11/18/24-1/22/25
(ok first of all please forgive if there are duplicates in the post....partly why it took so long to post is that the pics went in like a 4 times so I spent a stupid amount of time sifting through trying to remove what was already there.)
I know I said this last time... but for real this time..... the video is so stinkin' cute!!!!
Anyway.....we are officially residents of Saratoga Springs! we have loved it here so far! that little patch of time where we were moving and had aep and Christmas was busy but now we're settled in and loving it! I'm so glad that part is over lol this has been so fun to finally be in the long-awaited house and be decorating 🤩
Look how stunning Utah is!!!! I love it! (photo credit to shelly)
I had a job interview so I did makeup and hair and dallin said you should take a picture you look good! and that made me realize how rare doing my hair and makeup must be if it's worth a picture..... lol sad but true.
Thanksgiving
This year was refreshingly awesome! Usually thanksgiving is a huge let down but I loved it this year! I watched the parade all morning with the kids and I had grabbed a free box of toys someone in the neighborhood listed so when the novelty of screen time wore off for them I pulled out the new toys and they were so occupied. then they took a nap, and we went to the theater (first ever full movie in a theater for our kids!) and we saw moana 2 and then went to Jamie and bens and ate an easy (no cooking required) but delicious meal and the kids all played together so happy. such a good day. no worries about screen time or sugar intake and I just gave myself permission to fully relax and be grateful for my kids and my mom role instead of all the drudgery that it can become if you're spending hours cooking and cleaning and worried about no screen time or sugar. It was so nice to give myself permission to celebrate the holiday as well.
Cooper had to leave a couple times. it was very intense. but he did like the movie and want to see it so he came back in both times. After the movie he wanted to listen to the soundtrack and they both talked about it a lot so he definitely liked it- I don't blame him it was kinda touch and go there for a second they make you think moana is dead lol Evie was like" Is she dead!? Moana's ok right? she's gonna get up and be fine right? lets go I don't like this!" lol and we're like .......uhhhhh....idk....surely they wouldn't kill off the main character in a Disney movie for kids right?! ........ but they leave you hanging a long time! lol
It was so fun!
And this is the only pic in the shirts that we took lol but I returned them all except for Dallins so it's' ok I got my money back. and he'll wear it next year! tradition hoodie!
this was after at their house- her trying to act regal while he goes ape shit in the background lol
Evie's like smile! and she's not paying attention at all cuz she's too busy ogling this amazing dress.... she tore apart Evie's closet and evie thought it was so funny. She's obsessed with all things girly.
the kid table was rocking Mac n cheese..... supposedly. our kids didn't eat. no surprise there.
We had finger foods and it was delicious!
this was us after he built it and left and coop was like I helped build this! lol he was elated
my new marketplace chair for my room and I freaking love it
this was our first date night out after aep ended an dit was like a huge sigh of relief. such good food at the garage grill!
This was the guys installing the addition to the railing upstairs (I was so happy with how smoothly that went and the safety of it)
and us trying to unpack the day of moving. so tired. so much that we did that day.
so the day we moved was a Friday and Cooper had school that day so we were busy all morning with the movers coming and stuff that I forgot to have him go to the bathroom before we left. (we were parked in front of the nieghbors house and she had to leave so it was a hurry adnn leave situation) so we get to school and he has to pee so I dumped out a water bottle and he peed in it! I was so surprised lol and so was he! He said wow Lotta pee! lol I was like ya that's a ton! so he did it right there in the trunk of the jeep. its funny to me that he is scared to pee at school but a water bottle in the car is fine lol we were parked right in front of the doors and everyone was going in so the teachers saw us there and were waiting so when we finally came in and said "sorry he had to pee" they were a little confused lol
packing and moving. it sucks. every time I do it I say I'm never doing that agin. this time I did it mostly every time I took Cooper to and from school just in car loads in the car so most of the boxes I had went unused.
going through with the realtor and GC marking things before the final
the front door wasn't done yet but everything else was! so excited!
looking for a fridge and we lucked out we got the black friday sale with the timing of our move
When they first did the front door it was too dark so they had to re paint it
got my new washer dryer for a steal and love them and my new laundry room set up ! its amazing.
