The Chosen

We’ve been watching The Chosen as a family every Sunday and I love it so much! I feel like we’re all learning so much more about Jesus. 

We had a good Sunday service at home. Kade taught and helped pass the sacrament. The kids also spent a lot of time drawing. They even played outside in the nice weather. 

Late Night Movies

Last night and tonight we put the little boys to bed early and stayed up late with Kade and Tenley to watch a movie. It’s fun to have extra time with our big kids. I think it makes them feel special. And I think they’re going to beg to do it every weekend night!

I got to go out to lunch with some friends this afternoon and it was so nice to have some adult girl time! Brad was busy while I was gone. He cut the boys hair, went for a run with Kade, and vacuumed and shampooed all the carpets!

Family Skiing

We all went to the ski hill this morning and had such a fun day. The weather was nice and everyone was in a good mood. Ryder was excited to try some new runs and they took him all over the mountain. He only came in the lodge to have lunch and they he stayed out with the big kids until closing time. He’s a brave little man!

Luke and I had fun together as well. We played cards, had snacks, ate lunch with the family, and then spent the rest of the day outside watching the skiers and playing in the snow. It was really just Luke playing in the snow, eating the snow, and throwing snowballs at me. I’m glad he likes to be up there. Soon he’ll be skiing too!

Mild Weather

The temperature was above freezing today which was so nice! Kade and Ryder had some friends over amd they played outside until it got dark. Is it bad that I’m craving a Montana summer already??

Mutual

Kade was able to go to a church activity tonight at the church with other youth! It’s been a really long time since our church has done that and Kade was excited to be old enough to go. They played a jeopardy game and he said he had fun. Brad is one of his leaders so they got to go together. 

As much as I loved going to youth activities on Wednesday night I also love staying home with the kids. We got in our pjs, Tenley made some cookie dough balls for dessert, and we watch a few of the shows they like. We had fun too.

Batman Boys

Luke and Ryder have been loving sharing a room together. After breakfast this morning they ran into their room to get dressed and then ran out to show me their matching outfits. It was hilarious and so cute! They still fight sometimes, especially over who gets to wear the Lightning McQueen slippers, but more often than not they are best friends. 

Grocery Pickup

I love the fact that the grocery store I love here offers free pickup. It’s so nice and convenient to order my groceries on the app and then pick them up later that same day. It saves so much time and allows me more time to be with my kids especially since I’m homeschooling. Some good things have come from COVID.

The Priesthood

We were able to attend church in person today amd Kade was able to be set apart by Brad and receive the Aaronic Priesthood. It was pretty neat. He’s such a responsible and obedient young man and I’m excited for the adventures he has ahead.

Fancy Dates

Brad took me out tonight to dinner at the fanciest steak house near us for my birthday. It was delicious and such a fun night. I love being able to have a good conversation with him without interruption from our four kids, as cute as they are.

Tenley and I were able to do a lot of shopping today for her new room. We got her a bed canopy which she loves. It’s been fun to redecorate!

Ryder’s Reading

Brad and Kade went skiing today. The rest of us decided to stay home because with wind chill it was going to feel like -5 degrees. Tenley and Ryder also wanted to switch their rooms up so we spent the whole day doing that. Tenley now has her own room downstairs and Ryder is sharing a room with Luke upstairs. The little boys were so excited to have bunk beds and share a room together. I just hope that they actually sleep! 

It was a lot of work getting the beds upstairs. We even had to take them apart to get through the door frames. I’ll be honest I’ve never really used a drill, but we figured it out! Tenley and Ryder were great helpers getting the bed upstairs. I’m glad they’re so strong! 

Ryder has been reading really well. He’s making a lot of progress and he’s having fun reading. His favorite book is One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. He read the whole thing to me yesterday. It took over 30 minutes but he did it and loved every minute of it. I love his persistence.

My People

I celebrated my 36th birthday today! My friend texted this morning and hoped that I’d enjoy my day with my people. I loved that thought and it was definitely being with and hearing from my people that made my day so great. I was pretty tempted to go skiing with Tenley. Kade was willing to watch Luke and Ryder for me while Brad worked, but I’m just not a big fan of splitting up like that. I decided to stay home so I could hang out with all of them and I’m glad I did. 

The kids made my birthday cake this morning and then we went to the trampoline park. Kade, Tenley, and Ryder were practicing their flips the whole time. Tenley landed her front flip on her feet for the first time. It was amazing! They were so exhausted after 45 minutes 😂.

 We picked up Cafe Rio for dinner and then had my yummy ice cream cake for dessert. It was a great birthday.

