We have been playing with the idea of putting up a new photo collage in the nook in our family room. We decided on a Photos Around the World theme and picked a few of our favorite photos from places we have visited. I put them all together in Photoshop to see how it might look on our wall.  

​Emma had her second round of growth hormone testing.  After following her growth since her last test almost a year ago we decided we had better retest.  She was a little nervous for the IV but put on a brave face and did really well during her 4-hour test.  

​I took Andrew to the Pediatric Dentist today for a routine dental cleaning and exam and realized that although there were other big kids in this office, it may just be time to switch him over to an adult dentist.  His legs were hanging right off the end of the table.

​We used to call Peter the puzzle master when he was little.  Some things never change because he still loves puzzles.  This year for Christmas I got the kids a candy wrapper puzzle and Peter went to work trying to put it together.  Peter and Mike finally finished the last of the puzzle.

​Emma and Peter joined the Kokopelli run club for their winter program this year.  Peter was all ready for some off-season training after finishing off his first year of HS cross country.  Emma, on the other hand, was a little nervous for a new way of training.  I spent many of the practices warming up with her so that she wasn’t running by herself.  It didn’t take too long for her to feel confident to run with some of the other older runners.  

Madeline's biggest accomplishment this month was learning how to open doors.  She first learned on the American Girl Doll room door in the basement.  She learned how to reach up and pull the handle down.  For now she can't open them very well. Thank goodness for that.  

​Madeline's favorite new book is Little Bo Peep Can’t Get to Sleep.  She wants me to read it to her almost every night.  I don't mind, though, because this book is so adorable.  Story time jut wouldn't be the same without her blanket.  Madeline loves her blankets and calls them her bop. She loves to wrap her blanket in and around her fingers while sucking on her right thumb.  It is quite comical to watch.  

Madeline loves music.  She can now hum a few songs with me such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Rock a bye baby, and Little purple pansies.  She also loves for me to sing I am a child of God, I love you a bushel and a peck, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, Rain is falling all around, and Way up High in the Apple tree.  When music is playing in the house she will start dancing.  She loves to dance to Peanut Butter Jelly time.  

Madeline is a great eater.  She absolutely loves cookies and mini marshmallows. She also loves berries, avocados and clementines.  For lunch she likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches.  She is not a big fish or red meat eater but will eat chicken.  She will only eat chicken if it’s mixed in some sort of sauce.  One of her favorite dinners is Japanese curry.  

One of Madeline's favorite toys is her dollhouse.  She loves the baby and can even fold up the baby’s legs to fit her in the stroller.  She loves to open and close the front door to the dollhouse and put people inside the house and then take them out again. 

Madeline is a real hands on kind of girl.  Whatever I am doing she just wants to be doing the same thing.  She loves to clean and started helping vacuum with the swifter vacuum.  In fact, she gets mad when I use it first.  She also loves to follow me around with a rag or the duster while I clean the house.  

Madeline doesn't really make big messes.  The biggest mess she will make is when she pulls all the plastic cups, plates, and bowls out of the drawer.  She loves to play with the plastic ware.  She will sometimes stack them but mostly she just moves them around on the floor. 

Madeline loves to look at the family albums and will pick them up from the coffee table and set them down on the ground and look at all the pictures.  Sometimes she will bring the books to me so that we can look at them together.

​Emma was so excited to turn 12 this year so that she could move into the Young Women’s program.  On her actual birthday we had a little family party for her at home with a trifle cake and lots of presents to open.  Emma wanted clothes this year and so we got her some new church outfits, some casual athlete girl clothes and some jewelry.  She was so happy.  

We took the kids skiing up to Copper Mountain and it was such a beautiful day.  I took Madeline during the first shift in the morning so that Mike could ski first. Madeline and I spent time walking around Center Village enjoying the sunshine and the donut I had bought for us to share. We met everyone for lunch at Jack’s Slopeside Grill and ate the lunch we brought.  Andrew met up with Caden and Jacob at lunch and headed out to ski with them for the afternoon.  I took the other three kids and had a blast skiing down all of our favorite runs.  Mike joined us during the last hour of skiing while Andrew rested in the car with Madeline.  I always love it when Mike and I can ski with the kids together.

Mike and I went skiing by ourselves today and it was glorious.  It wasn't too crowded and the weather was perfect.  It is so great to have older kids that can hold down the fort while we are gone.  We spent some time skiing over by the Excelerator lift down Ptarmigan and Copperopolis and Andy's Encore off of the Super Bee lift.  It was so much fun to try different runs today.  Of course, we did end up skiing our favorite runs over by the Timberline Express after lunch.  It just wouldn't be a good day on the mountain if we didn't ski the American Flyer run a bunch of times.

​Mike and I were able to sneak away for a few days while my parents watched the kids so that Mike could attend a Thyroid conference. We stayed at the Marriot Resort Tempe at the Buttes. It was a gorgeous little resort at the top of a majestic hillside with breathtaking views of the desert. The resort had amazing pools and waterfalls. During the day while Mike was at his conference I enjoyed sleeping in, running at sea level, ordering room service, sitting by the pool, getting a massage, and getting my nails done. We were able to meet for lunch every day, which was nice. On Friday night we met up with our good friends from BYU. Kelvin and Susie Ning took us to a fantastic Japanese restaurant in downtown Phoenix and then we came back to our hotel for desert. It was so fun to catch up with them. On Saturday night we headed into old town Phoenix and ate at Citizen Public House.The food was so ridiculously good. We enjoyed walking around Old Town before heading back to our hotel. On our last day in Phoenix, we were able to enjoy spending the entire day together since Mike’s conference was finished. We spent the morning hiking at Camelback Mountain. We started up the Cholla Trailhead to the summit and then went down the Echo Canyon side. This hike was relatively easy for us since we were used to hiking at elevation. The hike was rated Extremely Difficult for steep elevation gains, very uneven terrain, and unprotected from the elements.  Lucky for us it was a nice day and not too hot. The views at the top were amazing. Later that night we got to spend some more time with Kelvin and Susie while eating dinner at her parents house. It was the perfect way to end our quick getaway to a warmer climate.