Spring Break and Other March Happenings

I wanted to start this post with a few pictures about a block party we had one weekend. It's been a dream of mine ever since we moved onto a cul-de-sac to have a block party and invite all the neighbors. Especially now that we know more than half of the people who live on our street, I've really wanted to do this. One night we kind of had an impromptu block party and BBQ, and it just makes me want to do it even more and really put some planning into the next one. It was so much fun. 

The hardest part was getting good pictures in the dark.

Our Spring Break was pretty low key this year. We stayed home and Tyler worked, but we did have some visitors who made it more fun for the kids. The week before our Spring Break started, Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons came to visit. We had fun eating out with them, going to the school to have lunch with the girls, and just hanging out. We met them at Applebees when they first pulled into town. I took a ton of pictures trying to get the right flash without it being too bright, but this goofy picture was the best one of the bunch.

We picked up some pizzas and spent an entire afternoon at the school one day, so we could eat with all three girls. I didn't think about taking pictures until the last lunch, Abby's. It was a really cute picture though. Taryn was a good sport to sit through all those lunch times too.

I had a Relief Society activity the week that they were visiting, so Marilyn went with me. We were celebrating the Relief Society's birthday and we had a dinner. I took a picture of our entire group. We sat at tables determined by our own birth month, so Marilyn and I didn't even get to sit together, but everyone was very friendly and we had a good time.

We love when family comes to visit and are always sad to see them go.

AJ Kasallis turned 12 right before Spring Break and their family had a dinner party with a bunch of families from church. We caught all the youth at one point to grab a picture and I wanted to include that here. They are a great group of kids and I'm excited for Abby to grow up with them.

Like I said, we mostly hung out at home for Spring Break. The girls played a lot of tablets and phones and other electronics. Abby and Taryn looked so cute together on their phones playing games, that I had to grab a picture.They could barely even spare the time to smile let alone look up for the picture.

We did take one afternoon to go to a park to play. The girls picked the "spiderman park" because of its huge "spider's web" that they can climb. I pulled out my phone to take some pictures so we'd have some account of what we did during Spring Break this year.

You can tell from Taryn's hair that the girls also got to play beauty parlor and they colored their own hair using hair chalk that we have. They entertained themselves pretty well during their week off from school.

The girls had fun making up their own games including a ninja warrior course and using the back of the drums as a hiding place.

During the second half of our Spring Break week, Grandma and Grandpa Black came to visit. We just hung out and did some shopping to get the girls new Easter dresses. The most exciting thing we did together was have an ice cream sundae party because we had finished reading 2nd Nephi and that was our treat for finishing that book. It was yummy and fun to have all the exciting toppings like angel food cake, hot fudge, and of course whipped cream and cherries.

The last thing I wanted to include was a birthday party that we went to at Peter Piper Pizza. It happened a week or so after Spring Break, but it was in March and the girls had lots of fun.

The party was for one of Tessa's school friends, but they let us all play, so Aubrey and Taryn had a blast as well. The cutest thing I saw was at the roller coaster video game where it's only meant for two. However, Tessa and her classmates would squeeze as many kids on as possible so they could all enjoy the ride together. Here's Tessa with three of her friends. It was so funny to watch.

Even though we didn't travel anywhere this Spring Break, we still made our own memories and had fun with family and friends.

Aubrey's 7th Birthday

Aubrey celebrated her 7th birthday on February 10th. What made it even more special was that Grandma and Grandpa Black came to help celebrate. The girls were in school during most of the days they were here visiting, but they just tagged along with all our regular activities. They were able to see Abby's volleyball game and I took this picture of Aubrey walking with Grandpa because she's always been a "grandpa's girl." Grandma and I also took pictures of the girls after they were all dressed up and ready for church on Sunday.

Aubrey picked her favorite place to eat for her birthday dinner. That place is still IHOP. She enjoyed her ice cream treat after the workers sang to her. She shared it with everyone too. 

We went with Grandma and Grandpa to eat lunch with each of the girls at school - a different girl each day. We joined Aubrey for lunch on her actual birthday. They love getting to eat at the special family table during lunch and it was fun for us to see the girls during the day. Taryn wanted a picture with me and Grandma while we waited for Aubrey to show up.

