2020 kick off!

2020 has been a busy whirlwind and its only February!

we went on a hike at Flint Ridge the last day of Christmas break because it was almost 40 degrees. it was pretty cold still, but it was good to get out and let the kids run around. 

I had a great idea.... that ended up being a disaster haha! 

I packed up all our books of mormon and our come follow me books. when we got to the top of our hike, I pulled them out to have this spiritually memorable kick off to our new Book of Mormon studies this year! we are in nephite/lamanite lands, reading promises given to us by the prophets of blessings we'll receive from studying the BoM this year... totally awesome, right?

but, nope.

the kids kept whining, there was nowhere dry to sit, it started sprinkling, Charlie kept touching jack, everyone was hungry and kept taking more snacks than the person next to them, and on and on it went... so my great spiritual vision turned into a family-fighting-flop. 

but! 

im counting on Elder Holland's promise that we get credit for trying.

it really was a beautiful hike though

archery season is in full swing with practices at 6:30 am 3times/week and tournaments on a few Saturdays every month. 

jack has been struggling with archery. he practices SO MUCH at home. but for some reason, he just can't seem to find a groove that works for him. he'll have a few great rounds and then inevitably he'll start shooting 7's and even 6's. its weird and frustrating. but honestly, its good to see him struggle. he's always been so capable, physically, that its good fro him to not be amazing at something and have to work hard for it. 

chris and I support it because:

 fry pies

we love the Waynedale tournament in Amish country because they sell THE BEST fry pies in all the land! we have been dreaming of this for a year. the blueberry cream cheese pies are gaaaaah! so good!

after the tournament, which he did so-so at, we went to Heini's Cheese Chalet. they have probably 50 free samples of amish cheese, meats, and fudge

then we needed a real lunch and Ellie ordered a burrito:

yeah, she only ate a quarter of it and had to box the rest of it for later.

speaking of big meals, we had been out running errands in Columbus one day during Christmas break and we decided that we wanted pizza. after discussing our options chris said "man, all these places are pricey. we could all get our own pizzas at Little Caesers for less than what we'd pay at any of them" LIGHT BULB! "actually, lets do that!" 

so he ran in and bought 5 pizzas and a pack of root beers at the gas station next door and we sat in the car and laughed hysterically while we gorged on pizzas! we didn't even finish 4 of them, but it was fun to try! hoping its a memory the kids will have forever.

our cavity-free streak of more than 6 years came to an end. 

poor Owen had to have a cavity filled, but he was a trooper!

we have been having movie marathons. I think we started at thanksgiving. we decided we wanted to watch all the Star Wars movies in chronological order before going to see the new one (which we enjoyed!).

we had so much fun watching a movie before bed, that we decided to do the Harry Potter series during Christmas and New Years. and now we are into the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and loving it! of course, with school and everything else we have to wait until the weekends.

we had a temple trip in January and little Ellie Bellie got to come because she is now in young womens!

we had our first snow day off from school last Friday! best way to wake up on a school day is to find out school's cancelled!

jack was given an air soft gun from some friends whose older son no longer uses it. it took some time and money to fix it and get it working, but after several rounds of babysitting, he earned the parts. he's been having fun! the morning that school was cancelled, he came in to my room first thing while I was still in bed, opened the door to my bedroom porch and started shooting. 

chris and jack made this snowman that is well over 6 foot!

and Ellie rolled this big snowball all by herself

two days later and the snow was pretty much gone, thanks to rain.

we've had a lot of animal activity in the yard! 15 deer and probably 40 turkeys on the hill at the same time.

chris and I went to a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game last Saturday and had a great time together! grateful that we were able to get out for an evening, just the two of us.