Each year, I like to not only celebrate our national holidays, but I like to honor a few international holidays as well. On January 28th, we had a brief celebration to honor the Chinese Lunar New Year. This year marks the start of the Year of the Rooster. I like to have a little fun with the animal and get the kids some interesting gifts. This year, along with the traditional lucky red envelope with gold coins, the boys got a "flying chicken" and "chicken poop" lip balm. Jonas got a rooster stuffed animal (which he actually likes! I think it's the first stuffed animal he's actually paid attention to).
We had a quick lunch of Yakisoba noodles and pot stickers before the boys raced off to go hunting. Yup...as if their October hunting/camping adventure wasn't enough, they are at it again. This time one of our neighbors got permission from Fish and Game to shoot a couple elk that have been encroaching on his property in Salem. This neighbor graciously let Dallin have one of his elk tags so that Dallin could have another chance at harvesting an elk...and he did! Yup...he was able to shoot an elk! I think he was initially proud of himself for his shot, but when he reached the animal (who wasn't dead yet) and had to make a more direct shot to end the animal's life, I think Dallin was more effected than he thought he would be. Luckily, Jeff was with him to help him treat the animal with respect. They even made sure to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the animal once the animal was no longer suffering. Because of the sacred nature of the hunt, Jeff and Dallin decided not to take any pictures. Still, I had to at least document the event.
The following day, we went over to Gma Penny's house to celebrate Gma Thompson's birthday! We love Gma Thompson!! I am so glad that she (and Grandpa) have lived closer to us. I miss my grandparents and enjoy being able to spend time with Gma T. Her cake may look like it's on fire, but she's only 29 years young!
On February 2, Jeff and I met up with someone we met on our honeymoon cruise. There were 4 couples that were assigned a dinner table together. We immediately latched onto Dillon and Brooke. They are genuine people and super funny to be around. We enjoyed sharing our dinner with them every night and even met up for a few other cruise activities together. I have kept in touch with Brooke since that cruise four years ago. A few weeks ago, she informed me that Dillon would be in SLC for work. I told Jeff and we agreed that we needed to take him out to dinner (unfortunately Brooke wasn't able to make the trip). We took him to The Roof restaurant. We had a blast catching up with him. Sometimes life puts random people in your path that you get to call friends.
Finally, while not a holiday, we celebrated Super Bowl Sunday! I like watching football, but I'm not an avid fan. I couldn't tell you which teams are best or even name many of the players, but I do like to watch the Super Bowl (and all the fun commercials and FOOD!). This year the New England Patriots won the Atlanta Falcons in an unprecedented overtime battle! It was a good game (even if I wanted the underdog Falcons to win)...and a fun evening to just hang out with family.
Life doesn't always need to be exciting to be fun. Sometimes it isn't as much about the big events as the small, random moments that makes life enjoyable. I'm so grateful for my little family and for the opportunities we have to simply celebrate whatever we want together!
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