Boring January Days :)

Um, January is cold and slow! Not a lot of pictures this week and not a lot of eventful days!

We had our first snow. Just 2-3 inches, and shoveling with Asher and Camden was fun.

We've stopped our walks, which I miss so much. I dream of a treadmill but I also don't want to store a treadmill. I just really love walking every day. 

We're playing a lot of Cover Your Assets and Spot It. I finished reading the Wednesday Wars to Westin and Bennett and we all loved it so much. My Christmas tree is up the latest it's ever been because I haven't caught up on family yearbooks yet. We had a grumpy Saturday together and a happy Sunday. Bennett did an intro class to Taekwando. I finished The Island of Sea Women and that book had me hugging my boys so much closer this week. We went in three of our neighbors' houses this week to figure out what we do and don't want to do to our kitchen and bathroom in the next few years. Westin started Coding Club. Michael made Thai red curry soup for dinner this weekend. We sat by our fire a lot and I am wearing really big socks all the time.

I loved a moment this week when Westin was feeling really down and he just looked at me and said, "What am I even good at?" And literally one hour before that, I had decided to sit down and just write out a paper full of what I think Westin is good at. When he asked me that I just handed it to him and gave him a hug and left him with it. And his spirits were so much higher after that and it was a sweet moment for both of us.

Camden has an incredibly loose tooth and he doesn't think anyone around here is qualified to pull it out :) I'm sad for when it goes. Losing teeth is such a hugely outward symbol of being a bigger kid. 

I handed Bennett a talk I wrote for him for primary and asked him to read it to me to practice. He only needed help with one word in the whole talk. He has made so much progress in reading and we're loving reading The Wild Robot together right now.

My favorite moment with Asher is at the bottom of this post under the last picture. I'm still laughing about it. Three-year-olds are SO CUTE. I can't get enough of him right now. We have a trip planned in February for some little boy fun and I'm just so excited to follow Asher around the whole time and watch him. I sound like a stalker but I'm just his mom.

I have been loving my no social media before scriptures habit, and I'm making progress on my life documentation catch up because not letting myself put down my Christmas tree has proven to be extremely effective... but also a little cruel.

Guitar and Spot It
Happy guys.

Always thinking about Kindal and Rosie

Watching Camden's first day of indoor soccer, 
while the big boys have one more day off of school.
Westin was so cute cheering him on.

This guy is a soccer stud, it's so fun.

The first snow in Fort Collins in 260 days!
I counted.
No, but that's what the news said, and I believe it -- feels like it's been a long while and I'm ok with it.

Luna is an absolute maniac when you shovel snow. She chases every shovelful.

Cold temps = basement forts.

Watching Camden and Bennett as swim.
"Take a picture of me for daddy!"

I told him that it would be his turn soon to swim and he was not enthusiastic about that.

Duets with Westy boy.
We have a new rule -- no football if piano hasn't been practiced yet.
Westin has made much piano progress :)

This final nursery time and first primary days is just such a sweet but sad transition.
He has moments he's fine and moments he's not still. What a cute little guy.

This moment will forever make me laugh...
On Sunday, all the Daetwyler bros did primary opening exercises.
Westin conducted, Camden said a prayer, Bennett gave a talk, and Asher was set to do the scripture but when it was time, he was too nervous and just cried instead while I read it for him (sweetie).
Then on the way home, I said, "Bennett, great job with your talk today! And Camden, that was such a nice prayer!" And Asher said, "Did I do a good job?" And we started giggling and I said, "Well you didn't do the scripture, Asher! But maybe next time!" And he threw his head back and closed his eyes like he was thinking, "Dang it..." Haha his expression was just so funny. Michael and I keep laughing about it.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I love a fresh start. I can't believe it's 2025. I still feel like we just moved here sometimes.

We said goodbye to my parents on Monday. It's hard for me to even recall what else happened this week... so many games of Cover Your Assets and Spot It, Westin went to Wendy's a few times to work on the movie they're making (apparently it's a horror film and I'm anxiously awaiting the premier), we spent New Year's Eve at the Baileys house but only Westin and I stayed until midnight, we went on a cold winter walk, we started 10:30 church, and we watched some football. This week felt like a nice kind of empty. I was thinking about how over the last few years I've often felt anxious when we had no plans because I felt like we always had to get the boys out every day or people melted down or went crazy. But they're just able to go with the flow more now, whether that's days of outings or days of chilling at home. I love that.

