'ts all good

We closed out 2023 quietly & happily. Just the way we like it!

Also, Tom lost his top two front teeth just in time for Christmas, and that was honestly a highlight of the year for me.

2023 was good to us. 

I got a new job doing remote speech for a school district in New Mexico. That means I get to work from home, and the amount of stress I haven't felt sine I ditched my daily commute to Logan is insane. I honestly didn't realize how much anxiety and stress that commute added to my life. 

We decided the laundry room was the best place to put in my office, and it's honestly worked really well. Andy worked hard to get it work-ready, and my momma helped me make it cute.

This is how she looks when she's tidy

I have since upgraded my keyboard to one that doesn't annoy me so much.

(This one was cute, but the keys were fickle.)

Tommy started first grade in the Chinese dual immersion program. He wasn't a huge fan of Mandarin at first, but now it's his favorite part of school!

*hates having his picture taken

Guess how often Tom wears his reading glasses (at school & otherwise)

If you guessed never, you are correct.

Jonah is growing far too quickly. (It's crazy to think that Jonah's as old as Tom was when Jonah was born. Whoa!) Jojo has really big feelings, and it's been rough for all of us to try to help him through them. He loves reading and coloring and spending time with Tom (when they get along).

Two Spider-Mans for Halloween

(technically one is Miles Morales)

And oh yeah.,Jonah loves bandaids.

And now, pictures of what we've been up to since July.

Bear Lake

Being nice to each other at church

Mid-chomp on a lemon

There was LOTS of fresh strawberries and peaches!

We started pulling ivy and Virginia Creeper off the rock wall out back

School pic. He said he didn't smile, and he meant it.

Lots of fall exploration in Mantua

Jonah's heavy-handed on the icing with frosting sugar cookies

Andy & I had a hiking date, and it was glorious!

This was part of the hike

The boys' jack-o-lanters 

Heather & Rod took us for a ride on their boat, and the boys loved it.

Family pictures by Heather Nelson

Ugh, I love them!

There's been lots of random dress-up

Tom falls asleep listening to boring podcasts (meant to put you to sleep)

just yum

My favorites!

Human Hungry Hippos with cousins!

Christmas break was the best thing ever

Christmas Eve jammies

Hotel in IF (wearing their Christmas jams)

We met our newest cousin/nephew, Ezra, and we LOVE him.

Aaaand here's what we've been up to so far in 2024.

I took Andy to lunch and a movie (Willy Wonka) for his birthday date

Andy got me a bread machine for Christmas, and it's my favorite!

Happy birthday to Andy!

Winter finally arrived

We wanted ice cream on a cold winter day, so we got some!

Joe bonked his head and demanded a bandaid; when I told him a bandaid wouldn't stick, 

he demanded a wrap. Thank heaven for Ace bandages.

Tom went sledding with the Activity Days kids & had a blast!

It's been such a great start to 2024, and we're hoping to keep up this positive energy as we go. We've got some house projects on the docket, plus a little trip or two in the works, and we'll just see if anything gets documented on here.