Selfie Queen

Eloise has mastered the art of taking a selfie!  She was so funny, "mom, look, I can take a picture of myself now!!!"  My camera is always full of these shots from when she steals my phone.  Her expressions crack me up!

Baby Quinn

We got to meet our newest baby cousin Quinn and she is so sweet and arguably one of the most beautiful newborns I've ever seen!  Besides my own, of course.  

Teagan and Addy were sick so they got left behind.  Eloise was in heaven and announced, " I'm her mom now!"  Because apparently holding a sweet newborn makes you the mom.

Eloise and I share that love for newborns, I just couldn't get enough of her.  Good job Jesse and Bri!

Scriptures

Addy is learning to read scriptures with the family.  She loves to copy Eloise and Teagan and "repeats" what Zac and I say.  She is really growing up!  Family scripture time is probably my favorite time of night.  Not always reverent, but it is usually good bonding time.  Usually, being the key word.

Snow Day!

We have gotten so so much snow this year.  Every time we think that it is going to melt we get another load.  For a while we had a couple feet on both sides of the driveway from all the shoveling.  The kids have been having a blast.  

Eloise wants to out about 10 times a day, each time for approximately 8 minutes.  She is a character!

Adeline just loves to be a part of it.  She mostly follows the others around and tries to stomp on the snow and smash it.

Teagan has built so many different enormous snowmen and has learned how to snowboard down the hill.  He doesn't even have boots, but somehow manages to cruise down the hill and halfway across the yard!  He is seriously so athletic.  I am proud of him.  The first day he fell down the hill about 25 times.  I watched him roll down and crash over and over.  He just picked himself back up and tried again.  Now he has got the hang of it and I'm proud.  Teagan can do anything he puts his mind to.

We love the snow around here!  Except when we want to play outside in the sunshine and it's so cold our faces freeze, but it's good because it motivates me to get inside work done.  This winter I've gone through so many closets and cupboards and we've got the basement ready for sheetrock.  Hooray!

Teagan's Baptism

Teagan chose to be baptized on January 2nd and we are so proud of him. He was a combination of nervous and excited.  As we talked about what it would be like we cleared any nervousness about drowning.  That morning he woke up and was just so nervous, to the point of paleness and shaking and we asked why, he said, "I am just nervous about having to take so many pictures today."  Poor guy, I had no idea he dreaded posing for pictures so much.  He made it through okay and loved the day.

We were all so grateful to have so many friends and family members support Teagan. He had all of his grandparents and great grandparents, most of his aunts and uncles, and his three best friends (Eli Heath, Mason Murdoch, Zachary Nielson) all there. 

We missed a picture with his Durtschi grandparents, darn!  

I asked him how he felt on that day and he immediately said, "cold, the water was  cold and the bathroom was cold."

I asked him what it was like to get baptized and he said, "I felt the spirit really strong when I was baptized and when I got the Holy Ghost so it was really good; I liked it."

We are so proud of Teagan and the choices he is making.  I love his testimony and closeness to the spirit.  He is such a strong boy.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  I didn't take near as many pictures as I have in the past, but we still had just as much fun!  

We went to go see santa at the mall and the line was so so long.  In fact, Adeline fell asleep in my arms because she was so tired.  At first we just decided to not put her in the picture.  But then I decided that I could just put her in Santa's arms.  He was so sweet and was on board.  It was so sweet, Adeline slept through the whole thing.  We got the pictures and I took her back and she never woke up.  I could feel everyone in line watching us and there was an audible sigh of relief when I was able to pick her back up and she stayed asleep.

One of the fun family activities that we did was building gingerbread houses at Jake and Angie's house.   They were genius and superglued the houses together before we all got there.  Then each kid got their own frosting and bowl of candy and went to town.  It was so much fun!

We tried several times to get an awesome picture in from of the Christmas tree.  We eventually gave up, but this was a pretty close one.  We love our silly annual Christmas picture!

I didn't get any pictures on Christmas morning.  Actually, I know I did take pictures, but they are no where to be found.  Just imagine the joy on their faces when they each found a super soft sleeping bag/pillow pet thing, and hot wheels and babies and strollers.  It was magical and I think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed it completely.

Service Elves

Meet Kinley and Bennington.  They came to stay with our family for the month of December to help us remember Jesus and serve others in his name.  Each day they have a special service challenge for our family.  We don't always remember to do it, but we have loved being able to have daily reminders to think of others.

Teagan  has loved the challenges and has worked to do them all.  Some were as simple as smiling at a stranger or inviting a new friend to play at school.  Others were bigger like delivering presents to a family in need or donating books to the library.  

I think the two favorite things were writing a thank you note and giving goodies to a teacher and taking in the neighbors garbages for Teagan.  

Eloise loved delivering presents to another family, it was really hard because she wanted the toys, but I could tell she really felt good and felt the spirit when she saw that they had a bare house and these might be the only toys they get.

Addy loved snuggling the elves and treating them like her babies.  

This morning Teagan was out waiting for the garbage man at 7:30 so he could make sure to take all the garbages in before the neighbors had a chance. He has such a giving heart.

The elves have really brought the true spirit of Christmas into our home and brought us closer together.