Recap - Recap

Well it's sure been a long time since I updated the blog.  Lots has been happening but I haven't felt too inspired to record it here. Not sure why.  Maybe busy, maybe just lazy.

Anyway, here are our highlights since mid-December:

**We made two - count'em, two - trips to the seasonal American Girl store that popped up in Salt Lake City.  My friend Angie and I took our girls down in mid-December and our family made a return trip the first weekend in January.  The store was only temporary and didn't have the best selection but Tessa was able to pick up a few things:

In December Tessa bought a few accessories, but she went all out in January - she bought a new doll.  The doll in the above pictures is Star, her first AG doll.  She also has the last three Girls of the Year - 2014's Isabelle, 2015's Grace and now 2016's Lea.  She has bought the last two with her own money so it's hard to say no when she has saved enough and wants to spend her money on the doll.  So far no buyer's remorse.

**We had a nice, quiet Christmas here in Hyde Park.  The kids are old enough that they don't get a lot of little gifts so there aren't a ton of things to open on Christmas morning but they each got a new blanket and something that they wanted (Henry - golf pass, William - Jazz tickets, Tessa - diner play set for her dolls).  We hung out at home and went to see the new Star Wars movie.  It was a fun day:

**In mid January we got new carpet!  I didn't take any pictures of the change because we got a really similar color and style to our old carpet.  Our old carpet was just old and yucky and stained and this new carpet is beautiful.  I love it.  It was quite the hassle getting ready for the installation, though.  We had to basically unload the entire house!  It took almost a week to get everything boxed and packed up to move into the basement and the carpet installers moved all the bigger furniture for us.  It only took 6 hours to rip up the old carpet, install the new, and move all our stuff back into the room.  Moving everything was a good excuse to get rid of stuff and we made a few trips to the DI.  But what a difference.  

So we are just moving along.  Lots of random days off for the kids over the next month or so but spring is in sight!  

William's 12th Birthday

Amidst all of our activities, William celebrated his 12th Birthday.

He wanted some new headphones and dinner out at Huhot.  He was ordained a deacon and got to pass the sacrament for the first time.  He's such a great kid and we love him so much!

The Far Side of Fall

Well the fall went by quickly in Hyde Park.  Some highlights -

• School is going well for all the kids.  Henry and William both made Honor Roll for their first report cards.  Tessa doesn't actually get report cards but she is rocking 4th grade..
• Halloween saw William, Henry and Jay at the Utah/Oregon State football game (Go Utes!) and Tessa sporting her best Rosie the Riveter:

• We stayed in Hyde Park for Thanksgiving this year and grilled steaks.  It was yummy!  We had a nice weekend at home and Tessa and I went to see the Cache Civic Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.  It was great!
  
• Tessa had two big performances - her Musical Theater class did their own production of The Nutcracker and Tessa was the Chinese Dancer.
  
• Tessa also performed with all the 4th and 5th grade orchestra students from the northern part of Cache Valley at their Winter Concert.  She plays the viola.  The picture is terrible but you can make her out in the middle (kind of).
  

Only a few more weeks until Christmas!  

Wise Words with William

Check out William's new blog:

Wise Words With William

I imagine it will be quite the thing.

Falling into Fall

I'm not really sure how I can be busier now that the kids are in school all day, but I am.  It seems like there is always something to do and somewhere to go.  But busy means not boring so I'll take it.

The first weekend after school started we went to Lagoon.  Lagoon is an amusement park just north of Salt Lake City.  We've never actually taken our kids but the Wrights of Brno were visiting from the Czech Republic and they wanted to go so we went.  It ended up being a fun day.  Henry and William loved the roller coasters and Tessa won two stuffed animals playing games.

The next weekend I took Tessa to see a local theater group production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  It was really good and we had a lot of fun.   Tessa has been really interested in musical theater lately so it was fun to share that with her.  She is taking a Musical Theater class at a local dance studio this year and is excited to perform.

Tessa also signed up for orchestra.  I wasn't sure that I wanted her to commit to another after school activity but she was really excited about it so we will try it for a year and see how it goes.  She is playing the viola.  Orchestra sign ups were across town one evening so I took all the kids with me.  After we got her all squared away we went to Yogurtland, which for some reason I call Yogurt town.  Oh well.  It's a fun place to go, especially now that our favorite shaved ice place is closed for the season.