Leah is 16!

 On December 30th, Leah turned 16! We spent the morning celebrating with good food, presents, and friends!

In the afternoon, kids wanted to revisit the 'derecho park'.  It was just as fun as ever, and thankfully no devastating storms this time. 

There was a tri-stake dance the night of Leah's birthday, and she decided to have a fondue and Jackbox games party before the dance with lots of her favorite friends. 

She had quite an unusual birthday cake this year- a fondue platter!

Such a fun group of friends! And, of note, Leah's first boy-girl birthday party.  It was definitely a success!

And then it was time for the stake dance!  In a marked action that highlighted this new chapter we are launching into, all of the party guests divided up into three or four cars and drove themselves to the dance. Including Adam!  His first stake dance was an extra fun one, and with a bit of brushing up at home he was ready to dance!

Thanks to Leah we got a few peeks into the dance- it looked like a hit!

Adam and Leah each danced every slow dance, as boys and girls should do at stake dances. 

Overall it was a fantastic day to celebrate Leah, and a great chance to reflect on what a sweet young woman she is growing up to be. Leah loves her mom and dad.  She wants to spend time with her family.  She smiles at people and says yes when she is asked to do hard things. She loves babies and has very little tolerance for mean people and she wants to serve a mission just as soon as she possibly can (January 2026 doesn't sound too far away at all!).  She is a great example of kindness and contentment.  She is grateful and kind and hardworking and gives us lots of reasons to be proud and laugh every day. 

Her big birthday and Christmas present was a new bow and/or violin.  After lots of testing out of lots of different options, she chose to get just a new bow, and it sounds wonderful. 

She's looking forward to a lot of firsts in this year- driving, getting a job, tackling some tough school courses, and dating!  In fact, she went on her first date just a few days after her birthday. 

On the same day as our stake winter youth conference- that Emma got to attend because she is officially a young women now!- Leah went on her first date.  A sweet young man in our stake asked her out and after quite a bit of planning, they went axe throwing and out for ice cream. It was supposed to be a double date and the other pair ended up being Adam and Andrew's little brother Eli.  And their parents drove them around!  So it was a pretty low-key first date and they all had a great time!

It's nice to have that highly anticipated first date checked off the list, and there are lots more fun dates and exciting adventures in store for Leah this year.  We took her out for the traditional birthdate a few days after her birthday at Olive Garden.  But first- pictures!

Delicious food, excellent company, only one kind of sad picture.  Ha!

She also got Crumbl cookies from Auntie Al! 

And of course there was a bit of birthday shopping. Look at this cutie!

It was a fantastic celebration of our best biggest girl. Happy sweet 16 peanut!  We love you!

Naptime, Interrupted

 Laney apparently didn't get the memo that we attend church at noon in this new year, and she is not thrilled about her previously traditional 10:30 nap being interrupted.  

Block out the light...

Just need a little air hole.

Sorry pup!

Emma's First Temple Trip

 This sweet girl has been counting down the days (and the monthly temple trips!) until it was finally her turn to join us in the temple, and Saturday was her big day!

Our whole family headed over to the Winter Quarters Temple to join Emma for her first baptisms.  Like all things Emma, she was super excited and totally cool about the whole thing.  She said it felt just like home, like she'd been there before and that it was all wonderful.  

The session was very full, so we jumped right in and got right to work. We were the first ones in and out, and it was sweet to pause a few times to notice the quiet and peace of the temple.  I'm grateful that we get to go back again and again to notice and learn and ponder and pray, all while getting the work of our ancestors done. There were also lots of familiar faces there- the Salts joined us and the sister missionaries were there with a new member whose baptism we attended a few moths ago, and there were smiling members from at least three units in our stake there as well. It feels like heaven when we are in the temple!

We already have plans for our next four temple trips- we love the temple and when the closest one takes a minimum of five hours to attend (one hour in the temple and four hours of driving) we know we can't leave the experience to chance. We are a temple going family!

It was really bright outside!  But we were all there!

(Nearly) 15-13-11-9

 In an appropriate illustration of how we finished out 2022 (the year was so long, in many ways we didn't end super strong), I completely spaced taking the annual age picture until the second week in January.  So Leah is not quite 15 anymore in this picture, but the tradition has been kept alive!  

Look at these giant babies!  My whole world and heart, right here. 

