Luke and Jonah get baptized

This weekend we were able to jet down to Arizona to participate in the baptism of cousins Luke and Jonah.  We didn't have a lot of time, but we were happy to be able to travel down.

We flew into Phoenix on Friday night, ate at Shake Shack and stayed in Scottsdale.  On Saturday morning we drove our brand new rental Suburban (it only had 1800 miles when we picked it up) north to Prescott Valley for a day of twinner activities.  The baptisms were in the morning, then we caught the tail end of the boys Pine Wood Derby, and we ended the day with dinner at Craig and Christina's home out on the prairie.

The twins were excited to have so many people present to honor and support them.  We haven't seen them for two years and they were excited to see the boys and also seemed pretty excited to have Uncle Ross throw them baseballs for over an hour.  Luke took me on a tour of the yard to see the chickens and dead things - rats, rabbits and chicken skulls and both twins let the boys hold their geckos.  Gross!

While in Arizona we also got to spend some time with Grandma Bea and Uncle Bill who was visiting from Minnesota.  Elliott is officially taller than Grandma Bea - she turned 95 in February and the boys had never met Bill...he was impressed with their heights, manners and generally good behavior.  I'm glad that they made a positive impression.  The weather was warmer than home, and the sunset was pretty.

We spent Saturday night at Grandma Connie's house.  On Sunday morning we got up, went to church and then headed back to change our clothes to head home.  While packing up suitcases, there was a lizard hanging out in the room Ross slept in (he was snoring so I slept in a different room), on "my side" of the bed.  Yuck!

We packed up, got lunch at Raising Cane's and headed to the airport.

the last kindergarten zoo field trip

Quinn has had a great year so far in Kindergarten.  He's pretty much the star of his class and his teacher, Mrs. Woolf loves him.  She says that in all her years of teaching he is one of the best behaved kids she's ever taught and that his fine motor skills are off the chart.

Anyway, today was the kindergarten zoo field trip.  Quinn rode the bus with his friends and I met the group at the zoo with all the other moms and families.  All week, the weather has been pretty good but of course, today, it sucked.  Rainy and wintery and COLD.

Quinn and I did the fastest tour of the zoo ever and we were frozen solid at the end.  I was pretty proud of myself for bringing him an extra jacket to put on, otherwise, he may have really turned into a popsicle.

the anti-valentine Valentine

The boys are not into Valentine's Day.  In fact, a couple of days before Wyatt had a nervous breakdown because girls were going to give him valentine's!  Last year a girl wrote that she thought Wyatt was handsome and he just didn't want the attention or the pressure.

After searching online, we found some pretty funny anti-valentine's to make.  The big boys thought they were funny and the chocolate was tasty.  Quinn's class did not pass out valentine's this year so he was off the hook.

SNOW DAY!

In my entire life, I can only think of one day, in elementary school, where we had a snow day.  In Utah, they are pretty rare.

But, when we woke up this morning, a snow day was upon us.  It didn't seem that bad to start, but as the day progressed, there was just more and more snow.  Ross got to work from home and shovel/snow blow about 5 times.

It was a pretty great shut-in sort of day.

Elliott is ordained a deacon

Today, Elliott was ordained to the priesthood office of a deacon in the LDS church.

Those present to participate and celebrate him were:
Grandma Judy
Grandpa Karl
Grandma Connie
Grandpa Dick
Uncle Willie
Uncle James
Cousin Jack
Mom
Dad
Wyatt
Quinn
Sister Lonni (Our favorite grandma who lives across the street from us).

The Church announced in December 2018 that as of January 2019, youth would progress through church groups by their birth year, not their age.  That meant that all the boys who turn 12 in 2007 were automatically deacons - pending an interview with the bishop and an ordination.  We decided not to rush Elliott through, since his birthday is in January anyway.  I think there was one boy his age who beat him to the punch as the first new deacon, but it's okay.  Elliott is pretty excited to pass the sacrament and not so sure about rain or shine fast offerings once a month.

This kid is growing up so fast and we couldn't be more proud of him.