January- the month of NEVER leaving the house. :)

Somehow we had a terrible virus that lasted at least 6 weeks. Even James had pneumonia from it and missed several days of work. I don't think our whole family ever went anywhere together the whole month. Not an exaggeration. And for the most part, it was me taking care of everyone. Oh well, these cute boys made it well worth it. 

Bryce is the best. So content all the time.  He has a way of following you with his eyes and head, and when you turn to look at him, his whole face lights up with excitement. I love when that happens and wish I just had more time to sit and snuggle him. At his 2 month check up, he was still barely 11 lbs and 24 inch long. I love that he is tiny. So fun to have such a little boy. 

One day while driving in the car, Bryce kept coughing like crazy. This was nothing new thanks to the illness we all had. But, I started thinking about how terrible it sounded and just wishing everyone's coughing would stop. When I got home, I discovered patches of this all in Bryce's hair. Turn out, Dallin had been shoving skittles in Bryce's mouth and the coughing was actually choking I'm sure. Shaela had given dallin a few skittles before we left her house. I said yet another prayer of gratitude that Bryce did not die that day. I had no clue the coughing was anything abnormal. :(

We had an adult's only dinner at Macayo's for Shaela's birthday. James stayed home with the sick kids while i went. It was still one of my highlights from January and i loved being with all my family. Brad of course kept giving shaela all the attention ....and shaela of course loved every minute of it. 

The weather was just beautiful. I spent so much time outside, just letting the kids play. James did an amazing job on our winter lawn... front and back. We laid in that grass every single day. 

 Tommie was really into climbing on everything. I would find him in the most random places, just laying there quietly.

This story still makes me laugh. I wish had a close up picture of just how big the worms are in Jax's jar out there. We had a few days of crazy rain. Busted our roof even.  But, our driveway, and brent leavitt's driveway were COVERED in tangles and tangles of the fattest worms. And to think that james and Brent thought their worm farm and died off! The worms all seemed dead in the containers they had. But, lo and behold, the worms and multiplied and replenished both our yards. When the neighborhood kids discovered it, they swarmed our houses gathering jars of the biggest worms. We were the "cool house" for once. ;) 

Christmas 2014

It's well past Christmas, but I wanted to record a few thoughts from those past few months. This was my 3rd year in a row to have a small baby at Christmas time. I felt exhausted and overwhelmed a lot of the days. But, I felt truly happy. Happier than I've ever felt in my life. We had a really bad year financially-- so many things to pay for, so many things break, car problems, etc. Every month was a struggle to make ends meet. But, every month it worked out. Even with a little extra for Christmas. I felt so loved that Christmas. Not just from my Heavenly Father, but from family, friends, and my boys. Jackson was so into the "magic" of Christmas- the decorations, the suspense, the activities. It was fun to always go along with his ideas and talk about how exciting Santa is. Tommie and Dallin were old enough to get excited for the different activities and just be happy doing whatever. It was a simple christmas but so special. Both James and I remarked that even though our year had felt so challenging and frustrating, we felt so incredibly blessed. We knew Heavenly Father had looked out for us more times than we could count. 

Hiking hole in the rock on Christmas Eve day. 

Obviously the kids favorite part was all the ducks swarming our picnic lunch.

For 2 years in a row, we have had Christmas Eve with a fire pit in the back yard. I added some glowsticks as a present to open and the kids had a blast. Who cares if it looks more like new years eve? :) 

Our earliest Christmas morning yet ... 5:30 wake up from tommie and jax. 

Our Anderson family party was a hayride through lehi with a hot dog roast at the end. It was SO much fun.

We were also lucky to spend some time with Neil and Megan and their kids. They came for Spencer's farewell talk in our ward. I loved that both Jax and Kade had ugly star wars pjs - both hand me downs from neighbors :) These boys got along so good - I haven't forgotten how they used to fight :)  It's crazy to see how alike they are now.