Fierce Frolicking in the Forest

Yes, we go to the forest a lot. It is our getaway place where we can burn off some energy, get some fresh air, and not get too lost from each other (as long as they stay on the trail) I feel like we haven't gone as frequently. Probably because sometimes I feel slightly guilty when Charlie isn't with us, and sometimes feel overwhelmed with taking 3 kids when Charlie IS with us. Anyway, We have had clear sunny weather and I got a new pretty cool photography back pack so it seemed like the perfect time to try it out. ha. Anyway, I don't need to justify my trips to the forest or the thousands of photos I have of my family here. Each trip is unique for us so here is our trip from last week. Also, within the last couple weeks, Miles has really bonded with Edwin. He is looking out for him more and finding ways to make him happy so it was fun to take them to the forest together. 

And I sure do have a lot of photos of my kids' backs.

I'm grateful he is a dainty puddle stomper.

Snacks on a stump are a good idea until your string cheese falls in the dirt. 

I wanted to play around with this crystal ball a little more, but it didn't happen when there are kids to chase. 

So about halfway through our hike, Miles tripped and fell in the mud. He didn't like being dirty and cold and he did get a pretty good scratch on his hand. 

 He cried quite a bit.

 Shortly after that, Edwin tripped, he didn't seem hurt but he was muddy and his hands were super cold. So I just found it humorous that during the last part of our hike, I had a screaming child in each hand, and I had to pull them up the final hill.

You can't win them all! Still a great memory!

Welcome 2019

I love New Years! It so great to have something to look forward to right when all the Christmas hullabaloo abruptly stops on December 26th. I love our tradition of staying home together, playing games and eating chocolate covered strawberries. But before I go into that, here is my attempt at some remote control family photos while we were still in our Sunday Best. Edwin was not thrilled to be sitting with his family, he mostly wanted to parade around the room knocking the lights over. Anyway, moving on...

So after about 20 seconds of that, Edwin was set free and the boys spent a minute posing themselves and taking their own photo.

So it appears that Miles has really short legs here....

Alright, moving on again...New Year's Eve was spent grocery shopping doing work on the property and then going to a friend's birthday party. We lingered at the party for awhile then came home to enjoy our cheese fondue dinner. It was a hit with everyone! That's rare for dinner at our house! Also, this was a super fun meal to prepare because everyone had a role in its preparation and it came together beautifully!

During dinner we discussed some of our favorite memories from 2018. here are a couple each person chose: 

Charlie- Going to Build a bear and making gingerbread cookies, 

Miles- Getting chickens, gingerbread cookies, and hitting a raccoon with a log. 

Max- Yurt camping, and Utah trip. 

Rebecca- Getting chickens, Utah trip, yurt camping. 

After dinner we played Speak Out,  Spot it, and Memory with the boys. Then it was time to put Edwin down to sleep around 9ish. But they got a matchy matchy photo first.

 

We finished a couple games, then pulled out the Strawberries and chocolate

Right around 10pm we showed our boys a video of the New York City Ball drop, said Happy New Year and put them to bed so Max and I could have our home planning date.

We like to sit together and talk about what we accomplished over the last year, what we were hoping to accomplish, and what we'd like to accomplish in the coming year. It's calm and oddly romantic even though we plan together quite frequently!

Some of our previous goals and accomplishments from 2018 include

• Building a chicken coop and getting chickens
• Sold a house and another on the market
• Utah trip
• Miles 2-wheelin'
• Yurt Beach trip
• Installed new doors throughout the house
• Successful Garden
• Questival
• Planted fruit trees
• Successful deer hunt
• Quality time with each parent/child
• Improved temple attendance
• Simplified some obligations
• Major toy organization
• Swimming/Soccer/Gymnastics classes for the boys
• Improved Family Scripture study
• Improved Personal Scripture Study
• Caught up on blog (at least within a month ;)
• Beach trips, new cheese factory 
• family reunion camping
• ATVs at the ranch
• bottle feeding a calf
• got a trampoline
• Charlie lost his first tooth
• Fostered a pig

And here are some Goals for 2019

• Weekly planning/inventory
• Healthy weight and eating habits
•  25th fully rented
• Experiment with Charlie's attention issues
• Organize-Mail, garage, sheds, pantry (already done, woot!), kitchen cupboards and drawers, utility room cupboards
• Make a plentiful garden
• sell a couple batches of eggs
• Finish bathroom remodel
• Finish Deck repairs/painting
• Finish side yard landscaping
• One on one dates with our kids
• Swim/soccer/tumbling classes for boys
• 10 year anniversary trip!
• Quarterly temple attendance together
• a spontaneous camping trip
• Max to Nashville
• Rebecca to Utah
• review goals at least quarterly and make plan 
 

And we look forward to always making progress, that really is our ultimate goal, to just do a little better each year.

Bright Lights and Goofy Boys

So these are just a bunch of photos of my boys while I practiced with my photography lights. We currently have a vacancy, so I've been able to set up a little studio over there and have some photo practice time. Its been so fun. 

I'm sure these photos will probably look all the same to you but we had fun. I'm actually really grateful that at least my older two boys like getting their photo taken and being complete cheeseballs!! I didn't try to have them dress up or comb their hair or wash their face or anything....so there you go!

 Apparently in the middle of all this I went outside and took a photo of a chicken. This is Delores, named after Delores Umbridge from Harry Potter (4 out of 9 of our chickens have Harry Potter names.) anyway, she's bossy and a little mean so the name fits her perfectly.

Anyway, back to my boys, Edwin wasn't as excited to sit still, but we tried.

 Charlie had so many pose ideas, haha, this is all him!

 Anyway, I'm having so much fun learning and I"m ready to do more if anyone wants some photos done!