Just January

Somehow all of the time that I couldn't find during the holiday season magically appears in the month of January. Life slows down and there are moments when I wonder what to do with the extra time (most of the list I devise is usually stuff I don't want to do though...like deep clean the kitchen or de-clutter my closet). Don't get me wrong, I still watch Beau twice a week and the Irons at least once a month. Plus I still have to shuttle Jonas to and from all his extracurricular activities, maintain the house, feed Jeff and Jonas, etc., but I'm not executing holiday events/traditions on top of all of that. Instead, life returns to our normal routine. Since I do watch Beau twice a week, I have been reaching out to my niece, Kaia, to meet up with her and her daughter, Zavia, at least once a month. Beau and Zavia are only a week apart in age. This month, we met up at the Museum of Natural Curiosity. This was right up Beau's alley! He was in heaven with all the hands on activities. He really loved this percussion room. He was fascinated with all the drums and was not at all disturbed by the loud music. It's funny to watch both Beau's and Zavia's personalities. Zavia is more reserved and cautious. Beau doesn't know the meaning of those words. He will constantly wander off with no fear. We have to keep an eye on him at all times. I actually really enjoy taking him places though. I love seeing him explore. He is not a child that will ever be content being contained. 

This month, Jonas got to skip a couple of days of school. First up, Martin Luther King Day (Monday, January 19th). Because Jeff, Jonas, and I had finally succumbed to the cold/flu season, none of us were super high energy. However, Jonas and I were feeling well enough to venture out for lunch and an activity. Jonas chose to go to Hang Time in Orem. He usually picks these types of places for days like this. We spent a couple of hours there while he jumped, climbed, and had fun.

A couple days later, Jonas cashed in one of his Ditch Days. He earned a ditch day last summer when he completed a "county project" for me. In 4th grade, students study state history. All the other kids were assigned a county and had to do a report on that county. I waited and waited and waited for Jonas to tell me about his county or when he needed to do a report, but it never happened. I was a little bummed because I wanted to take him to explore that county and make a fun event out of it. So we did it over the summer with a promise that if he completed it, he'd earn a ditch day. (The other ditch day he still has he received in his Christmas stocking.) In any case, he finally cashed it in to spend a day on the slopes. On Wednesday, January 21st, I took him to Brian Head for a full day of snowboarding. We got up with enough time to travel down there, stop at the Creamery in Beaver for some breakfast, and get there when the lifts opened. We then spent 5 hours there before calling it a day. Jonas had a blast!, and I actually really enjoyed being outside in the clean air and sun. I think it helped me get over the hump of being sick. Jonas pretty much stuck to the small hill he had enjoyed when we stopped here after Thanksgiving. He practiced some hops and board maneuvering. There was even a small jump that he was determined to jump and land. It took him two or three times until he was able to do so. He was pretty excited!. Finally, he decided he was done so we packed up and headed toward home. We stopped in the small town of Parowan (which you have to drive through to get to Brian Head) before we hit the freeway so that I could show Jonas his 4th great-grandmother's, Mary Aikens Smith, grave and the house his 3 great-grandfather, Jesse N. Smith, built for her. The house wasn't open for tours so we just walked around and peered in the windows. We talked about how crazy it was to think that here we were, more than a century later, peering through the windows of a house our relatives lived in...then we just climbed in our car and drive away in comfort. We again stopped at the Creamery on our way home to grab some dinner and ice cream. We left at 7:00 a.m. and got home at 7:00 p.m. It was a successful Ditch Day! 

Friday, January 23rd, Jacob has his White Coat Ceremony for Physical Therapy! While he doesn't graduate until December, he has completed 95% of all his classes and gets to spend practically the rest of his time doing different clinical rotations in the field. He has worked really hard to get here. He loves what he gets to study and is excited to one day be able to have his own practice. That evening, each of the members in his co-hort, were presented with their "white coats". They talked about the symbolism behind the white coat and they pledged an oath to their profession. Way to go Jacob!

Jonas celebrated his half-birthday this month too. Normally, I don't get too excited about half-birthdays. I know when mine is, but I don't really acknowledge it, but because Jonas's birthday is during the summer, we celebrate his half-birthday so he can bring treats to his class and so that I can take him out of school for lunch. This year, he chose to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch and to bring donuts (no shocker there) to his class. I was a little sad as I dropped him back off at the school with the donuts. This is it...the last time he will bring treats to his class. I'm not sure I'm ready for him to be done with elementary school. Isn't he supposed to stay little? How is it that he'll be in middle school next year changing classes every hour? It's too soon for my mama heart. In some ways, I'm excited for the new adventures he'll have and the new friends he'll get to meet, but I'm also a little terrified as to what awaits him during that crazy phase of life. I pray the other kids will be kind to him. I pray that he'll find good friends and good influences. Like I said, I'm not ready for this change...even if he is kind of excited for it.

Saturday, January 31st, Jonas and I had a fun opportunity to attend an Utah Mammoth hockey practice. Ski Utah, from which Jonas has his ski pass, partnered with the hockey team to allow a certain number of pass holders (plus one adult per pass holder) to attend a practice. Jonas was pretty excited to have this opportunity. We got there early enough to ensure we were one of the first 500 pass holders to enter so he could get a co-branded Ski Utah and Mammoth beanie. We were also given a voucher for two free hockey tickets (and a discount code to buy one more for Jeff), a Mammoth sticker, and some raffle tickets (no, we didn't win the raffle). We were then allowed into the training facility to watch the team run drills. It was pretty cool to sit so close to the action. Luckily, I grabbed a sharpie that I had in the car and a little pad of paper because once we saw the players exiting the ice, we ran over there and actually snagged a couple of autographs! Jonas was thrilled! Thankfully, I took pictures of the two players (one signed the pad of paper and the other signed his beanie) who were kind enough to stop for autographs because we actually had to look them up on the team roster after the fact. It was Nate Schmidt, their leading defender, and Dylan Guenther, one of their lead scorers. Jonas was even more excited when he realized who they were. We don't really follow hockey, but I know when we go to the next game we'll be watching for those two players. All in all, it was a great morning...and a fun way to wrap up the month!