snow, SnOw, SNOW!

before winter kicked in to high gear, I was nervous. not just because I don't like the cold or driving in snow, but I honestly was worried about the kids being cooped up inside and driving me nuts. 

it turns out, I didn't need to worry about that because the kids are outside in the snow every waking minute that they can! before school, after school, pretty much all the time.

we had a good snow fall last Friday and Saturday and again last night.

we've done lots of sledding. even though our hill is pretty small, the kids still have a great time. jack and Ellie come up with creative ways to sled down.

the kids have had plenty of snowball fights (almost always ending in tears due to a snowball to the face), built forts (very, very small forts), and have built a small snowman.

this idahoan is in his element... or so he claims ;) 

deep, deep down I know he's dreaming of warm sandy beaches!

Owen has been trying to do all of his normal outdoor activities, some are more successful than others.

frisbee with dad was hard lol! that big bulky coat makes catching the frisbee tricky.

while the kids are at school, he still rides his bike if the roads are clear.

about a month ago we drove past a big hill in someone's backyard and the kids mentioned that it would be a great sledding hill. fast forward to last Saturday and Chris took the kids to the house, knocked on the door, asked if they could sled, and the older woman hesitantly gave permission. she didn't want to be held responsible if anyone got hurt, which nowadays is sadly understandable. 

the kids had the time of their lives!!!

well, until they had to climb back up the hill haha

here's six minutes of pure snow fun!

My Movie 5 from Lisa Brower on Vimeo.

we were supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow yesterday because of Harper, the snow storm moving across the US. we didn't have anything but rain all day until the middle of the night. the kids were pretty bummed yesterday. but, there was fresh snow this morning!

 our church meetings were cancelled for the second week in a row due to icy roads. 

because of the priesthood and the new curriculum, we are able to have the sacrament and study the week's lessons in our home.

it's pretty wonderful. 

the spirit is able to touch our hearts during the sacrament in new ways. it truly is awesome!

no school tomorrow (MLK day), so our cousins are coming over to play in the snow and watch movies. should be a great day!

we have a chef

uncle Marc and aunt Delauna surprised Charlie with a chefs apron after that night they made chili together during Christmas break. he was thrilled! to break in the new apron, Charlie wanted to try his hand at making soft pretzels. last Saturday was the perfect day for warm, soft, buttery pretzels!

chuck did a fabulous job!

January, so far

we kicked off the new year with Charlie's baptism, which meant a visit from grandma and grandpa Brower all the way from Saint George!

there were lots of family get togethers and dinners, game nights, trips to Costco, and late night chats during their long weekend here. poor guys took a red eye here (and back) which meant they were very tired that first night. but granny was kind enough to try to stay awake for a round of Catan haha! we took this picture and sent it to the brower family group chat and uncle reed turned it into this hilarious meme!

Brower men have a funny habit of collecting things. usually they are useful. one thing that all of them seem to collect, besides Chris, is lightbulbs. I got this picture from Chris while they were at Costco and I just had to shake my head. Bart and Marc were a bad influence ;)

on Monday we went to the new TopGolf at Polaris before grandma and grandpa flew home.

super fun!

the big kids were at school, but we decided to keep Owen home to go along on our adventure. he reeeeeeally liked it! like, there were full on tears when it was time to go and he couldn't even give grandma a hug when we said goodbye because he wanted to golf some more.

having grandma and grandpa visit was the perfect beginning to our new year! we are so thankful that they made the trip, especially since they will be headed to the MTC in march for their 3rd mission. it's a medical mission in Minneapolis and we are SO EXCITED for them!!!

a few other things we've been up to so far this month:

dinner with friends!

Charlie and Chris have been working hard on Charlie's first pinewood derby car. the race is next week!

jack had his first temple trip!

he has been looking forward to this for a very long time. he asked grandpa Brower if he had any family names that he could take, so that was very special.

because our temple is super small and because its close enough, when we have a youth trip they only allow a small number from the ward to go. I think it's 12-18 kids or something like that. we have a big youth group here, so that means they invite certain kids and because jack had never been before, he was one of the kids invited to go this time. they also usually have their baptism trips on school nights, which seems so strange to me, but pretty awesome at the same time. Chris was able to go with jack and it's a good thing he was because the drive home was crazy with all the snow we got for a couple hours that night.

jack had a great time! he told me he was so excited while sitting next to the font that he was literally shaking.

snow!

we finally had a bit of snow on Wednesday evening, so Thursday morning was all about playing in the snow for Owen. 

