New year, new post!

So my new goal is one blog a year! YES! 2013 is DONE! I have long since given up feeling guilty about not blogging as often as I wish I had time for, but hopefully this year I can make more time to share our life with those we love, especially those far away. I am always thinking about you and wishing you were a bigger part of our daily lives so it is a worthy goal. But when the choice is between blogging and something of more "value" (like playing with my kids or me getting some exercise), I'm going to choose the other every time. I just haven't felt like I could make the time. Even now, Luke is waking up from his nap in the other room and Cole is restlessly wanting to look at something else on the screen. ANYWAY, confession is over, let's just hope I can do more this year!

I'm not even going to try to account for the past several months... so here's some recent things we've been doing.

The kids are huge into taking pictures around the house of everyday things, our phones and cameras are full of shots like the following...

 Usually a blurry close up of some random object. It's kind of fun to flip through and see what caught their eye. One day I found one of me sleeping on the couch, I don't ever even remember falling asleep on the couch in the past 3 years.

Lots of this has been going on, wrestling and being goofy especially when daddy's home. The other night at dinner I was asking the kids questions to see what their first response would be, I said "Who is funnier, mommy or daddy?" They both quickly said "DaDDY!" Then Tyler, not wanting me to feel left out, said "Who is cuter, mommy or daddy?" And Kate without hesitation said "ME!". Haha, we couldn't stop laughing.

Can't stop looking at this cute little face either, although his little-ness is slipping away each week. Luke is 7 months and such a joy. He is calm and mellow, content and playful. He loves it when Cole and Kate talk and laugh with him, and he can keep himself busy and content when there is times the other kids need me or I have to do house things. We have moved him into his crib in the big kids room and it's been great! First week rocked, and now we're going through a little phase where he wants to wake up early and that gets the other kids up too, but we're hopeful that will soon pass. We love having our room back though.

This bouncer has supplied all three of our kiddos with hours of entertainment. He loves to kick and bounce himself and watch everything from this view.

My three boys after taking a wonderful Sunday nap, could you tell?

Maybe the BIGGEST most exciting thing that's happened at our place in the past several months is Kate is now POTTY TRAINED!! Woohoo! We've brought out the potty and talked about it and tried it all before, but she's always not been too interested until a few weeks ago she said Mom, where is my potty? And I got it out and she went and has been awesome ever since. Here she is with her big girl undies on, feeling so proud :)

We had the biggest snowstorm of my life last week, a good 17 inches over two days. They even cancelled school that first day which I have never seen. It was super dry and powdery which is great for the resorts but we couldn't even pack it to make snowballs/snowmen. Bummer.

The view down our street.

The kids had a blast being pulled around on the sled - that's our good friend Ellie in the back.

Tyler then hooked up the sled to the truck and we pulled them around the church parking lot till their toes froze off. Cole still wanted to keep going, even after a couple face plants.

Gotta go potty!

It seriously was surreal.

Love him.

 Tyler and I loved running the Beat the New Year 5K in SL on New Year's Eve this year. Rod and Lisa were in town so they babysat while we went down and froze. It started at 11:30 and the point was to finish the 3 miles before midnight, and we did it! It was 16 degrees but not too bad once you got warmed up. We got our game faces on pre-race.

 Here's just two of my faves from Christmas, I couldn't resist. Look how grown up Kate looks baking with grandma! So cute.

These two are such good buds, I love hearing them laughing and growing up together. It's so great to have a built in friend all the time at home.

I'm excited for this new year and all the opportunities to grow I know it will bring. I'm looking forward to a couple half marathons, hopefully one mid-March to get me motivated through the winter and then one after summer. Also excited for a couple trips to Oregon, one for a wedding!