The Homestead Crater

For Christmas, Sarah got Mark and I a date to the Homestead Crater in Midway.  When we made our reservations to tour the Provo City Center Temple we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to go on our date up to Midway as well.  So after we toured the temple Mark and I headed up to Midway.  I went here last year with Melina and Megan and knew that Mark would love it.  

It was great to have some "us" time.  It was very relaxing and so neat to be swimming in 95 degree water and look up and see snow!  It was very pleasant and we had a great time!

We forgot to bring in our camera or take a picture before so this is after our swim at the entrance of the crater!

Provo City Center Temple

This week we went down to visit my family in Draper and to tour the Provo City Center Temple.  I am so grateful that there are so many temples being built!  I have such a testimony of the peace and comfort that being within a temple can bring.  And I truly don't feel like there is any place on earth that feels more like how I believe heaven will be than within the temple.  My heart is always so full when we are all within the temple - my little family of four.  It makes me so excited to think of the day when we can all be inside together when our children are older.  I can't think of anything better.  I love to share that experience with Jacob and Sarah and let them feel the spirit that is there.  

The Provo City Center Temple is beautiful.  What they have done to transform that building is remarkable.  My favorite things were the archways and the staircases were absolutely stunning.  They were beautiful and I would love to visit it again once it is dedicated.  

It was also wonderful to share that experience with my family.  It was beautiful to be able to share that peace and comfort with them as well.  

It was a great day.  

Here is a very real life moment...

16 Months

I thought it was time for a Sarah update!

This little girl keeps us on our toes!  She is the sweetest, happiest, mischievous little bundle and we just love her.  

She loves to be involved with everything that is going on in the house.  She has no fear and dives into any new situation.  She loves to be on the stairs.  This month we decided she was ready to be "unleashed" and has loved every moment of it.  She does everything on the stairs - reads, plays, scoots!

Sarah is running everywhere.  That little munchkin can move!  She is always trying to keep up with Jacob.  They love to chase each other but Sarah definitely likes to do the chasing more than being chased.  Which is fine with Jacob because I think he prefers to do it that way anyway!

Sarah wins everyone over and has the world wrapped around her little fingers.  She is darling and we love her so much.  

We love you little miss.  

Primary Teacher

I was recently called to teach the four and five years old in the Primary!  I am so excited to have a calling!  I have been anxiously awaiting one and am so very excited to begin serving in our new ward here in Idaho Falls.  I am also excited to be back in Primary and have the opportunity to teach these young children.  

JUMP

Two weeks ago, we got invited over to iJump for Kiley's 16th birthday!  We were so excited to go over and celebrate with Kiley and her family.  

It was such a blast!  It is a trampoline park and it was so much fun to jump and play.  It took Jacob a little while to get on board but once he did he had a great time!  Sarah h

Preschool

For about a year now I have been planning on starting preschool with Jacob.  The plan was to begin last August but with everything so up in the air we decided to postpone until we were settled somewhere.  We decided it would be best to wait until after the holidays to begin.  We started two and a half weeks ago and we are loving it.  

I have begun a separate blog to document our preschool life.  I want to have a place where I can write about what we are doing and I want this blog to remain our family blog and not become completely about preschool.  I don't anticipate anyone following our preschool blog but just thought I would put the link on in case anyone wanted to know what we are up to.

I give more details in my introduction on the blog about why we decided to do it and what my plan is and I didn't want to repeat myself here.  So anyway, we are embarking on a new adventure and are really excited!

The Berning School

Sunbeams

So I had mixed feelings about Jacob starting Sunbeams.  Obviously, I was so excited but it felt like a really big step for me.  Sometimes I think in my mind (or vent to Mark) that I am so ready for Jacob to just get a little older and out of this "threenager" stage.  I have to remind myself that it will be over faster than I want.  This was one of those moments when I was reminded that it is all over faster than I really want.  

