February

Warrior Award- 2/6/17

February is always a fun and busy month.  We started off the month with Kadence receiving the Character Counts award for the month of January.  Each month the teachers choose 2 students from their class who have shown exceptional behavior or academics.  Kadence's teacher said she is a hard working student who is a joy to be around, sounds like I'm raising them right, lol.

2/10/17

A few days later we celebrated Kadence's 11th birthday with a sleepover party, pizza, yummy treats, and a Coldstone ice cream cake.  Those girls giggled, were extremely loud, and stayed up all night, but it was worth it to see the smile on my little girls face.  She invited her 4 closest friend- Samantha, Bailee, December, and of course Kloe, her and Kloe have been pretty much inseparable since we moved in next door to her.

Kadee's 11th birthday party 2/10/17

The sheriff's office gave Rory some tickets to the Jazz game, so the next day we headed up north to eat some yummy food and go to the game.  Our tickets were at the very top of the stadium, but we had a blast.  We all wore our Jazz shirts since it was True Blue fan night and Rory caught a Jazz hat so the evening was a success.    

True Blue Jazz fan Night- 2/11/17

We didn't really celebrate Valentine's day, we had dinner at home, I got the kids caramel apples and little stuffed animals and Rory got me roses and my favorite, chocolate covered strawberries.  Connor finished up the basketball season and has loved playing ball for the middle school.  He is going to be doing a traveling team in March with some of the other 6th grade boys on the team.

MHMS 6th grade basketball team

Kinlee and Kadee have been rocking it at school, they both got Kudos club this month and Kinlee leveled up on her reading again.  I had parent teacher conferences, their teachers adore them, although Kinlee's teacher said she likes to talk a lot, I can't imagine where she gets that from. :) Kadence has had perfect attendance all year, then she got a fever and had to miss school on Tuesday.  She was so upset to break her 100% attendance streak, but I'm super proud of her for being so dedicated to not missing any school.

Salt Lake Temple 2/17/17

We were invited to attend my cousin Kelsi's wedding at the Salt Lake Temple this past weekend.  It was a beautiful ceremony and of course I had to get pictures of the kids on the temple steps.  I told them to stand still like a mannequin and these are the poses I got, man I love those crazy kids.

Finally, I quit my job at HeadStart.  It was super stressful and I was sick all the time, so I felt like it was a good decision to quit and be able to spend more time with my family.  Things are going to be a little tight financially, but I think it will be a blessing to not work full time so I can run the kids around, help them with their homework, and participate in their school activities.  I think when one door closes another one opens, so I feel a great opportunity is right around the corner.             

Kudos Club- 2/15/17

Valentine's day- 2/14/17

Kudos Club- 2/22/17

January

January has been the longest month ever.  We've gotten so much snow!  I honestly can't remember the last time we had this much snow.  A few days ago it snowed 12 inches in a matter of hours.  That being said, I've been a little down this month, I'm definitely looking forward to February.  Rory and I did have a nice little overnight getaway to SLC last weekend.  I bought him Jazz tickets for Christmas, so we went up North and went shopping, ate lots of food, enjoyed a great Jazz game, and soaked in the hot tub at the hotel.  It was a much needed night away.

Connor is still playing basketball for the middle school and he loves it.  He's been super sick with a double ear infection and has been pretty miserable the last few days, but finally went back to school today.  He is doing really well in school.  We just got a postcard from his math teacher saying how much she enjoys having him in her class and how well he's done on his SAGE testing.

Rory took Kadee and Kinlee to the BYU vs Utah gymnastics meet for a daddy daughter date.  They went to the mall and had dinner and window shopped first.  They had so much fun at the meet and the girls have been talking about the great time they had with their dad ever since.

Kadee got another perfect attendance award at school, she hasn't missed one day all year.  I'm super proud of how hard she works in school and on her talents.  She practices piano every morning and has worked so hard on her back hand spring.  

Kinlee lost another tooth and has been reading like crazy.  She keeps leveling up in the leveled library at school and has made so much progress with her reading.  I love to listen to her sing on her karaoke player and she is constantly making up dances in our living room.  

Matthew, like Connor, has been really sick, I swear my kids are always sick this time of year.  Actually, we just found out the poor kid is going to need tubes, he has his appointment with an ENT in a couple weeks.  He also started basketball a couple weeks ago.  He loves it!  He forgets to dribble a lot, but loves to shoot and steal the ball.  Rory and his cousin Eric Branch are coaching them and it is so cute to watch those little 4 and 5 year olds run around.

