The Carters Visit Utah

This year, the Carters decided to visit us in Utah.  They love skiing, but hadn't skied in Utah.

We spent some really fun days with them.   They rented a house not too far from our house and we had a chance to spend some quality time.  I actually ventured into taking some lessons and tried to learn how to ski.  It wasn't easy.   It took me a part of this 2013-2014 ski season to learn how to not fall as much.  It took me a while to actually enjoy it.

Newel and Arden did a lot of the skiing with the Carters.  Since I was just learning, I didn't ski as much.

Maya and Kevin took lessons together and Ellie and Arden ripped it everyday.

There's not much more to say.  We spent some quality time with them. We had a blast with them.

Taking Ski lessons in Alta

Eating dessert at Deer Valley

Walking around in Park City

March 2013

Look, who is a lucky girl! Newel had to take a trip to Florida to meet with some people about a project for work.  He invited Maya to go with him on this special trip.  Maya was very excited to go with her daddy.
Every now and then, Newel takes one of our children on a trip with just him.  He usually took Arden, since he is the oldest. However, now that Maya is getting older, she gets to go on special trips with Newel as well.  Newel still had to work, but we made arrangements, so Maya could spend a couple of days with Abby and Lito.

Romero got tickets for them to go to Epcot Center and Disney.  They had a blast spending that time together.  Maya was in heaven! She had her cousins and her grandparents at one of the "happiest" places on earth.

While Newel worked, Maya spent those days with her grandparents.  It was epic!

Funny side story.  Arden took it really hard that Maya was going on this trip and not him.  So, the night before they flew to FL, Arden didn't sleep the entire night because he was sad.  As a matter of fact, some time around 3AM, I woke up to a noise downstairs.  It turned out, Arden was carefully taking Maya's clothes out of her carry on suitcase and trying to make himself fit in it.  I felt really sad for him, and annoyed at the same time. I sent him to bed and made him go to school the following day.

Maya and Abby are picking out the perfect princess crown.  

Dinner at Berns

Once he arrived home from school, he was so tired from being up all night, that he took a four-hour nap.  We ended up having a great weekend just the two of us.  Although, I think Maya had the most fun.  She also visited her Great-Grandma GG, and had a fancy dinner at Berns' Steakhouse.

Pinewood Derby:

This was Arden's first year doing the Pinewood Derby race.  It was a fun family event.  Our friend Nate Wojnowski helped Arden design and cut out the car.  They were so cute working together and painting the car.

Anansi Performance:

For Arden's class, they are required to do a performance once a year.  Arden was the MC for the play.  He totally didn't want to do it, even though, with some practice, he did a really good job.

There were some projects I worked at home.  I found this doll house at Savers for $12 bucks! So I took it home, sanded it and painted it.  It turned out pretty cute. A few weeks/months later, we switched  rooms with the children. We decided it was best not to move from our house, but since the kids are getting older, they need their personal spaces.  So gave them our room, with the condition that they keep it clean and tidy.  We moved to their small room and was kind of a challenge making everything fit.

Maya got all camera happy and took the rest of these photos.

January/February 2013

For the sake of keeping it short and making an attempt to catch up on my blogging, here are some highlights, or actually taking the time to remember to snap a shot, of our adventures.
Newel worked on growing a beard.  He grew it until it was time to teach at BYU again...or kept it for a while longer.

We headed up to the mountains once the inversion got really bad in the valley.  It was a really great day so sunny and you could breathe the clean air.


Maya started skiing.  She was so stinking cute. She really liked it, but it took her a few more tries before she got the hang of it.

I enjoyed watching the kids ski and hang out at the bunny hill.

In February, we were still having scheduled playdates with our pre-school friends and we had a Valentine's Day cookie decorating party.   It was pretty sweet.

We also went all out with our Valentine's Day decorations and table setting.

Maya went all camera happy taking shots around the house.




Arden felt he was looking exceptionally good that day and asked me to take his photo on our way to church.  What a handsome boy!

December/Christmas

It's amazing how quickly time flies.

Piet got baptized! It was a nice event and I think Rosemary was also blessed. But I don't remember.


Arden and Maya just loved holding Rosemary.

Arden and Newel concentrated on improving their skiing skills.

Maya had her Pre-school Christmas program. It was really cute.  She dressed up by wearing her Mexican outfit.

One day, I was sick of the cold, so we went to the pool to swim, it was so nice.

It was not too long before it was time to have our family Christmas Party.  It was Mexican themed.  We made tamales, beans, and well, it was a feast.

There was a contest for the best elf outfit. There were lots of great outfits.   It was a pretty great night.

Cutest Christmas elves. 

After feasting with our delicious foods and having a meaningful Christmas message, we opened Nate and Jessica's presents...It was crazy fun.

Then, on Christmas morning at our house we had our own little family Christmas and opened presents.  It was really nice.

So, before Christmas, we tried to take a family photo to send out with our Christmas card.  We weren't too successful, but this is what we came up with.
I know years from now I'll look at these photos and laugh and totally love them.  I love them already.