Marching Our Way Through 2022

"Marching"... get it? Because it's March? I'm so funny. 

It's crazy how fast time seems to go by. It seems just like yesterday our kids would spend their nights playing in the playroom, and then we would read books together while we rocked them in the rocking chair. It was lights out at 8:00 and then Tyler and I would settle down to watch a few episodes of our favorite shows. Today it seems our lives just keep getting busier and busier as we watch our kids do what they love. Our nights are spent driving our kids to their extracurricular activities, then trying to get them in bed before 10:00. Rarely do Tyler and I get to watch one of our shows because it's either too late, or one of us falls asleep during it. We may complain about the busyness, but we love watching our kids grow up into amazing, smart, and talented kids. Our lives may be busy, but we love every moment together (well, we don't love when the kids fight, but everything else we love). 

Makayla brought her friend Avery to the Utah gymnastics meet. 

One of my favorite nights is here. It's the Synergy Showcase where we get to see the girls' dances! Makayla's jazz routine is called "Shake the Room" and her lyrical is "Last Ones". I absolutely love her lyrical dance and could watch it over and over. Makayla's team is really good and they all seem to be really good friends. 

Brynnli's lyrical is called "Forever" and her jazz is called "Take Flight". Here jazz is my absolute favorite because they are flight attendants. At one point in the dance there is "turbulence," and Brynnli does the best facial expressions when she does the punch, punch, punch. 

Caden is the best sport to come to all of the girls' dance events. 

I can't wait for all of their competitions this season!

Speaking of Caden... this boy has found a love for apple juice. Since he is the only one who likes it right now, he is allowed to drink right out of the bottle. I also love that before Caden goes to bed he has to have a little swig of juice because it helps him fall asleep. 

Look who got her nails did and I am here for all the spring nails. 

Just playing dress up. 

Clearly Caden is confused on the time of year since he is jammin in his Christmas jammies. 

Cute smile Brynn

This little puppy is the most spoiled puppy around. She has us all wrapped around our finger. 

It has been a little cold around here lately, so we have been enjoying our gourmet hot chocolate with metallic sprinkles. 

Daddy had to go out of town and there was no way I was cooking dinner, so we walked over to Culvers for dinner. The kids ate their cheeseburgers (shrimp for Caden) and I didn't have to do any of the cleanup. I call that a win, win!

How cute are these cuties taking Bella for a walk. 

Lucky the Leprechaun stopped by our house again this  year. Brynnli set a trap to try to catch him. 

Her note says, "Dear leprechaun, I am sorry that people try to catch you. I am not going to trick you this year. But get the candy. It is a game. The rules are don't cheat and no climbing the wall. Love Brynnli"

How cute is she? Well it turns out the leprechaun did come, but he didn't fall for her trap. He played a few tricks on us and left us some treats. 

Maybe next year we can catch him? 

Check out this cool shot...

The girls had their first competition. Makayla's duet was first. The girls did great. Brynnli's jazz dance got 3rd overall in the beginning division, and Makayla's lyrical dance got 7th overall in the beginning division. 

Terry and Craig got all of us Lagoon Season passports, and Lagoon opened up early this year, so we decided to go. 

Having a season passport is a total game changer! We went up for a few hours and we didn't ride all of the rides, but we didn't feel bad because we know we have all season to hit all of them. Makayla even made a goal to ride every ride at Lagoon. We are so excited for a lot of summer days and nights spent here. 

And how brave is Brynnli!? This is the first year she has been tall enough to go on all the big kid rides (with the exception of two of the really scary ones.) We all went on Colossus and we thought for sure she would be too scared to ride it, but she was so brave. I was worried about her until I heard her screaming with excitement as we went upside down. When it was over she looked at me and screamed, "Let's do that AGAIN!!" 

All of our kids are so brave and have gone on all of the scary rides like Wicked. 

Makayla is working on using descriptive language in her writing. Check out this amazing description of Hanna Land. 

"My cabin is my favorite place to go. I love the sound of the campfire crackling. There are trees all around the campground and animals scurrying around. I love going four-wheeling and hearing the wind. I also love canoeing in the river with the sound of water splashing and the cold water on my skin. I go up to my cabin every month with my family to have fun. 

We don't know for sure, but we might have an amazing author in our family. Makayla is seriously the best writer. 

Grandma and Grandpa Thomas came over for dinner one night and the kids played Candy Land with them. 

I think its's safe to say that Caden liked his ice cream? What do you think? 

We celebrated Caden's birthday a little early with Grandma and Grandpa Evans. Caden even got this huge donut tower. 

He enjoyed this treat... clearly. 

