FEBRUARY

Even though this is the shortest month of the year, for me February was so long!  It just dragged on and on.  We were busy but it just seemed like it would never end.  Plus of course this year it was one day longer because it was a leap year.  Someone told me that the end of January and the month of February are statistically the months when most people say they are most depressed because of the weather and they are getting their credit card bills for all their Christmas spending that they now have to pay.  I thought that was pretty funny - the weather is always gloomy then, but I'd never thought of the credit card part before.  Eventually the month passed and here is what happened for us:

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GROUNDHOG DAY - This was an exciting day because Ava got her braces on.  Also the groundhog didn't see his shadow so we found out spring was on its way.  (But mostly exciting because of Ava.)  When we went to the dentist last month we found out that Ava had a canine growing in crooked which was blocking two other teeth from breaking through her gums.  We have wondered for awhile when those teeth would come in, but had no idea the tooth that did come through was growing that way!  Because the crooked tooth is a permanent tooth we can't pull it out so the only other option was braces to pull it up.  I'm not even sure how it will all work, but we were told it would be about 8-10 months.  Ava was pretty excited until the pain kicked in later that night.  :(   

 Kasen was the only kid who talked about Groundhog day in school.  They learned all about the animal and the holiday.  He drew the famous groundhog Punxsutony Phil for me.  He learned how to draw it by drawing a heart then turning it upside down.   I also decided to celebrate the holiday and take a pregnant picture (25 wks/2 days.)  I feel like this pregnancy I have such a weird shape.  I didn't realize the baby was so high until I saw the pictures - which explains why I'm always out of breath.  It looks so weird to me.  I have gained a lot of my weight in my chest as well which I'm not super thrilled about because most of my clothes won't fit.  Luckily it is still winter and I'm getting by with big sweaters.  The baby moves all the time, but no one can really feel it yet besides me.  Heartburn is in full swing.  Other than that though I'm feeling pretty decent.

SUPERBOWL WEEKEND - Later that week Jake & Megan came over for a few days with Mallory, Madeline, and Jagger.  Mallory qualified to compete in the state Hoop Shoot competition.  They got here just in time for the competition and then stayed the night and went home the next day.  It was a quick trip, but fun to see them.  With qualifying for state, Mallory also received a free night at a hotel so after the competition we went over and swam with them.  Tyler and Tresa also came over.  The kids had a great time.  They love their cousins.

Kasen did his best to talk them in to staying for the Superbowl, but he couldn't talk Jake into it.  Kasen couldn't believe it since it was the Broncos.  The kids had picked out their special cereal for their super "bowl" treat and had it for breakfast and lunch on Sunday!  The kids were really excited for the Superbowl because we are Broncos fans.  Everyone got dressed up besides Ava & I.  Kasen even watched most of the game!  The game itself was amazingly awful/boring, but the Broncos ended up winning!  The Ball family came over to watch with us so Jed had to control himself and couldn't get too vocal. :)

ABBY'S SHOWER - On President's Day weekend my sister Abby had her baby shower.  She is pregnant with her 1st baby!  It is a boy and she is a very cute pregnant lady.  We finally got to see Sydnee's baby girl too.  We had planned multiple trips to Gooding, but everytime right before one of my kids would start coughing or get stuffy and I didn't want to risk infecting a newborn with something so we would have to cancel.  Luckily we only had to wait 3 weeks to see her.  The girls were really excited.  She was so tiny.  It made me excited and also gave me a small panic attack!  Abby's shower was really cute - airplane themed.  My sister Malorie even made an airplane with diaper wheels.  There was lots of good food and the decorations were so cute.  Abby got some great stuff and she had a good turn-out.  I wasn't feeling that great that day so I didn't even think about taking pictures which now I really regret because it was such a fun day.  Abby will be such a great new mom!

VALENTINE'S DAY - We were able to celebrate Valentine's day with family that weekend thanks to Abby's shower.  There was so much snow!  We were not used to it, but had fun.  There was a lot more snow than there was at Christmas time and it was a lot warmer than Christmas time so the kids/dads had lots of fun playing outside.  The kids gave us cute Valentine's they had made at school that morning.  Kasen's valentine said: "I love you because you are fun and you play with me dad.  I love you and thank you for helping me with my Valentine cards mom and thank you for doing the laundry."  Kasen also drew a picture of all the things he loved: ice cream, family, crayons, animals, Earth, art, school, Idaho, chocolate, his horse, and clothes. Kinsley's card said: "I love you because you're sometimes nice to me and take care of me and because you are my parents.  Also sometimes mom sneaks a candy for me & dad is strong."  I think it is always funny what kids write in cards.  Who knew the laundry meant so much to Kasen?!  :)  Ava didn't make a card, but she made some cool crafts for us which we loved.