Aubrey unwrapped her presents on her birthday and got quite a few fun things. First, she got her own headphones that she begged for after Abby stopped letting Aubrey borrow hers. And they were her favorite color too - blue! She also got a Wii game, a new BYU t-shirt, the Hotel Transylvania 2 movie, a toy butterfly, and lots of shopkins that she opened later when Grandpa and Grandma Gibbons' package arrived. 

Instead of a cake this year, Aubrey chose to have a lemon meringue pie. That's one of my favorite desserts, so I was excited to make it. Aubrey loved the meringue but thought the lemon was too sour, so she'll probably go back to a traditional cake next year.  

We also celebrated with the Kasallis family a couple weeks later because AJ has a birthday in February too. Tyler made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and a chocolate crunch topping. They were really yummy and really rich. 

During the President's Day holiday, we took a family trip to the dollar movies on the east side of town to see the Peanuts movie. We went with the Kasallis's and we were the only people in the theater, so that was fun. During the credits, the kids decided to have an impromptu dance party at the front of the theater. I think it was actually Audrey's idea so the kids were all happy to participate without feeling like they were going to get in trouble. It was a fun way to finish out the month and the birthday celebrations with family and friends. 

As for an update on Aubrey, she's still our headband girl choosing to wear them over having any other hairstyle. She has let me cut her hair a couple times now and currently has it shoulder-length, which she loves. Her favorite color is blue and her favorite things to do include watching Studio C and finding videos of Pentatonix on the computer to watch. She knows all of their songs and sings along with all of them. She still prefers skirts over pants, and she has started wearing cowboy boots every day. She loves them! She wears them with skirts, pants, shorts, and even dresses. It's pretty cute. Aubrey is still our most dramatic and loud girl, but she can also be the sweetest and friendliest too. She's always quick to give hugs and say "I love you" just because. We love our Aubrey!

Happy Birthday!

It's 2016! And We Did Some Crazy Stuff!

To start out the new year, I've collected all my January pictures and some of them seem to run under the same theme of Crazy! But before we get to the really crazy stuff, I'll start with our family's New Year's resolution. We decided, after being challenged in church, to make sure we read the entire Book of Mormon as a family this year. We've done it before, but with more of the girls actually reading this time around, I was excited to start again. I found an idea on Pinterest that gave you rewards after finishing each book, like cupcakes or a dinner out, and I thought this would help motivate us. So far it's been working great, and we're even ahead of schedule. This brings us to my first picture. While reading one night, Taryn was sitting on Tyler's lap, and it was so cute I had to take a picture. It turned out even better when I captured Taryn looking at him. I love it so much!

Cupcakes were the reward after finishing 1st Nephi, so I made a new cupcake to try. It was a chocolate cupcake with a caramel candy center with caramel frosting. I thought they were super yummy. Everyone else seemed to think so too. We even shared them with the Kasallis family. I almost forgot to take a picture so I grabbed one after everyone was almost done eating. I tried to get a picture of the cupcake itself, but it wasn't the greatest. Oh well. The kids were excited for the treat and it's keeping them motivated to read every night. 

In the middle of January, the girls dressed up for class pictures at school, so I took pictures before taking them to school that morning. I love my girls. They're so beautiful! 

And then the craziness begins... Don't you just love Taryn's beautiful picture?!? She still loves taking pictures using Abby's crazy teeth from Halloween. Even though Taryn didn't have a school picture, I couldn't not include her in the pictures of each girl. 

Tyler's been playing softball with some friends almost every weekend. We finally ended up going to his games one Saturday and I decided I needed pictures of him playing. They always play two games and they win one and lose one almost every week. That was the case when we were there too. I love watching them play, and the girls didn't mind watching and playing around the park. I was happy to get some kind of documentation of Tyler's extra activities so that I could post about them here. He plays outfield and always makes the awesome catches. He was too far away to take a picture of him in the outfield, but I did get some as he waited to bat and while he was batting.

I feel like I had to take a picture of Taryn just to have record of the outfit she picked on her own for church one Sunday. Crazy right? She picked out the dress and the tights and refused when we tried talking her into a different pair of tights. You should have seen her with her shoes on too. She picked her white, high-heeled Sunday shoes, but they're like sandals, so her toes were showing and everything. It was awesome! I know she'll love this picture when she's a teenager. We just had to smile and shake our heads and let her go how she wanted to. Apparently her friends still stood by her for pictures, so I guess it turned out fine. :) And finally, Tyler found Teagan's Olaf costume and decided to model it for everyone while we were together with the Kasallis's. 

