Abundant Recompense Copy

The Monday after Christmas, some friends of ours, Mike and Stephanie, invited Nate and me to go snowshoeing with them. We were thrilled (and only slightly intimidated that they're the fittest people I've ever met and we'd been eating Christmas junk nonstop for at least two weeks straight). I had only been snowshoeing once and Nate had never been, so we were stoked. Monday morning came and we left all the kids at our house with a couple babysitters and were off. We rented some snowshoes and headed to the trailhead at the North Ogden Divide, where we attempted to push our car up into the icy parking lot and then finally just gave up and parked by the road. We met up with Stephanie's cousin Shane and headed up toward Lewis Peak. Mike and Steph packed extra snow gear, lucky for those of us who had never heard of most of it (gaiters - who knew?), and graciously hooked Nate and me up. We went about a mile up to a spot that overlooked North Ogden on one side and Eden on the ot...

We had a wonderful, fabulous, extraordinary Christmas around here. I turned the big 2-6 the day before. I was spoiled wonderfully by my hubby and kiddos, including french toast in bed. Oh yes. It was divine. We did a lot of cooking and cleaning on Christmas Eve and had a delicious Christmas dinner followed by frozen nutella hot chocolate and the Christmas story with the kids. Nate and I stayed up really late mainly to clean the house so we would have a fresh start on Christmas morning. The next morning started at 6:30 when we headed down to open presents. We went slowly and it took pretty much until lunch time. It was so great to just lounge around and enjoy watching everybody open presents and play with their new toys. A sweet lady in our ward gave us a train that her son had gotten too old for - we're talking one with a tunnel and a windmill and a bridge, etc. I think that's his very favorite present. Nate surprised me with a new remote for our car (hooray!) and tickets to go...

Okay folks, here's the deal - Nate is done, as in completely finished, every i dotted and t crossed with this semester of school!!!!! He turned in his final final this morning. YEAH! Let the partying begin. You thought that was the end of the story, didn't you? But wait, there's more! We are potty training at the moment. We've had great days and pretty bleak ones. I have beaten the life out of my mattress in frustration at my three year old (once I misjudged and punched the buckle of the belt that was next to my pillow instead of the pillow. Ouch. Bleeding and swollen knuckles). We have had an extremely hard time with good ol' #2. I've promised rewards, made threats, gently reminded, yelled, you name it, I've done it. But today the stars aligned and I must've given just the right combo of the above. I was in my room folding laundry praying that I would not have to clean poopy underwear again today. I had gone up into Addison's room where he was begin...

Addison has been DYING to build a snowman, and we finally got our chance on Saturday. The snow was perfect - not too powdery like the last big snowfall. Addison was thrilled and gave me pointers the whole time. Bryn chilled in her swing while we constructed it and was mad in the picture because I made her get out. (And as I later discovered she somehow was soaking wet under her snow clothes). It was all I could do to keep Addison from eating the baby carrot nose before the picture. I actually had to remove it from his mouth and stick it back on the snowman. The second the flash went off, it was gone.

Addison has been working on saying his L's better lately. And he's been doing it on his own, with no prodding from Mommy, because I think it's cute when he wants "miwk" or to "cower" (milk and color). My personal favorite has been his pronunciation of "Hobby Lobby." First it was "Hobby Yobby" and more recently it's "Hobby Wobby." Change is coming, though, and here's the proof. I like how he keeps his tongue between his teeth pretty much the whole time in between the words.

Wintry afternoons are generally a bit of a challenge around here. We are usually sick of being in the house and staring at each other all day long, but it's just so darn cold. A few weeks ago, however, I decided to adopt a new world view for the season. It goes something like this, "That's what they make clothes for." So when it snowed at the end of November and Addison was going crazy with pent-up energy one particularly long afternoon, we applied layer after layer and headed out. This is the first winter in awhile that I haven't had to worry about bundling up an infant, which was actually pretty nice. Addison went straight for the snow shovel and scooped snow from all over the place. He ate snow. He ran through the snow. He loved it. Bryn waddled around in her snow gear and toppled over several times, but she didn't mind, and it was so fun to watch. She had a blast revisiting her swing for the first time in several weeks. Then we busted out the sled and I p...

I cannot believe it, but Nate and I are parents of a three-year-old! December 1st was the day, but we celebrated the day before because of school/YW schedules. Addison had his all-time favorite dinner, cream tuna, and we followed it up with presents and a stegosaurus cake. Before the party, he told me that he didn't want any "fire" on the cake. We put it on anyway, though, and he did just fine. I think his favorite presents are a doctor kit and play food and dishes for his little kitchen. He's doing a great job of sharing with Brynny, too. Happy birthday, sweet Addison!