Pictures of January

Well the month is almost over, and we don't have much to show for it. I have a love/hate relationship with January. I like it because the kids keep themselves entertained with the new toys from Christmas, and our schedule is back to normal. I don't like it because, well, it's kinda boring. The only thing to get excited about for the month is Ben's birthday (big 29 this year!).

Abigail got some new dress ups for Christmas, and now she had design creativity flowing out of her. She loves to come up with new outfits. She especially loves to use blankets. She wraps them around her and ties them, then practices walking down the stairs, daintily holding up her dress like the princesses on movies.

Carly is such a fun little thing... she keeps us laughing all day. She's a mimic, a tease, and a huge flirt. She's growing up so fast, she's been potty-trained since a week after her 2nd birthday, and she talks non-stop.
The other day I was talking on the phone, holding Hailey on my hip, in my slippers. I saw Carly rush from the room, then come sauntering back in with Dolly on her hip, slippers on, and having a funny conversation on the phone.

One morning I found Luke with a little back message thing, reading, in a pile of books.
This kid loves to read! He just won an award for being 'top reader' at school. He came home with a medal, a certificate, and a new ball. He was SO excited!

Hailey is figuring out how to get around the house. She just rolls and rolls until she gets to the toy that she wants. It looks like she's considering crawling, but so far so good (I say that because I'm fine that she doesn't stray too far yet)

One night, Abigail wanted to sleep in curlers. She we put them in... repeatedly throughout the night, she kept waking up because they were uncomfortable, and falling out. One time she cried at 1 in the morning because one fell out and she wanted me to put it back in (I didn't). So needless to say, we won't be doing that again. Which is a shame, because I thought her pigtails looked so cute curled. Can you tell she didn't want her picture taken?

Luke's a little sweetie. He's always taking care of his sisters. He thinks that just because his sisters want some candy, he's justified in getting in the cupboard with the leftover advent calendar candy, and doling it out.

happy girls!

Abigail was particularly proud of this creation. She said, "Mom, look, I'm Grandma Ruth, at the cabin!" You would have to know Ben's sweet Grandma Ruth. In the summer, she's always wearing visors, especially when at the cabin.

Chargers game in Denver

This is Ben's 3rd year to go to Denver for the Chargers game. In the years past, he has gone with just the guys. This year I got to go (as long as I didn't turn in into a "chick" trip). We invited Brent and Blake to come with us... but Blake's plans were a little different. Due to some amazing events, Blake is now serving his mission in Tampa, Florida! He left Monday morning, we can't wait to hear from him.

Okay, back to our trip... we tried to get a fourth person to come with us, but nobody could do it. So us three headed down to Denver, it was a great drive. We had a great time hanging out with Brent.

Here we are Saturday night at Casa Bonita. My fifth grade memory of this place was a lot cooler than it really was. It's supposed to be like the Mayan. Only one guy dove in the water, twice. But even though the entertainment was a little lame, the food was good, and the sopapillas (I don't know how to spell it and neither does my spell check) were delicious.

My brother, Jed, was on his way to Texas and luckily got to come to the game with us! It was awesome timing, he got to Denver with a few minutes to spare. It was an awesome game, Ben was really happy that the Chargers won, and I was really happy that we didn't get beat up for wearing Chargers stuff. Not that it would really happen with these three big guys. Jed might have been a tad dissappointed, because he's a Broncos fan.

The weather was pretty good, except towards the end it got cold. I also had a steady drip of water landing on my leg the entire game.

On the way home we stopped in Cheyenne to see the Ranch. We lived on the Wyoming Hereford Ranch for 5 wonderful years. I have some of the best memories growing up here, and it was fun to go back.

The only thing I don't miss about Cheyenne of course, is the wind.

Me and Brent... Ben told us to pretend we were playing like we were kids again...but we chose to just stand by the sign.
We also went through Rock Springs and went passed our old house there. We lived in Rock Springs for 5 Wonderful years. We could have made the tour of our old houses in Wyoming complete, but we weren't about to drive all the way up to Casper.