we spend a lot of our time in the basement cuz they have swings, bike, play house, nugget to build a fort, easel for painting, basketball, soccer, baseball, swords, etc.
this is her playing in the loft, you can see the clear film I put on the railing but I just took that off today it was so they can get used to not throwing stuff down and so it was up for about a month
I got the foam tiles and also more later so you can't see them in this pic but ppl getting rid of stuff for free on marketplace has been awesome because she got a goose egg on her head so I picked up a free memory foam pad from marketplace and also moved down one of ours and then two ppl were getting rid of rugs fro free and another person with carpet fragments so it's nice to have the floor covered for safety
its so nice not to have to worry about mess or them ruining anything so when we're down there I can just relax
I've had a bad case of the "yips" with buying a table (look it up..... yes it's a saying lol ) anyways it's because I fell in love with a table over a year ago and now we can't find it. its either counter height or its too long etc. so this was a close call but didn't end up doing it. going to try again tomorrow but we've been furniture shopping like 4 times and came back with nothing lol
coop wanted to help with the "construction' of putting put he decorations lol "let me get my hammer! mom where's my orange hammer?!" lol
sensory bin in the basement because we can make messes there
loft
I framed my favorite memories on this wall
dallin said that painting is the most adult thing we've ever bought lol so true.
I went to hobby lobby and had the same stomach problem lol if you know you know 😉😅 and Dallin joked your budget is unlimited cuz I know you’ll probably come back with nothing and he was right. Came back with nothing lol too picky and cheap. So I ended up finding what I wanted at Amazon and this huge painting was only like 100$ bucks so that’s what I like
This was Sadie’s 4th bday party lol the kids were fighting over who got to blow out the candle. I used sugar free cake mix and no frosting lol cuz of the dye. Also we didn’t have bday candles so I just used a pillar candle I had lol
Took coop to the bank and he “worked on the computer”
She's flexible!
bath bubble beards
Cooper played with an unused tampon all day.... lol whatever floats your boat kid! so that night he played with it in bath too and thought it was cool
They were playing pumpkin patch
Playing and cooper wanted everyone to sit and eat at the table
her way of wearing bows is different than it's supposed to be. she either does it like this pic or she wears it like a necklace
this was me taking a pic of how many teeth she has now
bath slime
tried to get him to practice writing letters in this but he just wanted to scoop. and why not it was still probably good for fine motor anyways
I thought it was cute that he made sure to color each picture with the correct color for what the character wears on the show. he was really into pj masks for a min there. he would say "lets play pj masks!" and all that means is we run in circles lol
got an easel of marketplace for 10$ and it encouraged him to write/paint more for a while... until the novelty wore off. but it was worth it I'll take all the fine motor I can get with him. for him if it requires him to be still for more than 10 seconds he's not interested. 
mckinley gave up pretty quick (probably after like 7 min) but she wasn't my focus so she just went and played something else and it was fine
this was when we went to the farm withryan and meagan! it was so fun!
Cooper was so excited when we found the episode of paw patrol on tv that he listens to every night on his tonie box lol he was so zoned in
got rings for the swing bar thing, and a table for the bath for pouring
built a tunnel
she said she was hiding lol 
took them with us to Best Buy cuz dallin needed a different microphone or something like that for work and Cooper discovered video games lol
they both like shopping. and its cute because they do so well they don't ever beg when they want something or freak out leaving or whatever. They do make messes if you leave them alone with the stuff lol so she kept saying look I found cookies! and it was so definitely not cookies lol but she was pretending. here do you want some? its delicious!
Take my picture!
when I was rocking her that night I said did you like playing with Liam and Evie tonight? and she said "ya I yike yeeum bath and Evie princess!" lol she says l's like y's
our kids loved their wiggle cars so they were so sad when they weren't here the next day
the move
so before the move I got this playhouse on marketplace for cheap and the guy was a dad who came to set it up for us too and I was so glad he was willing to do that. Cooper "helped" while he set it up and he was so nice it was so cute Cooper was like wow cool drill I have a drill too lol (talking about his toy drill) and he would like hold the flash light while the guy drilled and say "construction!" lol
these pics were taken while I waited for my fridge delivery for 5 hours. not the most eventful of times but I did enjoy the view.. its fun being neighbors with goats and sheep!
