I have been waiting for a day to visit the brand new Butterfly Biosphere Museum at Thanksgiving Point until all the kids were able to go. Today was finally a day that everyone was home and available. Go figure that when the boys heard the word butterfly, they turned up their noses and said that they didn’t want to go. Natalie wanted to use her day off to hang out with her friends. (Insert big mom tears!) Oh well. Brie and Lucy were excited to go, so the three of us took the opportunity together. After waiting 4 hours to finally get our visitation slot, we were able to go inside. (We grabbed lunch and visited the house while we waited for our turn.) The Museum was really cool. Nothing huge, but definitely LOTS to see. Especially if you like insects and creating things! Lucy had a blast becoming a bug and being able to run and climb all over everything. As we got ready to enter the Butterfly Conservatory, we looked at all the various butterfly displays on the walls. Amazing how unique these creatures are! (Especially the moth with the peanut shaped “nose!”)The conservatory was amazing! Butterflies were everywhere!The girls were both mesmerized. Lucy kept wanting to touch all the plants and flowers. I just had to remind her that it is not nice manners to pick other people’s plants. The varieties of moths and butterflies inside were incredible! One in particular was so spectacular! It had glass-like spots on its wings that you could see through. The educator on staff said that it was an Atlas moth. It hatches from its cocoon without a mouth. It only lives for a couple days, with its soul purpose to mate and then die. They said it was super rare for us to even get to see one. The Blue Morphos were pretty incredible as well. They were like big blue birds, that were not afraid of all the people at all. Lucy wanted one to land on her hand so bad. They were too smart for that. The hatchery was fascinating! There were cocoons that looked like curled up bats. They were enormous!It wouldn’t be an adventure with Brie without getting to hold some type of critter. Brie found a millipede and shared with Lucy. Lucy wasn’t quite so sure she liked the feel of all those little legs on her hand, so she quickly gave it back to her sister. It was so cute to see Brianna share information with Lucy. I know that Lucy is treasuring these times with her big sister. It is so sweet.Lucy really enjoyed examining all the insects and spiders. It was a really great visit. We will definitely go back again. Nothing like ending the day with a bit of sunshine snow. Crazy thing was that there were no clouds above us to make the snow. Just weird.

Having Brianna close enough to visit us has been so wonderful! I’m sure she goes back to school absolutely exhausted! But the kids are loving every minute they have her.After church today, Lucy wanted to help Brie with her makeup. All was great until we told Brie that THAT lipgloss is the one Lucy shares with Khaliyah!Yeah, even the dog gets makeup in our crazy house. She has to have a share in all the action as well!I LOVE hearing the girls sing and play together again. I have really missed having all the music in the house. I cannot wait to have all our instruments back!Since Christmas was such a bust with the flu, I didn’t dare have the kids do our gingerbread houses. So, I figured we could make Valentine houses instead, now that everyone is much better.It made for a fantastic after church activity!I love seeing how creative and original each kid is. (Green-toothed William was sneaking treats along the way. 😂)(And those that just prefer to eat it all, instead of create 😂)Natalie wins the award for best held together house. (She cheated and gave into the hot glue gun.)

Sam and Lucy were invited to the Daddy/Daughter Ball at Lucy’s dance school. It has been so cute to watch Lu get excited about her fancy dancing dress and her special accessories: hair glitter, sparkly shoes, beautiful tiara, and pretty little pearl necklace.Dad was his usual gentleman self, escorting Miss Lu to take pictures. However, Lucy wasn’t having it.The sun reflecting off of the bright white snow was a bit much for Lucy’s eyes, so picture taking had to be taken inside.They sure made a very beautiful pair.Definite sparkle from head to toe!Dad and Lucy danced the night away and had a great time.Lucy especially enjoyed showing off the twirl factor of her dress.They danced, had special treats, and took lots of pictures. Sam said they had a great time.When asked what it was like afterwards, Lucy replied, “It was terrible. Dad wouldn’t let me have any cookies.” 🤦🏼‍♀️ Sam did clarify with me later that Lucy had plenty of cookies already, and he wouldn’t let her have anymore. 🤣