My only goals for 2025 are one new habit (no social media until I've studied my scriptures that day) and a project (catch up on our yearbooks and home videos). There is probably a long list of other things I should be focusing on, but that's where I'm at right now.

Here's to a brand new year!

I have really decluttered our Christmas decorations, and when I put them all together like this I feel like we don't have that many. But then it fills up almost a whole closet! I guess because the outdoor lights and the Christmas tree isn't here (it's still up until I catch up on yearbooks)... but still. It doesn't make sense to me. 

After gloomily putting away Christmas right after we sent my parents off,
I felt like I just related to Luna's Rudolph toy that I found like this.
Poor Rudolph. Didn't even last a day.

Operation teach Westin to KonMari.
I have cleaned out his desk every few months while he's at school,
but it slowly has become more and more out of control and I'm done doing this without him.
So we pulled everything out. Everything into like piles. Thought about what should be stored somewhere else, and what should be kept in the desk area. Rearranged the books. Went through all papers.
It feels SO MUCH BETTER and I feel like that's the BEST feeling,
so I keep asking him if he just loves it so much.
He does... but I don't know that everyone gets a high from a KonMari'd space in the same way.
I just can't believe how much I actively battle clutter coming into our house and keeping spaces in somewhat organized with these four little guys.

Speaking of KonMari...
Getting rid of Asher's too-small clothes always leaves me sad!
I just had so many cute little boys wear these shirts at such a cute stage!

Asher and I watched our German Pancakes puff up together for the entirety of the 20 minutes they cooked.
This is Christmas break.

New Year's at the Baileys.

I just love these ladies.

Westin has been so excited to stay up until midnight with Quinn.

Spot It addict. Westin is sweet to play with him.

Camden is such a goofball.
His prayers are my favorite thing to listen to right now.
He thinks about people so much.

Road Magnets have been a Christmas gift hit.
They build with magnets so much.

Poor Asher... a fine of 9 million and 2 years in prison, for crashing cars.
It's brutal in the backyard.

Look at that frost!
Technically called hoar frost. Michael really enjoyed telling me that throughout our hike.

The fences looked like barbed wire but it was just frost!

Happy little winter guy.
I feel like I haven't seen this coat since this hike...
oh my goodness, managing gear. It's a thing!

Christmas 2025!

What a fun Christmas week!

Grandma and Grandpa got here on Sunday ready for the week off of school with the boys. On Monday night we walked through Spring Creek gardens and saw their fun lights and met Santa. Remind me to do our Santa visit earlier next year when Santa's elves are still shopping, not on the 23rd. We heard some new Christmas list ideas that night haha and Camden was pretty confident asking Santa for something two days before Christmas gave you some high chances of finding that under the tree...

Christmas Eve was full of playing games, hanging out, and watching The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Then we had an early dinner so we could do our final 12 days drop off, drop off a treat to our favorite Christmas lights house, and drop a treat to the firefighters. One of them ended up being the dad of one of Camden's friends from school.

We went home and did brother gifts. This is my favorite part of Christmas. They were so excited to give each other their gift and say something they love about each other when they handed their gift to their brother. I think it's the sweetest thing and I hope they really feel how lucky they are to have each other.

We watched The Nativity movie that I just love. We skipped matching pajamas because I think I'm the only one that was caring about that, and if that's the case, I figured I'm letting that go this year :)

The next morning, Camden really wanted everyone to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before we went downstairs to open gifts. He also gives the absolute sweetest prayers right now, always saying such pertinent and thoughtful things and he gave a really sweet prayer Christmas morning.

We had a smaller Christmas than other years and I liked it so much more. We were done opening things by 8 and had a nice Christmas breakfast right after that. And then the day had a lot of pajamas and games and talking to family. The sunshine and warmer temperatures made for an unusual Christmas but being able to play at the playground that day was really great.

The next day we walked up at Gateway Natural Area and threw rocks on ice and watched funny little birds (American Dippers, we later learned) swim and dive into the water. We had hot chocolate up there and Christmas cookies from the counter full of Christmas treats. What a counter.

The rest of the weekend we built the playground from Grandma and Grandpa Daetwyler, went out for tacos, watched BYU totally dominate their bowl game, played a lot of Cover Your Assets, and had a fun Winter Break with the boys. I had to talk in church Sunday and teach Young Womens, so I was distracted by those things that weekend but both were good experiences too. I really love being in Young Womens right now.

