Reese's Soccer Tournament in St. George

 Well...for years I thought all the people who traveled to St. George for sports were crazy. And here we are :). It was super fun though! However, the getting there was too crazy for my liking. Of course a snow storm would be rolling in the evening all of Utah would be traveling down south. So I checked my girls out about an hour before school got out and we got on the road well before a lot of the traffic which was really good. We still had snow the whole way and I was freaking out inside most of the time but there weren't as many cars on the road as later when Cade and Lucy drove up separate. Gma Close came with me and helped talk to me the whole way down. But when I see cars all over the roads that have slid into the ditches, I get super super nervous to keep going. I am proud that I did and we made it there! 

We first met up with Gma and Gpa Bleak for dinner at a burger place. They were already down there working on their new place! We are excited to use it soon!

The Airbnb was fun and Nora and Lucy slept in a red truck :). 

We watched lots of soccer games...a little too many for Benson, Jane and Lucy's liking but we had fun supporting Reese! We also did some hiking, going through pioneer homes, swimming, playing games, watching movies and eating lots of yummy food. Pretty much all the things you do when visiting St. George!

Cade took Emma and Reese into the newer St George Temple while we were there. Red Cliffs Temple. 

Reese had a team pizza party at Sadie Brown's condo near Sand Hallow. It was good to get the team together outside of playing the game. 

The team did awesome and ended up winning the tournament in their division. They played awesome and it was super fun to support! Next time if they make it to the end I will try my best to have a better attitude about driving home late at night (I don't drive well at night! I drank caffeine which I never do and had Tammy talk to me the whole time). The snow was better but still was snowing! 

Reese loves soccer and it's so fun to watch her do something she loves!

Lucy's 9th Birthday!

 

Our spunky, full of life LuLu turned 9! 

Lucy is such a ray of sunshine. She lives for fun and friends and family and funny times! 

She loves to do tumbling and just passed off her back handsprings and is now working on her ariels. She is a hard worker and loves learning new tricks and showing them off. 

Lucy has been taking flute for over a year and is improving all the time. We just most recently switched teachers to Heidi-- someone older with more experience teaching as well as with kids. So far we really like her. 

Some things Lucy loves more is being tickled and tickled. I have no idea how she can handle it but one of her favorite games is ABC tickle. I pin her down on the ground and she says a letter of the alphabet. Then I have to tickle something on her that starts with that letter until she says a new letter. She also loves playing hide 'n go seek tickle (I'm seeing a theme here). Her new favorite game is "Fugitive". But its getting harder to play with neighbors who are not excited for kids to be running through their yards...I wonder why they don't like it? 😜😊

Lucy loves friends and so going to school is fun for her. She just finished off 3rd grade in Mrs. Adams class and there were quite a few naughty boys who made the class difficult for the rest of them. But Lucy handled it pretty well. 

She just started swim team this summer and she is absolutely loving it! Some activities are hard for her especially if she has to leave friends to go to them but every time I say "Lucy it's time for swim team" she immediately stops what she is doing and is excited to go! They had 4 swim meets this summer and she loved them all. 

For Lucy's 9th birthday I took her to a hotel to have a mommy-daughter overnighter. Unfortunately the pool was an outdoor pool and the winter wind was too cold for swimming so I took her to the Lehi indoor pool as part of our date. We watched a movie and stayed up late. We had a good time!!

Family Valentines Dinner!

 This year Reese and Nora helped me make Strawberry roses and meat roses and fancy kiwi to make our Valentines charcuterie board pretty!

Random Winter Fun!

 We did not get season ski passes this year so we FINALLY got up the canyon to hit the slopes. Emma decided she wanted to do snowboarding so we signed her up with an instructor. She did great and really loved it--minus her tail bone feeling like it was broken. The snow was not soft. The mountain had more ice than powder on it so it was pretty rough for falling down many times. We even took her to the Urgent Care thinking the tailbone was broken. Luckily just bruised. She is still excited though to keep trying next year! Trooper!

We went sledding ONE time. Literally one! We did not get much snow this year which was good for the driving, bad for the fun with the kiddos. 

Emma went to an Author's workshop at BYU and absolutely loved it. Her friend Sara from school went as well. She is writing her own series right now called "Draco Ragnum". Excited to see how it all comes together! She is very talented. 

Random little charcuterie workshop with Alyssa Folker. It was $5 to sign up and super fun to hang out with a friend!

Nora's 11th Birthday!

Sweet Nora turned 11 years old. She decided for her family activity to go to The Rush at the University Mall in Orem. It is a fun center with go-carts, mini golf, foam pit, climbing wall, bowling and laser tag. We had a babysitter for Benson and Jane and took the older 4 the night before her birthday. We had a great time! However, Nora decided she likes riding in a go-cart with Reese vs. driving herself. Laser tag was probably my favorite. 

On her birthday, we had crepes for breakfast and she opened her gifts before school. Nora got some LEGOS, a swing for her bedroom, a Calico Critter Hamburger stand and a few other things like clothing. In the evening, we had Gma/Gpa Close, Autumn and Ms. Bagley over for dinner. Nora chose taco salads. 

Some things about Nora:

-Nora is so good at making people feel loved and good about themselves. Some best friends at school are Amelia, Annabelle, Julianna and Ava. But when I go to school I can tell that she has lots of friends. 

-She has a new violin teacher and she is loving lessons and playing again! I'm glad she has found a love again. (Her first teacher, Karen, died suddenly in her sleep one night. She was older but had no health issues previously). 

-Nora is not afraid of trying new things and loves most things that she tries. She is awesome at skiing now and LOVES going. She is also awesome at trying new foods and loves most of my food I make. 

-She has a great love of the outdoors just like me and is up for a hike anytime I invite her to come! 

-She still has a knack for crafting and creating all sorts of things. Her giant green house craft has become so intricate and amazing. 

Nora and her cute school friends. 

Girls from the ward at activity days. Lucy Swan (her best friend), Nora, Maggie, and Scarlett. Nora was sad that she barely misses the cut-off for Young Women's and has to wait another year. But at least her best friend, Lucy, is right there with her!

We love our Nora Boo! We love the joy and sweetness and kindness she brings to our family.