January

January was a cold but great month! It was nice that things slowed down a bit and we were able to get some much needed projects done.  

Mia and Gus became best friends. 

At the beginning of the month Mia got to attend a "Great to Be Eight" meeting to help prepare for her baptism this year.  I can't believe this cute group of kids is old enough to be baptized.  Most of these kids I had in preschool. 

It is so fun to see her grow up and see the great kids she is becoming.  She is super excited to be baptized! 

I thought this picture was hilarious.  This was early in the morning on the first day back to school after Christmas break.  They were so thrilled to be heading back to school! At least they got donuts! 

A beautiful Sunrise one morning!

I don't always let Mia have free range when she is deciding her outfits and this is why! She has no shortage of flare though! 

Alex also had an exciting month this month. He got to move into Young Men's at church and received the Aaronic Priesthood.  He was also called to be the second counselor in his quorum.  He has been loving going to activities and passing the sacrament.  I am so impressed at the amazing young man he has become. 

Mia painted and put on her own fake nails!

 Matching her doll. 

One day Mia put on a magic show for us.  Her outfit was the best part. 

Brandon wanted to pass on a piece of his childhood to Alex and took him to the Harlem Globetrotters this month.  They had a lot of fun. 

They also spent a Saturday up in Logan Ice Fishing.  It was cold and the fish weren't biting too much but Alex still had a lot of fun.  He even got to sleep over with Mikah and Max for a night.

One of the first projects we wanted to do this year was re-stain our bannister.  Since changing our floors we had two different colors of brown and we didn't love it.  

Brandon did a lot of work to sand, prime and stain it.  

It turned out so beautiful! 

Finally this month Alex got to attend his first swim meet.  This was a big learning experience for us since we had never done anything like this.  I took Alex to the meet while Brandon stayed with Mia to take her to birthday party.  At this meet the athletes stayed by the pool while all the parents had to stay up in the balcony seating.  This made it really hard to help Alex get to each of his races on time.  Luckily his buddy Josh was there to help him and he didn't miss any of his races.   

He competed in the 50 Free, the 100 Free and the 50 breast stroke.  (I didn't know what any of the meant before today).  He did great in each race and I think it was nice for him to see what he can be working towards.  

There was a lot of waiting in between each race.  Luckily he had Josh to help keep him entertained.  

He may not get to do any other meets before taking a break to do baseball and soccer but it was fun to give it a try.