Our Austin Boy

We celebrated another year with this sweet boy. First things first, the birthday interview: 

1. What do you like most about yourself? 

How I am kind. (He really is a gentle soul and we are so grateful for that.)

2. What do you think your future job will be? 

Nasa Engineer (Austin loves all things space and his most exciting gift was his Mark Rober crunch lab subscription.)

3. What do you love to eat? 

Burger King Hamburger (Hence the lunch request when we celebrated his Birthday)

Austin requested French toast for his Birthday breakfast and I blew his mind with Texas Toast. 

4. How do you like to spend your time? 

Playing downstairs on the rock wall. 

5. What are you good at? 

Soccer and Basketball

Austin is really good at being consistent with his piano practice, now to get him to practice a little longer...

6. Who are your best friends and why do you like each other? 

Other than my siblings Terron and Cooper. (Austin had a blast out west with all his boy cousins that are his age, 4!) 

7. Who is someone you look up to? 

(Chet was pointing to himself) Okay, Chet. 

8. What makes you sad? 

Nothing, I'm fearless. (He doesn't like to express emotions too often, which is a relief with the sibling above and below him, but I'm trying to help him to know it's ok to feel sad.)

9. What is your favorite outfit to wear? 

My red Nike shirt and my striped green and black shorts. 

The favorite outfit...Chet got him an unresponsive yoyo for his birthday and he's enjoyed learning new tricks.

10. What makes you really annoyed? 

Vivienne crying for no reason. (Can you tell the Vivster had a rough day?)

11. What makes you feel proud? 

When I accomplish something good on the rock wall. 

12. What makes you happy? 

Playing with Chet 

13. Which of your nicknames do you like the most? 

Aus-Sauce, just kidding you don't even say that, it's a nickname the high schoolers gave me at Basketball Camp. (Those High Schoolers made my boys feel so cool at that camp) How about Austi.   

14. What's the best thing that's happened to you lately? 

Basketball starting. (Austin finally got to start Basketball this year and he has loved it. Before his first game he said, "Maybe they'll have me be the point guard and I'll start out dribbling with my right hand and then juke them with my left." Playing with Chet he uses his right more than his dominate left, he's really hoping it can be his secret weapon.)

15. What do you do when you feel sad? 

Go in my room and play with the rubix cube and read. 

16. What's your favorite thing to do with Mom? 

Cook with you. 

He also loves doing school with me...see how much we both love it? Eliza is always capturing us at our best. 

17. What's your favorite thing to do with Dad? 

Play basketball or games with him.  

18. What's your favorite thing to do with Mariah? 

Playing in the dark (the oldest four turn off all the lights downstairs and then run around like crazy people and see who cries first, at least thats what it seems like to me. Fun game...)

19. What's your favorite thing to do with Chet? 

Play outside or play on the rock wall. 

These two are goofballs and are always trying to see if they can make each other laugh. I often catch Austin  scratching Chet's back. He's a good one. 

20. What's your favorite thing to do with Eliza? 

Play adventure games. 

It is the best when these two play together. Austin is usually tagging along with Mariah and Chet but I know he has a lot of fun when he connects with Eliza. They both feel they are always right, which makes it difficult at times. 

21. What's your favorite thing to do with Vivi? 

Maybe read books to her. (One day Vivi was looking at pictures on my phone and when she saw a picture of Austin she said, "I love Austin, he's nice to me and he gives me candy". She has recently been saying that when she grows up she's going to marry Austin. She loves her big brother.)

22. What's your favorite thing to do with Asa? 

Read books to him and play with him with our small basketball hoop. 

Austin seems to know when I am feeling overwhelmed and does a really good job keeping Asa happy. 

23. What do you want to be when you grow up? 

The first person to go to Mars that doesn't die. (This made me laugh, he's a thinker. He's ready Elon as soon as you have that prototype safe and tested.)

24. What is your favorite color?

Uranus blue. (Such a space nerd, he asked me to include that question)

Austin likes to go rogue on his birthday and do new his own twist on a birthday cake. This year he decided he would try a cookies and cream ice cream cake. 

