Random January

Becca's birthday is January 7. Her mom and sisters decided to surprise her with a quick trip to California.  They invited Cynjyn along.  Her Disneyland pass was expiring in February, so we let her go even though it was the middle of a school week.  Of course she had a great time. 

Garry got a salad spinner and loved playing around with it!

Each month as a stake primary presidency, we go to the 10 different wards in our stake for their ward conference.  We do sharing time for the ward primary's.  This year as a stake presidency, we decided to focus on reverence.  I found a story about some very unreverent girls who learned how to be more reverent by catching butterfly's.  So I was nominated to whip up a handout.  I made butterfly wands for the presidencies to use to remind the kids to be more reverent and I made a handout that each kid will receive with a quote:  "Reverence is more than just quietly sitting, it's thinking of Father above" and they will each get their own smaller butterfly attached to that.

We went out to Nevada Chicken Cafe with friends for a dinner date night.

I took the kids to lunch during mid term finals week where we all get out early and it has become tradition now.  It was Taz's turn to choose and he chose Claim Jumper.

Garry had his annual work party dinner which is always nice and they always take a group photo.

Garry and his priest went to the hospital to visit an elderly lady in her 90's that they always take the sacrament to each Sunday.  Apparently they sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again to her and it was lovely.  They received a nice thank you from her daughter. 

 Cynjyn has a core group of besties that she always has a good time with especially at band.
Garry was a trouper and BBQ'd in the rain after church one day.

 Lex came over to have her and Taz try on their Sadies outfits.

 Tanner got promoted at work.  He is now a CSM (customer service manager).  It came with a $4/hour raise and he is excelling at it!

 Cynjyn is in the throws of Flag Football and doing great at it.  She is a blocker for the offense and plays every game.

 She has also become the new haircutter for Taz and his friends.  Ryan is a great customer. 

And that is our random January.

January 2016

Boy do I need to catch up. I blogged the fun things that happened, but now I need to blog the little everyday things that make my life happy and complete.
Taz has been obsessed with rock climbing since last fall.  He has a membership and goes almost every single night.  We got him a fingerboard for Christmas and we put it up after we got home.  Then Garry and Taz decided that they wanted some holds and stuff so Taz could go across the wall. 

Since these pictures were taken, we've added sooo many more holds and our wall is almost black with scuff marks, but hey, this time of life is going by so fast that we all just need to make the most of it.  I don't need perfectly clean walls to be happy.  I need my kids home and loving being here!

Tanner was excited when Talon left for Carson City for his police academy.  He took his time moving into his old room because he wanted to paint it.  He meticulously picked out the colors and stripe design and set to work.  Garry helped out. 

They got it done in about 2 days.

Here is Tanner peeling off the tape to reveal those gorgeous stripes. 

Of course, when the camera came out, Cynjyn was in! 

Some of his uncles will be so happy that he chose Boise State colors, but believe me when I say it was not because of Boise State, those were just the colors he liked.

Talon happened to be home that weekend and they all enjoyed seeing the new room.

Taz and his friends do a gift exchange every year where they draw names and get each other a gag gift and a nice gift.  Christmas was hectic, so they didn't get around to the exchange until January and Garry and I were gone to his work party, so Cynjyn was home and made them pose because she knew I'd want pictures!  They are posing like little kids super excited!  I love them!

Taz had his band friends invite themselves over for another waffle day.  We introduced them to waffles awhile back and they wanted more.  I took the picture from above so I wouldn't disturb them. 

They ended up staying almost the whole day.  They did a ping pong tournament and played video games an what not. 

When it got dark, they played body body.  Everyone took it so seriously and dressed in black.  Taz is the ninja blending in with the curtains.  Cameron is "Michael Myers".They played for a few hours and Cynjyn had such a great time playing with them. 

The next weekend, Cynjyn wanted to do it with her group of friends, so she invited church friends over and they gave it a shot.  They didn't take it nearly as seriously as Taz's friends and Cynjyn was super disappointed.

The Monday after midterms is always senior skip day.  Taz and friends (Lex and Bradley) went hiking with some other friends. 

And finally, Mikel had her bridal shower.  It was a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme.  It went from noon to about 5pm.

Friends from church were Jessica Zezulka, Jessica and Debbie Witt.  We partnered with them for the game and won!  We designed the best wedding dress out of Toilet paper.

Mikel got a great start of loot to begin her married life and it was a lot of fun.  That is mostly January, at least the hightlights.  Boy is this year going too quickly!