"Kissy Face"

While my in-laws were visiting, they managed to capture one of our favorite faces that Hudson makes. 

We call this his "Kissy Face!"

Love those little sunken cheeks!!

Priesthood Ordination

Landon was ordained to the Priesthood as a Deacon on Saturday, January 25th by his Dad and and Grandpa Call.

It was nice to have Jason's parents here for this special occasion. The next day he was able to pass the Sacrament for the first time and did a great job with a huge smile on his face as he passed it to our row! It's hard to believe Landon is a Deacon already and will be turning 12 this year!

Trip to Massanutten

Jason's parents were coming out for Landon's priesthood ordination at the end of January and offered to come out a few days early so that Jason and I could take a short trip together for my 40th birthday. I chose Massanutten Resort in Virginia and we had such a great time together just the two of us!

We left around 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 23rd and arrived in Massanutten around 12:30 p.m. It was a gorgeous and mild winter day so after checking into our condo, we spent the afternoon hiking around the area and taking in the beauty of the Virginia mountains.

That night we went snow-tubing which was a blast, until a huge group of college boys showed up and broke the lift!! Fortunately our time was almost up so we just explored around the ski resort a bit before heading back to our cute little one-bedroom condo to watch a non-kid movie. What a treat!

The next day we spent the morning working out at the fitness center and then exploring the resort along the golf cart trails. That afternoon we had a great time at the indoor water park, realizing how weird it was not trying to keep track of five kids like we are usually doing at these places!

One of the funnest things we did was this Lucky Duck Escape Room on Friday night. We were joined by another group of 4 people and made it out with less than 3 minutes to spare. It was so fun trying to solve all the codes and clues and we felt so accomplished that we got out without using any hints to aid us along!

We thought about going skiing the next morning but decided to drive to Luray Caverns instead which was about 30 minutes away and really enjoyed our time together here. It was so beautiful inside!!

After lunch on the road, we made it home to everyone around 4 p.m. It was a short little trip but so nice to have that time away from reality for a bit!

Bouncer Baby

This little boy is busy, busy, busy!! One night we were trying to read scriptures together as a family and he was distracting us with his bouncing and dancing on his little car. He sure is a cutie!!

Allergy Test

On Monday, January 20th we took Nolan in to an allergist to get him tested for a tree nut allergy. He has broken out in hives when he has eaten or even touched both walnuts and pecans. He is definitely allergic to those two nuts from the test they performed on his arm as well as hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, and pistachios. We now have to have an Epi-Pen on hand just in case he accidentally has exposure to any of these tree nuts again.

I am hopeful that he will eventually outgrow his allergy but at least we have a plan in place now!

Turning 40!!

Today is the day I turn the big 4-0!! I have lost too many people close to me in recent years and realize that every birthday is a gift and I am honestly so excited about this new decade!! I am strong, healthy, happy and so much more at peace with who I am now than ever before. Some of the greatest people I know have already reached this milestone in their lives and I feel like I am in some awesome company now. A lot of my 20s and all of my 30s were spent making, delivering, nursing and raising babies (7 pregnancies and 5 children since 2004!!) I will always cherish that time of my life but I am also looking forward to this new phase of life and have some great goals I'd like to accomplish. Here's to an amazing year ahead!!

Jason and Abby did a fabulous job of decorating the house for the big day!!

I got lots of nice gifts and a sweet book that Jason made full of memories from friends and family members that really means a lot to me!

Ready to rock the fabulous 40!!

Birthday lunch

My sisters all went in together to create a "40 survival kit" for my birthday which including things like chocolate, a stretch band, ibuprofen, eye cream, muscle ache medicine, etc. Tasha presents it all to me on Thursday, January 16th when she took me out to lunch at Panera.

So grateful for these wonderful sisters of mine!

Discovery Station

We have been going to the Discovery Station every Tuesday morning in January and Maylie and Hudson have been loving it!! It is such a fun hidden gem in Hagerstown, is never busy and has so many fun things for little kids to do. 

Hudson really likes all the balls in this room!

While Mayie kept busy building a few fun creations including a tower...

Her own personal throne,

And a bed!

Hudson also loved "flying" the plane for a bit!!

Nolan's sandwich of choice

Nolan has developed a taste for an interesting meal...a mayo sandwich. Yup, nothing but mayonnaise spread on two pieces of bread for this kid!!

Very interesting indeed!

Another charm!

On Saturday, January 11th I was down at total of 15.8 lbs at my WW meeting and earned my 15 pound charm. It's kind of fun being recognized during the meeting and I now have these three little charms hanging on my key-chain that I am quite proud of! 

Less than 2 pound to go to hit my WW goal weight!

Little hider!

This little boy is into EVERYTHING right now and just recently discovered that if he empties out everything from the TV stand, he can also get into that!!

"What??? Who me???"

And just like that he perches himself in there and thinks he is pretty hot stuff!

Oh this boy is trouble but he sure is cute trouble!!

The end of 2019!

We started this tradition a couple of years ago and I really do love it. Each year we place a mason jar on our windowsill and fill it up with slips of paper with the highlights of the year written on each one. Things like concerts, awards, trips, family visits, etc., all go inside the jar. Then on New Year's Eve we empty out the jar and read all the slips of paper inside to remind us of what a great year it has been. This year we also included some funny things that the kids said or did during the year and we all really enjoyed reading those!!

We often get together with friends on New Year's Eve, but this year it was just our family at home. We had appetizers/finger foods for dinner which was fun, played some fun games together as a family, and then all of us except Jason fell asleep before midnight!! Oh well...here's to a great 2020!!