1st Half of January

January is moving fast, so I need to get caught up on some of our adventures.  After running to Costco the boys saw the sledding hill by Nyles' school and wanted to go.  Steve wanted to finish caulking the basement, so I said I'd take the boys.  We only had a little amount of time before the sun went down, so we had to hurry and get in as much sledding as we could.  We had a great time going up and down the hill.  Though we didn't have much snow, it was cold which made it pretty icy and actually quite fun.  Carter loved it when we hit the bumps.  He kept saying more, more!

Cute Carter ready to go sledding.  Here we go!

 

Carter had so much fun!

Beautiful sunset! 

My cute boys, Nyles and Carter.

Steve and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Wednesday January 2nd.  I took the day off work, like usual.  Stacie was nice enough to watch Carter for us.  So after dropping off Nyles at school, we went and dropped Carter off w/ Stacie (at Dave/Joann's place where they are currently living).  We then went over to the Jordan River Temple, where we were married, and did an endowment session together.  It was wonderful to be back in the place where we made covenants to one another for time and all eternity.

After the temple, we had to go pick up Steve's work badge for his intern at Intermountain Hospital. It took us a minute to find the place, but we managed.  We then rushed over to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  We asked a neighbor to pick up Nyles from school since we were running a little behind.  We had a wonderful lunch and some yummy cheesecake, plus took one slice home for the boys!  It was wonderful to spend time w/ Steve.

Outside "The Cheesecake Factory." 

Steve asked Carrie to make me a ring with Carter and Nyles' birthstones in it and a diamond in the middle.  It's so beautiful and such a thoughtful gift.  I was totally surprised!

Carter had fun playing w/ London and combing her hair while we were gone.
One another day, Carter crashed on the way home, with a gun in his hand.

Carter just getting comfortable in a pillow and with my blanket.

The boys enjoying a root beer float.

Carter riding the dog around before church.

Cute boys!  Nyles taking a selfie.

Nyles and Carter helping Steve make some elk jerky. 

My silly boys!

I got the boys headphones which plug into each other so can listen to the same thing.

Carter racing the car, and the boys getting a ride on Steve's leg.

Carter loves to put sunglasses on, usually upside down.

Carter made a pillow fort all by himself and crawled inside.  Silly boy!

The boys playing in a toboggan w/ snow throwers at Sportsman's Warehouse.

I am now officially able to work from home, 50% of the time.  So currently I'm working from home on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Since Steve has his clinical rotations at Alta View Hospital on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays it works out best for me to stay home to work those days.  That way we don't have to wake the boys up real early to get over to our neighbor's house, Corri Hamilton, who offered to watch them (she has 6 kids herself).  Steve takes them over to her house on Tuesdays, then Nyles walks to school usually, w/ Corri's 10 year old daughter Anna and the neighbor boy Eli.  On Wednesdays/Thursdays, I drop off Carter, then drive Nyles, Anna and Eli to the school (since it's been pretty cold this month).  I'm then able to get back home and be ready for my first appointment at 9am.  Nyles then walks back to their house w/ Anna, and Steve will pick them up after he's off around 4:30pm.

It's been working perfect since it's quiet at home, plus I can do a few household chores in between appointments.  I've been able to do a laundry, load/unload the dishwasher, and even get something in the Instant Pot for dinner.  It's been SOOO wonderful not to have to rush out the door on those 2 days and spend more time w/ the family.  It's usually 1 hour to work downtown on the train and 1 hour back.  Also since I'm off at 5pm and at home already, we can have dinner at a decent time.  We feel so blessed to have the opportunity, and at just the right time, when Steve started his clinical rotations at the hospital this semester.  Thankfully Carter loves playing w/ their 4 year old boy Jacob and their dog Cowboy, as does Nyles after school.  It's definitely a blessing and tender mercy to have it all work out at just the right time.

Nyles got a free fish at Petco.  He's so lucky!

Carter fell asleep on the coach after a day of fun playing w/ Corri, Jacob and their dog Cowboy.

We watched London and Conor all day Saturday as a trade when Stacie watched for our anniversary.  Stacie had a yoga training class all day and Phill was out of the country for work.  The kids had a lot of fun playing together.  In the afternoon we took them to the Aquarium to see the animals.  

London w/ the falcon and Carter playing in the deep sea area.

 

Looking at the penguins.

Steve explaining stuff to the kids.  

Conor and Nyles looking at the big river fish.  Conor, London and Nyles checking out the bees.

                  

Going across the rope bridge in the South America area.  Back at home, I showed London how to make no bake Nutella cookies.  Carter helped make them too.  Steve took a picture of him and London and sent it to Phill, who was ironically in London, England. ;)

                  

Nyles and Carter playing hide and seek w/ Steve.

Carter sitting on top of the big firetruck puzzle Nyles put together.

On Sunday afternoon, it looked nice, sunny and warm outside, but it wasn't.  Though it was a little cool, we still enjoyed some time outside playing at the park.

Typical Carter wearing 2 sunglasses and going up and down the playground all by himself.

The boys throwing rocks onto the ice in the pond.

We're enjoying our new "schedule" starting off the New Year w/ Steve's clinical rotations, me working from home a couple days a week, and now 2 hours of church.  Overall we are finding more time to spend w/ one another and more time to have gospel discussions.  I'm enjoying the flexibility to work from home, and Steve is really enjoying his hands on experience at the hospital.  He said he learned more in the 1st week there than he did his whole previous semester of studies!  We're excited for what the New Year has in store for us.