January 2022!

January turned out to be a crazy month for the Omnicron variant of Covid. It was a less-deadly, but more contagious strain and TONS of people got it, including my boss, one other teacher, and a bunch of our preschool students. Amazingly, none of us ever got sick. I taught a lot of hours (one day totally on my own since there were so few kiddos!) and didn't take many pictures. Here are the few I captured:

Kiki always tries to fit in every game or toy box we sit out on the rug. It was adorable when she was tiny. Now it's just funny.

Mason's reading has taken off and it is so fun to watch him really start to enjoy it. It makes my teacher heart so happy!

Painting the volcano he got for Christmas. Sadly, the "eruption" was extremely underwhelming. At least it was fun to build!

Temple and Thai food date night.💗

We got a ton of rain over a couple of days in January. This is the view of the Tualatin River at preschool. The river almost ran over it's banks and that lake in the back is really just a field.

Alan spent a lot of time timing indoor track meets in Spokane during January and February so I took the boys on an adventure one dry Saturday. We drove about an hour to hike to Moulton Falls in Washington. The sun was out, but it was really cold. It might have been the one and only time both boys thanked me for making them bring a pair of pants to change into "just in case." Haha! It was really beautiful and would be an awesome place to swim in the summer. The pictures don't show it well, but the water was a really pretty aqua color. Hopefully we can go back with Alan when the weather is warmer.

We officially went active with Faithful Adoption Consultants on January 11th and celebrated with dinner at Olive Garden. The process took about four months, was an insane amount of work (mostly on my part, but everyone had to have multiple doctor's appointments), and wasn't cheap. Finishing was definitely something to celebrate and we felt truly hopeful for an adoption for the first time in 2.5 years. 

I took this picture on January 21 and this was by far the longest I have ever left our Christmas tree up. I just wasn't ready for the Christmas spirit to leave once we got back from AZ so we enjoyed it for a few extra weeks. As you can tell, Mason still wasn't ready to put it away. :)

I didn't take that many pictures, but Spencer had a basketball game every Saturday. Alan's travel schedule didn't allow him to be at very many of them, but he made a few.

Since Mason is turning 8 (!!!) this year, he is officially in Activity Days now! I thought he'd be at least a little nervous to go to his first activity, but his good buddy from school, Lincoln, was there and Mason didn't even want me to come inside the building. I'm so proud and happy with how far he's come with separation anxiety in the past few months!

This is a grabber tool Mason and I built together from one of his Kiwi Co. subscription boxes. It was fun to do together.

Christmas Trip

 Once again, we loaded up and headed to St. Johns for Christmas. We never intended for this to be yearly tradition, but it has turned into one that we all love. The decision to drive over 1,300 miles is always unanimous. 

We headed out in the pouring rain on a Monday morning this year. We took a new route through Bend to avoid super snowy conditions on I-84. It added an extra hour, but we only had to drive through a little snow so that was totally worth it in my book. We stopped in Middleton for a quick dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen (I wish I had taken a picture!) and then drove the rest of the way to Herriman to stay with Alicia.

We spent all day Tuesday just hanging out with Alicia. She is such a fun aunt! She taught us a new card game called "Garbage", played in the snow with the boys, made cookies, fed us yummy food, and watched Elf with us. It was fun and relaxing and so good to spend a little time with her!

We continued our trip to SJ the next morning but made a stop at the BYU Bookstore in Provo on the way. Spencer got to pick out a new BYU shirt for an early Christmas present and Mason got a new stuffie. BYU has changed a lot in the last 16.5 years since I graduated, but visiting always brings back SO many good memories!

The rest of the drive was uneventful and we made it to Mom and Dad's house in time for dinner. We just had a small group for Christmas this year: Mom & Dad, Marc, Michelle, and us. It's always a party with Marc around though. :) 

Like usual, we mostly hung out at the house and played games and watched movies. Mason spent a good amount of time exploring outside with Marc too.

Nature walk in Round Valley while Dad and I went grocery shopping. The grocery store in SJ is awful now so they have to drive about 30 miles to shop.

Gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve day:

Christmas Eve dinner was a combined effort: Marc made amazing steak and pork tacos and guacamole, Dad assisted and made some yummy cilantro rice, and I made roasted cauliflower and cashew queso tacos. Everything was amazing!

Mason wanted to participate in the Christmas Eve program for the first time this year and played a duet of Good King Wenceslas with Alan. Spencer played a fun version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful and Alan and I played a duet of Carole of the Bells (we could have used some more practice!). Marc also preformed an awesome magic show, Uncle Bob played his trumpet (we were so grateful to see him after we almost lost him to Covid!), and Michelle and I sang The Nativity Song. We drove around town looking at lights afterward (Mason was as grumpy about it as usual. Haha!). Then the boys and Michelle made their name tags and went to bed.

Spencer and Mason seem to sleep much more soundly than I ever did as a kid on Christmas Eve, but they were awake and ready to go by the designated time: 7:00.

Notable Santa gifts:

Spencer got a Gabb phone (his first phone!!) and a Harry Potter Honeydukes Lego set. 

Mason got a 3 month subscription to Kiwi Co (stem projects), a science kit to build a volcano, and a new Harry Potter wand.

Everyone was happy with their gifts and we spent the rest of the day playing new games, building Lego sets, and talking to our missing family members on the phone. And, eating a delicious ham and roll Christmas dinner of course!

The day after Christmas was Sunday so that's when we took our family Christmas picture. Can you guess who our photographer was! Haha! Marc spoke in Sacrament Meeting and did a great job. Much to Spencer's dismay, he also got to play a piano solo in Church: Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel. He also did great! The Spirit was strong and it's always fun to see old friends whenever we attend Church in SJ. Lindsey and Jordan drove up from the Valley that night too. It was great to spend a little time with them!

Scenes from a cold, morning run. The tumble weeds were out of control!

Pickleball at the park:

Windy and freezing cold fishing attempt at Patterson Ponds. We didn't last very long.

One of several late night games of Scum. We laughed SO hard!

And of course, horse shoes!

Jordan worked his photography magic on a group picture!

St. Johns got a tiny skiff of snow the day before we left. Mason was super bummed that Sherwood got several inches while we were gone and we missed it all. I didn't mind at all. ;)

Alan gave our boys Cover Your Assets for Christmas and it became a favorite game.

Last day pictures. Our visits to St. Johns are always so wonderful and I dread the end when I have to say goodbye for who knows how long. Every time we go, we question whether or not we should move closer, especially now that Alan's parents don't live near us anymore. Maybe someday it will feel right.

We had planned to drive back through Utah and spend the night with Katelyn and Zac, but a snow storm forced us to go through CA instead. Katelyn texted me that morning to say they woke up to six inches of snow while we woke up to this at our hotel in Modesto. I think we made the right choice! 

It was another great trip and we're so grateful that we got to spend some really good time with family!