Our First Trip to Boston & My Birthday

The schools out here take a Winter Break for a week in February, so we thought we'd get away for the first weekend of our break, which happened to fall on Valentine's Day weekend. Luke hadn't been to Boston since he was young and the rest of us had never even been to Massachusetts so we decided to explore Boston!

We got in on a Friday night to our hotel, and promised the kids we would swim in the morning. While I took the kids to the pool, Luke went to the Boston temple. Afterwards, we switched and I got to go the temple while he took the kids to get lunch. The Boston temple reminded me a lot of the one in Rexburg- it was very beautiful!

That afternoon, we drove into Boston and saw many beautiful buildings and areas. We ended up driving around Harvard and stopped at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

It was an absolutely freezing weekend so this was mainly something to keep us occupied indoors. They had a free exhibit for kids to explore that day, and we saw diamonds, and checked out the animals, and some other interactive kid sections. 

Jacob wanted a picture with the cheetah since it's his schools mascot. 

Afterwards we found an Italian place to eat dinner downtown, but only after getting lost trying to follow the GPS, and then getting stuck in rush hour traffic. We were able to call ahead in just enough time so that we could at least sit right down, eat, then get out of there. Afterwards, we really just wanted to go back to our hotel in the suburbs and relax!

Sunday was Valentine's Day so the kids woke up to little treats laid out for them, and then we decided to try to drive back downtown one more time so we could pick up a couple of Luke's favorites. He remembered always getting pizza at Halftime when he was younger so we picked up a box to go. Then we also had to swing by Mike's Pastry to pick up some Valentine treats.

Jacob picked a cupcake, and Blake wanted an M&M cookie. 

I don't remember what mine was called, but it unfortunately wasn't my favorite, but still ok. And Luke got a whole Boston Creme Pie, because why not.

We waited until we got home to dig into the cake/pie, and I didn't realize that for Valentine's Day Luke had already picked up my favorite treat up here in NY- radio bars! Ironically, when I got my treat from Mike's Pastry I said it wasn't as good as a radio bar, so it was awesome treat to come home to! They really are the best- we were spoiled with some good desserts that weekend!

But that was our trip! Just walking back to the car from Mike's Pastry was enough cold for us. It was so cold our car almost didn't start, so we decided it was best just to get home early! We got lost trying to leave Boston again, but even though that was stressful, the city looked pretty as we left! We felt we somewhat failed seeing Boston, but knew we had plans to go back with my parents in April, so hopefully we'll be able to see and do more next time when it's not so freezing!

Also at the end of February, I turned 31! We got a babysitter and went out to a local steakhouse the night before my birthday and had a good time. My birthday was on a Saturday so Luke surprised us that day and said we were all going to go see the Star Wars movie since I didn't get to see it with them in December.

Ava slept through most of the movie with Luke and did pretty good, and the boys didn't seem to mind watching it again, and I liked it too! We hung out a bit in the mall after the movie, then went to McDonald's for lunch, but I got Panera- which seems to be a birthday lunch tradition of mine.

That night we made pizza at home, and watched a movie together. We also celebrated with a mini carrot cake with a 21 candle instead of 31- very clever Luke. I think no one ended up liking the cake except me, but it was my birthday so... I guess that's all that matters!  It was a pretty typical weekend for us, but a perfect gift for me is just spending time as a family!

Winter Updates

Winter months can be rough in New York! I can't complain too much because it's been a pretty mild winter but the snow and cold has finally come! Luckily we have a perfect hill in our backyard for the kids to sled and play on to keep them busy.

This mound of snow by our back door took forever to melt!

One of our favorite things on a cold night though is homemade pizza! This has been a weekend tradition for awhile now, but it seems to taste especially good in the winter! Jacob always loves olive pizza and Blake's favorite is pepperoni! Pizza night is a little more fun when we all help!

During these down months we were also able to get set up with a new dentist, and luckily it was very kid friendly and the boys enjoyed their visit as much as the office they liked in Denver, and still no cavities!

One day when the kids were off of school we met up with some friends at the Children's museum. It's an older house renovated into a museum, so nothing like the museums we're used to in Denver, but it was still fun and the boys had a good time with their friends Henry and Jude. 

There was a lot of fun imaginative play! The boys all looked so cute dressing as firemen, had fun playing grocery store, and ordering at a restaurant. My favorite was when Jacob was working at a bank and was typing very seriously and handling the money. Made me think that maybe he'll grow up to be an accountant like his dad!

Impossible to get a good picture with all the boys but we love being able to squeeze in visits with friends when we can!

Here is Ava at 8 months!

She is such a sweet and gentle baby!

She's gotten the hang of sitting up on her own and has kept herself busy learning to pick up and play with toys. And by play, I mean putting in her mouth. :)

She's also been practicing picking up her puffs, the first "finger food" I've given her! At first she didn't know what to think of the puffs, but after she decided she liked them she's been trying to pick them up on her own. She's getting better at grabbing them, but getting them into her mouth is the hard (and funny!) part!

