movin' slow in January

It just so happens that this January has been slow movin' for the Carmonas, which is totally working for me. April - December seem to move so quickly for us, between all the family activities, gardening, and our busy seasons at work. But January - March is just....mellow. We are catching our breaths, reading tons of books, and spending oodles of time snuggling, cuddling, and chillin'.

Gita in bed with her monkey farm. Can you guess what her favorite animal is?

Gita and Atticus

David and Gita soaking in some cat snuggle

Nimmy making invitations for her birthday slumber party coming up this weekend

sweet snuggley kitty

Noah on his half-pipe, enjoying the warm weather

Christmas in Utah 2012

Our 2012 holiday trip to Utah has come and gone. Although we were there for ten days, it went by way too fast. Now we are home and back in the daily rhythm of school, work, play, and homestead. It feels great to look at these pictures and remember some highlights ::

Highs

• flying into SLC in the daytime so we could see all the snow-covered mountain tops peaking through a sea of clouds
• taking full advantage of our proximity to movie theaters to see some really fun movies
• eating out at our favorite places for burgers, doughnuts, mexican food, pizza, spaghetti, etc
• celebrating my birthday with a big does of family and a side of the best birthday cake ever
• snowboarding x2 (for the boys)
• sleepovers 
• visiting old friends
• adventuring around the city via bus, light rail, and walking
• a morning for David and I without kids that we spent walking a few miles to eat at a breakfast diner then walking back home (sure can't do that where we live!)
• many hours spent at the library
• visiting the new natural history museum
• doing anything at all with our Utah family who we don't see often enough ~

Lows (just a few)

• no snow in the valley for the entire 10 days, even though we lugged all our snow stuff across the country. how rude.
• getting sick (tummy sick, yuck) on Christmas Eve 
• loosing a wallet full of Christmas money in a bouncy house at a fun center, and never finding it (Noah)
• loosing an ipod (Noah)

but then...

• because there was no snow, we were able to enjoy some warm and sunny days, visits to the park, and many many walks throughout the neighborhood
• feeling much better on Christmas, phew!
• Noah's cousin Austin mailing Noah $5 to help ease the blow of loosing his wallet. So sweet!
• then Austin finding the missing ipod and mailing back to NC. Yay!