January Birthdays

 Let it be noted that we had this awesome ramen bar for dinner for January birthdays. This needs to be on the list of future family meals.

James and Jazz

 James retired from Jr. Jazz after 3rd or 4th grade. This year he decided to come out of retirement. In 9th grade for Jr. Jazz you get to pick your own team. James's friends invited him to their team. It was a fun season! They did their best and made it past the first round of the play offs and then lost in the second round. It was really fun for me to watch James play basketball

One night they got to go to a Jazz game with Ryan's family.

Crazy Hair Day

 Crazy Hair Day! It's always up to the kids and whatever spray hair color we have. Here is what they came up with.

It's hard to tell the color but we had pink, black and gray colors to choose from.

January Photo Dump

 James saved up and bought his own VR. He and his friends or cousin Drew totally geek out and play together. They have to play in an open room where they can spread out so they don't hit into each other. One day James and two friends went into the court to play. The irony of playing VR in a sports court.

Kade loves going to Walmart with me. It's funny because for the longest time it was a treat to go to the store without kids. Now I love when one of my kids wants to go to the store with me.

We got this bean bag from Bonnie and Ryan. When I brought it home Chewie thought it was his new doggie bed.

This is our new recliner. Everyone loves it!

This suit is a hand me down from Drew. Taggart looks so cute and grown up!

Taggart stayed home one day so we had to get a picture together while eating our lunch.

Pretending the flower was a horn.

Sienna and her friends that also have blonde hair and blue eyes. 

New Calling

I got a new calling so I had a farewell from my old calling in the primary presidency. The chorister had smiley face stickers that the kids got to put on me for singing loud. I looked pretty silly by the end. The kids slowly worked up their courage so they went from putting them on my forearms to putting them on my eye lids, nose, and cheeks.

My new calling is Stake Young Women President. I've never been president of anything. I feel like leading is not a strength of mine so it was very overwhelming. I also felt like all of my weaknesses came to the front of my mind when I got called. I've had two months to adjust so I have definitely balanced out my emotions compared to the beginning. I also love my presidency so much, They have made this calling do able and give me courage, confidence and support. 

President's Cup

The following weekend I went back to St. George but with James. His soccer team played in President's Cup. It is a tournament that takes place in Mesquite but we stayed in St. George. James and his friends drove down with Rachel and so that left me on my own for the whole drive. I talked to Ali from my house until I got to Cedar City! That definitely helped the drive go by quickly.

The first game was on Thursday afternoon. It was a very close game. Definitely a tough loss! We went to dinner at Honululu Grill that night and it was really good and fun to try. Then we had dessert at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. Yum!

Friday morning I ran up to the Temple Quarry Trailhead and ran the trail. I normally don't like to do trails by myself so I texted Marshall and let him know. Thankfully I was totally fine on the trail and really didn't need to worry. It was a fun and easy trail and had a great view west of St. George.

Friday they didn't have a game until late so we had lots of time to use up. We ate lunch at Farmstead. It was a really yummy french bakery. Then we did an escape room. Well, the boys did an escape room and Erin had connections with the owners. While dropping them off they asked if the adults wanted to do an escape room while the boys did theirs. So the adults did one too.

It was really fun and we did it!

They ended up losing Friday night and it was also a close game and super sad to lose. We could have won but just couldn't score. Ugh! 

Saturday morning I ran north to a trail next to the Red Cliffs Parkway. I was super excited about seeing this logo. I would love to do a half Ironman in St. George. Hopefully one of these years it will work out!

James's last game was Saturday morning. It was brutal. We got creamed and just lost by a lot. It was a rough end to the tournament. I appreciate his team though. They didn't give up. The tournament challenged them, humbled them, and hopefully will push them to keep trying.

We had plans to stay until Monday. Even though James's team was out of the tournament we were going to stay and enjoy the weekend. Sadly a winter storm was coming in late Saturday night through Monday. We felt like we needed to head home after the game to beat the storm. It was super sad to leave but I'm glad we did so the drive home was safer. 

James was sad at first but all of his friends drove home with us and then he got to hang out with them once we got home too so he ended up being ok with it.

Lockers and Laundry Built In

 So in the girls' weekend post I talked about the lockers. Marshall, his dad, and my boys built lockers over a weekend and had them done to surprise me and the girls when we got home from St. George. It's the best Christmas present! So nice to have better use of the space. They are so sturdy and Marshall did such a great job designing and building.

Then he built a laundry basket shelf for our laundry room. It is an awesome bonus that he completed the next weekend! 

I'm so grateful Marshall is so handy and enjoys doing these projects!

Monster Jam

 Kade and Taggart really wanted Monster Jam tickets so they got them for Christmas. Marshall and Grandpa Lowry got them too. They had a great night!

Girl's Trip to St. George

My Christmas present from Marshall was an amazing gift! I've been wanting to get lockers built and installed in the "mudroom" of our house. I started getting bids and Marshall saw that he could do it for way less. He sent the girls and I out of town for a weekend while he and the boys built and installed the lockers. We chose the first weekend in January to go to St. George for our girls' get away. 

We stayed at the Red Lion which has become a new favorite for me. Marshall and I stayed there a few months ago and realized what a fun place it is. There's mini golf, sports courts, pool, ping pong, foosball, and a hot tub and indoor outdoor pool. Plus the continental breakfast is amazing! 

We got there Friday afternoon and played a round of mini golf.

Meanwhile the boys got started on the lockers and then took a break to go to Monster Jam. Kade, Taggart, Marshall and his dad got tickets for Christmas. James went to a friend's because he didn't care to go.

The full moon or near full moon was so beautiful as it came up.

Everyone voted on where they wanted to eat dinner. Sienna voted Panda, I wanted Costa Vida and Lynnlee wanted a smoothie. She just had her braces adjusted and was in a lot of pain. The crazy thing was all three restaurants were right next to each other! 

In the end everyone decided they wanted Costa Vida.

We spent the evening playing foosball, swimming in the pool, watching shows, and doing facial masks.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast. We had a fun filled day ahead of us so it was nice to start off with a good meal.

The girls swam in the pool one more time.

Sienna and Lynnlee either get a long perfectly or fight like enemies. There is no in between. I was hoping this trip would help them get a long better and help their relationship and I think it did. They were a little kinder to each other and got a long better than normal.

We went to Fiesta Fun to race go karts, play laser tag and arcade games.

They had their Christmas decorations up stll. 

We had a lot of fun at Fiesta Fun! 

We went to Panda Express for lunch. Mmmm!

Then we went shopping to TJ Max. 

Lastly we went to Pioneer Park, sugar loaf, the Dixie Rock, etc. So many names. I didn't think my girls would like it so we hadn't budgeted much time to spend there. They don't like hiking so I told them we would just take a picture and then be done. Turns out they loved it there and were super disappointed to not have more time. 

We had a hard time leaving and it was a super quick trip but we needed to get back. I'm hoping to have more girls trips in the future!