Dance Recital

Cali's very first dance recital was the single greatest day of her life. It was also the day that I realized how non-dance mom I really am...

She did such a great job, and really enjoyed her time on stage. To be perfectly honest, after seeing her flail about the house "dancing", I was really impressed with how well it came together.

She especially loved getting all dressed up and performing with her friends!

Marissa and Kenzie, the two best babysitting sister combo in the world, were there to support her even brought her some pretty flowers.

After the recital the picture taking resumed, and things got crazy. My friend Johana and I were surprised by the almost creepy-similarities between us and our girls.

I'm not sure where Cali's dancing career will take her... But, we know for sure that she had a great night!

Snowflake Meet 6th Place

 

On January 19th we decided to see just how deep our dedication to Cali's activities really was. She was double booked with a gymnastics meet and a dance recital...all in one day.

 We left early (but were running a little late) to make it Evanston by 8:30 a.m. where she participated in the Snowflake Meet and took 6th place. Carter and Caleb love the Evanston Rec Center where they climbed the climbing wall and rode scooters all around the gym.

As soon as the awards were handed out we high tailed it back to Rock Springs to get ready for her dance recital.

CrossFit

 

I Truly Madly Deeply love CrossFit! I have not felt this way about any workout, ever...and I've done a lot of workouts...and taught a lot of workouts.

I plan to devote more testifying and ranting and raving to this topic in the near future. However, for now, I have to say that it was no accident that "Truly Madly Deeply" was on my XM on the way to workout. Especially on the day I deadlifted 185 lbs once, and 155 lbs 8 times. Did you know I could deadlift so much weight? I didn't either, until I did it!

Like I said, more on this CrossFit situation later...

 

I Love Having a Name Tag

 

One morning when I got to work, there was a name tag on my desk. So, I did what any normal person would do. I put it on, took a picture of it, and posted in on my blog. 

This is Normal

 

I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet, since there is atleast four more months of winter around here. However, for the record, we have endured more than one day of -20 temps. This picture was taken at 6:00 a.m., and it didn't get much better from there. It's pretty sad when the temp increases by 40 degrees and it's still below freezing.

She Really Is

Not really worried about self esteem issues with this one...
Just another day in the digital world of self-portraits!

Don't Ever Get Sick

 

Arguably one of the worst things about being a mom is getting sick. No one really cares when the mother is sick, there is no one to take care of the mom. I remember this sad harsh realization when Cali was a little girl and I contracted strep throat. My kids are older now, and are more understanding, but still quite demanding in their needs...even when I'm sick.

I also found out that Cali thinks she's a funny prankster, and openly mocked my pain and sickness by taking these pictures of me with my own phone.

 



Painting Day

 

With everyone back in school, except for me and Caleb, we got creative with some puff paints. Very early on in our paining experiment, I realized that we did not have any paintbrushes. We improvised with wooden bbq skewers, plastic forks, and plastic knives. Considering our lack of supplies, I think things turned out pretty well.

Caleb insisted that we hang it on his bedroom wall, which was really easy, because that paper is a huge sticky note. You can buy them at Staples (or wherever), I think in the non-puff paint world they are used for presentations, in our world they are used for original art work!

Hoop it Up

 

It's my favorite season, and I plan to relive my Jr. Jazz days through my daughter! This year Cali has been playing point guard. If she can get her ball handling skills down and if (according to average growth charts) she grows to be 6'4", I think she'll put herself through college! Now, I'm off to teach her a lesson in elbows and aggression.

Spider Boy, A First, and Snow Raking

 

At least once a day Caleb says (or screams...), "Where My Webs!" Upon finding him some "webs" the following tangled weaving ensues. 

 

Caleb's first day as a Sunbeam at church was, well... a partial success. He's a no-go on the singing/sharing time, but loves his class time. His teachers was nice enough to send this cute picture to me on his first day. Probably to prove that everyone in the classroom was still alive!

 

Left to his own devices, this kid could rake snow all day. I'm not sure what's so great about raking snow, but since this picture was taken, the rake has been buried in a snow drift and Caleb is pretty sad about it. 