after we moved there was a couple weeks of kids being disregulated and dogs being out of sorts. Can't blame them there- the change is hard on them and it makes sense. but it made for a stressed and tired me and dallin. holy crap. Dog poop and pee accidents, tantrums, no sleeping, etc. The first day we were like oh wow they love it here and then they said "ok it's time for ni-night lets go home" and we were like oh... this is our home now. lol so Mckinley and dallin and I did not sleep at all that first night. a little more the next and then the next. And during the day when it was nap time I had to rock her the entire nap to get her to sleep for a couple days and then I finally was like nope you're napping in your bed today and she said "I no want nap here I want nap at HOME!" lol
wow so glad that's over with. but I did it all so I'm proud of myself. my work was for the weeks leading up to it doing two trips a day and packing. This is me in the car where I literally can't see out the back at all because its floor to ceiling filled and all mirrors covered and I had a box jutting into my shoulder while I drove... not the safest thing in the world lol
dallin had a lot to do on the moving in weekend with hanging tons of curtains and setting up beds, tv, washer dryer and fridge. so we're both glad this is the forever home and we're done with that.
the new house!
We are so happy to be in. Movers we hired sucked. Landscapers we hired sucked. moving sucks. but those seem like such small problems when you have the dream house! We are already making friends here and loving life!
This was the pic I took when I was standing there crying about a sink…. My emotions always hit at the weirdest times
this was pics of the drive (twice a day from Bluffdale) showing the inversion. We were so used to it at that point ti wasn't even hard anymore but now that I don't have to do it anymore it's so nice!
Mckinley has had a hard time with baths here off and on. so this was a happy bath lol
we got the new frame tv and we have loved it!
the swings
this was the original vision....
they love bike riding in the basement
steaming the curtains so they're not so wrinkly and getting adequate amount of "folds" for dallin to be appeased lol
I love my new bath and use it often. I got decorations for it and stuff
idea for the backsplash in the future
possible idea for basement.....still very unsure and it all depends on quotes. if it's not that big of a difference for the entrance it might make more sense on the other side
I used editing to see how it will look to play around with how I want it and its so helpful
so that's what I did with this wall. original, and then the idea, dallin approved so we bought it
this is him putting up first phase
candles were yellow so I spray painted them white
Then we got the bench, it wasn't right, returned and got a new bench, got a cushion, and throw pillows and it's complete! we love it! so one thing down a thousand to go lol
And then I put up this cute bead thing with clothes pins to hang his art work on and I love it
The location of the dog door seemed like a good idea. but now it's not as much because they run out whenever we leave or come back. lol it was reeeeeeeally hard at first but now its kind of lost the novelty for them because at first I would have to put them back in the house like 3 times while trying to leave or come home. then I gave up on that real quick and it was. just like frogger "well hope you don't die I'm pulling into the garage get out of the way if you value your life" lol so they learned and they also know I'll just bring them back in quick so they don't try to go far when they get out. still kind of a weird set up tho. so it's nice most of the time because they have a fenced in area with turf so it's easy to pick up poop, hides the bins, and they can access it whenever they need. so once that was set up (took waayyyy longer than it needed to because we hired incompetent people yet again) but once it was finally done it stopped all our problems with dogs having indoor accidents. we also have gates on both stairs and only lvp on the whole first floor so it's made things way easier.
I wanna do the guest room coastal theme in the future
Shes a beaut. I can’t wait for a yard!
cuties
My mom took these while babysitting
This was Sadie’s 4th bday party lol the kids were fighting over who got to blow out the candle. I used sugar free cake mix and no frosting lol cuz of the dye. Also we didn’t have bday candles so I just used a pillar candle I had lol
Dino museum
They were playing pumpkin patch
Coopers cute new outfit from all the clothes I found for free or cheap on marketplace
Date night to see a movie
He has had a hard time sleeping at night so he stays up for hours (from 1am to 4 or 5 am) and then that makes him so tired the next day that he's super cranky in the afternoon so he will have huge tantrums. so once we figured out this was happening we try really hard to get him to nap or give him melatonin at night
this day he said "lets go put on basketball clothes!" so we put this on him and then I said "ok so are we going to play basketball?" and he said "no you chase me and take pictures. then we go get the wolves in the walls with our ice cream cones." yes. clearly. as one does.
