January

 For New Year's Eve we had such a great party with our Vivint friends who we went to Oklahoma with and also my cousins, who could also be considered part of the Vivint group.  We had boys vs. girls minute to win it and other competitive games.  I love the photo below of Brit giving her sister a pep talk of how to stay focused and beat the guys.  Also, we were playing the pass the orange game, in case some of those photos look oddly inappropriate. 

We started the New Year off by sending up paper lanterns as well as our wish for the coming year. 

New Year's Day we went snow shoeing with the Jensens in my parent's back yard.  Emma did as good as any of the adults.  I'm excited to have this activity to do with her.  

 Both the girls started dance this year and nobody is more excited or more in love with it than Lydia.  I let her choose her own poses and the above photos are what she came up with, including standing next to that little mannequin. 

 It has been a FREEZING month!  There were a couple of weeks where the HIGH didn't get above 4 degrees!!  Look at this icicle, it goes from the roof to the ground, and it's yellow because of the leaves in the gutter. 

 One Sunday we were all home sick and so we decided to make the best fort the girls had ever seen.  We put quite some time into it, but it was so charming when it was all finished.  We dragged our mattresses in there and slept inside there as a family for a week!!  There was a fireplace in there and it kept it nice and cozy. 

This is a random photo I took of Emma inside the fort, blimey this girl has great hair!!

It wasn't much, but we let the girls go sledding one day and it was so fun using the sled my parents used as children, as did I, and now my own children are using it. 

For nearly 7 years I have been warning Ry about the dangers of tickling little girls....it finally happened.  During a tickle fest with Lydia, she peed on him.  

Lydia joined a little Joy School group in our ward.  January was my month to teach.  It was actually pretty fun.  3 year olds are WAY easier to manage than 6 year olds.  

When we found the girls playing in the front entry way with their toys, instead of using their massive play room or fort we built them, well, that was our cue to take down the fort and put away some excess toys.  

There were quite a few days off in January so we had the cousins spend the night one night.  The kids had so much fun together.  Emma was gone to a party but I snapped a quick photo before the boys left.