A Range of Emotions

 

After Cali and Carter went back to school, Caleb and I were left to explore the depth of our emotions.

Carter's Future Marriage Plans...

 

Peacock Christmas

Some highlights of our time in Castle Dale for the holidays included: 

Caleb ripping into his new favorite game, Ants in the Pants!

Caleb tying Brock up with a scarf and "walking" him like a dog.



 

Cali's present unwrapping face.

 

 

Carter performing many Operations.

 

An autographed picture of Louie Zamperini for my dad. Who's Louie Zamperini you ask? Google it!

 

All (this picture is already outdated) of the Peacock cousins on a couch.

 

Jayna's Baby Shower

 We were so excited that my sister Jayna and her husband Mike were able to come from California for the holidays. Jayna is currently pregnant with my tiny little niece, so we had a baby shower for her while she was in town.

We haven't all been together since Brandt's wedding, so we made sure to take a lot of pictures of the occasion!

 

Manti Temple

We made a whirlwind Christmas visit to our families, including a stop at the Manti Temple, where my sister Dory was going for the first time. We left Rock Springs very early on Thursday December 27th, and were warmly welcomed by the worst driving conditions of the season. We were headed to Manti, and what would normally be a 3.5 hour drive, turned into a 6 hour drive.



When we got a little closer it looked like we wouldn't make it on time...and we didn't. My mom asked the supervisors if they could hold the session to wait for us, but we were too late. My entire family ended up waiting the extra hour so we could join a different temple session.

What I didn't know, is that my mom was trying to call me from a phone inside the temple. After one failed attempt she realized that she'd accidently dialed a phone sex hotline. How many people can say they've done that inside a very special religious building...I'm guessing not many.

All was well that ended well, Dory had a great day and our lateness gave her time to eat an extra snack before the temple session, which was good. Afterward, we gathered around to have some family pictures taken. I handed my phone to Tyler's little sister who snapped a few as the photographer was getting set up.

 

I especially love that the moment we turned into Zombies someone was there to take a picture of it. And, no, Caleb didn't end up choking on a mouthful of Jolly Ranchers/smile bribery.

 

Carter wanted to get his very own picture taken by the temple.



It was really the most beautiful snowy day!

Christmas Morning!

The single greatest day of the entire year.

All the planning, preparing, and purchasing has finally led to this one moment!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve

 

By Christmas Eve were full to the brim with treats and sweets, so instead of making cookies, we made and decorated some fun stockings. See my previous post for my "sew rather than bake" mantra. Anway, the kids each picked some fabric and I made them each a giant stocking. Then, with a rainbow selection of puffy paints they decorated them. It was really fun, and something that I might consider doing each year, so eventually they will have a whole bunch of stockings they decorated...which could be made into a blanket or quilt if they play their cards right.... Needless to say, a potential tradition in the making.

Also, Santa only eats Oreos, which was very fitting since Elf Angela Oreo was spending her last night with us. I was kind of glad to say good bye to her, I wasn't totally prepared for the amount of work (phewww hard work moving an elf around) it was to have her in the house. 

 

Stuff that Happened in December

 

In December I got a new purse, which I love. I had an old purse, which I HATED! it was the worst purse of all time and forever. One evening while I was explaining to my friend Johana what I did with my old purse, I made a kicking motion with my foot. To express my distain for the purse I mocked kicking it. At that moment my shoe flew off my foot and was lodged above my stairs between the wall and the light fixture. At first, we couldn't figure out where  the shoe went...then we spotted it...then we laughed.

 

In December we figured out that Caleb had no need for shoes in the snow. Oddly enough, his feet don't seem to get cold at the same rate other human children's do. Every morning he "packed his bags" aka grabbed some strictly decorative suitcases, and tried to get on the school bus...most times with bare feet. We finally came to an agreement where he could take the suitcases on the porch and wave to the bus...that plan worked out better for everyone.

 

In December I made dozens of essential oil and wheat filled therapy bags for neighbor gifts. I would much rather sew than bake, and sew I did!