Well it speaks to the craziness of the new year that it's five days into February of 2018 and I am finally sitting down to recap 2017 (this tradition has become a favorite of mine... I love going down memory lane of the past year and seeing the small ways that my family and myself have grown!) Without further ado here is my 2017 year in review!
{January}
Here are the cute boys ready for their first Sunday at church of 2017!
We watched the Inauguration of Donald Trump and found Mike's doppleganger - in the photos above you can see him walking in front of Melania Trump. The resemblance is uncanny!
We spent a date night visiting the Las Vegas Temple!
Of course the main event was our back to back cruises with the Reynolds grandparents!! We loved our tropical escape in the middle of winter (although 2018 finds me defining the word "winter" much differently than did 2017 - haha!)
{February}
This was a rather slow month where we relished our time in Henderson that was all too quickly coming to a close. We also had a nice visit from Grandma Jim and Grandma Marianne!
"Water time" was a huge hit for Calvin at this point - he would spend hours contentedly at the sink playing with his toys!
I loved every second of teaching lessons! In February we celebrated with our Winter Recital.
{March}
We baby-sat our friend's puppy - Calvin was nervous to be around a dog at first but by the end of the week he loved him. He still calls dogs Jethro sometimes because of this cute guy.
Just a fun and simple month with some energetic and crazy boys that keep me on my toes! Calvin participated in a "Little Kickers" soccer team that we took him to once a week - which he loved. We also did the Relief Society Birthday in the Acacia Ward. It was such a sweet night where I felt the Spirit and just relished in the evening with these amazing women!
{April}
This month was incredibly busy!
-We hit our six year anniversary.
-Wesley had his first birthday.
-Got orders! We learned our next chapter would unfold on the frozen tundra of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
We spent as much time as possible hanging out with our Vegas best friends the Vidrines! This meant lots of smoked BBQ and pool parties - you won't hear me complaining about that!
When Dad dresses Calvin for bed but doesn't know which jammies are his and which are his little brothers - one of my favorite Dad moments!
The boys all wearing their "fire hats"
We became a mini van family!
A trip to Utah - we celebrated Wesley's and Lola's first birthday party :)
A fun date with some of our favorite people - the Thill's. We kayaked up part of the Colorado River to a place called "Emerald Caves." It was such a beautiful trip - national geographic worthy!
The Christopherson's came down for one last Vegas trip - spent a lot of time eating as many donuts from "Friendly's Donut House" as possible. We also went to the Pawn Stars shop down on the strip. Calvin loves every second he gets to spend with his cousins!
{May}
Our friends (the Aubrey's) from Hawaii came to see us! They were just passing through visiting various family members in Cali and Utah, but we were pleased to see them for a few minutes. Calvin and Eva spent some time in the swing together ;)
More sweet soccer moments!
Wes dropped this bomb the morning of Mother's Day (thank heavens!) so I was sleeping in and did not have to deal with it! Great timing, kiddo
Katie and I went to workout classes together - I miss my workout buddy dearly!
{May}
We got into bowling! Calvin really loved it and it was so cute to watch Daddy teach him the moves!
A farewell dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with two of my dearest friends, Linda and Yvette! I taught their two daughters lessons and just loved seeing them every week. What sweet ladies!
Date night - we went to see Phantom of the Opera at the Smith Center. It was a pretty good show!
A Farewell luncheon from some of my favorite ladies in the ward :)
Final piano recital with my cute Vegas kids - "Just Keep Playing"
Okay THIS was the last Christopherson trip! Had a blast with the boys - Calvin LOVED going to Cowabunga Bay with his cousins.
{June}
Another trip up to Utah - Mike had to out-process out of Hill Air Force Base, so that gave us some fun family time in between the transition between Nevada ----> South Dakota.
Love Uncle Grant's boat!
Mike got a snowblower for Father's Day (which broke today, literally a few hours before this writing. It had a only been used a couple of times. Fortunately it is under warranty and will hopefully be repaired soon!)
I served with Renee and Jessica in the Relief Society and have so much admiration and love for these two women. They are some of the best examples of charity and love that I have ever been around! Renee's husband works at the Hoover Dam and so we were able to have a behind the scenes tour - it was amazing!
So long, Las Vegas!
{July}
This was a very transitory month! We were all over the map but by the end of the month we had settled into our house and were ready to start the next chapter.
First we stopped in Utah - more time on Uncle Grant's boat, of course!
Best fourth of July - Erik and Mike worked hard to create this game that Pinterest told me would be easy (never believe pinterest!)
We went to my cousin Ryan Cook's taxidermy business in South Weber and he showed us some of his absolutely AMAZING work!
We cherished every summer memory we made with our cousins before we landed at our new home in Sioux Falls!
Here's our first dinner in our new home.. the boys are eating the last few pieces of banana bread that Grandma sent with us.
Ice cream cones on our new deck! They were LOVING the new deck and yard which had real grass!
Lest we forget Calvin snuck out in the early morning hours our first night here and was returned to us by Sioux Falls Police... Welcome to the midwest!
Discovering Outdoor Campus - this is still one of our favorite places to go to today!
The first of many times Calvin and Milo would be in time out! Haha those two are cut from the same cloth which leads to many fun adventures ... and lots of trouble! They are both the sweetest little dudes (for the most part)
Walking by the beautiful river on the amazing trail system they have here.
Wesley struggled greatly with the stairs at first.
Falls Park - a Sioux Falls treasure.
