Painting

This last week was a little weird but great all at the same time.  Mark was supposed to start his rotation on Monday but it got delayed day after day after day.  Apparently there was some legal stuff that needed to be taken care of between the school and his assignment and it just kept getting pushed back.  BUT we did learn that he will FOR SURE be able to start tomorrow (Monday) so that is good - especially because that is the whole reason why we made this move!

But selfishly it was great for us because we got to enjoy another week together as a family!  We spent most of the time finishing the last little things to hang up or do for our little house to make it feel like home.  We worked on other little projects and Mark and I were even able to go on a date!

Another thing we did though was create the "fun room."  Yes, that is what we call it.  We have this room underneath the stairs and it is pretty incredible.  I will post pictures of the room later when I do the whole house but we did some decorating for the fun room.  

Melina got Jacob an easel with paints, markers, chalk - the whole shebang for Christmas!  And this week we finally got it out and set up.  It took some coaxing to get Jacob to put on the smock but then he just went to town!  He painted a "mural" for the fun room. 

We love our little Picasso!

Sledding

Last Saturday we did some family fun and went sledding.  We were going to go up to Big Cottonwood Canyon but we decided to just drive around and see if we could find a fun place a little closer.  I don't really know why I thought of it but we decided to drive up to Suncrest and while we were up there Mark spotted a trailhead and we decided to just go for it.  I put Sarah in the baby carrier and Mark put Jacob in the sled and we started to trek up.  It ended up being perfect.  The trail was a pretty gradual incline anyway so we trekked up that for awhile until we reached a flat-ish part.  Then we just let Jacob run around (though he didn't really know quite what to do!).  Then there was a perfect little hill off to the side that Mark and Jacob sledded down.  Sarah and I watched them do it once and then she was pretty done.  She was not a fan of the wind.  So we started to trek down while the boys continued sledding. 

It ended up being perfect timing because by the time Sarah and I got to the car walking, the boys had met up with us sledding down.  

Later that day we went over to Grandpa and Grandma Clegg's house and the boys played outside some more.  We love living closer to them and seeing them on a much more regular basis.  It was a great snow day!

New Years Eve

We invited my family over to our place to celebrate New Years Eve.  We ate pizza, chips and dip, veggies, and all sorts of other goodies!  Jacob got to play Hungry Hungry Hippo which he is loving right now!  

Once all of the kiddos went to bed we played lots of games and ended the night watching Maleficent.  It was a great evening!  

We said goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015.  

This year...it's all about survival!  

I think we got it!

Family Time

We headed up to North Ogden earlier this week for some post-Christmas family time!  It was great that so many people were able to come.  It was Grandpa and Grandma Berning, Grant and Kristen and their family, Brian, Todd, Daniel and Teresa and their family, and us.  We had a scrumptious dinner and then opened presents.  It was a great evening and I was really glad we could go up. 

The next day was probably the coldest, windiest day I have ever experienced!  Oh my goodness, I seriously felt like Jacob was going to blow away if I wasn't holding onto him.  We had hoped to go sledding but that was definitely not going to happen.  So instead we went to the Treehouse Museum.  It was a great children's museum.  

We had a great time...that is...until we didn't.  Jacob totally lost it.  All of a sudden we had the tantrum of all tantrums.  Jacob has definitely had his share of tantrums at home but we have been very blessed to have never had one in public...until this day.  It was horrible.  There is nothing like an entire room staring at you while you take your screaming child away.  And I am not exaggerating, the entire room.  And I can't blame them, I probably would have too.  It was one of those moments when you know every mother is just thinking, "oh my goodness, I am so glad it is not me." 

I thought if I just took him away from the area that he would calm down and I would be able to reason with him.  However, it was not meant to me.  And of course, we were on the top floor so I had to walk through the whole museum with my screaming child.  I was embarrassed.  I was very embarrassed.  And when I get embarrassed, I cry, which then only makes me more embarrassed because then I am crying.  

The snowball effect.  

We got to the car (and luckily didn't blow away) and I sat down with Jacob while I was crying, he said he was sorry, and we headed back home.  Of course, I continued to cry the whole way home.  And by that point it was just a combination to embarrassment and just that "bad mom" feeling.  That feeling that if I had just done something different than I could have avoided such an outburst.  I had heard people say that they had to leave a restaurant or the grocery store because of a tantrum but you just never think it is going to happen to you.  

Well...I guess I get to join the ranks.  

The thing was that I was never mad at Jacob.  I knew we had been pushing him too far.  We had just moved a week and a half before, had Christmas and now we were again away from home and it had all just been too much.  I understood.  And the thing was, we went home and he went down for his nap and was a perfect little angel the rest of the day.  

Parenting is hard sometimes.  It sometimes doesn't go the way you want it too.  But I guess all you can do is start over the next day and try your best.  

It unfortunately put a quick end to our trip with family.  But we still had a great time nonetheless and are grateful that we are closer and can do these 

get-togethers more!

Grandpa and Grandma Moldenhauer

One of the many great things about being back in Utah is that we are now much closer to my Grandpa and Grandma Moldenhauer.  They moved up here to Salt Lake right before I had Sarah so they could be closer to my Mom.  So last Saturday we went to visit them.  It was great to spend a little bit of time with them and we even got the "grand tour" of their new place!

It was their first time meeting Sarah and only their second time with Jacob.  Family is very important to me and I was so very glad to go and see them and look forward to being able to see them more regularly while we are here. 

BYU Basketball

For Christmas, I got Mark tickets to a BYU Basketball game.  It was a slightly selfish gift because it also meant that I got a fun date with my favorite man - but I knew he would love going to the game too! :)

We went to the BYU vs. Gonzaga game and even though we lost it was a close game for a lot of it and we had a blast.  It was great just spending some alone time together!  

Go Cougs!

Christmas

This Christmas was wonderful and hard at the same time.  Mark and I had decided last Christmas that we were going to spend this Christmas just together as our little family.  We wanted to start setting our own traditions and we just felt like it was a time we should spend together just us.  We were so excited.  Really.  We had been talking about it for months how we were so excited to just stay in Denver and not have to worry about traveling and just enjoy the time together.  Throw in an unexpected move and it put a lot of stress on things. 

Everything just felt so rushed about Christmas and I didn't get to quite do everything the way that I wanted to.  But I guess we have a lot of Christmas' in the future to get it right! 

Christmas Eve we made sugar cookies for Santa and got a "Special Delivery" from the big man in red with some new pajamas and a new Christmas book, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Jacob was convinced that all of the reindeer were sheep!  And the kiddos just looked way too cute with their matching pajamas!  We read the Christmas story and put the kiddos to sleep and then Mark and I finished the night with some egg nog. 

Christmas morning we woke up and had some homemade cinnamon rolls and orange juice and then opened presents.  It is fun to see Jacob understand more and more about Christmas.  Our family was so generous to us and we are very grateful.  Jacob loved opening all of the presents and we only had to remind him a couple of times about having to "take turns." ;)

We spent the day in our jammies playing and just enjoying our time together as a family.  My family came over in the late afternoon and it was fun to spend some time with them also.

As always though, the best part was being able to reflect on the best gift we've been given from our Father in Heaven, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is the reason for the season.