See what I mean about how a lot of my January pictures were related in the crazy department?!? It was a fun month of spending time together as a family and with our friends. It was a great start to the new year!

Christmas at Home

After our weekend trip to Oklahoma City, we spent the rest of the year at home. Just our family. It was great! In 15 years of marriage, Tyler and I had only celebrated Christmas morning at our own home once. This was our second time, and I couldn't wait. Tyler worked a couple days before Christmas Eve, but then had the next 10 days off from work. We enjoyed every quiet, relaxing day together with the girls and had fun together. Before I get into those details, I forgot to mention two other December events. We had our ward Christmas Party on December 12th, and it was themed, A Night in Bethlehem. We dressed up, ate food from booths, and enjoyed the nativity acted out. I had enough extra fabric with some old sheets that I was able to make robes for everyone in the family. We had our picture taken together before we left. It was a fun evening. Tyler cooked lamb three different ways for the dinner, and Abby played her bass with some other primary kids during the program. On December 15th, Tyler and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. We went out to eat and did our last minute Christmas shopping. Tyler looked up the anniversary gifts and found that timepieces and crystal were both listed for a 15th anniversary, so he found this clock with crystal pieces. I love it! It plays songs on the hour and when the song is playing, hidden pictures of horns show up as the numbers spin. It's really awesome. He always finds the best gifts. I really love that guy!

Once Tyler started his long break from work, the fun began. We organized a Christmas Eve get together with our friends the Kasallis's with their relatives who were also in town. We wanted to do all the usual Gibbons Christmas traditions, so we had a talent show, a pinata, and a nativity play. We started the festivities by making a turkey dinner. Tyler wanted to fry a turkey (which we love doing), so that was our meal of choice. I had to take a picture of him once he had his apron and protective eyewear on. After dinner, we started with the talent show. Abby played Ode to Joy on the piano - a song she learned on her own during the school break. I videoed everyone else, but forgot to take pictures. Taryn and Aubrey both danced to a song and Tessa did some gymnastic tumbling for us. I played my French horn and Tyler even did his famous clogging steps. Everyone in the other families participated as well and we all had a fun time.

Next, we did the pinata outside on our patio. Here are all the kids lined up from youngest to oldest to wait for their turn. I took pictures of each kid getting ready to hit the pinata, but they all looked the same, so I just included Taryn's, so you could at least see what the pinata looked like. We even included a special coin for each kid that coincided with a numbered present that we had wrapped inside. Each was just a little gift from the dollar store, but it was like Christmas came early as they all opened their gifts and had fun playing with them.

The kids were put in charge of the nativity and deciding who would play what part. We even got to use the robes again that I had made for the ward party, so that was great. Abby and AJ were Mary and Joseph, and the youngest child, Nolan (AJ's cousin), was Baby Jesus. We had a lot of angels and only 2 wisemen, which is usually the case with all the girls we have. Taryn opted to be the donkey since the Kasallis's have awesome animal outfits. I thought that was pretty cute. They did great acting and following along as the nativity story was read. 

On Christmas morning, it was just our family, which is what I was most excited about this year. The girls opened up their Christmas Eve pajamas on Christmas Eve, so I was able to take their picture in those pajamas with their Santa gifts before anything was opened. 

Santa, Mom and Dad, and Grandparents must have been extra nice this year as you can tell from all the presents and new things in the picture. From scooters, long boards, and gymnastic mats to tablets, headphones, and games, all the girls were happy with all their presents. We had fun taking breaks after each round of presents to open them and let the girls play for awhile before opening more presents, so that stretched the day out and was a lot of fun and lot less stressful. It was a great Christmas Day! 

So we were invited over to the Kasallis's to swim in their heated pool on Christmas day, which the girls loved. I wished I had taken a picture, because the next day I was taking pictures like the following. We went from swimming on one day to playing in the snow the next. It was so crazy! It started snowing Christmas night and it didn't stop all weekend. Our church was even cancelled on Sunday because it was so deep. The girls loved playing in the snow with all the neighbor kids. Tyler and I even had fun once a snowball fight started with our neighbors across the street. 