I was never quick enough to get a picture of James & Liam, but here are a couple of pictures of the cousins.  It was so fun to spend the weekend together.  My brother Josh and sister Katie weren't there, but everyone else was and we had a great time.  My dad made amazing Mexican food on Sunday and we laughed most of the night just talking. Jed wasn't going to come with us, but at the last minute decided to come over for the weekend and I was really glad he did.  It is always more fun when he is with us.

The kids played outside for hours and there was plenty of snow-mobile rides too.  We were all able to go to church on Sunday together.  Kasen thought the fox skin was a perfect addition to Grandma's outfit.  Up in Swan Valley, no one would probably have been surprised, but she decided not to wear it to church. :)  Even though it is farther to get to than their house in Rigby, it is always so fun to go up to Swan Valley and stay at the ranch.  There is plenty of space for everyone and it is fun to all sleep in the same location.

GIRLS STATE BASKETBALL - Samantha's basketball team made it to the state tournament (Teton) so Susan and her girls came over for a few days.  They played during the day for their first game so I was the only one who made it out for that game.  They had some evening games though so the kids/Jed came along to watch for those.  Samantha played well.  She is only a freshman so didn't play a lot, but still got to play up on the Varsity team which is pretty cool.  After their last game they stopped with us at a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Morgan was a great cheerleader for her older sister!  Susan was brave and came over at 37 weeks pregnant to watch.  Luckily she didn't have her baby while she was here!

A NIGHT OF LOVE - The next morning after Samantha's game we drove to SLC for a benefit/fundraiser dinner for our friend high school friend Sadie.  Ava had a basketball game that morning so we left right after her game and got to our hotel with about 30 minutes until the event started.  My sister Malorie brought her family to the hotel and stayed with our kids while we were gone.  We rewarded them with pizza and swimming later that night.  It was really nice of her to do that so that we could bring our kids with us to Utah.  The benefit event was very black tie at the Joseph Smith Memorial building.  There were a lot of people there and quite a few people from Rigby.  A few of my high school friends were there and it was fun to catch up.  Alex Boye performed and Jed and I were actually impressed with him and his story.  We had never heard of him before.  Sadie was diagnosed with a brain tumor and went in for brain surgery right before Christmas.  She had just finished up her chemo/radiation treatments prior to this benefit. We were happy to support her and admire her so much for all her family has gone through these last few years!

The benefit was Saturday night so we stayed overnight in downtown SLC and then drove back Sunday.  We spent Sunday morning on Temple Square since we weren't able to go to church anywhere.  It was pretty empty, but still very beautiful to walk around.  The kids loved the statues and we had to take pictures at most of them.  Kasen wanted to reenact the mother/son statue with me and get a picture with Jed at the priesthood statue.  We spent time in both visitor's centers which is always interesting.  As we were walking in to one visitor's center we ran into Dick & VonnieLue Broulim.  They are two of my favorite people and were at the benefit the previous night as well.  They love Jed because he married me and so whenever we run into them it is always pretty funny.  Lots of inside jokes Jed and I have about them.  They are the best. :)

On the car ride home Kasen made a list of his role models (roll mottles).  It was pretty funny and included his dad, his grandpas, his cousin Jace and uncle Josh, and Michael Jordan/Peyton Manning.  The rest were cartoon characters: the chipmunks (Alvin, Simon, Theodore) & Chris/Martin Kratt from a PBS cartoon.  It was pretty funny.

FAMILY OUTING - We got back from Utah Sunday afternoon and the next night we had a family outing for FHE.  I had forgotten I'd bought these tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters about a month ago so it was a bit hectic this time of the month.  It seemed like everything clumped together all at once.  The morning of I was kinda' dreading having to go downtown because I had piano lessons & I knew we'd all be tired when it seemed like we hadn't been home for a week, and I even thought to myself "I haven't told the kids yet - they would never know..."  But ultimately the thought of wasting money won out and so we headed downtown to the game.  Jed met us down there from work.  We had tickets to the exhibition game and then also tickets to a "fan experience" before the game.  The kids were able to meet some players and shoot foul shots with some players.  They could also get autographs.  There was only one woman Globetrotter and she was teaching kids how to spin a basketball on their finger, but her line was too long we didn't make it.  Ava was bummed about that. 