We were waiting for our home goods to get here, and Mike didn't have to go into work. So we decided to take a little trip to Iowa to see one of Mike's best friends - Sam Hauptly and his cute family! He lives on a farm and the boys enjoyed romping around and seeing all the animals/tractors etc...
{August}
We hung out a lot with Pinedos (still do obviously) but we were pretty excited to live near our best friends!
Calvin giving Max a hug - so cute!
Enjoying the many things SD Parks and Rec has to offer - the family fair was one of them!
Wesley started nursery! Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!
Outdoor Campus - a class for little kiddos teaching waterfowl calls, gun safety, and hunting tips. The midwest is legit, folks!
I WON THE HELMET! No big deal. We didn't plan a stake out in different areas of Sioux Falls or anything. :) We (by that I mean I) was beyond thrilled to discover the BYU helmet and claim it as my own. It was just about the last thing that was good about the 2017 football season for me!
The amazing solar eclipse - nothing here because it was dark and stormy and pouring rain!
The budding friendship of Calvin and Milo. These cuties.
{September}
Lots of fun activities this month! For the first time since we have been married we are living in a place that has an autumn season - and it is AMAZING here! Beautiful weather and many different activities for the family - plus the start of football season, the most wonderful time of the year!
This was an activity put on by the zoo where they took some animals out let the kids pet them and talked about different characteristics of the animals. We enjoyed getting to meet some little critters!
Calvin started a little co-op preschool with some other kids in the ward. It was a learning experience for both of us!
Apple Orchards - this was in the top three fall favorite activities! The kids LOVED having a hay ride, then being able to walk around and eat as many apples as they pleased while we picked a bag to buy. It was an autumn dream :)
Calvin's birthday official birthday celebrations would happen in October this year when grandparents came to visit... but he did turn three in September and it did not go unnoticed! He loves birthday cakes and hats so he was a pretty happy camper.
Cute brothers - making music together
This was a meme I saw related to the BYU football team... (me watching fall camp vs. me by week three of BYU football)... It was a tough year guys.
Celebrating Holly's dirty thirty at the Olive Garden with friends!
{October}
Home improvement project! We turned this little space under the stairs into a toy room. The boys love having a room just their size and it helps keep things a little neater!
Grandma and Grandpa coming to Sioux Falls for a visit allowed for some opportunities to revel in the majesty of fall here and try to get some photos. The family pictures are taken at Falls Park and the Outdoor Campus.
Calvin's official third birthday party! We celebrated with Curious George hats and cake. The Pinedos & my parents were here to celebrate the occasion. It was a pretty special time for our firstborn!
Look at the amazing colors of fall here!?! Midwest fall... it's pretty much the best thing ever.
Silver Creek Orchard - we went to choose a pumpkin here and tried to capture a few more pictures of the boys in their fall colors.
One of my all time favorite pictures... I love these three dudes!
For date night we ate some dinner and explored a Veterans Memorial park with the camera and played with different settings on the camera.
Towards the end of the month we went to Ellsworth for a doctor's appointment had to go to on the base. We made a fun little trip out of it and got to visit Mount Rushmore! We love little getaways - it's fun to get out and see someplace different than what we see everyday.
Happy Halloween! We had a little Curious George and Mickey Mouse this year - the trunk or treat was kind of a fiasco. The top picture is representative of my face a lot of the times when we are trying to do something "fun" HAHA!
{November}
This month brought with it the discovery of the glazed donut burger at Sickies, which is definitely worthy of note!
Emilie came to visit & it was so much fun to see her! We took a girls trip to Minneapolis with Holly - adventures, shopping, delicious food and sight seeing - life simply doesn't get better.
Emilie also treated the boys to a trip to the Aquarium and Butterfly Pavilion here in town. They loved it!
Thanksgiving was great this year - we had a dinner celebration with the Pinedos. Having such good friends was certainly something we were thankful for this month!
{December}
We got the tree up as soon as it was acceptable to Mike (aka, the day after Thanksgiving)
We were able to go to a Lorie Line concert with Mario and Holly. She is somewhat of a piano legend in the midwest and it was so fun to see her Christmas centered show!
The arctic wind chills that came through towards the end of the month left me wondering if I could survive this winter... I am not made for weather this cold
We had a fun cook decorating get together with some friends from the ward. We love the Sioux Falls 1st ward and have found some great friendships here.
Lights at Falls Park!
Towards the beginning of December I was able to travel to Utah to spend some time with the families. We determined it would best this year to go in between holidays - it worked beautifully and I was able to see my sweet niece Molly be baptized!
Train rides with Grandma around the mall turned out to be one of the boys favorite activities!
Catching up with Morgan and seeing her new home was so fun!
Quincy's choir concert and the lights in Christmas Village in Ogden
Overall we enjoyed seeing each of our cousins and my heart hurts a little every time we leave them! The kids all grow so quickly - I hope they boys are close with their cousins. They have a great little support group!
Piano Recitals - we had one at the music store, then we did a music service project at an assisted living center. Sharing music at Christmas is one of my favorite things about the holiday!
Christmas morning - this Christmas was peaceful and we spent the whole day together just lounging around and holding on to that special Christmas feeling as long as we could. Christmas Eve we made hot chocolate and drove around Sioux Falls just to see all the lights. It was very lightly snowing and it was such a nice evening together - such a simple thing with the people whom I love the very most - no place I would rather be!
That's a wrap on 2017!
Here's to 2018 being as full of blessings and love as the past year.
And to the BYU football team getting their crap together, for the love! ;)
