The List of Learning, 2017 Edition

2017 was a great year and I feel really good about the goals that we accomplished!

We got a dog (even though it wasn't a German Shepard).

I ran a 10k (without stopping even).
We stopped using credit cards.

Kyle got his truck and stayed out of debt doing it.

I read the Book of Mormon in a new record speed (2 months).

And we went to the temple every month again!
I also knocked a few things off my bucket list, like going on a ride along, paddle boarding, soaking in the crater in Midway and going to a balloon festival :)

The only goal we didn't accomplish was building up a 1 year supply of food storage.

We have all our water saved up though!

We just still haven't completely agreed on how we want to do our food storage. Kyle wants a freeze dryer SO bad, but I'm not 100% sold on them yet.

And we are still working on saving up our $10,000 emergency fund. That will be one of our 2018 goals, along with getting a fence! Kyle also wants to finish the bathroom in our basement.
But the #1 goal: POTTY TRAIN KASEN!

 I also want to throw in the goal to visit a new state. I haven't been to a new one since we were married so it's about time for that kind of adventure.

Lastly, we want to visit the Cedar City Temple. 

I should probably learn to make jam sometime too. We've got some good jam from Kristi this year and it never lasts long enough.

And now for What 2017 Taught Me:

1.  Tai cost about $670 more than Kasen, to bring home from the hospital, but the second night there was worth every penny!
2.  It costs $39.88 more for a "long" office visit with a doctor than a regular office visit. They decide how long "long" is, and you will never know until you get the bill 7 months later.
3. Eating cotton candy, carmel corn and chocolate milk for dinner, at the circus will make Kasen throw up in the middle of the night.
4. Kyle does not know the difference between the smell of throw up everywhere and a poopy diaper. He also does not know how to smell a diaper without getting poo on his nose! haha
5. Ticket stubs will stay in my pocket 100% better than $11 cash will.
6. If a lot of smoke is pouring out of your snowmobile you probably lost the radiator cap.
7. Hot glue holds things together way better than superglue.
8. Nobody needs a credit card, even to "build credit".  
9. Use a whisk to dye Easter eggs.
10. When you have 2 kids, but only take one with you to Costco, it is very easy to forget that you brought any kids with you at all.
11. There is a good reason that cookie recipes tell you to refrigerate the cookie dough. Makes them so much fluffier! So just do it.
12. Baby carriers do not fit in Hobby Lobby shopping carts.
13. Some dogs eat carpet.
14. Some dogs only eat their vomit if it's outside on the grass, but not inside on the carpet.
15. Some dogs are too stupid to walk on a leash. Which also means that they don't know how to run with you on a leash without tripping you either!
16. If you put dog poop in the holes they dig then they won't dig in them anymore, however, this does not prevent them from digging 11 new holes in other places.
17. According to neighbors, 52 degrees is too cold for a dog to be outside...
18. Proactive will bleach your pillowcases. And everything else it touches.
19. Don't go to Lake Powell unless you are staying on the water.
20. Online ordering my groceries is the best thing that has happened to me since being a mom.
21. Provo was not the first city to have 2 temples.
22. Yoga classes are enjoyable. Especially when it's a free trial. With my BFF.
23. Wasps don't just sting, they also bite with their little pincers.
24. Cereal box viewers do not work to see a solar eclipse. 
25. How to Paddle board.
26. After your baby gets their shots, don't leave their band aids on for the car ride. They will peel them off, try to eat them and choke on them in the back seat of your car!
27. If you don't enjoy running races straight up steep hills then make sure to research the routes for races you sign up for and don't ever run the Peach Days 10k.
28. I'd rather run a race in the pouring rain than up a hill.
29. When you go on a ride along you have to sign a paper that says "risk of death" 4 different times. And you might not get home until 4am.
30. Broiling only takes a few minutes.
31. Dogs are in heat for 3 WEEKS! 
32. How to cut snowflakes and use cake decorating tips.
33. Water heaters cost $481.72 
34. Never EVER upgrade your OS without first finishing/exporting your imovie projects. Your year long home video project will be MISSING! 
35. Staying at the Homestead Resort is not worth the bad customer service, but swimming in the crater is. On the other hand Shutterfly customer service is AMAZING!

Here's to 2018, Happy New Year!

Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas!

We got out of bed just after 8AM and it was awesome!

Kasen was already awake in his room, but we never heard him. When Kyle went in, Kasen's head was on the other side of his blinds just looking at the "white snow!" 

It finally snowed just in time for Christmas!

On our bed we read a children's book about the birth of our Savior before we went out to see what Santa brought us. Kasen was pointing out Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus and the big star- So sweet.

 

Kasen came running into the front room and first went inside Peeka's dog house, then stopped at Tai's kitchen before he went for his Lightning McQueen bike.

 Kyle got a bag of snowman poop. Just like I told him he would if he said the word "smoker" one more time! He'd been shopping for one and talking about it for months. But I am so sneaky and he had no idea! I got one on a black Friday sale, with my business account, went and picked it up and then hid it in the Eason's garage for a month! Christmas Eve night I sneaked out and wheeled it over from their house to put on our back porch. P.S. It is SO HEAVY! So I had a string tied from his snowman poop to the sliding glass door. When he finally saw it out there he just kept saying, "How did you do that?!"

 Yes, I made him go stand in the snow to take a picture. Then later when he opened his slippers from Kasen he wished that he had opened that present first! lol Don't worry about it getting stolen though because Kyle already found a lock and cable to lock it to the deck.

Kasen when straight for his candy and busted open his chocolate orange! He also got a Cars sleeping bag, snow pants and shirts.