After the fan experience we were able to watch the Globetrotters play another team (I can't remember what they were called but they were dressed in black and cheated a lot so it was like the good guys vs. the bad guys.)  There was a lot of showing off of course and cool tricks.  The Globetrotters had amazing passing routines they did as they went down the court.  One of the kids favorite parts was when one of the Globetrotters got bounced up on top of the rim and kicked away all of the opponent's baskets.  Then he climbed down through the hoop.  They had a really fun time and laughed so much.  They also had a lot of music going so they got some dancing in - especially Kasen.

SCHOOL - The kids have all been doing well in school.  Lots of projects and things they are working on.  February was a fun month for Kasen because his class ccelebrated Groundhogs Day, Valentine's Day, Dr Suess' birthday, and the 100th day of school.  He brought home this picture  he made of our family and on the back he wrote: My dad is nice, strong, and funny.  My mom is pretty, smart, and nice.  My older sister is fun, intelligent, and nice.  My younger sister is cute, silly, and fun to play with. His teacher sent a picture of the photo booth at his class Valentine's party.  He really enjoys 1st grade and has been an excellent student and has made many friends.  I'm so glad everyday we decided not to send him ahead a grade when we moved here. 

For the 100 days of school his teacher said kids could dress up if they wanted to.  This is what we put together for Kasen.  I sprayed his hair with dry shampoo so it looked really white.  You can't really tell in the pictures but he looked really cute.  He hobbled around all morning before he went to school and would randomly just fall down and yell in a cowboy drawl, "My old leg gave out again. Dagnabbit!"  He is such a funny kid.  His teacher downloaded an app for the day on their ipads that let them take a picture of themselves and then it would show them what they would look like at age 100.  Kasen's picture is below.  I think he chose to add the beard and glasses.  In his writing journal he wrote:  When I am 100 yrs old I will be bald.  Also I will move to Texas.  Also I will wear glasses.

February was also a fun month for Kinsley at preschool!  Towards the end of the month she was the V.I.P. in her class.  She was able to do special things all week and got "lots of attention" (her words).  Some of the things she did was make a poster about herself (which I forgot to take a picture of), take in three things that described her - she choose a puzzle because she loves doing puzzles and is really good at them, a little birthday cake shopkin toy because she loves parties & sweets, and a stuffed animal cat because she loves animals and especially cats.  She also got to take in treats that week and she chose Fancy Cakes & popcorn.  She even dressed up in her princess costume that week because it was Fairy Tale week and they had a tea party so she thought she was really special to be the VIP during Fairy Tale week. 

Ava is doing awesome at school as usual!  She is always getting notes sent home about how her teachers are so impressed with her work.  Her GT class has been a lot harder this year than last year, but she still loves it and it has been really good for her.  Two things she brought home this month that she was proud of were a constellation assignment & a story she had written.  Below:
The story of my constellation - The "OWL GUARDIAN":  A long, long time ago the animal were worried that each of them would disappear.  So they had a big meeting under the moon one night.  Someone would fly up to the stars so they could watch and protect them.  A brave owlet volunteered and became the Guardian Owl.

My Worst Ouch Story
Have you ever made a deep and narrow cut on your foot?  My worst injury takes place at my grandparent's house, with my cousins, and includes a big metal gate.  What happens? Let's find out! First, I drove with my family to my grandparent's house in Rigby, Idaho.  It was a hot and sticky summer afternoon.  My aunts, uncles, grandparents, and parents were blabbering on and on.  Then, I sighed.  "Psst!" my cousins Mallory and Abby whispered. "What?" I asked.  "Do you want to go to the horse arena?" Mal questioned.  "Sure!" I smiled, "it'll be fun!"  "Okay so come on!" Abby exclaimed.  "It's almost evening!"  "Get your flip-flops on!" Mal exclaimed.  "One minute," I said.  "Mom, Dad can I go to the arena?" "Sure sweetheart!" Dad said.  "Be careful!" Mom sighed.  "Okay!" I exclaimed.  I grabbed my neon pink flip-flops and raced to the horse arena.  Next, Abby called, "Come on slowpoke!"  They were already past the gate.  I came to a halt.  I slowly slipped through the iron gate.  SCRRAAAPPPEEE! I cringed.  I looked at my left foot and grimaced.  Hot stinging pain pulsed through my veins, as crimson red blood oozed from my cut.  Wet tears rolled down my cheeks.  "Oh my gosh! Ava are you okay?" Mal gasped.  "I don't think so. " I sputtered in between tears.  Just then Abby sprinted over.  "Ava what happened?"  Abby blurted.  "Let's go to the house, " Mal suggested.  I limped to the house with my cousins.  I hope you enjoyed my worst injury story at my Grandparent's house, with my cousins, and a big metal gate.  The moral of this story is never wear flip-flops on a farm.  I still have a scar on my left foot to remember never to do that again!