Owen kept eating the snow and whenever we would go inside he'd ask if he could go out and grab another bite of snow haha

IMG_6816 from Lisa Brower on Vimeo.

a lot of it melted by the time the big kids got home (despite the 20 degree weather), but we are supposed to get a few inches tomorrow.

besides that, the kids have been busy jumping back into their school routine. that was rough after the Christmas break... they really didn't want to go back. I remember hating that when I was a kid too. it's almost worth not even having a break. almost. 

tomorrow Ellie and jack will start a 4 week lacrosse clinic on Saturday evenings. their coach from last season has started a new lacrosse league here in licking county and it's going to be an amazing program. the kids are very excited for it and have missed lacrosse the last couple months. coach emailed us yesterday to let us know that he was able to talk to the neighboring leagues and schedule some Saturday games so jack and Ellie won't be too left out. so thankful for kind people.

Jack has been doing a research project on atomic bombs in English and he's making a "rescue" module in science lab. both of these have been very exciting for him. he also was challenged by his science teacher yesterday to memorize the NATO phonetic alphabet by next week and he woke up this morning announcing that he memorized it all last night. he then only spoke to us using his new code, much to the delight of the other kids who tried to decipher what he was saying over their cereal. every M, W, F we leave early to get jack to archery practice before school. he is really enjoying it and we are eager to see how he does at his first tournament on the 26th.

Ellie is excited to use her new lacrosse bag that she asked for Christmas. that, books, and a trampoline were the only three things on her list. 

she has also been bugged by a boy in her class named woody who keeps asking other girls to ask Ellie to go out with him. her teacher recently reassigned their seats in first period and woody sits next to her now along with his best friend. double whammy! yesterday she came home and told us that now woody's best friend has professed that he too has a crush on her. so glad she's still at the stage that she thinks it's stupid and would rather cream those boys at four square.

Charlie is obsessed with all his book series. he's rereading dragon masters for the bazillionth time and also trying to get through the first Wings of Fire book. its a little advanced for him, but he really wants to read it. he's also trying to get in the habit of reading his scriptures on his own for a couple minutes before bed. jack and Ellie have been really good at this, without any help from mom and dad, but Charlie has had a harder time. he'll get there. he wants to get there, so that's what is important.

Owen is Owen. his preschool class earned a pajama day, which is this afternoon and he can't wait to wear some lightening McQueen jammies. he has also mastered a front flip on the tramp. that has been terrifying for me to watch him. but if jack and Ellie do it, by golly, Owen will learn how to do it too. he is a determined kid.

Charlie chose to be baptized!

oh Charlie, we love you so much.

January 5th, 2019 will always be a special day for you and for our family.
it was the day you were baptized.

the Spirit was so present at your baptism.

so very present.

you asked Ellie to speak about baptism and Jack to talk on the Holy Ghost.

the warm water was taking too long to fill the font, so the missionaries, daddy, and bishop Watt decided to fill it up with cold water too. 

it was COLD!

Ellie and Jack did such a great job with their talks and I hope you will always remember the words they said and the feelings that you felt.

and I hope you always remember that jack winked at you when he told you how proud he was of you during his talk and it made everyone laugh.

I hope you always remember that you were surrounded by those that love you and support you.

I hope you always remember that when you came up out of the water you had the biggest smile on your face and then gave daddy a big bear hug. 

and I hope you always remember that while you gave daddy a hug he told you to turn around and wave at mommy. it was my favorite part, seeing your sweet smile so bright and happy, and waving to me so proudly.

I hope you always remember how excited you were to have a waffle bar after, just like jack did.

waffles are your favorite right now, so that worked out well. 

I hope you remember how excited you were to get your very own set of scriptures. you asked for light brown scriptures with a yellow case. Both of those were VERY hard to find haha. we even had to have grandma Janie hunt the scriptures down all the way in Idaho. you were ok getting dark brown scriptures instead because they don't make very many colors anymore.

I hope you always remember that you are a special child of God and that He loves you, even more than mommy and daddy do, which is hard to imagine, because we love you so very, very much! He has some very important jobs for you to do on earth that only you can do. Hold fast to those scriptures and follow them, Charlie. 

You are an amazing person.