Liev's Baptism

Liev got baptized today and we couldn't be prouder of him and his decision.  He has been so thoughtful about his baptism for the past few months and asked lots of questions about it.  I know that he felt the importance of this decision and today was a wonderful day witnessing this special ordinance.  We were surrounded by so many members of both families and lots of wonderful friends that love Liev so much.  I hope he felt that love coming from all around him today and the love of his Heavenly Father as well.  

Liev has been saying that he wants to wear a suit when he gets baptized so we got him this black suit that makes him look oh so grown up (tear trickling down mom's face.)  He looks like a man all dressed and ready for this special day.

I feel so grateful to be Liev's mom and watch him grow up and make good decisions.  He's not perfect but he tries so hard to be good and has such a kind heart.  He is a friend to those around him and never says no when I need a hug from him.  I am so proud of this young man that is growing up before my eyes.  

Puerto Rico

Josh turned 40 and to celebrate we took a trip to Puerto Rico!  Sid and Dan and Dixie and Scott joined us for 5 days in the sun and we had such a fun time together.  We rented a house just on the border of the jungle and loved it.  The sounds of all the creatures at night were amazing and we felt like we were in a tropical rainforest!

One of the days we rode the ferry out to Culebra and spent the day at Flamenco Beach which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world!  We soaked in the sun and enjoyed being warm so much.  That night Josh and I stayed on the island and camped in our hammocks overnight.  The others headed back on the ferry and we met up with them the next morning.  We had such a fun night on the beach just relaxing and taking in the island life!  And you can't beat waking up to a sunrise on the beach.  

One of the days we hit a local spot where there is a natural water slide in the rocks.  It was the coolest sliding down the rocks and ending up in a pool of water!  And the best part is that not many people were there cause it's kind of a hidden gem.  We ate lots of good food and loved being with family.

We took a city tour one of the nights and though our tour guide was a little crazy and weird, we did have fun seeing Old San Juan at night!

One of my favorite things we did was take a snorkeling tour and we got to swim with the turtles!  Our guide was awesome and knew just the spots we could go to see lots of wildlife.  Plus she took some pretty great pictures!

We also drove a couple hours to the middle of the island to ride a huge zipline called The Monster.  We had heard of it before and I'm glad everyone was up for trying it!  The zipline is over a mile long and you basically ride face first down a huge canyon.  It was soooo awesome!

We did the bioluminescent bay one night, swam in the pool at our house, played lots of games, laughed a ton, listened to cool latin music and LOVED being there.  When it came time to leave, we didn't want to go back home to the snow and cold.  Such a fun way to celebrate 40 years of this man's life!  Love you Josh!

Choir Concert

Rease and Rhen have been going to school early on Wednesdays all year to be in the choir.  They have put in a lot of work and time and each of them had a speaking part that they have been working on.  Tonight was the choir concert and they all did such a good job!  The songs were so fun and energetic and the girls both nailed their parts.  So proud of them and their hard work that paid off tonight!  

Sledding

The most amazing thing happened today.  School got CANCELLED because of the snow!!!  I swear that hasn't happened in like 20 years!  The kids couldn't believe it and wanted to do something really fun.  So...we went sledding with Aunt Hayley and the cousins.  What better way to enjoy a snow storm than to go play in it?!  We went to a really big hill in Daybreak and just had a blast sledding and playing in the snow.  My kids could not get enough and didn't even mind hiking up the big hill just to sled down it.  There were some major crashes and white washes, but the snow was so powdery soft that it didn't stop anyone from doing it over and over.  It was the best day with awesome snow!

Liev turns 8!

Our oldest son is 8!  I'm not sure how he got so old so fast, but he is quite the boy and we loved celebrating his birthday with him!  He really wanted to go see the new LEGO movie for his party, so that's what we did.  We gathered a group of friends and off to the movie theater we went.  After lots of popcorn, treats and drinks they were settled in to watch the movie.  We had a blast at the theater and didn't even lose track of one of these 12 kids we had with us! After the movie, we went back to our house for cake, ice cream, pizza and presents.  This birthday boy is something special - we love him to pieces!

My favorite things about 8 year old Liev:

1) Liev is very kind and thoughtful, especially to me.  I love being his mom and love that way that he treats me and takes care of me.  He is always giving me a compliment on my outfit, my hair, my shoes or whatever he feels like looks good.  And he is very concerned that I am taken care of.  When we ski together, he is always the one who waits at the bottom of a turn for me to make sure I'm doing ok and that I catch up with the group.  He is my oldest son and takes that job very seriously.

