January

Are you sensing a theme in my clever titles?

So January was full of fun. We had lots of time off school, a couple birthdays, some vacations...pretty fun, even with Adam still gone.

School resumed as usual on the 3rd of Jan, freeing me of the majority of my children during the day. Yay!



Jan 14th was Alyssa's 20th birthday...no longer a teenager, but a beautiful, talented young woman. I took her out to dinner and some shopping a little earlier in the week and had a couple of her friends take her on a surprise outing when her special day came. Alyssa's leaving us on Feb 1st. So sad! But, I'm sure Utah will treat her well and she'll have more fun surrounded by the plethora of LDS young single adults that inhabit that neck of the woods.

As for me, Jan 15th brought a weekend full of JOY!!! I got to go to a GORGEOUS house in the Outer Banks with 15 of the coolest ladies I have ever met. Most of the ladies were at one time part of the Ft Meade Ward. They have since moved to places like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Hawaii, but we all came together for one weekend of crazy awesomeness. I so miss it already. We ate lots of good food and talked late into the night and took long walks on the beach. I'm starting to sound like an ad in the personals, but really, it was awesome.

I totally miss this foursome.How I LOVE all these girls!!!

The only down side was that I missed Nona's birthday. Yes, my little girl turned 7 on the 16th. But, I like to think I made up for it by spending exorbitant amounts of money by taking all the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge.
Nona got a few articles of sparkly clothing, a new DS purse, and the book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. She loves her collection of silly poems. She stayed up late reading with me. Isn't she gorgeous?!

I've posted about this place before. Totally worth every penny! Indoor water park, magic wands, a room to go back to inside the lodge. Everything right there. SO easy. That's my kind of vacation. Next time I will be inviting another family to go along, though. 4 kids is just too many when all of them want to do something different. I just felt bad that I wasn't able to spend time with Nona or Bryson, going down water slides with them or just watching them have fun, because the whole time was spent watching to make sure Grant didn't get into trouble. I did have fun with my little G, though. I even got him to go down the giant water slide.

Josh spent the majority of the time playing MagiQuest. You go around the lodge pointing your wand at things to obtain runes that you'll need to defeat digital Goblins and dragons. Josh did the whole game twice. We were almost ready to go when Josh asked to do it just one more time, PLEEEEEEAAASE!!! So, I told him 30 mins. We laughed each time he zoomed past us. Here's a video of one of Josh's super fast flights, although he does stop for a quick photo op.

The kids watching the show in the lobby.

I just found out that Grant is now eligible for part day preschool! He'll be going to the Ft Meade preschool from 9-12 everyday. I'm so excited. He's so excited! THIS is a VERY good thing. All my kids in school...it's like dreams coming true!Gotta love this hair!!! I couldn't bear to comb it down. lol

Josh had his second pinewood derby this January. He won his first race! So excited. I'm sure he's already taking notes on how he's going to improve his car for next year.

Some of his best friends from school joined Josh's cub scout group. It's so fun to have them there with him. Look at all those cute little boys!!!


I've spent most of the month reading. Although, Marianne has dragged me away from my books long enough for me to make some of my own jewelry, start knitting, and I think she's even increased my desire to cook. I know! She's amazing in so many ways.

Oh! and I wrote a new arrangement of "Our Savior's Love." If you were at church for ward conference, you heard it. I couldn't bear the thought of singing the song (that the stake picked out for us) straight from the hymnal, so I broke down and tweaked it a few days before we performed. My mom helped me with the last verse and I have to say, it's pretty darn good. If you'd like a copy of the sheet music let me know.

So, that's January in a nutshell.