I can't believe I haven't blogged for over a year! I don't know what I've been so busy with, but this has clearly taken a back seat. So I will summarize this year by season, starting with what has happened most recently.
This spring has been like any other, rainy days, sunny days at the park, a couple Rockies games, Cory's birthday, the countdown to the last day of school, and soccer games.
Cory decided it was time for Colin to have a father-son trip, so they invited Grandpa and went to Seattle and Vancouver for a few days. Colin got to the top of the Space Needle.
Brooke passed the beginner level of gymnastics and does cartwheels any chance she gets. Brady picked his electives and he's excited for middle school in August.
We got our first fish, Rosie, on March 10. She survived 8 days with us.
We went to Santa Fe for spring break. It was fine, not my choice. It may look like we were buys but there's really not much to do there so we returned a day early.
We got our second fish, Blue Jay, on April 5 and he has survived over a month already! Dear Sherry flew out to watch our kids so we could celebrate Cory's 10-year dental school graduation anniversary in Costa Rica. The food was great and the landscape was breathtaking.
This cute bed and breakfast place give us a real wooden key.
We drove to the Arenal volcano area and hiked down to a waterfall. Let's just say the water was pretty cold.
Tabacon was probably the fanciest place I've ever been. It's everything you would imagine in a luxurious jungle resort.
We headed to the west coast and checked into an all-inclusive resort on the beach.
Miami Vice: my drink of choice on a beach vacation
And pina coladas are Cory's drink of choice. But look at those fancy desserts!
Crocodiles got Cory all nervous. Ha!
We headed into the jungle to see some monkeys.
And to the beach where Cory literally had a fish jump out of the water and slap him in the face!
Cory spoiled me with a river rafting trip. We loved this so much!
Costa Rican money: LOTS of coins, but the bills are pretty, and different lengths depending on the amount. I think that's actually pretty smart.
San Juan, Costa Rica LDS Temple
FaceTiming the kids every night was fun. They did great for Grandma.
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Going back to winter, the holidays were really fun this year. Instead of lots of presents under the tree, we gave our kids a trip to Mexico this Christmas. They had never been out of the country, so that was a fun adventure for them. Our time with Grandma at the all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta over "Little Christmas" will be remembered.
Brady completed Cub Scouts and received his Arrow of Light.
Jocelyn had a procedure done to clear up her clogged tear duct in her right eye. It was a minor procedure and fairly quick recovery.
Brady wanted to play volleyball this year, so he tried that instead of basketball. In the final game coach said he had proved himself and finally allowed him to serve the ball overhand. He loved volleyball, but he's ready to go back to basketball this winter.
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Fall, 2017 was the usual with getting back into school, soccer season, birthdays, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.
Colin started preschool and is a leader in the classroom. He is already learning that when his friends make bad choices that he needs to play with other kids who are making good choices.
Brooke started taking piano lessons and her first recital is in a couple weeks. Jocelyn potty-trained quickly and she is even wearing underwear at night. This year Brady was too old to go trick-or-treating with me, but Brooke was on board. She scored on the candy and decided going out with me after dropping off the younger kids is definitely the way to go. I decided these guys are good to do that for three years until they're too cool for Mom.
Brooke's grandparents came and participated in her baptism on November 4.
We spent Thanksgiving week at home doing puzzles and seeing Santa at Bass Pro.
Cory and I love our Maggiano's birthday celenbrations.
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Summer 2017 was so fun! We kicked it off with a fun visit from Grandma and cousin Caleb.
It was the year both families wanted a reunion. In June we went to Fresno for a stay-cation-type Higginbotham reunion where we did daily local activities like riding the train to Hanford for ice cream and spending one day at the beach.
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| Ice cream for daaaays |
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| Girls night with dinner and shopping |
We celebrated Jocelyn's 2nd birthday.
Colin completed his reading lessons! He was such a champ about getting those done, and he progressed very quickly through them.
We did swim lessons when we got back and stayed home in July.
The Trottiers came to visit for the Fourth.
In August we drove to Bear Lake and partied with the Christensens, boating on the lake and playing games at night.
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| My mom has 5 married kids and 16 grandchildren |
We stayed in Utah for another two weeks and got to celebrate my Grandma Andrus' 96th birthday.
We got home two days after school started, ending our summer quite abruptly.
