WINTER has come and gone...already!!! In some ways I'm sad, we had some fun times! But in other ways, I'm glad...it was WAY TOO COLD!!! I just don't like it when it gets cold! That's why I live in the SOUTH!!! It is much better to be hot than to be cold, in our family's humble opinion!!!
WINTER officially started with a beautiful, total eclipse of the moon! I stayed up to watch the first half. I got the kids up to see the eclipse right before it was completely dark. I had hoped to see the moon when it was at it's darkest and ORANGE, but I had gone into the house and sat down for a few minutes...which turned into more like an hour! When I woke up, I'd missed the orange moon...in fact the eclipse was almost over when I made it back outside!
Here is a picture I took right before the eclipse was full
| Winter by Walter de la Mare Clouded with snow The cold winds blow, And shrill on leafless bough The robin with its burning breast Alone sings now. The rayless sun, Day's journey done, Sheds its last ebbing light On fields in leagues of beauty spread Unearthly white. Thick draws the dark, And spark by spark, The frost-fires kindle, and soon Over that sea of frozen foam Floats the white moon. |
Our winter was blessed with a short visit by the robins! I always love seeing them in the winter...they remind me of when I was little and I'd chase them out in the yard during the summertimes in Utah.
We had some mighty cold days too...unfortunately, we lived too far south to have enjoyed actual FREEZING weather, including SNOW. The kids were pretty disappointed...everyone got weather days for the bad weather, EXCEPT US. :(
Needless to say we were all pretty excited to watch the thermometer reach 40 degrees, then 50 degrees, then 60's and 70's!!! Yeah for the warmer days ahead!!! :)
Here are some of our favorite things from the past few months:
Mattie's baptism:
Mattie was baptized on December 28th. While we were trying to decide which day to choose, my mom suggested that we picked the 28th and told me it was my Grandma Cutler's birthday...well that was PERFECT because she is the one I named Mattie after!
Her name was Mattie Taylor Cutler. :)
We had a bunch of visitors come for Mattie's special day:
Grandma & Grandpa Cutler ~ my mom & dad came from Salt Lake City!
Uncle Chris ~ my brother, Aunt Tarina, and Kate came from Salt Lake City too!
Uncle Tim, Aunt Carolee ~ my sister, and Eliza came from Jacksonville, Florida!
Aunt Carlynne ~ my sister came fron New York City!
Mattie's baptism day was a very special day! Mattie was baptized by her daddy! :) We had a very special program too! Aunt Tarina gave a talk on baptism before Mattie was baptized. After Mattie was baptized, I sang a baptism medley with Carolee and Carlynne. Bethany played her violin to accompany us. Grandma Cutler gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. Then Mattie was confirmed! :) We are all so proud of Mattie for making this important choice!
Mattie and her daddy before Mattie was baptized! :)
Uncle Tim, Edd and Mattie checking out the baptismal font before Mattie's baptism
Some of Mattie's church friends were able to come be with Mattie on her special day!! :)
Isabella, Mattie, Annabella and Elisabeth
We did some fun things while we had family in town ~
We took Carlynne, Grandma, Grandpa, Kate, Chris and Tarina to the Aquarium.
Since it was their first time to New Orleans we walked down the Mississippi River...
we saw the "Natchez" and made it down to see Jackson Square!
By the time we got there, we were all pretty cold, so we drove across the lake, back to Mandeville for some beignets at Cafe DuMonde.
Carolee, Tim, and Eliza arrived in town the next day. So we took everyone to Global Wildlife! Everyone had a blast feeding all the wild animals!!! :)
One of the great things about winter in the SOUTH...we are blessed with a few warms days here and there!!! :)
On our warmest day, we all went canoeing in the Tchefuncte River. Even Grandma went canoeing and liked it!! It was a perfect day to just hang out along the riverbank and enjoy each other's company! :)
All the cousins had so much fun playing together!! Here is a picture of most of the Cutler cousins! (Plus a couple of Mama's) We are just missing one!
Aunt Carolee, Eliza, Bethany, Mattie, Kate, Aunt Tarina, Andrew, Aimee and Thomas
JANUARY
Once all our company left and school started up again, life got back to normal...well sort of...January is always a busy month at our house!
One night we were blessed with this beautiful sunset!!! I'd been over at my neighbor's house and walked out just in time!! I ran home, grabbed my camera, and ran outside again to take some pictures...BEAUTIFUL! :)
January 7th
January 12th was Andrew's GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!!
Andrew had a great 12th birthday! He enjoyed all the special attention! All the kids were excited because this was our first GOLDEN BIRTHDAY in our family!!! Andrew was a great big brother and let Thomas "help" open the birthday present.Andrew was most excited about turning 12 and moving up to the Young Men's program at church! :) Andrew is a sweet brother and we are so glad to have in our family!!!
January 16th was Anne's Birthday!!!
Usually, I don't like Sunday birthdays, but this year was different! This Sunday was special for me because I got to see my sweet Andrew receive the Aaronic Priesthood at church! I am so proud of Andrew! :)
I also got a new calling, I teach Primary to the kids who are 4-6 years old! Thomas and all his buddies are in my class! They are a lot of fun!
Thankfully, Bethany was willing to stay home from church and take care of Aimee who had a fever so I could go. It's days like this that make me so grateful for being blessed with such great kids!!! :)
January 19th was the 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL:
Aimee had a HUGE project that she was working on. She had to display 100 in 5 different ways...
1. 25 pennies = 1 1/2 inches so 100 pennies = 6 inches...the picture of the pennies being measured was placed into the treasure box.
2. Also inside the treasure box was a necklace Aimee made with 100 gold beads with a beautiful seashell in the middle of the beads.
3. Aimee measured out 100 inches of yarn, which was the boarder between the sand and the sea.
4. Aimee counted out 100 beans and made 3 separate "sand castles" with them.
5. Aimee counted out 100 paper clips and glued them on for the sea foam along the edge of the water and just behind the water's edge.
Aimee is so creative! She thought this all up on her own and put it all together with very little help from me!! Great job Aimee!! :)
January 27th was Aimee's Birthday!!! She was so glad to be all better for her birthday! She missed out on all the fun for my b-day because of the tummy bug...yuck.
Poor Aimee didn't think her birthday would ever get here! It finally did and she had a super fun day!
It started with this spectacular sunrise!!! We haven't had a sunrise this spectacular since! I woke Aimee up early so she wouldn't miss it!
Aimee had a special lunch date at school with Mom and Thomas! :)
Aimee was a sweet big sister and let Thomas "help her" open her presents too! She even let him "help" blow out her candles!! Aimee is now in the double digits~she is 10!!! :)
We survived all the birthdays and were so excited to hear that the ground hog didn't see his shadow and that SPRING would be coming EARLY this year!!!
