiing at Eldora.  Even though it is a much smaller ski resort we always have a great time.  We all started out at the Little Hawk Family Zone to ski some green runs with Abby.  Then I took the older three kids to the blue slopes off of the Challenge lift.  We decided to head down JollyJug for the first run like we had done the last time we skied at Eldora.  It was a pretty good steep blue run and a much better experience than last time.  After heading back up the lift to the top we decided to take a different route down.  We headed down Hornblower to International to the bottom.  We all liked that way so much better and were excited to tell Mike about that run.  Since we were getting hungry we headed to the Lodge for lunch.  Mike and Abby met us there and we all ate hamburgers and fries out on the sun deck since the weather was pretty nice.   Instead of heading back up the blue runs we went back to the Little Hawk Family Zone with Abby so she could show us some new places she and Mike discovered together.  We skied through an A-frame tunnel made out of trees and through a run in the trees.  We even watched how Abby zoomed down the blue Sundance run.  She always amazes us with how much she picks up in a short period of time.  We loved finishing out our day skiing together as a family before heading home.  

My friend Jen came to me with the idea to start a Supper Club with some of the ladies we go to church with.  She had been part of a Supper Club back in Texas and loved it.  I agreed to be her partner on our Supper Club opening night.  Our theme was, "Baby, It's Cold Outside."  To go along with our theme we tried to have comfort type foods.  Our menu consisted a 5 course meal:

Wassail and Strawberry Tomato Bruschetta
Rich and Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
Walnut and Apple Salad (with some pop rock action on top)
Pot Roast and Asparagus with Prosciutto
Lava Cakes

After everyone enjoyed some warm Wassail and the appetizers we said a prayer and then we had everyone come and sit down at our frosted decorated table.  We played the song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," by Michael Buble as we served the soup.  Jen and I plated every dish except the appetizers.  We ate along the way but we were there mainly to serve and clear.  Between the main meal and dessert we had a little activity of decorating mugs with permanent markers and then baking them so the ink would remain permanent on the mugs.  There were some adorable mugs created.  When the desserts were ready we sat down with everyone and enjoyed the last course.  At the end of the night we talked about ground rules for our Supper Club and drew names for partners.  It was a fantastic night.  I am really looking forward to getting some good recipes this year!

I can't believe my sweet Emma turned 9 years old.  I sent her to school with cupcakes for her classmates and I even got to see her during the day while I was volunteering at the school.  When I was done volunteering in Abby's class I got a text from Mike with a photo of Emma enjoying a nice little pedicure.  He had picked her up and taken her to get her toe nails painted.  I met them at the beauty parlor and then we took Emma to lunch.  She felt like the luckiest girl and kept telling us this was her favorite birthday.

After everyone got home from school we had a little family birthday party for Emma.  Emma requested chicken in the rolls and corn for dinner.  We also enjoyed cupcakes and chocolate dipped strawberries to go with our dinner.  I also had some jellybeans and some other fun treats on the table for everyone to snack on.  

This year Emma got a lego set and the Koala family from Calico Critters from mom and dad, a fun festive shirt and some money from Grandpa Al and Lorene, a magic kit and a lego set from Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz, marbles from Abby, and some cool Pokemon cards from Andrew and Peter.  She was so thrilled about all the gifts but was surprised by the generous gift from her brothers.  The one thing Emma wanted more than anything for her birthday this year was to get her ears pierced.   I took her a few days after her birthday to get them pierced.  She was all smiles afterwards.  We ended up picking the 3mm white gold cubic zirconium studs.  She looked just darling.   

I have had a blast volunteering in Abby's classroom this school year.  Abby always gives me the best hugs when I walk into her classroom and her smile is contagious.  I can't help but love being there when I see how sparkly her eyes are because I am there.  I go in once a month to help out during center rotations.  I am usually in charge of the lab type rotation where they get to do something related to science or art.  They have to read the instructions first and then make something or do some fun experiment.  It's a lot of fun.

Today I got to the classroom a little early.  I got to watch Abby finish her writing prompt.  She is a hard worker and was very diligent about doing good work even though I was there watching her.  I loved seeing her messy ponytail that she did all by herself this morning.  She has really been into doing her own hair lately.  She is growing up and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

I loved watching Abby in all her different rotations.  She was so focused.  At the end of the rotations she was on lunchbox duty and carried the bin full of lunch boxes with her friend McKenzie to the lunchroom.  

Before volunteering in Abby's class today I stopped by a few of the specials classes to take photos for the yearbook.  I stopped by the gym and noticed it was Emma's class which made me all the more excited to capture those kids in action. They were jumping rope today and I got to watch my extremely active girl do an amazing job jumping rope.  I couldn't believe how long she was able to jump without messing up.  This girl of mine wants to wear her running shoes every day even when she doesn't have PE.  She will often dress in the cutest tops, skinny jeans and running shoes.  I just have to look the other way when she wears running shoes with skinny jeans.  I am happy she likes to be so active.  

It's been so rewarding to be able to stay caught up in 2015.  Granted, it's only been 1 month.  Still, I have been able to stay caught up with all of my journaling and photos for this month.  With 4 posts done and one more post with all the randoms from the month, I feel pretty good at this point that I will be able to continue to stay caught up this year.  Now I will work backwards to fill in the holes I left for myself from last year.  Here are a few older posts that I just finished journaling.