We went to a birthday party for cooper's classmate
Being nude is part of his artistic process... you get it.
at the butterfly museum he kept saying "follow my lead girls"
smog of pollution, playing with bandaids
eating pancakes
watching letter factory
cute festive outfit
walking by the neighborhood and school. this was what Kinley did during his IEP meeting
she didn't want me to wipe her face and I said you have food on your face and she said no I don't so I showed her her own face with my phone camera and she made this face and then said okay you wipe it. lol I took a pic because I was amazed she could do this puzzle by herself
and then she noticed me watching when she was done and I said good job do you want to do it again? and she said no I can build a tower watch this! and then she built it and I took a pic of the tower and she says I want in picture! and comes over and poses like this with her tower lol
and she stayed and worked the camera for a while too hahah so cute, funny, and smart.
Her pushing him on the tricycle
My mom gave them these modular pieces that you can build forts with for christmas. So you can build a couch, or a tunnel, tower, etc. they wanted to make a grinch cave because they hav been obsessed with grinch ever since we watched it at Christmas so this was him popping his head in and out of the hole at the top
hiding in the grinch cave
he likes to decorate his swords with balls, squisheys, wine cork, tape, etc.
look mom we climb the mountain!
this was coop crushing yet another goal of his- he did a "non preferred activity" and stayed with it for 17 mins! he started out being excited about it but got frustrated with it pretty quickly so I started timing from that point. I told him we had to keep going with the droppers until all the colors were gone and got into the bowl and he kept at it! he tried to just dump it in and I had to remind him its against the rules. But he got less frustrated when I got a dropper and was doing it too and said "don't worry we can do this I'll help you" and I was so proud of him! managing frustration is hard especially at 4 years old and that long for his attention span is huge!
this is with me helping him
but he has gotten so good at letters. He learned all the letters and sounds from leapfrog letter factory so now he can recognize when we show him this he knows it says Cooper
sensory bin with beans
He has gotten really good at doing mazes he can do them fast!
went to an Indian restaurant with gopher and kara and it was so good! I shouldn't be surprised they have great taste so of course I'd love it. we had a good time
mckinley is squishing Cooper but he was so cool about it lol and she was cool about the kindof falling and not having a real spot on the swing 😂 they're both such good siblings to each other.
We watched Liam and Evie while ben and Jamie went out to dinner and the kids had a lot of fun! Liam had 3 accidents.... lol so that part was messy but other than that it was so cute to see them interacting. I was running the bath for our kids and Liam gets all excited and starts taking off his clothes and just gets right in! lol mckinley was so excited to have a different bath partner and Cooper was excited cuz he thought that meant he didn't have to take a bath lol
she put on her necklace like a headband lol
school work
she put on bracelets, skirt and the high heel shoes from her Dress up stuff and was so excited about it and showed me "look my dress my bracelets my shoes so pretty I princess!" and I was excited about it with her and then she said "I go show pooper!" and she walks over to him and says "look pooper I pretty!" and he just glances up from his dinosaurs and says "ok." and keeps playing lol and she looked at me confused and I had to explain the dress up thing is kind of a girl thing.... guys don't really get it unfortunately
finding the dress for the dance!
were going to a dance with friends so I was excited I got to dress up! so I tried this one first and it was too big it was kinda hangy and boxy instead of fitting like it should
so I got this one and mckinley was a big fan lol
Cooper helping shovel the driveway
my reading chair and the dogs love it so much. I think Jake uses it more than me. He sleeps in it all day and all night and I only use it in the evenings but I still love it.
Jake thinks I got it for him I think
Sadie still sleeps right next to me on the bed. annoyingly close. always touching with her body heat and making me sweat even harder than I always do at night lol
I love my bath!
this is our usual route home from school. he likes to play in the mud. not the park. the mud, rocks, and sticks.
we had fun!
in the car
mckinley wanted to take the wagon to school. coop just goes with the flow.
