Month in cellphone pictures!

We have been so busy with ordinary life, I haven't taken any pictures! I had to scroll through my cellphone to see what we have been up to. These are mostly all of Jay since it's just the two of us most days ;)

Valentine's dinner date at Jay's preschool

Jay (and okay me too) absolutely adores Felix. Not very many cats would let kids pack them around in all different uncomfortable positions. I tell Kevin all the time, this cat is very tolerant! lol

Something cool I have been up to for once! lol For Christmas Kevin got me lessons to get scuba certified! So I did all my pool time and also had to do 4 open water dives on 2 different days. Our instructor took us to the Homestead Crater in Midway. 

It's a crater that they blasted a tunnel through to allow divers to practice in their 65 feet deep warm water! I think we got down to about 45 feet on the last day. They make you do all kinds of skills underwater. So there was one skill where I had to take my mask completely off  and then put it back on while 45 feet deep. I did it fine but when we finished and were at the surface he told me I need to practice that one more because "you were on the brink of panic". I just had to laugh because I was panicking! lol :) It was challenging for me and my nerves, but I did it! I'm really proud for doing something so out of my comfort zone. And I'm super excited to get into some clearer water!

Kevin has been certified for 22 years! So he was just coming along for the fun of it. I finished the final exam last week so it's official- I'm scuba certified! Wahoo!

Jay doesn't usually sit still for very long. This kid is so active! There was one day though when he was just quietly playing in Scott's room for over an hour. I had to have documented proof that this actually happened :)

 Grandma B got Arianna a little pedicure spa kit for Christmas and we finally got it all out. ALL the kids got in on the action and we had a little assembly line with mom as the spa director. The other kids were too embarrassed to get in the picture (especially one un-named 11 year old)

 Excited to have some fake nails

 We have had record breaking rain around these parts, but there was one week that was sunny. I'm glad I went out and enjoyed it before the rain started back up! 

Jay and I enjoying some hammock time

Jay practicing his gymnastic skills. Reminding me a lot of his big sister Hailey!

Other than scuba classes and trying to get started on our backyard landscaping, I have just been spring cleaning the house and washing all the windows inside and out and all of that non-fun stuff. I do have a pretty good helper though

And bonus- he gets paid in cookie dough ;)

One thing I have to write down though. Most of the time Jay is a pretty good kid and oh so sweet. That's why this is so funny. When he gets mad at me for not letting him have something he wants, or whatever else he yells on the top of his lungs, "MOM! You're the WORST driver!" 

Every time. It's adorable.

The other kids are doing good too-I just haven't been taking pictures lately. We are planning a fun trip to the Oregon Coast soon so that will be fun! (And will probably result in picture overload I'm sure!)

Arianna Turns 7!!

Ari of course had her whole day planned out, especially the food since she's a bit picky still. She wanted weegies for breakfast (crepes), Chikfila for lunch and Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner :) She also wanted me to bring cupcakes for her 1st grade class. She's my 3rd kid and I have never brought cupcakes for the class! But this girl likes to go all out, so that's what we did!



Look at this cute toothless grin. Adorable!


Her teacher wanted me to bring the cupcakes at lunchtime, so I went and got Ari her chikfila and the cupcakes and went to lunch with them. It was a little too hectic for picture taking, but here's the cupcakes. 

1st graders are so funny. She has a little friend she absolutely loves named Margaret. And Margaret takes turns sitting by each of her friends at lunch. Ari was just so excited it was her turn to sit by Margaret AND it was on her birthday. lol. She even told me to scoot down to let her in haha. She also saw two of her friends when we went out to dinner because it was apparently National Pizza Day :)
Then it was home for presents and cake!
Ari changed her mind a few times on the cake, but in the end decided on a princess


She was so worried about putting candles in her princess lol. We made sure they were out of the way.


Time for presents!





Then there's these two goofs

Kevin got her a hatchimal, so of course that was the highlight of the night naturally ;)

We weren't in with all the hype over Christmas on the Hachimals...Kevin just saw it at the store last month and thought she would love it. We had no idea what it was all about and boy were we in for a surprise! lol

She cuddled it enough that it started hatching out of the egg.

 Look at Hailey's face! lol

And it's hatched! She named her Black Diamond

She spent the night teaching her new animal tricks and playing with her other toys.
Cute little bead set she got

And all her loot!

She had a fabulous day and loved all the attention. Arianna is such a fun girl- always smiling and making new friends. She is such a smartie pants! I couldn't believe at parent teacher conference. All of her scores were off the charts!  SUCH a smart girl! And imaginative and creative to boot. I get frustrated with her messes, but the girl just never stops she is just nonstop playing all of the time. And that involves getting out lots of stuff! :) 

Happy Birthday cute girl! We love you!!

Brian Head Trip and Superbowl

We had the best trip last weekend! The kids had Friday off of school, so we drove down to Brian Head to ski all day Friday and Saturday. My parents met us there and we had the best time! Then we all drove to my sisters in St George for the Superbowl on Sunday.

3 ski days to Brian Head is actually included with our season passes here at Beaver Mountain. How cool is that! Even cooler that both Grandma and Grandpa skied with us! My mom just had a hip replacement a few months back, but she said "How many chances do you get to ski with your grandkids?" She did great just taking it easy with the kids. Such a trooper!

My parents pretty much just each took a kid and off they went. 4 kids is a lot easier to manage on the ski hill when there are 4 adults to pair up! It was awesome! :) My Dad even gave up half a day just hanging out with Jay on the little hills. I asked him if he was bored and he said he was having fun listening to Jay talk nonstop.

After the first full day of skiing...can you tell we were all exhausted?

lol

Day 2 here we go!

Cutest picture ever! These two have been together for over 39 years! So sweet!

Kevin is so patient with Jay. They have just been two little buddies for these past 3 months. 

Here's (yes another one!) a cute video of Jay. If you can't hear him he is singing the Gangnum Style song...lol This kid is hilarious

IMG 3568 from Nicole on Vimeo.

Skiing through the trees

'

The whole crew!

Shuttling between mountains

Taking a break for some fun in the snow

We only had one little mishap with Ari. Kevin and I were at the top of one of the lifts and were watching as Ari and my Mom were getting off the lift. Except only my mom got off! Ari stayed in and started rounding to go back the other way so we started screaming! She was just sitting there in the chair facing the other way and the guy had to stop the lift and reach up to get her out. Luckily he stopped it before it was too late. I can't imagine if she had to ride it back by herself back to the bottom! The guy was shoveling snow and so Ari was scared to get off that's why she stayed. Oh she was so terrified! It was quite the ordeal! 

Other than that she did so awesome keeping up with everyone! Before this trip she had only been on the one small lift at our mountain. She pretty much kept up with Scott and Hailey the whole time the 2nd day- it was awesome!

And her buddy Grandma! 

Kevin and I can't thank my parents enough for such an awesome weekend! And for helping us out with the kids so that we could get a little more skiing time to ourselves. So fun!

Sunday morning we all got up and headed to Brooke and Chris's house for a Superbowl party! Candice and Rick and the kids even came too. Brooke and Chris seriously went all out! They had decorations and fun balloons, games and party favors for the kids, and even got a pinata! 

pinata time!

We were all hoping for the Falcons to win. So funny when little Remi grabbed the Patriots balloon bouquet and started walking around waving it around before the game started. Chris said it was a sign- and it was!

We of course all went in $10 to do a little betting on the game. My Dad was barely in it the whole game and then ended up winning the whole loot at the end! 😜 It was so fun!