January in a Nutshell

January 2013

In effort to keep up with this family journal, I thought I'd dump a bunch of photos in a single post to encapsulate all of January.

Here we go-

 Annika kept giving everyone high-5's with my oven mitts on.

 

Annika's favorite hide-and-seek place is the strange cubby behind the couch.

Annika loves getting in her brother's bed and sometimes fakes being asleep in effort to avoid going to her crib.  

 But they can never stay serious for very long :)

I couldn't resist taking this picture.  Branson loves Mario Kart and the girls love to watch him in action.  

Oh, Annika.  When I saw her chocolaty face, I ran to the pantry and found the remnants of Hershey Kisses all over the pantry floor.

    

What's more fun than walking around blindly with a cardboard box on your head?  Leave it to Annika to find joy in the simplest things.

Family Home Evening

I seriously love having family in town.  We had the Taylor's over for FHE one night.  We did the lesson, they did the treat.  

My mom, Auntie Lilah, and my sister Ellen joined us too!  It was a pleasant surprise.  My mom had been hospitalized for pneumonia and they drove up from California to visit her.  The night we were scheduled to do FHE with the Taylor's, my mom was released from the hospital.  So we invited them to join us.  They were in for a treat... 9 kids and very high ceilings.  It was loud.  But fun. 

I read the Book of Mormon story of Captain Moroni as he led his 2,000 stripling warriors into battle.  We armed Zachary with the full armor of God - complete with the shield of faith, sword of the spirit and helmet of salvation.  We learned that we can be like Captain Moroni as we find protection in righteousness.  We also talked about how we can put on our own spiritual armor every day to shield us from the "fiery darts of the wicked".  

Then we let the other children throw their "fiery darts" (marshmallows) at Zachary as he protected himself.  

Since they've moved here, we get together regularly.  Whether it's Sunday dinner, FHE, or a movie and popcorn night, we so enjoy spending time with the cousins.