He said "I'm playing statue of Riberty! take my picture! its the really tallest statue and its green! and it has a stick with fire!" lol
pedicures with Becca!
they had to use the cheese grater and pull off about a decades worth of "hoof" from my feet and yes there were at least 3 comments from the workers about how small my baby toe is lol so a typical once-a-year experience for me.
more memories at home!
Sadie still sleeps right next to me on the bed. annoyingly close. always touching with her body heat and making me sweat even harder than I always do at night lol
Short Pa visit
I love that he's really into ABC mouse because he has learned so much from it.
riding bikes while listening to the grinch a lot lately.
school work
she picked her own outfit that day and was adamant that there should be no shirt.
dallin's broken toes
dallin fell down the stairs and broke a toe or two lol nbd
end of aep
in the end they did really well and one of the teams got a personalized message from the actor that played the goalie because their team name was the mighty ducks. (I loved that movie as a kid) and the video was so cool! he got really into it! anyway aep ended well they did really good and I felt bad dallin only got like one day to relax and then we were moving and it was a lot of work again but he rallied and of course helped a ton so it ended up being fine but ya I'm glad it's over lol
mckinley was even feeling the exhaustion of aep apparently lol
Literally the day after it ended I was in the hair salon lol I needed it so bad.... my hair was half gray by that point. Went from august to December.... yikes. but on the plus side we saved money! hahaha I was just using the hair spray paint to get by since there wasn't a time I had child care to be able to go. so I got in as soon as I could and immediatley felt sooooo much better. Like a human again after being like an animal or something lol
their house is decorated so magical I loved it
this is the naughty and nice list and luckily we were all on the nice list lol
as you can see we went full send on the matching sweaters..... mckinley loved matching.....dallin hated it...... Cooper didn't even notice because he was too busy being "big sad/scared/mad".....
she fell asleep on the way home and we got ice burg. the onion rings have gone down hill since we went there in college lol
seeing it in our new living room with our new tv and finally getting a second to just relax and exhale was amazing
I love how it looks with the windows and the tall ceiling so magical
his festive shirt was another one of those free hand me downs but I love it lol it says "we came we saw we jingled it was awesome"
the kids were not in a picture taking mood
cooper's Popeye face in this one cracks me up
pictures by the tree
the final presentation!
the matching pjs pic
some of the Christmas gifts
she is so pretty 🤩 😍
even after Christmas we left the tree up for a while
really crowded...... but fun
it wasn't my favorite because we had to be in there crawling around in child sized things because it is a maze I'm sure they'd get lost and they were too little for a lot of the stuff. so I like them better when there's not a way they could get hurt and its easy to get in and out so I don't have to go do it with them.
the tickets for this book out really far
the paintings from Sara, shelly teaching him how to do a puzzle. I was impressed with how long he stayed with trying it for his little attention span
more luminary pictures. I was just like a paparazzi the whole time cuz it was amazing
presents
We all got so much and we were all so grateful!
after threats, bribery, taking a break and trying again, we ended up giving up and going with the one that was the most normal looking lol still not a great picture but its something.
this day we went to the arctic circle after picking up Cooper from school and we were literally there for 3 hours. it was so cute how much they loved that little indoor play place. idk why but Cooper wasn't sleeping well at night which made him extra tired and cranky during the afternoon if he didn't nap. So to avoid the tantrum I took them both here and we had a great time. I got them both kids meals and then I just watched while they played it was so nice. I convinced them I wasn't allowed on the equipment and since it was a new place they went along with it. It was so cute to see them playing together. At first there was another kid there that Cooper was copying what she was doing and it was cute to me that he wanted to play with her and was trying so when she left he kept asking where did she go? After we had been there for like 2.5 hours the worker came and brought us all courtesy cones too!
so these pics were Cooper and kinder at the top of the slide hugging and kissing and saying "you know I love you right? I know."Because they learned it from Luca. It was so cute he would say "follow my leave" (trying to say follow my lead like Alberto says on Luca) and Kinley would say ok I follow you come on. and then he goes up the stairs and through the tube to the slide and they give a hug and kiss and say you know I love you right and then he would say ok lets do this. I hold your hand. and she says no you hold my foot and he says ok I hold your foot and he would go down first and hold on to her foot while she slides behind him. And then once they got to the bottom of the slide they would repeat the whole thing again.
