A Brand New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I know we're a little late in posting for the New Year, we've just been a bit overwhelmed with all we have to post.

Mommy sleeping away with Kodee


Card games with dad


Our cool TV puzzle Santa brought us!


Family Pictures at the Leinbach residence!! Sitlally's whole family came down from Mexico! Jaxon was fast asleep when we took these and we decided not to wake him up.






We took Jax to the old restaurant Los Hermanos that Ari and I used to work at. Here Jax is enjoying a Diablo Verde (made with avacados and lime. . . mmmmmm!)


We are so glad we were able to see some of our UT friends while we were up there. Here are some of the highlights.

Ari's old roommate Jenna and her cute baby girl Olivia!




Stopping by to see Garrett Coates (my old mission comp. . .the best ever! And his wife Holly and new little girl Miley!)





This is a rare one of Kodee's whimper face. Here he is with Miley!


Usually he looks like this. . .


Or this. . .


We went to visit Ari's old roommate Lisa and her daughter Crystal and Jax hit it right off. They had way too much fun together. For those of you who don't know Lisa, she's hilarious and you'll have to watch her, Ari, and another roommate Jeanette in a rendition of My Heart Will go on.





Here they are with Lisa's baby, Seth.


We finished off Christmas and New Year's in UT and had a blast. Jax was pretty sad to leave his UT grandparents but at the same time happy to leave the snow and get back to his "Safford Winter."

We were especially lucky because Aunt Kim was able to drive back with us and help with the boys for a week. It was so much fun having Kim here (and I have to tell you we ate some of the best meals we've seen at this kitchen table.) We were able to show here some movies she hasn't seen yet and play some fun board games.

Dave's last squeeze with Kim before letting her go to AZ! He was a good sport to have his wife gone that long.


Jax and Kim played peek-a-boo on the way home.


It was just us and the open road.



Occasionally we had to look out for roads with ice, like this. . .



But we made it home safe and sound!! We drove it in one day, but it was so much easier with Kim in the car to help occupy the boys. We got home at about 1:30 in the morning.

Sisters. . .Sisters. . .everybody loves to have a sister!


You can't tell they're related at all. . .right? Our Bishop mistook Kim for Ari at church the next Sunday.

Kim's new shirt! Love da teal!


School's been great this past week. I can tell the kids are roarin' to go again. It's amazing what a winter break can do for people. They all seem excited about the music selections for their spring concerts. It's been a little challenging getting back on that early schedule again and having to give myself a bed time, but doable.

Another surprise when we got home: our IKEA shelf from mom and dad (our Christmas present.) We love it, it's our first "non-hand-me-down" furniture. We'll have to slowly build to our collection because it makes us feel so much more established. I built the shelf myself, but Jaxon tried to help a lot. It was funny, he would just come and push against the wood as hard as he could. He was really working up a sweat. . .as was I.




The finished product! Do you think I could win a "Design Star" challenge? J/k


It's been pretty exhausting getting back into the daily grind!



We are a happy family!!


This weekend I had a Music Teacher Convention in Mesa, AZ. It was so fun to take a day off of school and go stay in a hotel and work on my professional development. There's another one coming up in March in Oklahoma City that I really hope to go to, but we'll see. Mommy got Jax all dressed up and punked up for me to see. We missed eachother so much. The whole 2 days I was apart from them.

Goodbye Kim! Thanks for the fun visit, Jax and Kodee will sure miss you. (We will too!)


I'm loving our new 11:00 church. Sacrament attendance has seemed to have doubled and everyone just seems more aware of what's going on. We got our new Sunday School kids and they're a blast too. Today the lesson was on the Apostasy and the Restoration. Ariana does such a great job, I just add my little bits here and there to her amazing lesson plans. One kid pulled out a tooth in the middle of class and quietly asked me if he could go get a drink to wash his mouth out. (I remember doing something like that when I was his age. My teacher threw my tooth away though, so I made sure he got to keep his:)

Jaxon astounded us today with his attention to detail. He was holding Kodee with Mommy and Kodee started to get a little fussy so what does Jax do? He pulls up his shirt and turns Kodees' head to his chest and smooshes him in there. Aw. . .sweet Jax, the things we have yet to teach you. Just now as I write this, he's jumping on the bed and fell off and got a big scratch on his back from the corner of the bed side table. Jax cries for a second, wants a "kiss it better" and now he's off and just fine again. Crazy, tough kid.

Oh. . .P.S. quick plug for Bride Wars. HILARIOUS! You have to see it and laugh your heads off. It's a great ab workout. Speaking of workouts, time to hit the gym for the annual "I'm gonna lose weight" resolution. Peace out till next time!