Firestation

Bailee is going to the same preschool this year that Cole went to.  This week they got to take a trip to the fire-station.  She was a little scared and didn't want to do anything without her dad, but now she says it was lots of fun.

Skiing

We bought tickets to our neighborhood ski night.  Bailee ended up having pneumonia so she and I stayed home and Matt took Brooke and Cole.  They have never been skiing before and they both picked up on it really fast.  Matt only got a picture of Cole because Brooke was off with her friends.  They have both asked several times to go again.  Maybe next year we will all go a few times.

Sickness

This has been a winter of sickness.  Cole was out of school for a week back in November, we all had the flu over Christmas break, and we've had pink eye several times.  My daycare kids have had croup and RSV.  This month it was Bailee's turn.  She's had a cold since Christmas and it just kept getting worse.  I was starting to worry about her breathing, so I took her to instacare.  Her breathing was shallow and fast and they took her to get an x-ray for pneumonia.  Sure enough, it was positive.  So the last several days she's been doing breathing treatments with the nebulizer and taking an antibiotic.  I hope we are ready to be healthy!

Jazz Game

Matt and Cole were able to go to a Jazz game with Key Bank.  It was in a suite and had unlimited pizza, popcorn, and candy.  Cole was in heaven.  He thinks every sports game should be like that.

2015

Another new year is upon us. As is my tradition, I like to have goals that I am working towards and evaluate how I have grown and changed over the past year. 2014 seemed to fly by. We bought a house, played a lot, and kept very busy with family, friends, work, and callings. I never, ever thought I would say I love teaching Gospel Doctrine and the Old Testament, but I do! I am learning so much and growing so much. I am really looking forward to learning and teaching about our Savior this year. Matt is so great with his young men and they keep him busy and on the right path. We both completed a challenge to read the Book of Mormon during the year and it was the first time in a long time that I have read the whole thing cover to cover. I feel like the kids have really grown a lot and we've been able to do a lot of fun things as a family. Overall we are happy, healthy, and looking forward to another year together!

Goals from last year:
Spiritual:
1. Continue goals from last year -- temple monthly, time with kids, family prayer daily: I have definitely slacked off on these goals. My temple time has been less than consistent, although I still make an effort to go. I do feel like I've done better at spending time with the kids... joining a gym this summer was the best idea I've ever had. It allowed me to go and have my "me" time everyday while they were able to play and have fun at kids-care and then we were all able to - enjoy our afternoons together -- swimming, doing chores, playing with friends, whatever we wanted! We have also been really good at doing family prayer in the mornings before school, but forget to do it when we are out of our routine and at night.
2. Improve personal prayers: I feel like this is an area I can always improve on, but I have made a consistent effort to pray in private whenever I can. Sometimes that means locking myself in the shower in the bathroom for peace and quiet, but at least I get it!
3. Be Positive -- Choose Joy: This is one that I am getting better at. It is so good for my health and well being and that of my family when I look at the positive side of things and choose to be happy!

Fitness:
1. Continue goals from last year -- more specifically eat more vegetables and run more than 1500 miles: I have done really well with this goal! Healthy eating has become a real priority for me and it makes such a huge difference in how I feel! I ran 1750 miles in 2014. Highest mileage was in 199 in March and averages out to be 33.65 miles a week. Not bad :-)
2. Break 3:20 marathon: Running more miles than ever before certainly worked. I ran 3:15 at Ogden in May. I wish that I wouldn't have been so burned out that I could have enjoyed it more. Now that I am loving running again, I am proud of that number and can't wait to see if I can improve it!

Goals for 2015:
Spiritual:
1. Continue goals from last year -- family prayer, personal prayer, choose joy!
2. Love others as Christ loves -- this was my birthday present on Christmas. I am going to work really hard on not judging and not gossiping.
3. Develop a deeper personal relationship with Christ -- this comes from a challenge from one of my lessons. There is CES devotional by Randall L. Ridd that talks about living with purpose and intent and that is something I really want to do. I want to allow myself to be yolked to Christ -- to really take upon myself His will for me -- and allow Him to help me... even when the answers I get aren't what I want to hear and when times are hard!

Fitness:
1. Continue goals from last year -- more specifically eat healthy and run more than 1750 miles
2. Enjoy running! -- running this year isn't about times. I want to run and have fun doing it. I would love to run Top of Utah Marathon and St. George if I can get in, but my only goal is to qualify for Boston. Sometime in the next few years will worry about breaking 3:00, but this year I get to just have fun and not be so worried about being perfect!

Yogi

Meet our dog, Yogi.  Santa brought him for Christmas and he is a Pomeranian.  The kids have wanted another dog ever since we had to give away Halle because the house we were renting didn't allow pets.  Since we are officially homeowners again we decided it was time.  We have all loved having him around!  He is very mellow and such a good dog.

Hunting

The boys went pheasant hunting the day after Christmas.  Cole got a bb-gun for Christmas so he even got to go and shoot that.  They had a blast!

Christmas

Christmas was wonderful as usual.  We had our Christmas Eve party with Matt's family with all the usual festivities and Christmas day with my family.  Santa brought our kids a puppy this year.  They  must have been extra good.  The puppy and the kids were up bright and early by 6:00 a.m.  I ended up coming down with the flu so I was quite miserable, but everyone else waiting to get it until the day was over.  The kids named the puppy Yogi and they love him!

Friends

It is not very often that all of my friends from high school are in town.  This year we were all able to go to lunch just before Christmas.  It has been several years since we have all been together and it was fun to catch up and see where life has taken us.  I love knowing that I have friends who I can always be myself around and who I can keep up with even when we don't see each other often.  It is still crazy to think that it has been more than 10 years since we were in high school!

Basketball

Matt coached Cole's basketball team this winter.  They were the Warriors.  Cole thought it was awesome.  He loves sports of any kind.