I have had this pink bear since I was a little kid....I don't remember ever not having her. I loved her so much that I even took her with me when I went off to college! The other day I was going through some of my old stuff and the kids came across my pink bear. Hannah instantly fell in love with her. That night, we had put her away and Hannah found her again the next morning. I had let her play with it for a little bit and then asked her to put it away. I was worried about her getting broken..as the music that you wind up in the back was already breaking. This sent Hannah into a good 30 minutes of crying, and then a lengthy discussion of what was wrong. She was so sad that she didn't have a special pink bear that played music. She told me that she wished she was in my family growing up, so she could have a bear. I tried so hard not to laugh, since she was crying again as she was saying this.
It meant soooo much to her for some reason.
I then decided that what good is this pink bear sitting in a box. So I gave Hannah my special pink bear that I have loved for so many years. She was so happy, which made me so happy!!!! She quickly named her twinkles, and she has not put her down since. It has been about a week. She carries her around the house, sleeps with her and will even take her with her in the car. She is SO attached. Which also, is fun to watch. She has been our child who has not been attached to anything. Bethany it is purple spots, Rylan his animal blanket, and Hannah has blankets and stuffed animals but she would rotate and switch. Well not anymore, it is twinkles all the way!! I hope Hannah gets as much fun and comfort from this little pink bear as I did!!
She got half of a cake. She requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, (which is my favorite too!) We had to do all the celebrating first thing in the morning, since they had ballet class, and then I had a temple trip with the beehives in the afternoon. So she got her cake for breakfast, an extra treat!
She got to do another scavenger hunt to find her couple little presents. And she made sure that everyone told her happy half birthday. She took this all pretty seriously! She got to pick dinner which was cheesy macaroni. She told me all day, "thank you sooo much for celebrating half birthdays, and thank you sooo much or my cake, and thank you sooo much my scavenger hunt." It's nice that she is so appreciative and I know it made her day, which in turn made my day!!
Bethany and her good friend Spencer. They both got to tag along since they don't have school on Fridays. Bethany was pretty excited to be a part of it!
The girls got to show him their ballet skills on Saturday. Then they wanted to go miniature golfing, so we did.
We so enjoyed our time with my dad. The kids enjoyed playing and him reading to them. He was scheduled to go home Monday, but he woke up so, so sick. He ended up pushing his flight back to Tuesday so we got a extra day with him. If all we have to do is get our company sick to stay longer, you better watch out!! No I really felt really bad, he spent most of the day in bed. Luckily it only lasted about 24 hours and was good feeling much better today.
We got another snow storm this last week. We got a couple inches on Wednesday, it snowed most of the day at our house. Then we got some more during the night. The kids were so excited to play in the snow. On Thursday Bethany had a 2 hour delay for school, and good thing we played before school because it was pretty much all melted by lunch time. 
It was Dallen's first time actually playing in the snow. He didn't really know what to think about it. I gave him some to eat, and he loved it! He eventually figured out how to get his hands out and was getting the snow.
Bethany just had to build a snowman. She actually made two, one each day. The 2nd day it was about twice the size of the first one. She was having a hard time getting the snowballs to stay together, and was so happy when I taught her how to stick snow in between the layers to get them to stay.
And Hannah loves to eat the snow. She did help build the snowman too.
I'm not really sure how little D is already 9 months old! He has been with our family as long as he was inside me growing. The later 9 months always goes so much quicker than the first...and I so wish it was opposite. 
He is getting around everywhere! He rolls, gets up on all 4's and lunges forward, and scoots forward with his feet. He can also go from from laying down to sitting up. It helps him change directions. We will see if he actually "crawls" the traditional way before he is walking. He is pretty efficient with his style of crawling, and it's pretty entertaining to watch! 
He has learned how to clap, and he gets so excited when he gets a reaction from us!
This last weekend my sister's family came down to visit. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. All of them but Dallen, had a buddy to play with. 
These two finally discovered 
These two are so dang cute. They love playing together and they have so much fun.
After the kiss, they both just cracked up laughing!
In the middle of January my mom and Garry came down to spend the weekend with us. We had such a great time with them. It was so nice having an extra set of hands to help out. They watched the kids so we could attend the temple, which was much needed. They also took the 3 older kids out on a date to explora, which gave us another break. Two breaks in one weekend, it was lovely! Plus the kids always want Da to do this or that, and not mommy. Needless to say it was such a nice visit, and I so wish my mom lived closer so she could come spend more time with us!
