January

New Years day we went back up to Grandma and Grandpa's. Vivi and Eliza enjoyed helping grandma make cookies and the boys played games with Grandpa Crossley. 

Chet was so excited to go to the temple and because his Bishop is his dad, he was able to be ordained a deacon by his dad and grandpa. 

We left his dress clothes at Aunt Boo's house so Grandpa Crossley did a little nip and tucking of clothes and made some of his dress clothes work. 

Chet has been so excited about receiving the Priesthood and serving in the church. We are so grateful for his enthusiastic willingness to go to work for the Lord. 

Grandma did a King's night for us and Eliza wanted to dress up like a wisemen and do a little photo shoot, this is one of her favorite poses of the night. 

The next morning I took the younger four to Jaqui's house again. I asked her last minute if she could watch them and my kids were thrilled to go back to their house. The rest of the family went to the temple with Grandma and Grandpa for baptisms. It was fun to see all the new young men and women doing baptisms for the first time. I even got to see Christian, a friend from Badger Creek with his daughter in the temple. 

Later that day we headed up to Tiesha's house. Timmy came that night too. 

The cousins were excited to go to the Afton temple first thing in the morning for more baptisms. 

I love that they all want to go to the temple as often as they can. 

We spent the rest of the day playing in the snow. Timmy was so sweet pulling Vivi around on a sled. He was getting a little wild and pulled her down a bank and she face planted in the snow, but she just looked up with snow all over her face and started laughing. 

Ezra and Austin worked hard digging tunnels throughout the snow. 

They have the most beautiful views around their house. 

What started out as a tunnel eventually became an epic snow fort.

Tanner helped a lot on their amazing igloo. We're hoping it will stick around all winter. 

I just love when these cousins are able to get together. 

We spent a night at the Harris's house and thoroughly enjoyed their rock wall and basketball court.

It's always a good time when the boys get together. 

We woke up bright and early the next morning to snow. It was tricky getting out of the driveway but after laying down some pine boughs and a little help from Steve and Tanner pushing the van, we were able to get on the road. 

This was how the roads were for the first few hours...not what you would call ideal conditions. And poor Mariah seemed to get the stomach bug. She spent most of the day throwing up. Once we got on I-80 the snow stopped and we had clear roads, but then Tanner missed the exit to gas up and thinking another gas station was closer he kept going. We went on empty for a while and I think it was all of our praying that helped us make it to a gas station. 

Towards evening it began to storm again but instead of snow it was ice. If we didn't keep the air hot and high on the windshield it would immediately ice up. The kids kept complaining about how hot it was in the car, but we just told them to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, or something like that. By yet another miracle we made it to Kearney.

This was the ice on the car...

By the time we went to bed Mariah was feeling better and no one else threw up, yet another miracle. The next morning we slept in and took our time at breakfast, hoping the storm would ease up. But we finally headed out again, this time dealing with icy roads and crazy wind. The kids had fun counting all the semis tipped over...What a fun time! Yippee! I think I aged 10 years but once again we made it through. 

I wish I could have been as calm as Asa on the drive...the icy roads didn't even phase him. 

We decided to take a break in Omaha and went to the Winter Quarters Visitors' Center to stretch our legs. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. We are so grateful for all the prayers made in our behalf during our travels. So many people reached out to make sure we were doing ok. 

Tanner took the older three to a high school basketball game and Eliza and I had a little hot chocolate party. 

Asa and baby Eliza decided to swap shoes one day. 

Chet had more archery tournaments. 

And my parents made it to our house. They have been on a mission in Botswana for two years so we were so excited to see them. Grandpa got to watch Chet shoot in a tournament and he had a personal best. Then Grandma and Grandpa were able to watch Austin and Chet play some basketball. 

Both teams were quite the ballers. It was fun watching them play. 

Brittany and Baydon's family came up Sunday night and Asa had so much fun playing with Elsie. He really was intrigued with how Elsie put anything he gave her into her mouth. You could see the wheels turning in Asa's head and then he leaned down and put his forehead right in front of her mouth. He was so tickled when she gave him a big ol' wide mouthed kiss. 

Grammie treated us to a tea party, complete with etiquette training and more sugar than we ever need. 

Papa Ralph made sure to take them to Snack Shack a couple times for ice cream. 

We had a warm day so Heather and I took the littles on a walk through the timber. Eliza was our fearless leader, showing us the best trails to get through the thorn bushes and pointing out all the moss she saw. Asa was thrilled to be outside. 

Later in the week, Tanner fixed up our bikes and we were able to go on a little ride. 

Friday morning Grammie, Heather, Mariah and I went on her Christmas shopping spree. If you ever want to go clothes shopping but don't want to have to dig through clothes, take my mom and Heather with you. They kept a steady stream of clothes coming for Mariah to try on. She has a few new outfits that she is excited to wear. 

After that we met up with the rest of the family to tour the capitol building. 

It is such an amazing old building so if you live in the area you should check it out! 

Tanner recreated the dome picture. 

And since we love shushing our children we decided we should check out the amazing library. Asa loved carrying around all the different garbage cans he found. Maybe he has a future profession as a janitor? 

We had dinner at Costco and Papa Ralph bought everyone their own personal ice cream. Best day ever! I drove home with the littles and the rest went to a hockey game to finish out the night. 

We have loved having my parents here and were sad to say goodbye, but we know there are a lot more people anxiously waiting to see them.