L.O.V.E.ly Time of Year!

Earlier this month, Dave and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. Mom and dad watched the kids, so we could go to the temple in Columbia, SC. After doing some service work there, we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Charlotte. The wait was kind of nuts, but it was great to spend time together. We even enjoyed the car ride; we didn't have to listen to kid music and we could actually hear each other speak! The kids were great for my parents and we were excited to see them after being gone for a while.

 For the past few years, we have been "fortunate" to get snow in the winter. I am not the biggest fan of snow it cold weather, but the boys really enjoy it. I promised them that if it didn't snow in December or January, I would take them to the mountains in February. 

Valentines weekend worked well with our schedule to take them. We left Dorothy with my parents and drove an hour and a half up the mountain. Beech Mountain has a sledding hill with 4 lanes and multiple safety officers to keep everyone safe. Lincoln could have kept going the whole day, but Drake wore out quickly. It was a cold, windy walk up that hill! 

Drake's last straw was falling off a small retaining wall, when he tried to run away from me (totally typical). Lincoln really wanted to keep going and he wanted to go down the most dangerous run, but Dave told him no. In order to calm Drake down, we took the boys to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. We had a really nice time together!

I would have liked to go back to the hill, but I knew Drake was tired. In 2 minutes he was out!

 I'm glad we had this fun adventure, but guess what? The forecast says it's going to snow tomorrow? 

King for a Day

Lincoln got to be a king for a day at school in January. About every 3-4 weeks, the kids study a new "domain" and end it with a project that they have to present to the class. 

Lincoln had to make and present a family crest. They had a royal lunch the next day, where they got to dress up as kings and queens.