February

Rog and I both read The Martian and were dying to see the movie, so we bought it at Costco with some Christmas money and watched it for a date night. It was really good - even after just reading the book (which can't always be said for books made into movies). Also, Cinnamon Bun Oreos are amazing! 

We went to my cousin, McKay's Eagle Court of Honor and got to see a real, live eagle.

We don't usually watch football on Sundays, but we make an exception for the Super Bowl. I made a bunch of appetizers for dinner. When I was planning the menu, I decided to try some new recipes rather than go with my typical go-to appetizers. I made Baked Honey BBQ Popcorn Chicken (pictured), Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites, Cheesy Roasted Red Pepper Dip, and Fresh Fruit Bruschetta. It was fun to try some new recipes!

I had some fun with blue and orange drinks, cups, and plates since the Broncos were playing.

And whipped up one of my all-time favorite, easy treats in blue and orange. (I bought this football platter for Logan's 1st birthday party because I've been planning on it being BYU football themed since before he was born, but it came in handy here and will be used a lot while watching BYU football games in Oregon.)

Cailey took this picture of us watching the game and it totally cracks me up - mostly that she caught Logan clawing my eye out. 

We were very excited that the Broncos won and attributed it to Grandma Darlene (Rog's grandma that passed away in December) helping from up in heaven since she was a big Broncos fan.

Corbyn and Peyton came down one afternoon while I was making dinner to show me that they had put all of Peyton's bows in her hair (and Corbyn put on his BYU bow tie). 

It made me smile because my BFF, Amber and I did the same thing once. I had to dig up the picture because it's of my favorites from my childhood. (Peyton obviously doesn't have nearly as many bows as we had to work with, but same idea.)

I wanted to make a mango jello salad for my dinner group, but couldn't find a recipe for what I had in mind, so I made one up myself. I basically just followed the directions on the box for adding fruit to jello and then made a jello mousse to put on top (recipe also from the box). It was good, but I think if I make it again I'll try this recipe for the top layer.

I officially got elected to our HOA board. I had been temporarily filling a vacancy created when one of the board members moved last year, but had to run to be officially on the board when the new year came around. I wasn't sure I would be elected because lots of people know we're moving. I have enjoyed being on the board and have especially enjoyed not having to pay dues. (We really didn't want to have to start paying them again after not paying them for the last half of 2015!)

Corbyn made this mandala during the Artists in Residence program at Rees. 

We started up date night swap again after not doing it since Logan was born. We have a total of 9 kids between 3 families - our 3, the Howard family's 4, and the Forsberg family's 2. It's so nice to have 2 date nights a month although I can't say we exactly look forward to our turn to host.

The older 6 are easy. They can mostly just entertain themselves or are easily entertained by a movie or game on the Wii U.

It's Logan and his 2 buddies that are a bit more challenging. This slide kept them entertained for hours, but they can't just play on it alone. One of us had to be helping them at all times.

Logan's the youngest of the 3 and seems so little compared to Kel and Jack. 

We normally do baths at Grandma and Grandpa's house Sunday night after having dinner there. This Sunday we forgot to bring Logan's pajamas, so he came home in Corbyn's sweater. 

We made it to the Ice Castles in Midway before they melted for the year. They were pretty incredible and we were glad we got to go this year before we move to Oregon. We got there later than we had planned, so it was dark and hard to get good pictures. This is the best one we got and Logan is crying because it was his bedtime.

Rhys made Corbyn a blue Megaman out of perler beads and then Corbyn made one from Rhys in red.

Peyton had to make a building to take to preschool for a city they were putting together as a class. She wanted to make a hospital.

We went to dinner at HuHot, a Mongolian Grill, for Jared's birthday. Peyton insisted on this headband that didn't really match and slippers. She also posed herself and told me to take this picture.

Logan got to go to his first BYU Basketball game. We beat San Diego 91-33, so it was a fun game to be at. It took San Diego the whole first half to get over 10 points!

