January....I Will Survive.....

One of my new year's resolutions is to be more optimistic.  That being said, here is my first attempt at doing so : I REALLY don't like this time of year.  The inversion, the FREEZING temperatures, sick children....aarrrrgh!!!  (That was the NICE version of what I have to say about this season, so that was optimistic.)  I am just not a winter person.

We did have a wonderful Christmas. The kids had so much fun, and so did the parents. SHO got what he REALLY wanted for Christmas-- which was snow. He prayed for snow every night since the beginning of November, and we had a wonderful white Christmas. They have been playing to their hearts content outside, until we had this awful freezing weather and inversion....grrrrrrrr. Rich pulled them around on the 4 wheeler even after the first snow (which was more mud sliding than sledding). When we got more snow-- they went all over....all over the front yard, side, and back pasture

Don't tell her mother, we snuck our cousin  "C" on for a ride when her dad came over!! 

 
OTHER HAPPENINGS THIS PAST MONTH:

LO getting an EKG.  Long story.

Making grahm cracker houses on Christmas Eve... We also got to talk with our cousins in Taiwan via Skype. It was so fun to see where they live.  Of course, Santa had already visited them, he was still on his way to our house.

Rich's gets this manaical laugh when he hauls the kids around the back on the sleds-- he loves to try and knock them off......it kind of scares me....who is this man????!?!?!

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We snuck in some fun visits to Orem and to Coalville to see family. That was also one of our Christmas break highlights! I guess I forgot my camera for those times! Oops.

We also have a run of birthdays starting with LL after Thanksgiving, then SHO and finally Rich to start off the new year.  We still have lots of leftover cake lying around. 

I know I took pics of LL's b-day, but she will be neglected tonight, and the youngest will be favored.  Here is SHO with his cake-- which is all he really wanted for his birthday anyway.  He had this type of cake picked out this summer since he saw a picture of it on the internet. 

A tractor cake of COURSE!!!
 

The Man of the hour. And since Rich always asks for the same cake, he got it. Mississippi mud cake. It didn't turn out as good this year because some things cook differently in my new oven, and I haven't figured out all of its nuances yet..... at least that is my excuse-- maybe I forgot one of the four sticks of butter or something in this cake, who knows.

And dear SO was determined to ice skate in 10 below zero temps the other day.  I stayed in the car and used the WiFi from our library on my new Kindle (yippeee!!!) A man in our town sets up the ice rink in the town center every year.  It is free, of course, and you can go to his house and get your size skates.  He has many many pairs of every size.  It is quite the attraction.  Here is SO with some of her girlfriends (whom she called right after school and coordinated with to meet up and skate.)  They are braver than I am!  SO did not stay as long as the other girls, however, the cold had sunk in and her tears were freezing on her cheeks....time to go home for HOT CHOCOLATE!!!

 

Now we have been battling the stomach flu for two weeks and I am so ready for a change!!!  Happy Winter everyone!!