I love coming out in the morning and seeing Austin on the couch reading his scriptures. He is so excited about our new fireplace that he can cozy up to each morning. The boy hates wearing pants but then complains about being cold. He got a new hoodie and seems to be ok with wearing that. 

Austin is an observer, he's patient, funny, curious and always willing to try new things. 

December Happenings

December was a whirlwind of activities, travel, family and friends.  

We had to get out and enjoy the first snow, even if it was just a dusting. Asa wasn't thrilled with his snow clothes, he really wanted to go out in his socks. 

Vivs was thrilled though! 

Eliza FINALLY lost her first tooth! She has been anxiously awaiting this day for a very long time. It was so loose she could move it just by breathing in and out and then after one big breath, it popped right out; she's lucky she didn't inhale it. It made for a good laugh. It just took the tooth fairy several days to get the tooth...she can get a little busy.  

Heather made a delicious cake with Chet and we all enjoyed it. 

Chet and Austin loved the Jiu Jitsu field trip again this year. Asa really wanted to get in on the action the whole time. He is going to love wrestling with his big brothers.  

We celebrated Austin's birthday early because we were going to be out west on his actual birthday. All his siblings picked out really thoughtful gifts for him. 

We celebrated his birthday at a jump park in Des Moines

Tanner felt like a teenager again on this cushy gym floor. He even pulled out some somersaults. 

The zipline was a favorite. The employee running the zipline said to Mariah: "you're kind of scaring me right now, I don't like braids." That kind of scared Mariah so the feeling was mutual. 

Austin was very specific in wanting Burger King for lunch even with all the options in Des Moines so we let him have that. 

That night the oldest three performed on the piano for the pre-Victorian Stroll and all looked quite dapper. 

We enjoyed looking at the trains without the huge crowd too. And the younger two didn't even realize that they missed the stroll this year. 

The next day we headed to Nauvoo for a ward temple trip. Tanner and I got to do a session together and even saw Bets while she was working in the temple. 

Mariah finished up her basketball season. She learned a lot and really enjoyed spending time with these girls. I'm going to miss our drives home from away basketball games, but I'm not going to miss driving her to and from practice.

We got to go watch The Nutcracker again this year and it was so great! While watching, Vivi kept telling me how she was going to wear all the fancy costumes she kept seeing. When I told her it was almost over she excitedly said, "And then I will get on the stage and wear the dresses and dance!" She was so heartbroken when I told her that wasn't going to happen this time. Sweet girl. 

Asa loves to sneak up to Dad at church...it wouldn't be a problem if he just stayed on his lap, but then he decides he should explore and that gets a little too disruptive. 

Some of the Marshallese members planned the Christmas party this year and it was so awesome!

The food was so great and we loved their dances and songs. I think we should just put them in charge every year. 

After the party we stopped and looked at the lights. Mariah unbuckled Asa so he could see and he kept saying "woah!" over and over. It was more delightful than the lights themselves. 

We celebrated our Shepherd's night with Heather and Bethany. I try to make it clear to our children that this isn't really what the shepherds would have eaten (besides maybe the naan bread), we just decided to call it our "Bougie Shepherd's Night". One day we will eat on the floor dressed up like shepherds, but that didn't seem like an enjoyable time with a toddler. 

I only took Austin and Eliza to the homeschool Christmas party and it felt so weird, what do I do with my hands? I loved watching Austin help Eliza with her bingo card. They both got bingos right before it was going to end. Phew!

Mariah is doing a class taught by her Uncle Ty with some cousins where they each study a biography of a person that inspires them. Mariah is studying Gladys Aylward and decided she wanted to do some kind of service project. One of my good friends runs a charity that raises money for children to go to school in Honduras (themarcoviaproject.org). Mariah made cookies to order and donated all proceeds to help four students go to school. There were so many generous people that helped Mariah with her goal. She made 17 dozen cookies and I was impressed with her hard work ethic and our other children's self control: not one cookie was snitched! 