Of note- Leah embraced the mock turtleneck for this cute outfit, she has the brightest smile.  Adam is by far the tallest now, he is almost done with braces and loves his pug and Chick-fil-a socks.  Emma continues to have the most fabulous hair with the cutest curtain bangs. She usually, but not always, loves the brother-sandwich. Noah is rocking the Captain Moroni tie clip and has a love-hate relationship with his role as baby of the family. 

It's official (and has been for years) - these four are best friends. They choose each other over anyone else. They laugh often, learn together and love each other as hard as we possibly could have wished for.  And to keep it real- two kids who shall not be named fought over holding Laney. Yep, we occasionally have a 'bad bunny' day, but overall this crew is a happy one!

There is Sunshine in My Soul Today

 The sun doesn't shine very often in winter in Iowa, but when it does, you can bet that we notice and enjoy it!

Day date to the temple! The last time we tried to 'pop over' to the temple there was a school safety threat that left me crying in the gas station, unsure if leaving the state while our kids were potentially going to be sent home early was a good idea.  Jason went by himself.  This time was much better all around!

Glorious streams of sunlight!

-Isms

(Another tooth lost!)

 Adam, holding out a block of cheese- Noah, how much do you think this weighs?

N- I don't know.... point 5 of a pound or something?

A- Nope!  Two pounds, see it says it right here. 

N- 2 L-B's?  That means pounds? I thought that meant 2 lubs!

*****

Adam, on a typical school morning, gets on the bus at 6:44.  It is always dark and always cold.  He give me a big hug and says, "bye Mommy, I love you, have a good day!", then he falls on the ground and says (two octaves higher than he was just talking to me) "bye Laney you sweet little pup yes you are the cutest and I love you so! much! yes I do" (snuggle snuggle snuggle), then he stands back up, straightens out his jacket and says to Jason (three octaves lower than he was just squeaking to Laney) "ahem...see ya." 

*****

Overheard, during a clean laundry war between Leah and Noah on my bed- 

N- What is this??

L- It's my underwear. 

N- You have underwear??

L- Yes, of course!  Everyone does. 

N- I didn't know that!

L- Did you think I just walk around without underwear on??

*****

In the car on our way to my piano recital- 

A- A recital is a night to celebrate musicians. 

N- What?

D- A musician. 

N- What!?!!

D- A musician is anyone who plays an instrument.  Actually anyone who makes music.  

N- Oh right, I was thinking of.... a magician. 

*****

Lamenting the end of a wonderful winter break- 

Life is even worse when you're a man, because you have to go to school for like.... 13 years!  And then you have to get a job, and you have to work there every day until you're 75 and then you're too old to even do anything and you just have nothing to look forward to except the crossword puzzle!

(No offense to Leah, who actually developed her love of the crossword puzzle at age 15.) 

*****

Tattling N- Adam, Mommy ate a piece of your Toblerone. 

A- You did? 

M- Yes..... Noah told me I could. 

N- No I didn't!  And I'm telling the truth!

*****

N, trying to remember how to pronounce less common words- Look!  A pe-cahn!  I mean a two-cahn!  I mean a toucan! 

Happy New Year!

There was a lot to love about 2022! It was a long, exciting, adventurous, expensive, unforgettable year for our family.  We have no intentions of recreating or matching all of the travel that we did last year, but there is still a lot to look forward to in this new year! I really like this list, and want to remember it for future years.  

1. What makes this year unforgettable?
2. What did you enjoy doing this year?
3. What/who is the one thing/person you’re grateful for?
4. What’s your biggest win this year?
5. What did you read/watch/listen to that made the most impact this year? 
6. What did you worry about most and how did it turn out?
7. What was your biggest regret and why?
8. What’s one thing that changed about yourself?
9. What surprised you the most this year?
10. If you could go back to last January 1, what suggestions would you give your past self?

We ended 2022 with a beautiful sunset. 

And then we partied!

Emma remembered the rules and was the first to drop her food and give me a kiss!

The rest of the night looked like puzzles, movies, XBox, and we all stayed up until 1:30 because we could. 

Laney was not interested in staying up until midnight, and really did not appreciate our cheering and horn honking and toasting when the clock struck 12. 

But awake or asleep, a new year arrived!  Here's to a productive, memorable, and happy 2023!