Snapshot of our day off school.

We are in the middle of a four day weekend. Here's what we've been up to so far. Nothing spectacular, but fun to remember the regular days. (Note: The pics are all off my phone and are not good quality at all. Better than nothing I guess. I better start using my new camera!)

Our four day weekend so far: Some serious trampoline time for Logan and Ellie on their day off. A friend over for Ellie, they played for hours outside in the playhouse, on the tire swing, etc. Easy Bake Oven for the girls and the real oven for Logan. First batch of Valentine sugar cookies. Every time there is a moment of down time, the remote helicopters start whizzin' around the house!! Papa brought home Papa Murphy's for dinner. Veggie thin crust delite every time!

Basketball game for Logan with the youth BB program through the high school. His team, the Beavers, won by a mile two games in a row now. Logan is enjoying it. He made a few baskets in the first game and has had some great plays and passes.

There's no getting away for technology around here. Plenty of Wii time for Logan, two movies for the kids and one for Darin and I. 

Spent a few hours at the YMCA. Swimming in the pool, shooting a couple hoops, and fooling around with racket ball. 

Darin and Logan tried their hand at fishing this morning. Not a lot of luck, and they snagged a good hook on a bush over the water. Then later tonight Darin decided to go back to try to get the hook back, now that the tide had gone out and the river was low. Of course he sent Logan down the muddy ledge after the hook. The water level changes so much with the tide! It would have been over Logan's head if he had been standing there this morning. It was a hilarious scene because Logan got really stuck in the deep, squishy mud. Both feet, stuck fast. Then as he started to get free, he fell on his rear end. And it was pouring rain!

Holiday visit with some Stansbury friends!!

There was no way we were going to be in Utah and not spend at least a morsel of time with a few of our good friends in Stansbury! The kids and I drove down from Logan on the 29th. We gave Fode, Mel and baby Mae a ride to the airport and then headed west to our old home sweet home! The weather was bad, the roads were bad, and there had been freeway closures earlier. So the normally 15 minute drive from the airport took us 90 minutes! But we prevailed and finally arrived at the Grgich's!! Wahoo! We hugged and the kids were bouncing off the walls, and Amy cried! It was so good to see them and so FUN to play with the kids a little bit. We spent the night there. It was way too short, but grateful we got to spend some tie together! Can't wait til they get their buns up here to WA for a vacation

We gave the kids these adorable monster PJ's!

The kids stayed up watching kid movies and Amy and I talked til we dropped.

The next morning I dropped Logan off at Wyatt and Ezra's house and Ellie off at Anna's house. I have no pictures to show for it but they were in heaven! Ellie got to see a couple other girls while she was playing with Anna, and she cried when we left! Logan brought Wyatt and Ez Christmas gifts that he was so excite about...fleece pillows with their favorite football teams fabric. We also got to visit with Connie and Devun for just a short time, but it was great to see them!

After I dropped the kids off, I was off to Rose's house for brunch with a few of the neighborhood bunch. So So, soooo very good to spend time with these ladies who will always be so dear to me. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with anyone and there are so many others I'd loved to have seen. But I was grateful for these few hours and for the fact that we picked up right where we left off.

Me with two of my kinder-teacher peeps, Amy and Amy.

I even got to see a couple of my kinder kids! Carter is so grown up Reagan is loving spanish dual immersion! 

Then it was off to Arriane's to take off for a late lunch with a few gals. Tiffany J. was also there, but had to go before we took a pic. It was the best seeing these fabulous women, and of course Mandy had us laughing the whole time. We were planning to go to Thai House...I'd been thinking about it for weeks! But it was closed! Totally random! So we tried a new place and it was pretty good.

While I was this their mamas, Ellie got to hang out with Emily and Anika. Fun to get to visit Emily for a little bit even though she was pretty sick. 

Hard to leave Stansbury Park again. We were going to go see our house and meet the new owners, but we ran out of time. Which is a good thing because I realized I am not ready to go there yet. It's too soon Too hard. It felt like I should just pull into the driveway and go inside....like it's still our house. But alas....it's not. But we will always have amazing friends to go visit in Stansbury Park! 

Holiday Happenings with the Daugs Fam!

First Daugs gathering of the week....homemade donuts at the farmhouse. 

Dad and I enjoying a minute at a favorite spot by the wood stove.

So very tasty! And a favorite tradition for sure!

Love these two angel boys! Getting a picture with them is a challenge for sure! For some reason this night Cole thought everything was hilarious! 

 Rachie headed up the donut making. Thanks Rach! 

 The boys being weird. Trying to find a ball, apparently hidden somewhere on Ammon.

 Five of the seven sisters. Missed the other two northwest sistas!

 Rachel planned the party, and it was perfect! The most calm, organized Christmas party EVER!

 The kids each got to decorate graham cracker gingerbread houses.

Cole was walking all over the place! I had no idea he could walk that well. Nate says he only does it at church for the drinking fountain! Ellie played "Silent Night" on the piano, and I recited an on-the-spot poem.

 So glad Jeff and Mary were there to represent the Whyte family! They are always awesome to drive far for a short party! 

 Final party game was in indoor paper snowball fight. It was so funny!

 Somehow Naomi got Kim to bring her two tins of homemade raisin-filled cookies! What?? I had to eat one!

On the 30th, some of us headed to Salt Lake to brave the elements and spend some time together. First stop was for dinner at The Lion House Pantry. Yummy food, and great place to sit and eat together. It was our little family, Nate and Naomi and three kids, Ammon and Alison and two kids, and Jeff and Mary. 

We braved the cold to see the lights at temple square. It was only eight degrees! 8!!

The Joseph Smith Memorial building is always a fun stop. The huge parlor room, and of course the 10th floor view are the best. The kids kinda liked the elevators too! 

We walked through City Creek and made a couple of stops. 

These two girls sure have a great time together! 100% GIRL!

After we had our fill of the freezer, we headed to the Hyatt in Sandy. Naomi had three free rooms for us, thanks to food bank donations in November! 

The kids headed straight for the pool. The OUTDOOR pool! Yes in the eight degree weather! Darin and Ammon went with them. I could hardly stand being out there to snap a few pictures! The rest of us stayed inside chatting.

Game time! We left all the kids together in one hotel room to play games together. (Cutler and Bailee stayed with the adults.) And the adults played games in one of the other rooms. Jeff and Mary didn't sleep over but it was so fun and funny to play games with them! 

Besides swimming, the highlight of all hotel stays, for the kids, is breakfast! It was a great breakfast buffet with made-to-order omelets, and snacks for the road. 

Too cold to do anything outside....even winter activities were out. It was freeeeezing!! So we explored Scheels for an hour. Rode the ferris wheel, checked out the exhibits, etc.

Last stop, the Kaysville dollar theater. We saw "Alexander and the horrible Day". Dollar theaters are the best! Even the concessions were low cost! But here's the shocker for the day....Ammon had not been to a movie in a theater in over TEN YEARS!! Avery had never been to a movie in the theater with his dad! Ammon was thinking it was all so expensive! Wait til he goes to a regular priced theater! Well, he probably never will!

Our last couple of days in Utah we were with the Jones family mostly. But we are lucky to have both sides of our families blend together so easily. Earlier in the week Ada spent time at the Jones plantation. And near the end of the week Shay spent part of a day there, and Ada and Avery came over for a movie. Jurassic Park! That was the first time my kids had seen it! Another quick trip to play at Shay and Wyatt's house, and that was it! Cousin time done for this time around. So sad! 

We had such a great time with our Daugs family. Wish we could have seen more of them, for a longer period of time. But we'll take what we can get. Time for everyone to get up to Washington to see us!!