Her hair coming out of the tube slide was hilarious
When we first got there they would get to the top of the slide and say I'm going down ok take my picture! lol
So watch the video compilation because they were also dancing and pretending to be beauty and the beast.
and we got ice cream after and it was sooooooo good!
my strategy lately is to ask her everyday if she wants me to do her hair and if she says yes I do it and if not I don't so that she doesn't feel too pushed into it. so far its working and she seems happy with the situation too. its not something that I'm willing to fight over.
coloring and singing with her cute hair do
Visiting santa
so there's a Saratoga Santa you can visit and decorate cookies with and play with toys and stuff so it's more interactive and not the mall Santa experience where you say here's a stranger now smile for 5 seconds and then it's over.... so we tried it because a friend recommended it when I said Cooper has a fear of it. But unfortunately he fell asleep in the car on the way there. we have found that every time that happens no matter what the experience is when we get there he will cry the entire time. so he did. Also- even though it was more interactive it was still very focused on pictures and that is not what Cooper wants at all. but he didn't even give it a chance he was crying before we even went in.
mckinley seemed to like it but was getting more and more weirded out that Cooper was so insistent on leaving so she stared to get scared too like "oh this is scary? I guess I should be scared of this..."
so Santa and mrs Claus were very good and very nice and tried their best. they were so accommodating and willing to do anything they could. I'd recommend the experience to anyone, but for us it didn't work lol
There was a photographer there and I didn't feel like the pics were good enough to buy since Cooper was freaking out so I didn't so here are the proofs lol
mckinley had no problem with mrs. Claus holding her
of course neither kid looks at the same time to end up with a decent photo
we made some progress because he got to lick some sugary/artificial dye filled frosting for a minute. so then before we left he actually was willing to give Santa a high five and a hug. (I have a suspicion that it was because he thought it would get us outta there faster.... Like he's thinking "There. I hugged the stranger that you all seem weirdly obsessed with me loving. Happy now? Can we leave yet?")
but alas..... he did it!
I also knew going into this our kids would not decorate a cookie. I don't know if that's a developmentally normal thing for 2 and 4 or a lack of interest thing or a fear thing but ya. I was right about that. Cooper just chugged red dye 40 while mckinley watched in awe that mrs. claus was decorating a cookie in front of her.
So there ya go. not the experience I was hoping for, but also not the worst experience either. it was somewhere in the middle and I'm still glad we did it.
Pretty Utah mountains!
and the pollution you see just floating on top of the valley lol
the view from our house is awesome
Christmas!
We were so excited when we finally were unpacked enough from moving to set up the Christmas tree. it was awesome!
Christmas Eve
so Christmas Eve church DEFINITELY did not go according to plan. There were like a hundred thousand people there. like holy crap it was worse than Disney land. we were shoulder to shoulder with people in the lobby and they open the doors and people rush in and by the time we get in there are only 2 seats left. We got there 15 minutes early but it didn't matter because they weren't letting anyone in and then the ones who got in first saved seats. they filled the whole sanctuary and also the youth room with a live broadcast. there was not a single seat available so shelly and my dad were standing and there were a ton of other standing at the back. So the church staff seemed blindsided by it and started setting up chairs in the lobby and turned it on there too. so dallin and I were in the two seats holding the kids and I couldn't even straighten my shoulders lol anyway after like the 2nd song mckinley starts loudly meowing like a cat and pulling trying to take off toward the stage. So I took her to the back and stood by them and she just proceeded to kick and scream that I wasn't letting her run up to the stage. So I ended up leaving and going into the lobby with her and my dad followed and we basically just followed her around the whole time for her shenanigans. She was running, dancing, singing, meowing, did the slide/playground, explored every inch of that place, and broke a lot of candles. So when it was the candle lighting at the end we went back in and she liked it but we just used shelly's candle since hers was destroyed. I thought it was cool that she new silent night and was trying to sing along.
Anyways with it being so crowded and the lighting so bad we didn't get good pictures either.