Those neighbors, the Romney's, are also from church and good friends of ours. They were in the process of moving to Arizona when the snow came. We were sad that they were moving, but happy to have one last day to play and hang out with them. Their only daughter, Remy, was right between Abby and Tessa in age, so she played with our girls a lot. Here she is on the far left with Claire (another member neighbor), Abby, and AJ. 

Remy's dad pulled out the four-wheeler to take the kids for sled rides up and down the street. My girls took turns riding on the sled. Abby rode with Aubrey and then Tessa took a turn with Remy.

Another neighbor family, the Reddings, were around to play as well. Here's Tessa and Aubrey with Bianca in the middle. They played in the snow and built a snowman together. We really love our cul-de-sac and where we live. We know almost everyone on our street and all the kids play really well together.

Sunday night, since church had been cancelled, Tony Kasallis, got permission to do the sacrament, so we went over to their house and Tyler, Tony, and Tony's brother-in-law, Nate, blessed and passed the sacrament to us all. I took a picture of the kids all lined up together before we started. We had a little spiritual thought afterwards and everyone shared what they love about their family. It was awesome to do something spiritual since we missed out on our regular meetings. We love having such amazing friends! 

That was my last picture of 2015, but we did a lot more fun things that last week of the year. We played our new games, did puzzles, and cooked yummy food. We had the Davis family over for dinner and games one night. (Claire from an earlier picture is from that family.) They also live near us and we get along with them really well. They hosted a New Years Eve party that we went to and had fun playing games and eating food with some families in the ward while waiting to ring in the New Year. All of our kids made it to midnight this year except for Taryn - playing with friends probably helped with that, but they were so proud nonetheless. It was a great 2015. I actually emailed out a family letter this year and was going to include it in the blog, but it pretty much just hit the highlights of things that I've already posted about. So another year down where we've truly been blessed. We love our family and friends.

Matt and Taylor's Sealing

Over Abby's birthday weekend, we traveled to Oklahoma City for Matt and Taylor's sealing. We were so excited to be able to be there to support them during this exciting time. They were going through the temple for the first time and then getting sealed together. And finally, having their baby Tye sealed to them. The Oklahoma City Temple has special significance for me because it was the first temple that I went through during a temple open house. When it was opened in 2000, I remember going through with my mom and seeing all the rooms and having her explain things to me. I had not been able to go through that temple since I received my own endowments, so I was super excited to be able to do a session with Tyler and my entire family. It was an awesome experience sitting with my Aunt and sister-in-law and seeing Tyler, my brothers, and Matt and Taylor. It was so cool. My parents and Scott and Nevla came for the sealing portion and I got to sit by my dad. Melody and my mom sat with Matt and Taylor and I loved witnessing their sealing. Paul was proxy for baby Tye when he was sealed to his parents. That was so emotional. I couldn't keep from crying. I was so happy for them. It was like an epiphany to me thinking that baby Tye, who was only alive for 3 days, had such an obvious life purpose, which was to bring his family together for eternity. I thought it was so powerful and am so proud of them and happy to be a part of their special day.

Afterwards, we took some pictures around the temple grounds and I was excited to show the girls the temple and take a lot of pictures. Here Tyler and I are outside the temple entrance.

The girls loved playing with their cousins even though it was such a quick trip. We were there only one full day. 

 

And here is our family on the other side of the temple with the fountain that kept splashing us because of the wind.

The girls wanted their picture by the nativity that was on the temple grounds. After taking this picture with the three girls, I had to take individual pictures of each girl next to Mary because that's where they all wanted to stand. 

After the temple events, we ate lunch together at On the Border and then hung out at our hotel. We played games and visited and celebrated Abby's birthday. It was a fun trip but so fast. We had to leave Sunday morning to drive all the way back before Tyler had to be to work on Monday. Our drive ended up taking longer than planned because we were stuck on the freeway for over two hours because of a very large multi-semi accident. Luckily, we just watched a movie and ate dinner in our van, but it was hard sitting and doing nothing for so long with no options to go anywhere. We were glad when we finally made it home. We loved being with family even though it was for such a short amount of time. That was our only trip for this holiday season. We spent the rest of the Christmas and New Year break at home and it was nice, quiet, and relaxing. Details to come.

Families are Forever!