January. Good Riddance.

Well, it's January 31. The last day of this long, cold month. I am ready to move on. Honestly, I usually welcome January as a really relaxing month. After the business of December, I like that there is nothing to do but watch it snow outside and cuddle up under a blanket for some American Idol inside. It's usually the month that I find time to sit and read a book. I don't feel like I need to have a plan for each day. It's just very chill. Which is nice . . . . usually. 

This month has definitely been a relaxing one. Actually, probably a little too relaxed. There have been certain days that I haven't even taken a shower or gotten dressed. (Shocking for me, but not all that unusual for some of my siblings.) Other days, I have gotten dressed and ready in the morning, to then just change into pajamas again that night wondering, "Why?" Why even get dressed if no one sees me all day and we go no where but to drop off Brie at school and pick her up again. I have also been very lazy with dinners. I've been just rounding something up that is easy when 5:30 is approaching and everyone is asking, "What's for dinner?" I've stuck to a strict cleaning and laundry schedule for years, but this month has kind of been one of "letting go". It's still happening, but just when I (or Scott) feel like it. You can imagine the state of our house right now.

January has been a frigidly cold month. We've had weeks of the highs being in the teens. I drop Brie off at school and it's only 7 degrees!!! So very cold. 

It has also snowed a ton. The snow is not too bad to drive in and quite pretty so I don't mind it much (from the window), but I have a husband that is out snow blowing the driveway for me. I feel for those that don't. It just keeps snowing.

The only kind of snow men this mama makes. 

So, with the cold and the snow, you can bet that these kids are feeling very cooped up inside the house. They are going a little bonkers. They are literally bouncing off the walls. We've played a lot of games, read a lot of books, made cookies, colored a lot of pictures, played with all the toys, etc. Actually, right this very minute as I type this, Ava and Zachary have brought in their scooters to ride circles around the kitchen floor. 

Ava taking Kate on afternoon walks . . . around the kitchen.

But sometimes you just have to get out of the house!  For everyone's sanity.

Ava at the library on a day I let her dress herself, do her own hair and actually be seen in public. 

Ava and Zachary on the PlayPlace at McDonald's. I really, really wanted to avoid this germ pool, but we had to do it. They were seriously more excited to enter the doors of McDonald's than when we arrived at Disneyland. They played and ran around and talked about how fun it was the whole rest of the day!

"Cakers" was loving it too! This girl LOVES french fries!

Trips to Target - my "go to" place when I just want to go somewhere. This trip was for more children's ibuprofen.

We discovered one of the best indoor places to play ever. The trampoline park. They loved this birthday party.

The girls still got to go to ballet class while the rest of us were quarantined to the car.  

And, at least Scott and I got out to go on a date to the temple on a VERY foggy afternoon. 

Along with all the bitter cold have been days and days and days of the nasty inversion. I have never felt the inversion so much as I have this year. It feels like it is suffocating me. It feels so thick. Just dirty, dirty air engulfing us. We can't see the mountains or the sky. It's awful. I was so tired of it that we put the whole family in the car and drove up the canyon and up and out of the inversion to beautiful, clear, clean air. We went up to Brighton Ski Resort and watched the skiiers coming in and had lunch. It felt so good.

And, of course, January brought sickness. It seems everyone around us has something. We usually escape from getting sick, but not this year. I had a full week of feeling HORRIBLE - fever, aches, chills, sweating, coughing, headache and so exhausted. Scott was home from work taking care of EVERYTHING (down to homemade chicken noodle soup) while I was in bed sick. I thank heaven every day for him. Luckily, Zachary was the only other one to be sick. He had his days of fever and then his days of whining and exhaustion. We are all good and happy again now. 

To add to the fun of January, I also didn't get much sleep for a couple weeks because my poor, baby girl had a double ear infection. We got her going on medicine and it seemed to go away for a couple of days only to come right back. She was MISERABLE! She didn't sleep and just whined and cried at me. So sad.

To top it all off. The grand finale of the month. The worst thing to happen to me. To finish January, I had to have one of my teeth pulled out. I spent most of the month with my tooth hurting pretty bad. It was painful every time I tried to chew on it. I went to the dentist and he told me it was a root canal that had failed and it was abscessed. Sooooooooooo, it needed to be removed completely and then over the next 8 months go through the process of having an implant put in. All for about $1300. Great. The removal was so terrible. My swollen and painful hole in my gums is no fun. And I hate that I had to have a tooth removed. I didn't expect that until I was 80.

Moments before the dentist came in to rock my jaw and yank my tooth out of my head.

So, I'm done. Ready to move on to a more loving month. February, here we come.

New Year's Polar Bear Swim

The New Year started off with a bang . . . and then January went downhill from there, but we'll discuss that later. 

On New Year's Eve we had no where to go and nothing to do so we decided to go out to a BBQ dinner. Driving on our way to the restaurant we came upon a young woman (early 20's) who was fighting with a man on the side of the road as he tried to force her into his car. She was yelling, "No! Leave me alone!" and trying to get away. It looked scary. Scott pulled over anyway and I talked to her. I asked if she was okay or if she wanted to get in our car. She got in and we drove her to her sister's apartment. She explained that the guy was her boyfriend and they had gotten into a fight. It was sad to see, but we were happy we were able to help her get away from the situation (at least for the moment). 

Dinner was great. We were served tons of BBQ meat on a trash can lid! Kids loved it. We loved it. We were home by 7pm. And through the magic of YouTube, at 8pm we were watching the ball drop and all the celebrations of New Years (from 2012). Yahoo!!! The kids went running outside to bang pots and pans, they shot of poppers, they saw the neighbors fire works and felt they had a real party. To make it a more authentic New Year's celebration, Zachary then brought me the pie tin he had been banging full of throw up saying, "I threw up in my pan." They all went to bed and then Scott and I got to have our own night of watching a movie and ringing in the New Year with sparkling mango lemonade. That my friends, is the way to do it!

New Year's Day started with the rose parade and then a New Year's Polar Bear Swim and the rec center. It was so fun to be in the warm water and swimming when it was so freezing cold outside. Great way to spend the day!

Brielle and Ava were quite concerned about this girl's modesty. Sorry, Kate. It really was all I could find in your size in January. Thank your Auntie Laura. I think you look adorable!

 Zachary jumping into that deep, deep water. What a dare devil!

 

Happy 2013!