We felt really lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Miner here again for Christmas this year. The boys totally love when they're here and it's fun to have them here for all our Christmas traditions.

The tree is still up... I'm not letting myself take it down until I've caught up on my family yearbooks. It's going to torture me out of procrastination. :)

Watching the elves at work!

Waiting in line for Santa.. Camden was very excited! Kept talking about asking him for a gas truck.
First I've heard about that... on December 23rd... :)

Grandma and the lights!

Mr. and Mrs. Claus were so cute :)

Asher was not about sitting on Santa's lap and, I get it.
But he took a picture for a candy cane :)

I love the garden lights that look like produce!
They have peppers, tomatoes, grapes, and more and I just think it's so cute.

Christmas card time!

I really love Christmas cards. They're the happiest mail.

The boys asked multiple times if we were going to do Rudolph pancakes on Christmas Eve again.

Checkers with Grandpa. We had lots of fun down time to play games and hang out!

Christmas Eve Dinner.
We had beef tips and mashed potatoes, a Christmassy salad, Brussels sprouts, and lots of Christmas treats.

We had a treat ready to go for our favorite lights house after driving around a few times this season.
Then we found this one after we handed it out!
Haha this dinosaur house might've taken the prize, but we had lots of good contenders.

Brother gifts is my favorite part of the entire Christmas season.
They each had something they were so excited to give their secret brother,
and they told them what they love about them when they handed them their gift.
I just loved watching their sweet beaming faces and all their love for each other.

Santa worked until almost 1:00 a.m. around here but Christmas is ready!

Westin was in total disbelief when he opened his pair of autographed gloves from our friends, the Holkers.
Dallin plays for the Saints now but used to be in our ward, and Westin just kept staring at these.

Just in pure happy shock.

Nothing like Christmas chaos!

I never want to share my super soft unicorn blanket that Kindal gave me so I got the boys an extra soft one just like it, but, they still love the unicorn one more. I guess I should've got the same color even haha.

Asher LOVES when the librarian at story time does deep breaths with one of these things,
so Santa brought him one. He immediately started deep breathing hahaha.

Cute Christmas boys.

Santa wrote them a letter!

Diane gave Westin an NFL advent calendar and he just absolutely loves this thing.
When all of Christmas was opened, this was what he came back to.

That cranberry orange Christmas Star looks a little monstrous but it's a fun tradition.

Christmas breakfast! Breakfast casserole and the Cranberry Orange Christmas Star.

Asher is a Spot It addict right now. He's so cute.

A little winter walk up at Gateway!
Lots of rocks thrown on ice and watching funny little American Dippers dive in and out of the water and fly away.

We brought some hot chocolate up and it was very necessary!

We counted down to Christmas with a jam advent this year.
It was a lot of toast. But the taste test was fun! Here's the full month's lineup in order from best to worst.
My favorite part was how unpredictable they were -- we're read a name and think we were going to love it and it would be not great, or we'd read one we had no expectations for and it would be one of our favorites.
The unexpected winner was Mango Lime Raspberry, which no one saw coming.
(The real winner will forever be strawberry freezer jam.)

Top 5!
Mango Raspberry Lime, Guava, Apricot Peach, Apple Quince Honey, and Rhubarb Strawberry.

A moment for last place that doesn't even deserve to be named a jam -- lemon elderflower.
It tastes like cleaning supplies.
Maybe they accidentally sent us cleaning supplies.

Grandma and Grandpa Daetwyler sent a happy backyard climbing playground!
The boys were so excited to start building it.

Luna lives for running free at Shepardson.
She's really great at coming right back, especially when we remember her little collar that beeps.

Done! They love climbing on it.

Just leaving this here to commemorate the day I learned that my dream church activity exists.
And I'll be out of town for it.
I didn't even know I could dream this high for a night of fun at a stake activity hahaha. 
Maybe it'll happen again someday... sigh.

Spying on Asher's LAST day of nursery,
which marks the end of nursery here at the Daetwyler home.
We've been support parents in nursery for like 4+ years of the last 10,
because our kids just never really loved that transition.
Asher has been going to primary singing time with his future sunbeam crew this month and I already know he's going to love transitioning to primary with his brothers.
These milestones, man.