February trip to WA

Ben had a Microsoft conference in Seattle the beginning of February, so my sweet parents gave me and kids airline tickets for our Christmas present so we could go out with him. We all just knew it would be too sad if Ben was going and we weren't. The kids probably behaved the worst they've ever been on a flight. I started off as angry mom and then became so exhausted I just started crying in my seat. Yep, it was one of those flights. But we made it and were thrilled to see family! The next day was the Superbowl (which if we all recall, the Seahawks blew in the last seconds), but it was still so fun to watch with family and wear are sweet 12th man shirts my mom and sister got us.

Apparently Paige got a little too worked up over the game, because that night she started to say she didn't feel good and was coughing. We set an alarm to check on her in the night, and thankfully we did because she was wheezing really bad. We called our insurance's nurse line and they said to take her to the ER. Luckily we got in quickly, and after a nice breathing treatment, her wheezing calmed down and she could breathe a lot easier.

Monday we took Ben up to stay in Seattle for the conference, which meant the next few days were full of eating out with Mom and Becca, letting the cousins play, and of course, shopping. We are also lucky to be able to see the great grandparents when we go home.

Since Ben had a nice hotel room all to himself, I went up to Bellevue Wednesday night for a little getaway. Camille was a super nice aunt to let Paige come and have a sleepover, and my parents were troopers and were willing to watch Deacon (the lucked out and he fell asleep on my mom at 5:00 and slept the rest of the night). 

It was so nice getting a fun, relaxing date night in. We had dinner at Ruth's Chris and shopped at Bellevue Square. Then Ben surprise me at the hotel with cheesecake and a Diet Coke. He knows me well.

It was a perfect trip home and, as always, we were sad to leave (Paige was still crying on the airplane). Thanks mom & dad!!

January

Apparently my new years resolution was to stop taking pictures...?!? I realized I barely took any in January! It was just one of those slower months with pretty cold days so we've gotten great use out of library books and movies. But here are a few of the highlights:

-Paige became a Sunbeam at church! She has truly been counting down to this day and was so excited! I get a lot of reports from friends in primary and it sounds like she is quite the participant. The first week they asked the kids "what do we do in primary?', and Paige responded, "we fold our arms and raise our hands". So proud :)

-Our friends invited us over for a polar bear dip. The kids and I were happy to watch as the men and older kids were crazy.

-Deacon locked me in his room. Luckily Ben was home, so Deacon stormed his office during a conference call. Oops!

-This boy had week long of sickness with an ear infection and wheezing. So we did lots of snuggling.

-Thanks to a recommendation from my friend Kristin, we bought curlformers and love them! I will always be a sucker for a good curl.

-And one day in January it was 77 degrees...so obviously Deacon had to go skins.