January

I started off the year catching some virus that felt like the flu at first. It was full force for a couple days, then thankfully, got better. But in the meantime, I had to miss out on a family trip to the Odysea Aquarium. It was my parents Christmas gift to the grandkids. Bless my mom for taking the kids even though I couldn't go. I was so sick in bed and would have been the most useless mother. 

Tasha Monahan snapped this picture one day of the boys playing flag football in the greenbelt. It took awhile to make friends after the move, but I love that these boys have each other! Collin speeds through his homework every day then races off to play with his friends. Poor Weston. It takes him a long time to finish his homework and rarely gets to go play. Life can be so unfair.

About every other week, Camilla and I meet up for a play date. It's as much for these guys as it is for us! We are well acquainted with every play place in Mesa and Gilbert!

Starting January 6, I joined a health challenge with my gym. It's really simple. You have to weigh in each week and as long as you lost weight from the week before, you're still in! You put $100 into the pot and after 2 months, anyone not eliminated splits the money. The first week was ROUGH. It was a sad realization how much joy I get from food. After the first week though, it got a bit easier. But this meme really hit home and had me laughing!

We had the Goodman cousins for a weekend while Shelley and Casey went to Bear Lake with friends. These two wearing their mama's old nightgowns was picture worthy!

And their mama's old church dresses!

Collin had a soccer game an hour away in Scottsdale that I took Tanner, Della, Weston and Rusty to. When we pulled out the camping chairs, there was weird, shredded granola wrappers and plastic bag in the seat and a hole through the back. I was so confused at first. My first thought was that it looked like a firecracker had gone through the chair. Then it clicked. A mouse! A mouse had chewed its way through the chair to get to a leftover granola bar and snacks that a kid had left, folded up in the chair. Ewwwww!

My mom used to put my and Shelley's hair in rags at night so it would be curly in the morning. Knowing I had to get 8 kids ready and at church at 8am motivated me to try rags for the first time. And how cute are they all matchy matchy, sucking their thumbs, snuggling their blankies before bed?!

I did it! 8 kids ready for 8am church and we were even early and sat on the 3rd row! Boom.

These two fought for a place on my lap so I gave them each one leg and they stayed there the whole hour! I wish I had video of us trying to take the sacrament, haha!

Bummed I forgot to take a close up of the girls' hair, but it turned out cute. I did high pony tails with the curls spilling down. 

Grandma Ann discovered this full piggy bank in some furniture she was getting rid of and gave it to us thinking the boys would have fun smashing it. It was made of glass and there was no way to get the coins out unless you destroyed it. I got everyone situated with instructions on how to do it at the same time to make it fair. Well, somehow Weston's hammer got to it first which resulted in lots of tears all around. Plus, a couple of them managed to cut themselves so it was quite the debacle! I tell you what, there is just no way to make everyone happy. The reason we finally broke it open was because Collin's class needed 900 pennies for an activity for the 100th day of school. So he and Trav picked through the glass, counting every last penny. I think they got to 1,400!

My first time to the state capital. There was a rally going on to support Senator Allen's bill trying to counteract the comprehensive sex education that is being pushed on the school system. I also got registered for Right to Speak, meaning I could talk in a committee meeting in the future and also gives me the ability to go online and tell the representatives and senators my opinion on certain bills. 

We got to meet Senator Allen, herself!

Been missing my Jefferson, so we went on a date, trying our hand at ax throwing! Little did I know, he had broken up with his girlfriend, Aarica. Never easy or fun thing to do, but I'm proud of him for not prolonging something he didn't feel right about. 

Landon turned 3! How cute is that cake, Marcie made him?! It was such a fun afternoon, visiting and letting the kids play. 

We decided to treat Grandma with some Andy's ice cream, using the piggy bank money! 

I guess the tablet is exciting enough they all stood to be next to each other without fighting. The fact that Tanner let Weston actually hold him is a big deal!

Aunt Aubrey's magic at work again. Although, this one made me jump!

Oh sakes, that tiger has my heart.

Josie asked if I'd go visit her cousins and Aunt Sherry with her. Sherry is on hospice care and they don't know how much time she has left. It was late and I was tired, but it ended up being really enjoyable. These Hale girls are a good time and I loved getting to know them better. Spring and I used to be in the same ward, so it was fun to see her again.