Coop fell asleep on the way there but miraculously was in a good mood and went along with church still. probably because it was enough of a distraction with the music and lights and everything
so mckinley and I both had green velvet dresses
didn't get any cool candle pictures this year because I was too busy trying to make sure she didn't set the place on fire lol
this was Christmas Eve dinner we had breakfast for dinner
old man Jake. we wondered if this would be our last Christmas with him or not.
and then I edited the pic to make it look cooler lol
I thought it was funny that Sadie wanted to be by us in the picture
Christmas Day
we had a great day! this age with kids at Christmas is so magical and after opening presents just hung out all day and had a slower pace to the day it was great. dallin did a Skype call with everyone in his family and opened some Pokemon cards that ended up being really good so that was cool
Christmas dinner lol of course.... not as I imagined it. I didn't know it had to cook for so long so we had late dinner. We had to bribe Cooper to stay at the table and he threw a fit over having to try one bite.
We got snow that day! it was perfect we got to go out and shovel!
Luminaria
the next day we went to luminary and it was such a cool experience! we all loved it so much even Cooper who was asleep during most of it. lol this is him leaning on mckinley and she was so nice about it and trying to hold so still for him lol
the pictures and videos don't do it justice. it was so cool. They even had real reindeer and a fire part!
when we got there there was a guy directing traffic with a light up stick and Cooper wanted that stick so bad that he begged for it the whole time. and we tried to explain you only get those if you work here so he said I wanna work here! and my dad and shelly stopped at Home Depot on the way home and got glow sticks and he said yay my work! lol and he was waving it around saying he was working for a few days. long after it was not glowing anymore but he still loved it.
After Christmas but before new years break
dallin didn't have to work for a while so it was nice for him to be able to relax...... as much as a person with toddlers can relax lol which is like just a little bit.
the lighting was so good on this day when she was coloring it was such a cute time for photos
they were really disregulated from the move for a while so when things were finally calming down I wanted to document that so I remembered the good times happened too.
Christmas break!
we went to Home Depot, dallin and my dad worked on stuff around the house like putting in slow close drawers and cabinets in the kitchen and hanging shelves. we went to jurassic jungle and that was fun
this year was very unlike last year because last year they took all day to open all the presents because they wanted to play with each one. And they were ok waiting and sleeping in and just looking at the presents but not opening them and eating breakfast first and whatnot. this year shelly came in at like 7am saying if you don't hurry coopers gonna open them all! lol and we went and got kinder and she was the same way! the second they saw them they both just wanted to rip the paper even if it was for someone else so we had to keep trying to slow them down
playing in the snow! they were so happy to get snow to play in on Christmas!
Costco
we have been loving our Costco membership so far! the kids like going there too! on the left Cooper was tired and saying he wanted a nap in the cart. (are you noticing the theme in this blog post!? he's sleeping, falls asleep on the way, or is tired in a lot of these pictures from events because he is awake all night!)
fake family picture
I was able to take the real background off of this pic and use ai to replace it and I was amazed at how well it works so I had the idea to try and put everyone's family photo together to make a big graff fam photo as a Christmas present to his parents
So this was us trying to get a picture with two very unwilling kids.
and then I put all of theirs on it too and it was so hard to make everyone sized correctly
the background replace wasn't working as well
Dallin's work trip to Boston
He always likes getting to interact in person with the people he works with but comes back exhausted
He asked me to add eddy in because he couldn't be in the pic so they got one of him posing later alone and sent it to me to add him haha
Meanwhile at home.....
We had a good time. id say weve all gotten used to it so when he travels it's not that weird. (exhausting for me sometimes.) I find that if I have social contact its easier.
that morning she demanded popcorn and pigtails lol clearly what everyone wants immediately after waking up
when we get out of house it helps us when Dallins gone on a trip because it feels like time passes faster and everyone is in a better mood. so this day we went to the Dino museum
Happy new year 2025!
it wasn't that different- for us nye was just another day and the only thing slightly different is we watched the ball drop on tv. but that's ok not every year has to be a big thing. I'd like for it to be that way again for us but with little kids you have to take a break for a while I think. So we both decided we want to get healthy this year. but everyone says that and so we'll see how that goes lol I'll believe it when I see it. But there are also a lot of things we are already really good at that we want to keep doing.
see ya later alligator 🐊
-Sydney
