The Count (Ha, Ha, Ha!)

My little smartie surprised me this last week by being able to count to 29 on her own. After that she said, "20-10, 20-11, etc.) I explained to her how counting works with the 20, 30, 40, etc. Yesterday she figured out how to count to 99 all on her own. At the end of each set of 10, she would pause while she figured out which came next, then would say 60, 70, or whatever and keep going. I was surprised and impressed that she figured it out that far.

Jumpin' Joe

I have always thought it was cute when Glade jumps! We finally caught it on video. His little face when he looks at his Daddy is precious also.

Trip to Utah

Ryan decided that for his birthday, he wanted to take a ski trip to UT. We happened to luck out and find Southwest with a half-off deal there and back. So, we all decided to go. We went for a 4-day weekend, getting there around noon on Friday, and flying back about 7 on Monday night, so it was a good length. We really enjoyed the trip. It was especially nice to have all of Ryan's family together. Those not living in Utah decided to make the trip since we were coming. It's been a few years since we have been together, so it was wonderful. Thanks for making the trip!

Also, thanks for letting us stay with you, Dad and Mom. And Rich and Kim let us crash in on their house for large family gatherings, as usual. Thanks for being willing to have the chaos.

Mom and Dad picked us up at the airport. We went to lunch and then decided to check out some things on Temple Square. We got a tour of the Conference Center. Too bad the roof was closed because of ice.

A "little door" at the side of the Salt Lake Temple.


Kim and Glade by the beautiful doors.


Conference Center with Grammy and Grandad.



Kimberly and Glade also really enjoyed the dogs. Glade even learned to say Cocoa.


That night we celebrated my birthday, again, on my actual birthday. Thanks for the delicious cake and gifts!



Ryan got his day of skiing, along with all of his siblings and his Dad.


My sister Mindy and her husband Scott drove down from Logan to see us and we got to meet our new niece Stephanie. She's a cutie!





Dusty and Leah had to go home Sunday night, but the rest of us all went to the Draper Temple open house. Kimberly was really excited to get to go inside of a temple. We really enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, I finally crossed over the "old" line. That's right, I turned the big 30 in the middle of January. I don't feel much older though. We celebrated a little early since we were going to UT on my actual birthday. We made eclairs and had fun filling them with pudding and frosting and eating them. Let me tell you, eclairs don't do well at holding all that many candles.




I was totally spoiled by my family, as you can see. I have since enjoyed reading my new books, playing my new games, and watching my new (old) movies. Thanks!

Goodbye Grandma Loucks

The other day I was EXTREMELY tired and didn't really feel like making dinner, so my great husband took us out to eat. We decided to walk since it wasn't too cold. On the way home, we noticed an interesting thing. The moon had a rainbow around it. The moon was full (or pretty close to it) and there was a ring with varying colors going all the way around it, not close by it, but pretty far away. It was a really neat sight.



The next morning we were notified that Ryan's Grandma Loucks had died the night before. It was kind of neat to reflect back and think of that beautiful moon rainbow and think the maybe it was her telling us goodbye.






Ryan and Kimberly made a trip to Florida to see his grandparents last May, right before we moved to WA. We are very glad that they were able to do that.

Preliminary Assignment

How would you like to see any of these things?







Well, if our luck holds, you may be able to buy a plane ticket to Fairbanks, AK, see it while staying with us! The assigning officer said to be flexible, so it definitely isn't for sure yet, but we can hope. If all goes well, we will be going in August sometime probably.


Ryan received his preliminary assignment this past week and we are really excited about it. It will definitely be an adventure to go to Ft. Wainwright.

New Year's Trip to Longmire

During Ryan's New Year's break we decided to drive up to Mt. Rainier and find some real snow. We did. The road up to Paradise was closed, no big surprise there. We played around a little bit and then went for a snow hike that we really enjoyed. After that we treated ourselves to a late lunch in the lodge. Pretty reasonable prices surprisingly. It was a good day and we even got some use out of our snow chains!



Ryan and Kim in the parking lot before going home.


Glade makes the snow look REALLY deep.


More enjoying snow.


The kids enjoying lunch out.

Christmas

Despite the fact that it's almost February, I am going to finish up blogging about Christmas and then press forward into January. I promise to try to do better in the near future.


Grandpa and Grandma enjoying everyone being together (minus Mindy, Scott, and baby Steph).


Fun on Grandpa's 4-wheeler (it's for work, really!). Camryn, Emily, Kimberly, and Brailynn)



Dad and Kim on a horse. Thanks, Uncle Cal for bringing him over.




Mom and Glade


Kimberly in the mittens and hat Grammy Abbott made for her.


Glade enjoying some new bristle blocks on Christmas morning.

Sleepover

We decided that since most of my siblings wouldn't be around for Christmas that we would get together and exchange family gifts on the 23rd. We also planned a cousin's sleepover for the night before since I thought it would be fun to do gingerbread houses. All of the older cousins are girls, so it would have been 6 of them if sickness hadn't struck and kept three home. Kim had a great time with Lauren and Brailynn though. They had a hard time going to sleep all snuggled up in the hide-a-bed together. The next day I made gingerbread for houses and the girls had fun putting them together and decorating them. Everyone made it for dinner and the family gift exchange, except my sister Mindy in Utah with her husband and new baby. My brother Calvin made cute boxes for the kids. They love carrying them around. We are also looking forward to getting the shelf that he stained for us and we enjoyed the salsa Terra Jo made. After that crazy night. Christmas Eve with Grandpa Payne, Uncle Ed and Aunt Jean, and Tara and Karleigh seemed really quiet.


Glade with the fun new box Uncle Calvin made.


Kim with her gingerbread house.


Lauren's house had a few structural issues.


Cute little Brailynn. She couldn't keep her mouth off of her house. She kept licking it.


Reb a deb deb, three girls in a bed.

Family Pictures

My Sister-in-law's dad took some pictures for us while we were in Arizona. I think they turned out really well. We took them down by my Grandpa Payne's house, so it was kind of fun to have backgrounds that I know and love in them. Thanks so much Scott and Joann!

Here's a selection, along with the one of Ryan and I below with the post about our anniversary.