Scoutmaster, Snowman, & Sitting up!

We're alive! We enjoy reading everyone else's posts so much that we forget to post too! Here is a re-cap of January...

We traveled through this

like this

to get away from the snow for a couple of days and hung out with Jenny and Jill's families in Vegas during New Year's. We went to the Children's Museum

and then threw a great party for Aaron's birthday. Emma and Heidi cried when we had to leave their house. Thanks for being such great hosts!!

Now that we're somewhat settled, I've started teaching piano and I now realize how much I've missed it for the past couple of years. Emma wants piano lessons too..I wonder whether she just wants the candy at the end of the lesson or if she's really interested in playing..Maybe a little bit of both.

Aaron was called to be 2nd Counselor & Scoutmaster in the Young Men's. Of course he is happy to serve, even though we've come to find out that these two callings are pretty time consuming. (I have a new-found appreciation for all of those wives whose husbands have served in bishoprics, Elder's Quorum, and other busy callings.) He works 60+ hours a week, and thankfully we still have time to be together as a family, which is always the most important thing. The girls ask every day if "Daddy is going to stay in bed tomorrow" (Translation: Is it Saturday yet?) because that's their big day with him each week. I'm so grateful for Aaron's example for our children. I hope they each develop his desire to serve and his strong work ethic! He is the best husband and father ever!

For Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen got us tickets to see The Lion King show in Las Vegas so we drove down to meet them for that.

It was a quick weekend but really fun to see the Nielsen side of the family. The last day we were there, Grace started sitting up on her own for the first time. I guess she just needed a big audience to do it! She thinks she's pretty cool! Now she's into rocking on her knees. I think we'll have a crawler on our hands soon! Time to dust off the baby gate! …I guess I’ll have to ask the barbies if they’ll share their “castle”.

This snow is a bit cold for our California blooded, but the kids loved making their first snowman (for some reason we just never got around to that until now), having Daddy pull them on the sled, and of course making snow angels. Heidi loved riding the sled and Emma didn’t mind pulling, so they were a good match! Good thing Santa brought us scarves, sleds, and snow pants. They are sure coming in handy!

It feels like this video below of Emma and Heidi just happened yesterday. They are two peas in a pod! I still stand by my feeling that having a sibling is one of the best gifts a child can receive. I walked in on this the other day..Emma loves to "mother" everyone and Heidi loves to be "cared for" so it works out well.

Aaron was given tickets to the Jazz game in the lower bowl. It was a great game against Sacramento and I think a well-deserved break for Aaron to have a guys’ night with some of his co-workers.

We've finally pulled Aaron's power tools out of storage and started framing the basement bathroom and we hope it will be ready for our guests by the end of the summer. We're also switching out our door casings, baseboards and are casing the windows in and look forward to seeing it all put together! We’ll post pictures when we’re done. It's so fun to have our own place that we can personalize however we see fit! Good thing I married a builder!...I love my handy-man and our silly girls!

~Brooke