Yes, I Still Blog...

I'm not sure how it's STILL January for a few more hours?  This month is interminable!  And nary a snow storm to make it fun/winterwonderland/cozy by the fire.  Ugh.  Last night our kids were all taking turns being pretty bratty to me and once I was in bed with Craig and complaining about their behavior he just shrugged, "It's January.  It's a slog and they're all feeling it."  We're all feeling it.

Anyway, I know we've done fun things, it's just hard to even remember.  Good thing we take pictures, huh?

Ryder has been making elephant toothpaste for the science fair...  It took me a long time to finally gather all the ingredients for him, but thank goodness for Amazon, I guess?

Kendra has been taking guitar at school, so we got to go to her concert!  (See here there in the middle???)

Ryder took his duty as Deacons Quorum president very seriously as he welcomed new members to his quorum.  Yay for him not being the only deacon any more!

We made Oreo truffles one night (this was supposed to be a NYE thing, but we ran out of time)

I bought some new clothes for Camille, and she had to try them on in the weirdest way possible...

I recently got a couple pictures framed and was excited to get them on the walls once the Christmas decorations were all put away!  In the center, Fallen Monarchs, which hangs at the BYU Art Museum, and on the right Night Blooms by Melissa Tshikamba, who also painted my beloved Land and Water...  I do enjoy beautiful things...

I finally convinced Craig to get his old suits tailored so they actually fit him properly!

On one of those rare warm days, we just HAVE to go to the park!

Adam was getting new deck furniture, so I was very happy to take his old stuff off his hands for him!

I always figured deck furniture was a waste of money because we don't spend much time out there, but it turns out, if you have comfy furniture you DO hang out there!  So we've been enjoying the deck a lot more now!

We also really enjoyed the neighborhood tree burn!  (This is much more impressive if you look at the people in the background and realize just how big those flames were!)

The youth had a baptism trip

It turned out that the Stake Youth Standards night was the same day, so they stopped for the biggest pizzas ever in between the temple and the stake center...

We've been getting geared up to paint my kitchen.  After MANY paint samples, we finally picked one (the top green).  It turns out it's really hard to get exactly the right shade of grey green that isn't just grey, just green, or, weirdly enough, blue.  All the first colors I chose just turned blue on that wall...  I'm not still convinced that I don't like the more olive green in the middle, but I worried it would be too dark, so I let Craig have his way.  I do like the name-- Wedding Mint!  Anyway, Craig will start painting whenever we get a snow day!  Oh, boy!

Bentley has been watching TikTok videos about how to make the perfect hamburger, so he needed to actually try it out.  HE ATE ALL OF THAT!  Two double patties!  Teenagers are something else...!  (Also, there's a little doodad hanging on the door behind him-- that's not his hair sticking up!) (Also, when we didn't have buns, I told him he could just go to the nearby grocery store and buy some.  And he said, "Will they have hamburger buns?"  😂 He has so much to learn!)

Ryder, Colton, and Camille all have fun, wacky slippers, so we needed pictures of them together.  Two monsters, and, in the middle, alligators eating your feet!

Cuties

Nothing quite like napping on Daddy on a Sunday afternoon!

FiA celebrated its 10th birthday, so we had one of those parties where they show you how to paint a picture-- I absolutely LOVE stuff like this!  But I never would have gone to Pikasso Swig without someone forcing me to go there, so this was perfect!

Since we don't have an IKEA anywhere nearby, I finally broke down and made Swedish meatballs all by myself!  You know I'm pretty proud of myself if I take a picture of my food!  What am I, a millennial?

They had a primary activity Saturday morning, so the kids had a fun time running around with their friends.  Here we have William, Akston, Colton, and Gideon

And Camille with her bestie, Peter

And all our other activities are keeping on...  I work out every other morning with FiA, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Craig and I run together.  This morning it was 45 degrees and we agreed that that was about the perfect temperature for a run.  Newlywed us wouldn't even recognize the people we've turned into...  I'm still trying to juggle my two jobs-- I keep thinking the law firm one will fizzle out so I can focus on wedding planning, but then my neighbor/boss announced she was leaving for another firm, so now we're busy closing ALL her files (and really, my only job there is closing files, so this is my jam!).  But maybe once she's finished I'll pay more attention to the weddings...  And, of course, I'm still doing choir and the music in primary.  And I run the book club.  I have a lot of balls in the air!

Bentley has been busy trying to figure out Spanish and studying for the SATs.  I'm enjoying him having a driver's license so I don't have to drive him to the gym or pick him up from school any more!

As soon as marching band season ended, Kendra joined indoor drumline, so that's keeping her busy.  (If, like me, you'd never heard of indoor drumline, here's a really cool video of a professional group doing it!  It's pretty impressive stuff!)  Kendra plays keyboard for her group.

And Craig is still bishoping.  It's nice to have tithing settlement declaration all done!  Hopefully only two more of those to go!  The other kids continue to just be crazy!

Come on, February!