Family Home Evening night making food and hygiene kits to give to homeless people on street corners begging.

We are having our Lip Sync Battle early this year to include Craig before he goes on his mission and Christopher's family who will be in town. Us sisters are doing an SNL skit and I'm Doonese. She has a snaggle tooth, so I went into Trav's office and he made a crown I can snap onto my tooth! It's perfect!

Olive was nominated by her school teacher to receive the Citizen of the Month award at Town Hall for Neely! Such an honor! When we got the letter in the mail, I was so excited to pick them up from the bus stop and tell them! Olive was thrilled and the boys were impressed, but then Collin said, "Um, obviously they haven't seen her at home." Haha. He's not wrong. But then, that could probably apply to all of us. I'm just glad she puts her best foot forward at school!

She got a plaque and bag of goodies and a picture with the mayor! Jen Daniels. She was beaming when they called her name and as I rushed up to take a picture I could hear lots of comments about how cute she was. 

Her teacher, Andrea Pinti, gushed about how she is a dream student. I was so proud of her! It's also not hard to do your best in a classroom like Mrs. Pinti's. She's a dream teacher!

Dairy Queen felt like an appropriate treat to end the night!

Finally got a good picture of Travis in his new ride. Still needs a name! Any suggestions?!

Christopher and Jael came into town for a week for all of the mission farewell festivities! It happened to be Jael's birthday while they were here so we went to First Watch for breakfast to celebrate. While opening her presents she jokingly remarked, "Wow. I haven't had a birthday party since I was a child." Which made us all giggle. 

Mom wanted a family picture before Craig left so we met at Nichol's park off of Higley and Guadalupe. A girl named Annie Randall took the pictures and they turned out amazing. I put them in a separate post. 

Right after the pictures, we all went to our house for pizza and the Lip Sync party! I made chocolate fondue with all the fixings for dessert! It was a blast. I know we all felt pretty overwhelmed doing family pictures and the lip sync in one night, but we pulled it off and it was really memorable. Our Lawrence Welk "Sisters" number was so fun to do! We got 1st place! I thought David and Abbey's was amazing! They had all the dance moves perfect. Marcie's family did a Froggy Fresh song and Shelley's family did the Sister Act song. Then our kids did a hip hop remix of I Hope They Call Me on a Mission. We'd been working on it for months in the car on the way to school. It worked out perfect for this year with Craig leaving on his mission! Oh yeah, and Trav and I tried to do a lip sync from Jimmy Fallon. He did a Iggy Izalea song, Fancy. And I did a Ludacris song, All I do is Win. Haha, I practiced and practiced and had those lyrics down pat! But of course for the performace I flubbed it a bit. Still pretty fun being a rapper for a minute!

The next morning was Craig's farewell talk! He did good. He loves his parents. :) He really is so prepared and will be a dedicated, awesome missionary.

We helped my mom bake lots of goodies for his open house! Making gourmet brownies and cookies while on a diet is not so fun, but I was good! Dad spruced up that little apartment and hung lights on the driveway and had heat lamps out and everything. Makes you appreciate people who make the time to come show their support. 

The next night, the stake counselor who set him apart gave an amazing blessing. So eloquent and powerful. It was a special evening. 

He's leaving with the house is completely gutted. Insulation and dry wall and floors and everything. Will be quite the transformation when he gets home!

He had a first class plane ticket to Mexico City where he'll be at the MTC for 6 weeks. All of us siblings were there and most of the grand kids. I only got emotional seeing my parents tear up. They have invested everything into this boy. Honestly, everything. We're all sort of wondering how they'll get along without him. 

Jefferson and him shared a long hug. Really sweet moment.

Au revoir, Pee Wee! 

They did this themselves, haha! The perfect representation of Lindblom and Evans!

I went to a 2 day workshop in downtown Chandler by Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife called The Art of Desire. Camilla was going to come with me but ended up bailing so I was bummed to go alone. But then, Karen Tobler ended up being there! LOVE her and was so fun to go to lunch and chat about what we were learning. She's an LDS sex therapist who is gaining quite the following. But this workshop was more about the meaning we put behind sex and the societal meanings we've been taught to accept all our lives. 

Even 58 year old grandpa's can dog pile.