After Denver

 We took the girls ice skating one night, and then I took Brooke to get a temple recommend interview with the Bishop. 

Daniel, Dad Holbrook and I went with Brooke on her very first trip to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was so special to be in the temple with my little girl and to help her through that first experience. It's a pretty awesome part of her growing up. 

The girls had a piano recital at the end of January, and they both did so well. I was very proud of them. 

I took my kids to the zoo on the last day of January with Sammy and her kids. They were having a discount that day, and it was a much needed break from normal school. The kids loved walking around and looking at the animals. They were all kind of sad that the elephants weren't there, because of winter. But they loved seeing the lions and gorillas, and the seals and polar bear were so fun to watch. 

For girls club, the girls have been working on putting together some quilts for this charity organization that donates the quilts to refugees and others in need. I think it's been a great experience for them, not only for the sewing skills they're learning and building, but also for the service they are doing. The other moms in the group went to the charity location and picked up quilt packets. People donate fabric to them and they put together cut squares and backing fabric, and we just have to put the quilts together. I've been involved with helping the girls do that, so I have gone to a bunch of the girls club meetings lately. 

Camille came on an errands date with me one Saturday because she needed new shoes. We had fun trying on a bunch of different fun shoes before walking out with our selections. I walked out with new shoes as well. Haha! 

Daniel and the girls put on a fancy dinner date at home one Saturday night. They planned and carried everything out. I was banned from downstairs for about an hour before the date. Daniel and the girls made Hawaiian haystacks for dinner and put Sawyer to bed before I came down. Daniel and I dressed up, and the girls acted as our servers at a fancy restaurant. It was adorable. 

Brooke has had a semi-regular babysitting job with the Smiths babysitting Wade. She loves it and has also loved making a bit of money. 

I started potty training Sawyer the first week of February. It was past time and also seemed the best week for it, before other things happened. That first week was shaky... he had many potty accidents the first day or 2, and once he started getting better there, he started having many poop accidents every day. There were a handful of days when we ran out of clean underwear and pants, and so he had to go naked on the bottom. He really hated that. He's not the kind of kid that likes to run around naked, and he always complained about not having underwear or pants. I think that more than anything helped him progress. He stopped having accidents after about a week, and he's been good ever since. He even goes so far as to flush and wash his hands afterwards. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The week after I was sustained in church,  I had meetings with Hannah Kimball and the stake RS president. They helped answer my questions and get a sense for what I was doing, which I was very grateful for. 

Girls Club did a fun Valentine's party the week before Valentine's Day. We went to the church building, where the kids ate festive food and made Valentine's cards to take to the senior center and played bingo and exchanged their own valentines. It was very cute and fun, and I am so grateful to the other moms who put it on.

The next week for girls club, on Valentine's Day, they delivered the cards to the people at the nursing home. I wasn't able to accompany them that day, but I think it was a really valuable experience for them, and they came back having said it was cool and that they really liked the people that they were visiting. Also, sister Norris took them out for ice cream afterwards. 

Daniel took me out on a date to recreate our engagement date on the anniversary that we got engaged. Brooke and Camille were in on the surprise, and Brooke babysat. We went to simply Thai for dinner, ice skating in Salt Lake city and then for a walk around Memory Grove. It was such a sweet date, and fun to reminisce.

Brooke has been doing a lot of babysitting for us lately, now that she is old enough. And we wanted to thank and reward her for that. So we planned a movie night for her. She invited a few of her friends to come over to watch "Adventures in Babysitting" and have movie snacks. She loved it and had a great time. 

I took the kids to the butterfly museum on Valentine'sDay. It had been a long while since we had been to anything Thanksgiving Point. And we had fun! Afterwards, I picked Daniel up for our Valentine's Day date, a lunch date. 

That night, we had a tea party for our family Valentine's dinner. The girls helped me make some of the food and put the whole thing together. 

Scott and Melanie moved to Utah a few weeks ago. And then mom decided to come for a spontaneous visit after Valentine's Day. We got together with them and Melanie's family for Scott's birthday. We ate and played games together at Denise's house, and it was fun! I even got to meet and snuggle my new nephew, Alden. 🥰

Baby shower for Hailey Shoemaker, and dinner with the family at our house. 

I had a doctors appointment to see to the issue about my abdomen hurting in the middle of the night. Shortly thereafter, and after some labs came back normal, I had an ultrasound, which showed that I have a small gallstone. I'm grumpy about it. But at least it's not cancer. 😆🥴 And it doesn't affect my every day life. Just hurts/ uncomfortable at night. 

We had dinner with the Christensens one Sunday. And after we put kids to bed, we went back to hang out in the hot tub. 

Daniel redid our main floor bathroom (after we had a flooding issue that damaged parts of the walls several months ago), and it looks so amazing! 

Mom and I went to a library event with the author of the Emma M Lion books, which we love. It was very fun and the author is delightful. 

Whew! It was a packed month! So many great and fun things happening! And I didn't even talk about school stuff!