January Miscellany

I was craving Christmas-y cookies that I didn't have time to make at
Christmas time, and the kids were kind enough to help on a Sunday afternoon.

We tried out a fun new game we got for Christmas called Rack-O.

Cat helped us finish up the tube of charcoal face mask goo.

When I walked downstairs to go to Choir rehearsal...
Liza: (With a touch of pre-teen snarkiness) Nice pantsuit.
Me: It's not a pantsuit. It's pants and a sweater.
Liza: Half a pantsuit.
Me: That's pants.

Jack finally started getting scheduled regularly in mid-January!

Why rake leaves when you can stage a battle?

They helped too though :-)

Battleship Showdown

Jack was in a Winterim that focused on music in film, and he loved it!
Over 2.5 weeks, the class watched a variety of movies starting with The Kid (1921)
and ending with Inception. For the final project, he worked with a small
group to make a 5-minute film and add music to it. Their film was about
a pair of inept detectives trying to solve a crime.

More Rack-O

For breakfast on Winnie-the-Pooh day, I attempted "Popovers for Piglet" from this
adorable Winnie-the-Pooh cookbook my good friend gave me but the popovers didn't,
ahem, pop over. So basically they were biscuits, but they still tasted pretty good.

When I requested Luke read some Winnie-the-Pooh out loud
that afternoon, he obliged.

Cat had a random day off of school during Winterim,
so she and I tried out a new Mexican place for lunch.

I love our nerd school!

I helped with Winterfest, which is where students showcase their Winterim
projects. It is also the time when the school celebrates Karl G. Maeser's
birthday. I felt some birthday decorations were in order in the front hall.

I got a kick out of seeing the Dean help Jack with his tie when he arrived
at Winterfest. Jack didn't think he needed help...

We had a very winter-y January. One morning I walked out on the driveway
to see little melted spots in the thin layer of snow. Before I got close to it,
I wasn't sure what caused the spots. A bit of morning rain maybe? I liked Luke's guess:
small rays of sunshine. It turned out to be salt Ben had spread out the night before.

I'm trying to get these guys to the temple 12 times this year.
Our first temple trip was to Draper and it was a great experience.

Cool balloons at the mall in Orem!

Gong xi fa cai

I love catching the kids reading, especially when they're
reading the scriptures. This year, Jack is making more of an effort
to read the Book of Mormon daily.

My new favorite picture of Eliza.
She got the spacer out from her top teeth,
but she had to get a mold taken so that the ortho
could give her a new device to maintain the space
that had been created.

Chicken tracks through the snow!

Visiting Cat on her last day working at our favorite Thai place!

We already miss her bringing leftovers home after every shift.
I guess we can just go eat there and that would be good too, but not as free.

Liza's first club volleyball tournament!

We were in and out all day but for a short time,
we were all there together cheering her on.

Is it possible to have too much fun at dinner? Perhaps...

We are trying to do more service as a family year-round.
In January, we assembled some winter kits to be sent to Ukraine, and
enlisted Raeya and Blake to help after a Feed the Freshmen Sunday dinner.