Mariah decorated every cookie box herself. 

Chet has really enjoyed archery this year and has improved a lot. He's only attended two tournaments but we're hoping to get to more in the next couple months. 

We were going to be traveling Christmas day, so we decided to celebrate our Christmas early on Sunday morning. 

We always love our special time with Aunt Heather. This was our Christmas Eve, she read them a story and then sang to them before they went to bed. 

Asa wasn't thrilled about being up early to open presents. He was confused the whole time. My favorite part of Christmas is watching our kids get so excited to give their special gifts to the siblings they drew. They work so hard to earn the money and put a lot of thought into what would be the best gift. 

The boys had to have one last snuggle with Josie before I took her to her little staycation at the kennels. 

We were up bright and early Christmas morning, ready for a nice long drive and numb bums. 

This was the prettiest I've seen Nebraska...The roads were pretty good until we got off I-80, then they were a little rough. I was doing a lot of passenger driving for Tanner; who else was going to let him know that the roads were really slick? He seemed to appreciate my input. But thankfully we made it into Rexburg safely with most of my sanity still intact. 

We were so excited to be with Aunt Nattie and Grandma and Grandpa. Aunt Nattie gave them a drawing tutorial.

And made cookies with the girls. We watched Grandpa's favorite version of The Christmas Carol and crammed in their little apartment for the night. 

The next day we went up on campus for a little bit, and then headed to the airbnb where we were going to surprise Tanner's parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. They knew we and Brittany's family were coming but we had to do some serious subterfuge to keep them away until the rest of the family could arrive. Tanner met them out on the road and begged them to give him a ride to Costco. It was only a little suspicious when he picked up six pizzas...I guess we just really like Costco Pizza?

It was so wonderful to spend a few short days together celebrating the wonderful life Jack and Debbie have created together. We had a dance, acted out stories from their lives, and spent a morning doing sealings together. My favorite was when they were sealed for others beyond the veil. It felt a little like we were getting to witness their sealing for the first time. So so special. 

Everyone was required to participate in the dance, and it was so fun!

Asa even put a ball down long enough to dance with Timmie. He had lots of cousins trying to get balls from him, but he did a good job avoiding them or outright refusing. 

Everyone sang to Austin and Elizabeth for their birthday.

And I got some good bonding time with Elsie Joy. 

Look what 50 years can do! This is everyone but Hiram, who is on a mission in Finland. I think all the snow was his little way of saying he's thinking of us. 

And we had to do a silly photo to reward all the children for holding so still while we figured out the spacing for the picture. 

Sunday morning we left bright and early for Brittany's house. We woke up to snow falling and had to go pretty slow at the beginning but then the roads cleared up and we miraculously made it to the church in time for Rich's baby blessing. My good friend Willie was there too and I was so happy to see her for a little while. 

This chunker munk...we all loved holding him. 

I can't even blame Vivi for poking his cheek, they're just too perfect! 

Uncle Mike took the boys shooting and we also went to another jump park. The cousins were nice enough to let our kids play with their new Christmas toys, and Brittany made sure they got lots of time with all the different dogs she is boarding right now. 

Brittany taught them the right way to walk a dog; now to see if they can apply their new found knowledge to Josie. 

Eliza lost another tooth, and apparently her tooth fairy doesn't do so well on vacation, whoops. Luckily she has lots more teeth to lose. 

It was so wonderful spending time with Brittany and her family. It doesn't happen enough, but I guess that makes the time together that much sweeter. And next time we'll actually take pictures of our children together. Good grief...

We then headed back up to Idaho and spent New Years Eve with my cousin Jaqui and her family. Their kids were so fun with our kids and Vivi was in heaven with all the attention. They do a fun gift exchange every New Years Eve and Vivi just happened to get the unicorn themed gift. She was thrilled. 

Here's Eliza with her haul. 

We put our kids to bed before midnight because they were exhausted from all the previous festivities. But Tanner and I actually stayed up; we had such a great time visiting with Jaqui's family. We want to be like them when we grow up.