We had been talking up Sunbeams for weeks.  Jacob LOVES nursery!  A LOT!  Ever since day one of nursery he has never had a problem - even with all of the moving around we did!  He's always been excited to be in nursery.  Since I used to teach Sunbeams back in our Garden City days I knew that the true test of how things were going to be was the second week in Sunbeams.  

The first week went okay.  We talked it up, Jacob had gotten his own Book of Mormon for Christmas to take with him, and he seemed okay.  But after sacrament meeting when we went to the Primary room and not nursery Jacob was definitely hesitant.  He did not want to sit down with his class.  When I finally convinced him to sit down he wanted to sit on the opposite end of the row from everyone else.  I tried to convince him that it would be nice to go and sit with his friends but he was not interested.  Luckily his teacher came and he sat down with Jacob and I left and all was well.  

I was so excited to go pick up Jacob after Church to see how it went.  He seemed fine - maybe a little confused as to what was going on but fine.  When I asked him how Sunbeam was, his reply was, "I don't want to talk about Sunbeams."  Okay.  

I was really nervous about how the second week would go.  I tried to talk in up even more the whole week but he did not want to even  talk about Sunbeams.  Mark was in Twin Falls working and so I was doing church solo.  This week they were just going straight to their classrooms.  I walked Jacob to his class and the minute I opened the door we had a major meltdown.  I am holding Sarah in one arm and Jacob is completely freaking out.  He is screaming - which is something he very rarely does in public (thank goodness!).  I am trying to talk to him and he just wanted nothing to do with it.  He was screaming, "I AM NOT GOING IN THERE!" over and over...and over again.  

Bless his teachers - they are so perfect for this calling.  They very kindly took Jacob and told him it was going to be okay and just closed the door.  Of course, again being in those teachers shoes before, knew this was what had to be done.  I felt bad leaving him though - mostly because I didn't want it to start a domino effect with the other kids in his class.  

When I came to pick him up he was smiling and seemed a-okay.  So all of that being said, transitioning to sunbeams has been a little rough.  But he seems more and more open to the idea every time I talk to him about it.  We went on a mommy-son breakfast date this last week and talked about it and he seemed to be more relaxed about it then he has in the past.  

We missed this last week because both Jacob and Sarah have been sick but we are crossing our fingers for a smoother transition next week!

Sledding

We did our annual New Year's Day sledding!  It was a little trickier this year - it's hard to want to play out in the snow when you don't even break 0 degrees until noon!  We decided to go sledding around Daniel and Teresa's home and that way the kids could come inside when they got cold.  It worked out great and we had a good ole' time!

The kiddos also had a lot of fun doing their "tricks" on Miriam's new gymnast mat she got for Christmas.  They each took turns and is was great fun for us all to watch their routines!

We are loving the winter!

New Years Eve

Our New Year's Eve was very low-key!  Mark had to work in Twin Falls until 9:00 and so me and the kidlets had our New Year's feast followed by some rousing rounds of Candy Land.  I then put Sarah to bed and Jacob and I had our cupcakes in a jar with mint ice cream on top and watched "Frozen".

Mark didn't get home until after midnight but I was so happy that he came home!  We had a little sparkling cider and are looking forward to 2016.  Last year, on New Year's I wrote that for 2015 we just wanted to survive.  I am pretty sure at the time I didn't realize how true that would be but survive we did!  We made it through and I although I am grateful for all we learned I am excited to put it behind us.  This year I feel is all about change.  Getting settled in our new home, our new routine with Mark's job, preschool for Jacob and Sarah learning and changing every day.  I have a feeling this is going to be a great year.  2016 - I am ready for you! 

Meet Mia

Meet Mia!

Last Saturday, we bought a new car!  We were so excited (a little nervous too!) but it was such a positive experience and we are in love with our new car.  Mia is a 2016 Ford Escape and we love her.  For the first time in our entire marriage we are a two car family!  We feel so good about the choice we made and can't wait to make some memories with her!  We couldn't be more excited!