2) Liev is super smart.  He had a rough start to 2nd grade with his eye injury, but he did amazing catching up on all the work he missed and staying right on level with his class.  He has passed off all his multiplication and division facts and reads like a champ.  He works hard in class and has the BEST handwriting I've seen on a kid his age - seriously so good! I can't wait to see the brains this kid is going to develop in the next few years!

3) Liev loves to do anything outside.  Loves riding his bike, jumping on the trampoline, snow skiing, hiking, running, boating, and anything else he can do that gets his energy out.  He is a bundle of fun and energy and is always up for something fun.  

8 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:
Height: 4'6" - 89%
Weight: 62 lbs. 10 oz. - 65%

Happiest Birthday to our Liev!

Keen's Rocks

Keen got a rock tumbler for Christmas and has been diligent about getting us to change the grit in the tumbler every week and counting down the days until his rocks are done.  The whole cycle takes 4 weeks to get completely done and the rocks turn out smooth and shiny and beautiful!

Rhen's Artwork

Rhen made this cool chalk art project at school this week!

And this weather/seasons art collage too.

Ski lessons

Snow skiing is our thing in the winter and we did lots of it this season.  Thanks to a bunch of snow that just kept falling and falling and some awesome ski instructors, our ski season has been a complete success!! Beck settled into the groove after his first lesson and loved his teacher Mia.  He caught the bug and now does not want to stop!  We spent every weekend at Brighton and lots of days and nights in between as well.  Some days, the snow was so good we couldn't resist just taking the day off from work and school and heading up the mountain to ski for the day.  And night skiing is always a hit with the kids so we try and get up there for some of those a few nights a season too.  All in all, we have had a blast together and the kids are getting SOOO good!  I love to see them zipping in and out of the trees, taking the jumps, speeding by me or waiting at the next turn to make sure I'm still coming.  I don't mind that I'm not near as good as my kids, I just love to see them love it and do so well at it!  It is a hoot to be up there together and we can't get enough.  Lessons are officially over, but there's lots of season left and still a ton of snow so we will be back soon! 

Big shirt

Desh put this sweatshirt on and thought he was hilarious walking around with long arms!

Rhen's school projects

Rhen has been working hard in 4th grade and has done a few cool projects lately.  This drawing and essay about an octopus is so cute and well done.

And she made these sand art projects that are super cool!

And also passed off her math facts which is a great thing to accomplish already this year!  She is a hard worker and I'm so proud of what she does in class.

Potty Trained

What's this I see?  Desh going potty on the toilet?  And just like that...no more diapers for this boy.  It was literally that easy.  He told me that he needed to go poop one day so I took him to the toilet to try.  Sure enough, he pooped and never looked back.  I gave a big "whoop" of excitement and cancelled the amazon diaper subscription.  We are officially baby free at our house!!!  What is this freedom I'm feeling?

There was an old lady...

Liev made this cute book about the old lady that swallowed the teacher.  I love the writing and illustrations that he did - such a great project for this 2nd grader!

Temple baptisms

Now that Rease is a Beehive, she was able to get her temple recommend to do baptisms for the dead.  She could not wait for this day to come!  Josh and I took her today and Josh was able to baptize her while I watched from the side and handed out towels.  It was a really special experience to be there with her and watch her full of joy doing that work.  I loved every minute of being there with my oldest daughter!

Out to eat

It's not very often that we take the whole family out to a restaurant.  Simply because it is just pretty chaotic and not a very fun experience for everyone.  But the kids all earned a free meal at Texas Roadhouse from school so we decided to give it a try.  It actually turned out pretty great.  That little bucket full of peanuts kept the boys entertained for most of the night and we went early enough that it wasn't too crowded yet so our food came fast.  We all managed to sneak into this picture, even little Desh who's forehead is barely poking into the picture.  Love all these kiddos of ours!

Citrus Pear

Citrus Pear is our new favorite thing to do!  We gather up a group of ladies and go make freezer meals for a couple hours and have a blast doing it!  We usually end up doing a class about once a month so we can keep our freezers stocked and also so we have a night out as friends.  Love this idea and the yummy food that comes from it.