MARCH 2014:

LEGOLAND
SEA WORLD
MORMON BATTALION
OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO
CA DISNEYLAND
CA ADVENTURE
CORONADO ISLAND
SAN DIEGO LDS TEMPLE


OCTOBER 2014:

FAMILY HISTORY FAIR 
TRUNK OR TREAT
OCTOBER SLICES OF LIFE

It can be frustrating to live in a place where it snows ALL THE TIME.  I could just go to the gym and run on the treadmill every time the weather turns bad but what would be the fun in that.  I have been trying to be consistent about running with the Sunrise Striders twice a week doing track and tempo workouts.  When the roads turn icy I usually don't risk driving that early in the morning but wait until later in the day to do my workout.  There was one morning I ran and everything was pure WHITE.  It was so beautiful that I kept stopping to take photos.  It wasn't a fast run but it sure was fun.  Thank goodness for my trekkers that keep me grounded.

Then there was my run from today.  It was fun and challenging all at the same time.  I decided to wait until mid morning to head to the trail to do my tempo run.  I started on the Santa Fe trail heading south and to my surprise, there were only a few footprints in the snow.  There was something so awesome about running in the fresh powder.  It did make for a more difficult run when I picked up the pace but it was still nice to be blazing my own path on the freshly fallen snow.  I loved watching the snow fly off of my shoes as I ran in the fresh powder.  I live for running days like this one.  There is nothing more fun than running in the snow while it is sunny outside.  It was quiet and peaceful.  No one else was on the trail except for me.  By the time I got back to my car I noticed that my shoes and socks were somewhat wet.  I headed over to the club to warm up in the hot tub.  There is nothing more rewarding than sitting in the hot tub at the end of a hard workout.

I wouldn't want to run in the snow everyday but those special days when I do get to run in the snow are always adventurous.  I think one of the ways to ensure happiness is by making the most out of any situation.  I have tried to do that with my running this winter.  

There are two advantages of school being delayed--sleeping in and playing in the snow before school.  I am not going to lie, I LOVE to sleep in when I can.  After the boys left for school this morning the girls went to the backyard to play in the snow before school.  I loved watching them have a ton of fun.  The snow was so powdery that you really couldn't build a snowman with it.  That didn't stop the girls from having a really great time.  They even begged me to take video of them playing.  They plowed little tracks everywhere and even tried riding the little bike and tricycle through the snow.  I love my girls!

We had planned on going skiing over the long holiday weekend but Emma got the flu last week so we had to change our plans a bit.  It was a beautiful day on Monday and we knew we needed to do something outside that wasn't too strenuous for Emma who was still recovering.  Mike found a new trail that we had not hiked yet so we all got in the car and headed on an adventure.  We headed north to County Line Rd and then turned west towards the mountains.  We drove through Monument and Palmer Lake until we came to Spruce Mountain Open Space.  We started our hike at the trailhead of Spruce Mountain and then quickly took the Oak Shortcut trail to get to the Greenland Overlook on top of the Mesa.  The first few sections of the trail were fairly easy with only parts of the trail covered in snow.  Everyone loved walking in the snow but the trail quickly became treacherous as the snow covered trail turned into an icy mess.  At first it was fun to slide on the ice but we soon discovered that it was nearly impossible to hike uphill on ice.  We decided that in order to get around the really icy parts of the trail we needed to go around the trail.  So, we headed up onto the mountainside and hiked through the trees and deep snow.  Everyone enjoyed the fun adventure except for Abby who was initially nervous about falling on the ice and then hiking in the steep parts of the mountainside.  It was definitely a team effort to get her to stop crying and to keep moving forward.  She eventually calmed down when she realized that she was ok and that it was actually fun to trail blaze through the woods.  At one point we decided to just head straight up the mountain to the overlook on top.  Up at the top there was a 5 mile loop around the Mesa but we decided our little adventure up to the top was enough adventure for one day.  Besides, it was colder up on top and we didn't want to keep Emma out too long.  I gave her one of my layers so she wouldn't get too cold and then we headed back down the mountain.   Mike found a short cut down through the trees that cut out all of the icy parts of the trail.  That made the girls happy.  The boys were a little disappointed to not go back the same way we came.  We all had fun making our own trail through the trees and snow.  Mike even found a giant walking stick and back at the bottom he and Andrew played baseball with snowballs and that giant stick.  It was definitely entertaining.  We can't wait to come back and explore more of this area when the trails are a little more passable.  

We met some friends to go sledding and went to the best sledding place ever.  Up in Monument, CO there is a place called Toboggan Hill and it is the BEST sledding place I have ever been to.  Sledding in the mountains is always fun but when you only have to drive 15 minutes away, that is pretty nice too.  We were all so excited to finally try Peter's new tube sled.  That thing flew so fast and was practically indestructible against any other sledders coming our way.  Peter rode on it most of the day but was nice enough to share it with all of us.  We all had fun coming down the various hills and each one of us found our favorite hills to go down.  Emma and I loved the hill with moderate bumps and had some pretty great runs on that one.  Abby liked the hills with little to no bumps.  The boys tried all of the runs.  Andrew was probably the most daredevil of the bunch and was seen doing some crazy jumps.  It only took one run where his glasses flew off before we realized that maybe he should not wear his glasses at all.  The warm sunshine made everything better when the snow sprayed in our faces at the end of the runs.  We couldn't have asked for a better day to go sledding together.