Everything...

Well, I have been debating for a long time whether I should play catch up or not. I've decided this will mainly just be pictures with some captions and subtitles. I just know that if I don't do it now it won't happen with all of the recent and upcoming events not so far away.

Christmas

For Christmas we got to spend some time with Eric's family in Brigham. It was fun to see so many people. Some of them had never met Adie, so that made it even more exciting. We loved seeing the mountains again....we really miss them. Here's hoping that we get to move back to the west to be closer to family and the mountains.

Porters favorite thing to do at grandma and grandpa Nielsen's house was to help feed the horses and to ride them too. He loves animals. It is too bad his mama has such bad allergies or maybe we could have animals some day.

Adie's favorite thing was to play with baby Trent. She just adores babies and wanted to do everything with him. I think she sat here holding him for a good 10 min before anyone started to worry if she was going to drop him. I remember being like that when I was little. And she was just totally content with holding him and watching everyone else. Hopefully a good sign for the upcoming baby.

This is what Eric did for almost the entirity of the "vacation". He got in a skiing accident Christmas Eve day and couldn't move. Fortunately he was willing to bring his decrepit self into the living room for Christmas for his kids.

We were also able to get together with my family. Every family was represented out of us siblings. We were just missing Sarah, Ali, Andy, and Mom and Mike. The twins aren't in this picture because they were already in bed, but it was amazing to have so many people together. Amy and I are both pregnant and due a week apart from each other. We'll have to see who delivers first, or maybe they will be born on the same day. It was fun to see everyone there too.

Porter's Birthday

In January, Porter turned 4. I can't believe how big he is getting. He starts pre-k next year and is starting to learn how to read. I can't believe it. He wanted a Buzz and Woody party, so this was the best idea I could come up with for his cake. Although after the second year in row of him not eating any cake and only eating the ice cream, I have decided that he doesn't really like cake. So next year we are going to do an ice cream cake.

We had a fun birthday party for him with his friends. We did a pizza lunch where the kids made their own, and I just made some for the adults. Then we played a couple of games like, pin the parts on Mr. Potato Head, pass the present, etc. Just simple games. They had a lot of fun and I had fun doing it. Luckily Porters birthday is right around Martin Luther King day so he always has a holiday to celebrate on.

He was so excited about these presents.

Chinese New Year

Even though we are not Chinese, I really like celebrating the holiday by making a Chinese feast.

This was after we ate, but there was definitely plenty of food. We had Long Life Noodles, egg rolls, pork loin, steamed pork buns and several dipping sauces. It was really yummy but we should have had someone over to help us eat it. There was TONS of food.

Valentines Day

We are not usually into a whole bunch of stuff for Valentine's Day. But I thought it would be fun to have a delicious special dessert just for me and my honey that day. These are molten chocolate cake. But I cooked it a little too long so it wasn't so molten, but it was still yummy. And Eric got me a present that I wasn't expecting. He got me a 10" chefs knife. It is amazing and I use if for everything now. I love having an amazingly sharp knife that cuts through everything like butter. Then Eric got himself and handy knife sharpener so that we can keep it sharp. What a great guy.

I also tried my hand at cake balls and decorated them for the holiday. They were so yummy, and easy to make. It was fun. Then we gave them to our friends.

Lately

The kids have absolutely loved building tents lately. So for fun we have been having picnics in them and doing other things in it. It has been fun to play with them.

I finally took my last certification test in February and have felt this overwhelming sense of freedom since. So I finished some projects that I have been working on for a while now and just haven't had time to go back to. The first was to make aprons for the kids. They were so excited and wanted to wear them for the entire day. It was fun and easy. I'm glad they like to use them.

I also finished their growth charts but haven't taken a picture yet. I am quite proud of them and the kids like them too. I did a separate one for each of them just so they can have it when they have kids and can keep track of it on them. We'll see if that actually works out. But I had fun making them.