Wrap of 2016

Guest post by Mom:

Oh goodness gracious. In full disclosure, I did not actually write this blog post until March 2, 2017 which means 2016 is already starting to be a muddy memory. 

Our year didn't start out great. It was really hard to feel optimistic as it took Pete several months to find a job. Our financial security changed quite dramatically. It's been slightly touch and go the whole year. The blessings have been so profound though. From January to even April I was certain I was going to be moving and leaving my beloved St. George behind. We are still here. Living in our darling home that I adore. It's not large by any means, but it's my favorite space. What a blessing.

My work at Summit Athletic Club has doubled...even tripled. I work truly part time now and have seen my income increase quite substantially. Another HUGE blessing. I've been able to grow and get better in group exercise and personal training. There is daycare on site! I also got my job out at Red Mountain and while it does take up three hours on Saturdays, I really love working for their company!

Our big girls have continued to flourish at Panorama. I was devastated over the thought of having to leave this elementary school. Cara just HAD to have Mrs. Seegmiller for first grade. And she did! 

Pete has a cello studio and went from teaching three students to SEVENTEEN in a six month period. Another financial blessing. He is a fabulous cellist and that part of him didn't get to come out and play very often and now he's using his cello everyday again. He's such a great teacher too. 

We went to Disneyland TWICE despite the fact that Santa had originally wanted to bring us annual passes and realized we couldn't handle that. I guess, technically we went to California Adventure and not "Disneyland" the second time, but close enough!

Our faith in Jesus Christ grew. Our testimonies grew. We relied on each other a little more. We got stronger physically and mentally. 

I think initially I was ready to kick 2016 out the door, but now I'm seeing it a little more clearly. It was a year for GROWTH which isn't bad. 

New Year's Eve

Our New Year's Eve was extremely unremarkable owing to how exhausting our day turned out to be! But I did take a million photos of these two cute kids.

The big girls were there too! I have no recollection of us actually making it to any sort of midnight. Somewhat boring of us!

New Year's Eve Day

New Year's Eve was a Saturday. Years ago, three to be exact, Mom and Dad threw together a last minute party with friends and it was a BLAST. They always have grand ideas of doing it again, but somehow it never happens. This was another year that it DIDN'T happen. Mom had to work out at Red Mountain and so we were kind of in a holding pattern until she was done.

 We knew we wanted to do something, but we just weren't sure what. Things seemed expensive. Or busy. The weather was kind of iffy, but not rainy.

We ended up hiking in Snow Canyon (without Grandpa!) because Mom had accidentally taken home a key from the resort and had to return it! We started out on the old Johnson Arch trail and saw a sign that talked about the Scout Cave. We had never done that trail before and so we turned. This kind of turned into an epic decision! We didn't even have the backpacker for Sam. We were just carrying him.  We should have read the sign at the very beginning of both trails, but we didn't. There were people in front of it.

This photo of Mom and Cara and me was taken where we finally decided to turn back. After at least an hour.

Dad stayed back with the two littles and played in the sand. Sam was throwing a rock in this picture. That is something all little boys do apparently. 

We played around with taking pictures because Mom got an Apple Watch and she could use it to "press the button" and take a picture!

The ladies

We found this hole in a rock and started pretending it was the Scout Cave!

Sam seemed to understand that his fingers were cold and he kept trying to put them in Dad's ears!

You would think that would be enough of a day, but Mom and Dad surprised us by taking us swimming at Sand Hollow Aquatic Center! It was chilly but awesome!

Us big girls never held still long enough for a photo!

Another Hike With Grandpa

With us having no school and Grandpa out with a bum shoulder, we really did go on a lot of hikes. Cara and I were excited for the most part because it meant using our Camelbak's and normally some sort of treat after!

We even found some petroglyphs!

Nap Frustration

Mom probably has 20 photos just like this.....

Sometimes she takes it because it's so cute to look at how they both tilt to the same side and how much they look like each other.

But mostly she takes it because she's texting Dad about how she's sorry. If Iva naps, she doesn't go to bed! Mom spends a lot of energy trying to not let Iva fall asleep in the car. It's been going on for months. Mom gets up pretty early and so occasionally she will let Iva fall asleep on purpose and they will all snuggle up for a nap on the bed.

Dad pays for it every time since he's the one in charge of Iva's bedtime!

The messiness of Sam

Seriously...so messy! These photos are of him enjoying ranch dip. Very much.

He also loves to find cereal boxes and get into them anyway he knows how. That includes dumping them on the ground. In this picture, he knew he was being naughty so he wouldn't look at mom!

The beginning of many hikes....

Just before Christmas, a week before in fact, Grandpa had surgery on his torn rotator cuff. He was bummed because he knew it meant no climbing, but he couldn't climb with the injury. You can't keep our Grandpa down very long though and since they gave us new Camelbaks, we started hiking!

It was a gorgeous sunny day the morning after Christmas. It was cold still, but so pretty. Dad had the day off so we all joined Grandpa!

I got a kid version of a Go Pro from Mom and Dad. I was so excited to take it out and use it!

Sam and Iva were done after about an hour and so Mom and Dad took off and left Cara and I with Grandpa. We had fun looking for more hidden treasures!