 

Catching up

I have been a total blog slacker.  I'm working like crazy, running kids around everywhere, and have completely neglected my blog.  Here is a quick recap of our Christmas so I can get my 2016 blog book ordered.

We had our annual Bradley Christmas Eve party at Debbie's house.  She cooked us a delicious prime rib dinner, the kids acted out the nativity scene, and we opened presents.  Christmas was a whirlwind.  We had church at 10:00 am, then headed to Nana and Papa's for Christmas breakfast and then to open presents.  As always the kids were spoiled by Santa, friends, and family.  Susan sent us money for Christmas, so the day after Christmas we took the kids to Logan for a little family adventure.  We went to Hardware Ranch to see the elk, went to a movie, swam in the pool, and Rory, Connor, Derk, and Debbie visited the Crystal hot springs. We even got to stop and see Grandpa Wally and Drake on our way home. Unfortunately I ended up with pneumonia, so I spent most of the trip pretty miserable.  Rory and the kids have assured me that they had a great time, even though I wasn't very much fun.

2016 was a great year with a lot of fun memories made!  We rang in the new year at home; playing games, eating food, having a silly string war, and enjoying each other's company.  I can't think of a better way to ring in the new year than with the people I love the most in this world.

Rory and the kids on Christmas morning

Nana, Papa and the kiddos

Hardware Ranch, Logan, UT

 

Blue & White Game

 Connor had his first blue and white game for Mont Harmon Middle School last Wednesday.  It was so fun to watch him play and I am so proud of him for all the hard work he's been putting in.  Yesterday they had their first away game in Vernal.  They ended up losing but Connor made a 3 pointer and his free throw shot.  He is really enjoying the early morning practices and the friendships he's making. Sunday he was made the Deacon's Quorum President, so between that, scouts, homework, and sports he is one busy boy (and still manages to make the high honor roll!).

Our annual Cookies and Caroling with friends was a success!  Once again we went to Brittnee's house and decorated cookies and then headed out and sang carols to lots of different people in the community.  It was fun visiting and singing with the Miller's, Schauugard's, Barlow's and Hobb's.  

The elementary school didn't do PTA reflections last year, so both my girls decided they wanted to participate this year.  Kinlee used water colors to paint a picture of her dancing on a dance floor and Kadence took a picture of all our dance shoes in the shape of a heart.  I'm very proud of them for getting out there and trying new things.  

Kinlee's school pictures did not turn out this year, despite having retakes done, so I had Jean Campbell take some pictures for me. She wanted to practice, so she took some of Kadence in one of her dance costumes also.  She did a great job and I absolutely love Kadence's ballet costume this year and Kinlee's adorable smile and feet.  

The Nutcracker

For the past 4 months Kadee and Kinlee have rehearsed every Saturday for the local production of The Nutcracker.  This past weekend was finally show time and they were so excited to strut their stuff on stage.  I decided to be crazy and plan the Curtis family Christmas party for the same day as the matinee showing so my grandma could come and watch the girls dance.  So, we had a performance on Thursday night, we also had Rory's company Christmas party on Thursday night.  His white elephant gift was this hilarious puzzle, and we also won 2 tickets to Lagoon! Friday night we had another performance, Christmas party Saturday morning, Saturday Matinee performance, and Saturday night performance.  By the time the weekend was over we were exhausted.  Then, to add to the excitement, Kinlee lost her first tooth on Sunday night!  She was so excited to call nana and grandma and tell them, and then to put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy.  The tooth fairy left her $2 and our elf on the shelf, Max Powers, left her a message on the bathroom mirror, he was just as excited as she was that she lost a tooth!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Our visit with Santa was fast but fun!  We went to Wellington City hall and there was no line, so we got to sit on Santa's lap right away.  Kinlee went first and asked for a Karaoke player, then Matthew who asked for a motorcycle (but he's getting an electric scooter), Connor who asked for a gun, and finally Kadee who asked for a phone.  After our fun visit with Santa we went to Single Stop for hot cocoa.  It was a fun little outing that got the kids even more excited for Christmas (if that's even possible).    

Happy thanksgiving

As always we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family.  We went with Rory's family this year and had a delicious, perfect meal at Debbie's house.  We then played a game called Telestrations and had so much pie I thought I would burst.  Grandma and grandpa Curtis came down for the weekend, but they had their dinner with my mom and Gary at Patty's house.  It was still really nice having them at the house and the kids enjoyed teasing grandpa.  He doesn't really know who they are or what's going on, but he's always a good sport about playing with them.  Grandma is still doing well but can't walk very well and is slowly losing her hearing.  It's hard to see the people we love age.  I pray that I can age gracefully so my kids don't have to take care of me too much haha.