February

Life continues to press on, doesn’t it? Here we are in February, and with a seemingly low-key life, we somehow manage to keep busy enough.

A couple in our ward, the Bairds, invited us and the Gibbs over for a couples game night. After the kids were in bed and babysitters were present, we headed to the Bairds for our fun-filled night. We enjoyed candy, chips and dip, kettle corn, and peach cobbler. We also enjoyed beating them at Ticket to Ride. Okay, okay, we were teaching them the game, so the win is less impressive than it is poor form….but we are way too competitive to hold back even the slightest bit. We had such a good time we decided to make it a monthly tradition. Next month, we will be the hosts. We feel so blessed to have made such close friendships with so many people in our ward...something that we found difficult in the past.

February brought the Winter Olympics! Boy, I just love the Olympics. I couldn’t believe it was that time again...I remember the Summer Olympics blaring every day, all day, when I was home with Charlie as a newborn. I have to admit, I prefer the Summer over the Winter Olympics...but I will take what I can get.

For the opening ceremonies, Charlie and I headed to Draper. Jason would have come too if it hadn’t been for a crazy camping trip he had already planned with his high school friends (more on that in a minute). Our opening ceremonies party included a fun Navajo tacos dinner (with scones galore) and watching the event on the projector downstairs. Marc and Andy Phillips also joined us for the occasion and brought some yummy and healthy appetizers. I know there is a lot of disagreement about the Russian presentation, but I LOVED it! I was totally impressed with the show. I really believe watching it on a huge screen may have played a part in that, and my love of dance, but I was captivated by the presentation. Charlie and I stayed the night at my parents, and the next morning I headed to a baby shower for my high school friend, Kerstin.

At the shower: me, Kerstin, and Alisha

She is having a boy!

While we were enjoying the opening night, Jason was freezing his backside off camping in Grantsville with Rich, Nate, Trevor, and Parker. Okay, he says it wasn’t all that cold...but I am skeptical given it was the beginning of February and snow was on the ground. Rich had a huge tent, complete with an indoor stove, that he was anxious to use with his buddies….hence the camping in extreme conditions. They didn’t end up using the stove though, claiming it didn’t get cold enough. Most of the fun took place the next morning. Jason did some fishing (surprise, surprise), they shot off their guns, and then they all took turns driving around on the snowmobile and four wheelers. They all had a really fun time. Even though the whole thing sounds completely horrible to me, boys will be boys...and I love them for it! Always looking for the next adventure.

The next weekend, Jason did get to take part in some of the Arbon Olympic festivities. We had another family dinner (spaghetti) and then watched one of the USA hockey games. Of course, as soon as the game was done we headed home and played Age of Empires over Steam. We definitely have our priorities straight.

I sadly have to admit, I didn’t see very many of the Olympic events this year. I would have been watching them constantly if it weren’t for the fact that we got rid of our television service. Don’t worry, we still have our TV and watch plenty of it...but it is exclusively Netflix...or the occasional DVD. So with no television channels, it gets difficult watching the Olympics. Oh, we tried watching events of interest through NBC’s online apps and options...but those were awful! I don’t know if anyone else experienced the same thing, but navigating through the site for certain things was very difficult and the amount of advertisements was unreal! My point is, we had some frustrations trying to watch the events we liked...and were not as involved this time around. I will be anxiously awaiting the next Summer Olympics.

For some reason, this year has been the year for crafting! I am not even that big of a crafter! My friend Katie (who invited us to the weekly playgroup) also invited me to join their monthly Girls Night/Craft Night. It has been really fun meeting such a nice and fun group of girls. When Girls Night came this month, I was all Valetine’s Day crafted-out! But I still had a great time munching and chatting. Next time I will step up my game and come with an awesome craft!

The week of Valentine’s Day, Camry and I had our weekly get-together. As mentioned, we were both crafted-out, so we decided to dip strawberries instead. We dipped lots of strawberries, in white and milk chocolate. While the strawberries were setting, we hung out and watched Parenthood.

My Aunt Erin’s birthday is February 14th, so the day before, Charlie and I brought her lunch. Originally, the plan was for me to take her out, but she called me that morning saying she would be down for fast food and a move at her place. That is just my style. She requested In-N-Out, so I picked it up and we watched Austenland.

My Grandma Arbon’s birthday is also the week of Valentine's Day. Since it was her 80th birthday, Erin threw her a big party. I helped by making the invitations through Pixingo. The day of the party was a very busy day. That morning, Charlie and I went to Lily’s two year birthday party (Lily is my cousin’s daughter). Lily also shares her birthday with Valentine’s Day, so her party was that Saturday, as well. After her party, Charlie and I picked up Jason and we met up with the Phillips cousins at Chipotle in Sandy. Next up, was Grandma’s birthday party. (I wish we would have known there was going to be lunch there, otherwise we wouldn’t have filled up so much at Chipotle). It was fun to visit with family and celebrate Grandma’s 80 wonderful years. After the party, we headed to my parents for that dinner and USA hockey game that I mentioned earlier in this post. It was a VERY busy day.

Screen shots of the invites (front and back):

Love using Pixingo!

(p.s. I am appalled at the lack of pictures taken lately. Sorry guys!)