January Happenings

The month of January seriously flew by. We had a lot happen that kept us going, going, going all month long. Below are a few highlights of the month.

BRADLEY - he absolutely LOVES having friends come over and playing with others. This particular day we had Eli and Taylee over and he was in heaven.
CARTER - He is one silly kid. It is amazing how creative my children can be with things around the house. My cleaning gloves have been used as socks and the kids also love getting a straw, inserting it into the top of the glove and blowing it up.

TANNER - He received his Webelos in Scouting. Here he is pinning the mother's pin on my shirt.

CAMILLE - She is in the Girl's Choir at school and was able to sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the Flash Game on January 25th. Byron was out of town, unfortunatly, but I took all of the children. Melissa and Dad & Mom Beck also joined us there. Since it was a school night we weren't able to stay for the whole game, but enjoyed the time we had there. Camille and her choir did a great job. After they sang, they were invited to form a line to cheer on the players as they came out onto the basketball court. Camille was given high fives by many of the players. She loved it and felt very small out on the court with all of the tall players:).

During the game, Parker won a t-shirt. They were being thrown into the audience and one went right past us, then was knocked right into Parker's lap by the girl standing up behind us. Parker was glowing he was so excited. The shirt went down to his ankles, but this didn't stop him from wearing it.

Below is Camille singing the National Anthem - she is the shortest girl on the left.

Parker and his cool new shirt.

Dad Beck, Camille, Bradley & Parker

Tanner, Mom & Dad Beck, Camille & Bradley

Johnathan with Aunt Melissa

PASTEL DE CHOCLO - One of the foods that Byron absolutely loved from his mission to Chile was pastel de choclo. It is a corn-based casserole with chicken, hamburger, and tons of onions. I have had a few times and have fallen in love with it also. I found this recipe in a cookbook and decided to make it for Byron. Upon hearing I was going to make it, Byron was so excited. It was quite a process, but I had a lot of fun making it. The strangest part was getting fresh corn on the cob, cutting off the kernals and blending it. This made the yummy topping. Byron & I loved eating it, but the kids weren't quite sure about it. It didn't taste exactly how I remembered, but pretty close.

Parker was my big helper in the kitchen. Here he is helping me cook the onions. Parker wanted to help me cut them up. It thought it was so funny because we both had tears streaming down our face - we were quite a sight :). Parker didn't stay too long for that process, but loved helping me cook them.

The finished product - yum!

CRAZY HAIR DAY - The kid's were able to wear their hair crazy to school and were so excited to see what they could do with it. Luckily they were all in need of a haircut, so it was a little easier to style. I got a good laugh out of them all looking into the mirror. Bradley even joined in the fun.

Johnathan, Bradley, Tanner, Carter & Parker

Cute Bradley!

FARM COUNTRY - Byron had been to a conference in Las Vegas for a few days and upon returning we enjoyed spending some time with him at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. It was a bit chilly, but the sun felt so great.

Byron, Johnathan, Carter & Parker feeding the cow.

Tanner, Carter & Parker feeding the llama.

Bradley on a cute wooden tractor. He looked right at home with his boots on:).

While we were there they were milking a cow. All of the kids took turns and even Bradley did it. Above is Carter taking his turn.

Camille milking the cow - such brave children.

Bradley & I before he got the courage up to milk it himself.

All of us enjoying a tractor ride.