Eric had some contractors scheduled to come over early this morning, so we decided it would be a great time to take an early morning donut trip. The kids always love to watch the donuts get made at Krispy Kreme’s! They like to see if any go through the wrong way, or get smashed too. Natalie decided to take my phone and get some “donut portraits.” I think my new phone does a pretty good job at taking pictures. After breakfast, we went and killed time at Dicks Sporting Goods. William is in love with one of their little BMX bikes, so he wanted to go test it out again. Lucy has this weird obsession with department store mannequins. She thinks they are all her friends, and has to hold their hands. One of these days, she’ll give up her habit of putting her hand down someone’s shirt. We had to crack up when Sam was standing next to one of the mannequins and Lucy did that to the mannequin. She definitely still has a skin to skin sense of comfort. 🤦🏼‍♀️ With all the newly fallen snow overnight, everything glistened and sparkled. I have been wanting to get a picture of the snow on the tress for so long. This morning, it was perfect.After breakfast, Natalie and William went to the Outdoorsman show with Eric and Josh. Crazy busy, with lots of good food.

Eric has been dying to take William fishing on the Weber since he has come back home. Even though it was snow covered and pretty frozen, that didn’t stop them.It didn’t stop the fish from biting either.They had a great time! It ended on an even better note when they got to FaceTime Timmy thanks to the church’s new missionary communication policies. Such an awesome treat! It’s crazy to think he’ll be in the Philippines in a couple weeks.

Best heart hair yet, now that Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Next year, I’ll be a pro and have much more hair to work with. Valentine’s celebrations weren’t quite over, as Lucy had her party at dance today. I am so very bummed, though, because my pictures did not take, and what I thought Eric had taken, he cannot find either. He thought he sent them to Sam’s parents, but he did not. 😭 Somehow they got deleted or didn’t get saved.When we got home from dance, Lucy still wanted to make more Valentines. I started to make us lunch while she created and played on her own.After a bit, I saw her inside Natalie’s trampoline box. I asked her, “Lucy, what are you doing?” She promptly replied, “I am NOT Lucy, Mom! I am actually a mermaid! Can’t you see my tail? I’m swimming in the ocean. Swim. swim. ” I guess she’s been watching quite a bit of Finding Dory.After her mermaid adventures “in the ocean” she decided that she wanted to “splash” into the water by using the stairs. She didn’t realize how much fun that was going to be.She continued to slide down the stairs on her “tail” for over an hour. Yep, what they say about boxes is true! “Give a kid a box, and they’ll be entertained for hours.”

Lucy delivered a lot of Valentines to her friends throughout the day. But her most special one came last. She had to wait a while for him to get home, so we went on our way to get custard with Uncle Eric. Lucy was so excited to bring her special card and treats to Brigham. And even more excited to get a big hug from him. These boys have been so amazing with her and have made her feel so important.Uncle Eric treated us all to yummy Neilson’s for Valentine’s Day. Alex was more hungry than anything else, so he wanted real food instead.Lucy decided that Flamingo liked climbing to high places, and wanted to be on top of the bubblegum machine. She thought it was so incredibly funny.Alex barely made it through a few bites of his custard before he was ready to go to bed. Bring on the post-Valentine candy coma!

“Holidays” are a bit crazy around here when they fall on a school day. The big kids grabbed their Valentines and headed out the door to school before we knew what was happening. Lucy had her own Valentines to deliver, and wanted to be the one to give Uncle Eric his.I think he liked it. Lucy is great at taking pics with Uncle E!Even if it means getting silly!Heart hair for the day=Getting better. 🙂

We finally have hair!! Lucy’s hair is getting long enough to really do some cute things with. She is SO amazing at letting me do them too! I am so grateful that my last little girl came with a tough head and patience. Brie and Natalie would have never allowed me to do what I do with Lucy’s hair. 🤣

Now to just perfect my technique. It is truly an art to be learned.

Nothing is more exciting than to be the first person to leave tracks across newly fallen snow. Lucy has been begging to go play at the park. Of course we keep telling her that she is crazy! Well she convinced us today that it might be fun. Even though it was 28° outside, the sun made it feel much warmer.She thoroughly enjoyed playing hide and seek with us behind the rock climbing wall.Lu has really grown and gained so much confidence since we have moved to Utah. She loves to try challenging things, and go a little out of her comfort zone, if it means some sort of reward at the end. Beating her brothers is a huge motivator. (And yes, those skies are legit! The scenery here can be so breathtakingly beautiful!)After a bit, our fingers, noses, and lips did get a bit numb. It was still great to get outdoors, even if only for a little while.