Boys That Can Cook

Tenley and Ryder had their homeschool group and Kade had his boy school group so Luke and I had some fun time together as just the two of us. It sure was quiet! 

At Kade’s boy group they learned how to make bread! He came home with home made French bread and pumpkin chocolate chip bread. It was all delicious!

Empty Bowling Alleys

Kade and Tenley received some bowling gift cards from their piano teacher a few weeks ago and they have been begging to go. I decided to skip school for the day and take them bowling instead. I love that we have the freedom to do that. And we were the only ones there to bowl! We had a lot of fun. Luke loved it, Ryder started bowling without the ramp, Tenley was getting better with her form, and Kade ended up beating me by one point! He had one strike and two spares. The only disclaimer he’ll be disappointed I’m sharing is that he had the bumpers up and I didn’t. But really, he played really well! 

Family Movie Night

Our Monday night family night tradition has been going on for such a long time and I still love it. We usually watch a movie together although Luke and Ryder mainly just play in the toy room together, or throw blankets at Brad. Those little boys are so funny and giggly.

Earlier this afternoon Kade and Ryder went and played at a friends during Luke’s nap so Tenley and I had some girl time together which is always fun! I have the best kids.

Best Friends

Ryder and Luke are the best of friends. As are Kade and Tenley. It’s nice that they each seem to have someone that they play really well with. Ryder and Luke played together a lot today. They have such a fun imagination. I’m thinking of moving them in to share a room together soon. As long as it doesn’t mess with Luke’s nap time I think it would be great!

Mae had church at home today and Brad shared a lesson about the new youth theme for the year. I can’t believe Kade is in the youth program now! He can’t believe it either especially since we’re not fully back to church yet. But I hope we can fill the role as his youth leaders as best as possible.

Simple Days

We had a good, not too windy day today and the power stayed on the whole time! We cleaned the house, played games and the kids played football outside for a bit. Brad took the older two kids on a run. It was simple Saturday as a family. I love simple.

Dinner in the Dark

Our little town is still having a hard time recovering from the wind storm on Wednesday. I learned that it got up to 76 mph not 67 like I had thought. People are still without power and our ski resort was even affected. They have been shutdown for three days now. Tonight our power went out for about 45 minutes right as we sat down for dinner. The kids actually loved having dinner by flashlight. 

Happy Kids

Thursday’s are always so low key and I love them. It nice not to feel like we have to rush into school or rush into getting it done. Luke was extra happy today and he and Ryder played lots of games with his stuffed animals before we started school. Then he had his own personal dance party while the rest of us tried to start school. He has a lot of energy! The kids were all just so good today and they played together so well. It was nice.

Dinner Creations

Ryder continues to love to make smiley faces with his dinners it’s pretty funny. Also it was ridiculously windy here today. Apparently we set a new record with 67 mph wind gusts. It was crazy. Trees were down, my neighbors fence came apart, things were flying around like crazy. It was definitely the strongest wind I’ve ever experienced. Life is always an adventure with Mother Nature involved. 

Luke

My kids love to watch YouTube music videos called line riders. They play classical music with a little stick figure or figures sliding down the music staff. It’s cute. Luke was so hyper this morning when we watched that he was just dancing around like crazy. It was good exercise for them! Luke is such a bundle of joy these days. He’s so funny and so happy. He constantly gives me hugs and wil randomly say “Love you Mom!” Whatever this new personality is of his, I hope it’s here to stay.

A Schedule

And we’re back to our schedule of work and school. But we’re still so grateful for the fun memories that we made at the lake. The kids actually woke up on time so we got started with school at a decent hour and even finished everything we had planned. That’s always a good feeling. 

The Lake House

We had a really great time at our friends’ lake house this weekend. We’re so grateful to them for sharing it with us. Last night out of the blue Luke said, “I love this cabin!” We all did and we weren’t excited to leave. 

On our way home we stopped by Glacier to see it’s beauty in the winter. There isn’t too much snow there right now but it is still as beautiful as ever!

Ice Skating

We have been loving playing in the beautiful winter weather up here. The kids tried out ice skating on the lake this morning and had a lot of fun. There weren’t ice skates small enough to fit Ryder’s feet so he just slid around in his boots. 

Then we attempted to go snow shoeing. The road up to the trail head was covered in snow though so we couldn’t make it to the top. We decided to just hike along the road to get there but the kids tired out pretty fast. We still enjoyed the snow and the beautiful view. 

After dinner Brad made us all some delicious chocolate shakes. This weekend has been so amazing. We’re happy to have another night here.