Bike Race

Rease and Rhen have been in a "tween" fitness class at the rec center and one of their favorite classes is the spin class.  Today there was a spin challenge and the goal was to get to 62 miles on the bike.  There was music and movies on the screen to watch and a handful of kids working hard to get to 62 miles.  I walked in towards the end and watched the girls finish up their last few miles.  Turns out that Rhen won the whole challenge!  And Rease came in 4th place!  I'm so proud of these girls and not just for winning, but for working hard for something that was really difficult.  Good work girls!

Welcome to Beehives!

With the new age change in the church, Rease got a 6 month head start to being a Beehive!  Her cute class came and "heart attacked" her before picking her up for the first activity of the year.  She is so excited to join the Young Women in our ward! I can't hardly believe she is old enough to be there, but she is.  It's going to be a great year for her with her awesome Beehive class.

Ski Season

It's officially here!  Brighton in the winter time is our place and we are so excited to start skiing again.  This year Rease and Rhen are taking "freestyle" lessons and Beck has joined the ranks and has his own set of lessons along with the others.  We are hoping for a great snow year and can't wait to see the skills that are learned on these mountains in the next handful of weeks!

Josh's 40th Birthday

My favorite person and partner for life just turned 40 which means a big celebration was on the agenda!  There is not a person on this planet that is more kind, generous, hard-working and thoughtful than this man and we all wanted to show him how much he means to us as a dad, friend, brother, son and husband.  We celebrated for a solid week and showered him with love, kisses, gifts and lots of carrot cake!!!  Mostly though, we just feel lucky to have Josh Beutler in our lives and know we are all better people because he loves us.  Happy Happy 40th Birthday Josh!  You are the man (of my dreams)!

Sailboats

Question: What do you get when you cross toy sailboats and a toilet?  

Answer: A $99 plumbing bill and a toy in the garbage.

Snow Day

We were so lucky and got a bunch of snow on Christmas this year!  We couldn't wait to get out and play in it!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day started bright and early at our house.  But not too early that Santa didn't have time to drop off a few gifts!  

 The kids all slept in the boys room this year and lined up on the stairs for a quick picture before heading up the stairs (age order of course!)

 We take our Christmas morning slow and easy.  I love to see what each of the kids got for each other, so we open sibling gifts first.  This is super fun for them to give gifts to their brother or sister and for them to feel grateful to each other too.  Love this part of the morning!  

 The rest of the gifts are opened one at a time, although there is some complaining that it's not going fast enough.  But for me, it's worth it so we can all see what everyone opens and their excitement!  Some of the biggest hits this year? A Golden State jersey for Liev, a rock tumbler for Keen, art stuff for Rhen,  a tiny arcade game for Beck, a set of cars of Desh and new roller blades for Rease.  I got the most amazing hand drawn picture from Andy and Kristi that captures our family perfectly!  I teared up when I saw it because it is so priceless.  And Josh and the boys all got mega nerf guns that will come in handy this week for some nerf gun battles!  Overall, an amazing morning together and so much fun to have so many people we love with us too.

 After breakfast and a quick pick up, we got busy playing with our new toys.  Uncle Greg was all in with the kids and did everything they wanted to do.  Play-Doh, new card came, Mancala, basketball, whatever it was he was part of it.  We loved having him with us!  Josh and I, unknowingly, got each other Ninja Suits for skiing and had to show them off together!

We love the family and friends that spent their holiday with us and are so grateful for the memories that we made!  Most of all, we are grateful to celebrate for the birth of our Savior who loved us and gave us His life.  May we continue to remember throughout the year.  

Christmas Eve

Christmas is finally here!  The kids have been counting down for weeks and weeks and I wonder if they ever thought it would get here.  But here it is and one of our favorite people came to spend the holiday with us.  Uncle Greg came to town and we were lucky enough to have him for Christmas Eve and on!  Keen attached himself to Greg's hip and everyone was happy.  We also had my mom and dad and Andy and Kristi stay over with us so we had the best houseful for the holiday!!

 Christmas Eve for us is all about yummy food, reading the nativity story and caroling.  Caroling is a Beutler tradition that Josh says is one of his favorite memories of Christmas.  We have taken that into our family too and we all love it.  This year we graduated from fake candles to the real thing - and it was a hit!  The kids LOVED having their candle lit and keeping it lit while we sang.  This is by far our favorite thing every Christmas Eve.

 After caroling, pjs and off to bed to wait for Santa.

These darling stockings (all made by Aunt Hayley) were hung by the chimney with care - even our visitors added theirs to the mix!