Can you believe 2 years ago on March 15, 2020 the world shut down from a microscopic virus? We've come a long way since then. Two years later most things are back to normal, but now we are experiencing trickling side effects like supply chain issues and rising costs. Did you know the housing market is exploding? Houses in our neighborhood in South Jordan are selling for almost 1 million dollars. Inflation is clearly rising and we are starting to see the effects of that in gas prices and at the grocery store. It makes me so incredibly grateful to Tyler for pushing us to pay off our house almost 5 years ago. The economy is scary, but we feel better prepared to take on the roller coaster ride because we strived to be financially smart. Two years later there are over 468 million confirmed cases of Covid and over 6 million deaths have been reported globally. The numbers of deaths are high, but what is on a lot of people's minds now is was shutting down the economy and taking kids out of school the right thing to do? We are now seeing the long-term effects of the shutdown on kids around the nation. It's also scary right now because Russia invaded Ukraine and they are at war. As we try to shelter our kids from the reality of what is going on, they are acutely aware of the war and know who Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are. We pray that the conflict will end soon and that innocent lives will be saved. This is truly a unique time to be alive. The challenge we face on a daily basis is to remain positive and continue to have faith and find peace in these unprecedented times. 

All the Things I Love

It's February and what a better way to to celebrate the month of Love than by sharing all the things I love. 

We are almost done with our house, but thanks to supply chain issues, some things are not in yet like our couches and piano room light. I will still do a before and after post when we are completely done, but for now, here's a little sneak peek at our newly remolded house. It is so nice to have everything back where it goes and full access of our kitchen. 

I'm liking our carpet more. I really like the color and how soft and cushioned it is, and I'm getting used to the tracking and foot marks. Ignore the ugly brown couches that clearly do not match the rest of the house. When Tyler went to put these in I said we should put in lawn chairs instead because they would look better than these eye sores.  

Brynnli got to celebrate 100 days of 1st grade by dressing up like she was 100 years old. I had to work that day, but we are so grateful for Tyler's stay at home job so he can help get the kids ready on fun school days like this. 

Old woman one day, young and hip the next. 

We went to dinner at El Rancho and had to chuckle when we saw Caden and Brynnli waiting in the lobby reading the newspaper as we were waiting for our table. 

Got my hairs did. Does anyone else ever realize the only pictures of me in the blog book are selfies? 

Makayla went to Biz Town for school where she was "employed" at KLS News. She had to dress up and interview students. After working she got a paycheck and was able to spend some money at different businesses. What a cute way to introduce kids to real life. 

The Tennessee Titans didn't make it into the Super Bowl, but we still got together with Tyler's family to watch the game. I don't know who was playing, or who won, and I felt super old as I watched half time, but we had a great time. 

For Valentine's day this year we cooked dinner at home. Tyler made steaks and we had baked potatoes, rolls, and artichokes. 

We gave the kids (and our puppy) a little gift and treat and our kids gave us some cute things they made at school. 

For dessert we had so many things: Chocolate covered strawberries, cake, donuts, and hot chocolate bombs. 

I love my cute family and love the fun times we have together. 

Just two short days later it was Tyler's 39th Birthday! He had to work and there was a slight work drama situation brewing, so we didn't get to celebrate as big. I still made him his favorite lasagna dinner and chocolate chip cookies. 

We love Tyler so much and are so lucky to call him our daddy and best friend. There's no one better out there who works so hard, keeps us laughing, helps us look at the positive side, and helps us to think about things logically. We love you!

Even though Tyler's actual birthday didn't go as planned, we were ok with it because Terry and Craig offered to take the kids overnight so we could have a little weekend get away. We were so excited to have a little staycation that weekend. Well, just our luck things didn't turn out the way we hoped. I was working on that Friday when Tyler called me and said Brynnli came home from school and went right to sleep. Then he called me just an hour later and said that her temperature was 104. I said I would call the doctor and see if they could get us in because we thought she may have had an ear infection. 

The doctor was able to get us in right away, and she didn't have an ear infection. They tested for Covid and the Flu and I was kicking myself for not thinking it was probably the most obvious illness going around right now. As we were waiting for results, I was just hoping it wouldn't be covid because our kids would all have to be quarantined for 5 days, but either way our stay-cation plans were cancelled, and Tyler and I were so disappointed. Test results came back positive for flu. The doctor told us it would be a rough week.

The flu wiped her out. She slept most of the day and was so tired and lethargic for a few days. Then as it usually happens, I got sick and Makayla got sick. Luckily we were the only ones and Makayla and I were not as sick as Brynnli, but it was not fun. You know the funny thing? I drove past their pediatrician's office back in December and thought to myself that we haven't been sick for a long time and that there was one positive thing about wearing masks last year. As soon as I thought it, I knew I jinxed myself.  Since then we have all been sick multiple times and been to the doctor twice now. I seriously think someone in our family has been sick for at least two months straight now. 

Even though Tyler and I didn't get to go on our stay cation, we tried to make the best of our weekend. Makayla and I went to the Utah Gymnastics meet. 

Bella went to the groomer and they put the cutest bows in her hair. 

We call her Santa Paws... get it?

Makayla is doing a duet with her friend Hanna. They are dancing to a song called Juicy Wiggle. They had a practice run and we got to see their dance. It is so cute and we are so excited to watch their competitions this year. 

Their first competition was at Thanksgiving Point. They did great and got 1st place in their division. They got a medal and a trophy and were pretty excited. 

We went to a Utah Women's Basketball game and Brynnli made it on the Jumbo Tran. 

Speaking of Brynnli... she cracks us up. She loves to wear Makayla's bra around the house and pose. 

Working from home is exhausting. 

Here's a close up...

Then I sent him the picture and told him, "You're so sexy". 

We have a weird relationship.