Last year when we took the kids to a basketball game, they didn't eat their dinner and begged for popcorn the whole game. We stuck to our guns and wouldn't get them any. This time they ate their dinner and so we got popcorn. It made for a much more pleasant game that way!

The Woods also had tickets to the game and came to sit by us.

Cailey made a delicious snickerdoodle cookie cake for Jared's Sunday birthday dinner. 

I braved another storm for Ragnar training. The kids said I was a snow monster when I got home.

Our brother-in-law, Anthony, left for basic (and officer) training to become an Officer in the Army Reserve, so Dixie and McKenzie came out for a few days. We went to the Museum of Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point while they were here. Grandma Dixie with 7 of her 10 grandkids - just missing Rex and Edda's boys. 

These 3 big kids had fun playing together.

I mostly hung out in the baby area with Logan. He was just getting the hang of walking around on his own and had fun toddling around and looking at the cute baby in the mirror.

Peyton, Logan, and I met them at the Wilk to get some ice cream one afternoon after they went to the Provo City Center Temple Open House.

Peyton and Jaxon had fun running around together. (Corbyn was crushed when he found out he missed playing with Jaxon and he didn't even know about the ice cream part.)

I got to go on a field trip with Corbyn's class to the Bean Museum. 

I was in charge of Corbyn, Hope Jones, and Rylan Warren. Corbyn and Hope posed themselves like this for almost every picture I took of them.

Corbyn says she's his girlfriend.

We finally found a cougar in the basement. (And I finally convinced Rylan to be in a picture.)

One day Peyton had me make her a peanut butter, jelly, and cheese sandwich for lunch. Apparently they had it at preschool once and she says it is good, but just the thought of it grosses me out. 

Every Thursday Peyton brings home a homework packet from preschool with a book to read and activities to do that go along with the book. This time the book was Caps for Sale and one of the activities was seeing how many caps you could stack on your head. 

February was completely consumed with preparations for the UAB Health Administration Case Competition for Rog. It paid off big time with a second place finish! They beat out a bunch of the big MHA schools and put Utah's MHA program on the map so to speak.

He didn't keep his plaque from last year when they only made it to the semi-finals, but he says he's keeping this one.

While he was gone the kids had a dentist appointment. We celebrated no cavities with ice cream cones from Sonic. (The irony of that is not lost on me.)

To celebrate Rog's victory (and him being home), I made Puffed French Toast for breakfast.

We had a warm Saturday afternoon with nothing planned, so I had Rog wash the new minivan and I finally took some pictures of it! Here he is, the newest member of our family, Sven!

When we were at the BYU Bookstore with Dixie, McKenzie, and McKae I bought a BYU sticker for the window. Now I just need to run Ragnar, so I can get my Ragnar sticker on there!

We kicked off my birthday week with a free piece of cake at Mimi's Cafe for our date night out.

We totally missed Mardi Gras this year, so we declared Sunday, February 28th, our Mardi Gras. We celebrated like we always do with Jambalaya and Beignets for dinner.

And a viewing of Princess and the Frog. Peyton put on her Tiana dress and this kiss was totally unprompted.

We had tickets to go to the Provo City Center Temple Open House Monday, February 29th. Corbyn woke us up that morning saying he was going to throw up and Logan threw up soon after. We figured out later that the Forsbergs got sick on Sunday, so they gave it to all the kids Saturday night during date night swap without knowing it. It wasn't the worst stomach bug we've had, but it slowly worked its way through our whole family (perfectly timed, so I had it on my birthday) and Logan had it forever. We found him with diarrhea and throw up in his crib almost every morning for over 2 weeks. (We took him to the doctor and apparently that is completely normal for babies his age, but geez it was not fun!)

I took Peyton to the open house since she wasn't sick yet (and worried the whole time we were walking through that she was going to get sick and throw up in the temple - she didn't, but was a huge grump the whole time because we all got up too early). She really didn't want to take this picture with me!

It was a busy month, but somehow I managed to get these countdown blocks for Disneyland made.

And these Valentine blocks too. I saw this adorable paper at the Wood Connection and came up with this idea to use it.

And that's it for February! (Phew!)