Potty Books! Yay! Hopefully Daniel Tiger and Elmo can help motivate him...
We've also played this Hungry Hippo game with him and are working on teaching him about rules and cheating. lol He likes to use his hands to put the marbles right into the hippo's mouth!

 Tai carried around their toothpaste for a good part of the morning, until we put her in the highchair to chow down on our cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

They switched for a bit while Tai played with Kasen's cars and he played with her Kitchen. I knew he would though. Everywhere we go that has a kitchen- that is his toy of choice! Ours is complete with a coffee maker that we will use to make hot chocolate with instead. :)

They also love this tunnel that Grammy Tammy got them! Tai kept trying to stand up in it though. Haha Kyle even crawled through it and then Kasen tried hooking it right up to the door of Peeka's dog house to crawl into it.

 She also got a swing to put on the random hooks that were in the ceiling of our basement when we moved in! Kasen loved the swing and was so excited to push Tai in it when she woke up from her nap, but mostly she cried whenever he tried to push her. Kasen though, we got his feet to touch the ceiling!

 Grandma and Grandpa Forsyth gave him this awesome car track with a car that speeds around it and lights up the track. I LOVE it because whenever Kasen decides to move it I don't have to put it back together again because it stays all connected!

Kyle got me 3 new dresses, a shirt, two 1 hour massages at a spa, a little back massager, a giftcard to Cheesecake Factory and Olive Garden and all 3 Work and the Glory movies! AND he even wrote me a card!!

 After Kyle was done shoveling the snow, he and Kasen had the cutest little snowball fight! And every time Kasen's hands got cold he would come to Kyle saying, "Huh huh" for him to blow on his hands and warm them up! Throwing snowballs for Peeka to catch was fun too.

Later we went down to Elkridge to have dinner with Kyle's family and open our presents from them. Kasen got more train tracks to add on to the ones he got last year and loves building them. The best were the Harry Potter jellybeans that we passed around to the kids to eat! Kasen would never spit out the gross ones though, he just kept eating them! Ewww

Holly Jolly Christmas Adam and Eve

Christmas weekend celebration started on the Saturday of Christmas Adam.

Grammy Tammy (or "Tummy" as it sometimes sounds when Kasen says it) came down to hang out with us for a little while and we made an impromptu gingerbread house!

 When I say impromptu and you see how much candy I just happened to have at my house you might first think that we love candy, but I will prove to you that the exact opposite it true! I rarely eat candy.

The frosting was left over from Tai's birthday party 2 weeks ago. The kisses are from Dakota's graduation 1 week ago. The mini MnMs are from our green Grinch dinner with the Smiths, earlier this week. Kasen brought the peppermints home, in a trick or treat bag, from my parents house the week of Halloween. The lifesavers are from the stocking Kyle's parents gave us LAST Christmas! And the candy canes... from our wedding, 6 YEARS ago! The ribbon candy was delivered to us that morning from a neighbor. The graham crackers I had. Because 2 kids.

THAT is the story of how long candy will last at our house and how we were able to make an impromptu gingerbread house without having to buy any candy for it.

We actually just barely busted out a chocolate rabbit from Easter and have been breaking off pieces for Kasen's potty treats! Lol

This year is the first year since Kyle became a police officer that he had both Christmas Eve and Christmas day off! So we took full advantage of spending it together.

 Christmas Eve morning we went to Sacrament meeting at church and I sang a couple of songs with our ward choir. I love to sing, but even though I was in choir all through high school and have taken both violin and piano lessons, I cannot read music at all. I like singing with other people. No solos. Our ward choir only has two sopranos and since the other soprano was gone I was going to be all alone- freaking out! Luckily Lindsay Gneiting left the altos to sing with me though! Hallelujah!

 Thanks for holding her hand Kasen! Also, on the way home from church Kasen started using the work AWKWARD. It's the best because he uses is correctly too!

 I asked Kyle what he wanted for his Christmas Eve meal and he chose homemade pizza! I have never made homemade pizza before so I bought a pizza pan and found a pizza dough recipe on Pinterest and we made homemade pizza! Kyle's was a stuffed crust with pepperoni, pineapple, olives and jalapenos. Mine was a white artichoke, spinach and mushroom pizza! Sooo Good!!!
Kasen ate ramen noodles. That is his second favorite food after yogurt. He did eat the rest of the pineapple out of the can though and even drank the juice out of it when he was done!

 This was also the first year that I've bought us all matching pajamas. Kyle loved it....

I thought they were stinkin adorable. All the way from China.
Also, The only pictures with me in them from the entire weekend ;)

 Then we started making our cookies for Santa! I asked Kasen if he wanted to help unwrap the peppermint kisses, but he just wanted to hold the container for Kyle to throw them in.

 He did not want anyone eating any either, they had to go into his container for the cookies!

 He helped me roll the dough balls in sugar though! Until he decided that just licking sugar off of his fingers was more fun. Then I let him put the kisses on top of the cookies. He was so cute trying to count them as he went!

 When the kisses slid off he'd just put a new one on top of it. I had to let my OCD go for this one and just let Kasen be in charge of the cookies. He did so good!

 Later I walked into the kitchen to find Kasen talking to and loving on Peeka. They were so cute the entire night! She is so good to let the kids poke and stand on and pull on her.

 Kasen especially likes looking at her "teeth!"

 Peeka got a new dog house for Christmas and we brought it in before Kasen had gone to bed. He found a good spot to sit and play a few games after we read ALL of our Christmas books and even shook a jingle bell while we read the Polar Express one.

 "Hi Peeka!"

 He even tried it out and snuggled with Peeka in there for a little while. When it was bed time he begged us to let him go to sleep in there, but we sent him to his bed to wait for Santa.