She's a great sleeper and has gotten on a better nap routine since the new year. I keep her in her crib until I can send Jacob out the door to catch the bus, then after she has her cereal in the morning and briefly plays, she takes a morning nap before we take Blake to afternoon preschool, and then she naps again after we bring Blake home. Sometimes it's hard waking her up from naps since I know she would sleep longer most days, but luckily she never cries when she does wake up on her own! I think it's so cute how she'll be content cooing at her book and toys, and I love that she's so patient!

She is lucky to have Blake around in the mornings too and he's always very gentle and likes to play with her and tries to make her laugh. He is so patient and kind with her, I love watching them interact!

Ava has also seemed to be able to pick up on her brothers wrestling though and occasionally she will sit on her brothers, or try to yell or hit at them. Luckily they still think it's cute. 

This is Ava trying to talk to us with all her sounds and babbling! And this was the first time I tried putting a clip bow in her hair! I was excited to see her hair starting to grow!

At 9 months, Ava's finally started eating more table foods that I would cut small for her. She's content to feed herself but she still enjoys me feeding her with a spoon too.

Sometimes when I try to feed her some vegetable baby food, she sticks out her tongue and refuses the spoon because she would just rather be eating puffs! She's been a great eater so far so I hope she's not starting to get picky this early!

I love my little baby and that time has seemed to stand still for a bit so I can enjoy her in this sweet stage. I enjoy the few quiet hours a day when it is just me and her and love watching her explore new things!

Christmas Break!

Our Christmas break started the day before Christmas Eve- Jacob still had school but Luke pulled him out a little early so we could get started on our drive down to Maryland and we got in later that night. At my parents house the others who were home were Andrea, Daniel & Meg with their 2 month old Claire, and Julia and Matt were home in between both their families as well. We had a great time visiting and playing all day on Christmas Eve!

 Ava (and all of us) got to meet cousin Claire for the first time! Ava is 5 months older than Claire but they didn't seem all that much different in size! It was fun to see them curious about each other :)

My kids always love seeing the aunts and uncles too!

 That night, after years of not acting out a Christmas pageant we decided to do one this year with the kids. Everyone participated, and my family were all shepherds with Ava being our sheep! We had a good time! We also did our traditional rice pudding but with a non-traditional 2 seeds. I ended up with both seeds in my bowl- so I won both prizes! Chocolate for everyone!

 We stayed up watching "It's A Wonderful Life". So fun to be together with family for the Christmas Eve traditions! 

The kids were very patient and happy Christmas morning- even waiting until I woke up to look into their stockings! We had a good morning opening gifts with everyone there! 

 Even though my boys can get a bit excited and silly at their grandparents house, I think everyone enjoyed being able to have kids back in the home for Christmas!

After we finished opening our presents and had breakfast we made our way down to Virginia to spend the rest of the day with Luke's parents. The boys were able to open even more gifts and spent the rest of the day building and playing with their new legos and toys.

We had a nice Christmas dinner together and enjoyed just being able to relax. 

 The next morning I had plans to meet my old high school friends for brunch, so I brought Ava along with me and enjoyed visiting with my friends and spending the rest of the day with my sisters in Maryland. 

Meanwhile, the boys stayed with Luke and his parents for the day. They first went to go see the new Star Wars movie together and did a bonfire at the house that night and had a great day! 

On Sunday, Luke and the boys met us back in Maryland and we all attended my parents ward at church together. It was nice to spend the day at home, and had fun playing card games that night. The next day all my family made a little outing out to Savage Mill.

It was really mild weather the whole week we were there, but this felt like the coldest day! But we still played at the park, then walked the trail along the river. 

But first- a family picture! 

Daniel showed us the benches he had built there as part of his Eagle project years ago.  

Afterwards, we got warm walking through the shops there, then later some of us went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Later that evening our family went out with my dad to go see the train display at the fire station- which was really impressive! We spent an hour looking at the trains and doing the little treasure hunt to find all the hidden pieces throughout the display- it was really fun!

 This was perfect for the boys being able to enjoy the trains and see the fire engines- we might need to come back and do it again!

On our last day, Luke and I went to the DC temple while his parents watched the kids at the Visitor Center. They enjoyed wandering around and watching the videos, and even though they couldn't be inside the temple, the boys liked being able to see the mini- replica of the inside of the temple.

We spent the rest of the day visiting with Luke's parents at Grandma Martha's house, and the next morning we made the long drive back home! 

While it had been warm, rainy and mild in Maryland, in New York we came home to snow on the ground! It had snowed around Christmas, finally the first snow of the season!  While a part of us were sad we missed our first Christmas and snowfall in our new home, we were grateful we had the chance to visit with family and enjoyed a great break! And we still were able to relax together at home to bring in the New Year! 

 It's been a very busy but great year for us! We have been blessed with so much and look forward to another fun year with more adventures ahead!