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January 2022 - Chichen Itza

Grandma and Grandpa Sweeny renewed our Thanksgiving Point membership for Christmas (thank you!) so I took the kids to the dinosaur museum over the break.  









Kyle was able to go to to Richard and Megan's sealing to the twins, which was in the Vegas temple. We are so happy for their cute family.

We celebrated New Year's with our traditional minute to win it games.  We did snowman toilet paper wrap up, find the blueberry in the bowl of whipped cream - no hands allowed, blow a cotton ball across the table with a straw, stand up with someone else against your back while your arms are linked together, etc. Then we did an early countdown and toasted the new year. 









Kyle is amazing and surprised me Christmas morning with a trip to Mexico for Anne and I.  It was WONDERFUL to be with her, sleep in, have sunshine and warm weather, speak lots of Spanish, stay at an all-inclusive resort, and go on adventures together. 

I got there Thursday because of flight options, Anne arrived Friday.  I highly recommend going to Mexico in mid-January.  It was amazing to sleep in on Friday with no kids or obligations to wake me up.  Then I walked around and read some books until Anne arrived late afternoon.

On Saturday we went with a big tour group to Chichen Itza, a Mayan village, and a cenote (like a sinkhole).  We ate delicious tacos with fresh tortillas for lunch and later bought corn on a stick from a street vendor.  They also tried to sell us a bottle of alcohol with our picture on it :).  

Our guide at Chichen Itza was very knowledgeable.  It was incredible to see some of the ruins and learn about their application of astronomy, geometry, and nature.  We also law lots of iguanas near the ruins. 













On Sunday we hung out at the resort.  We talked, read books on the beach, got our COVID tests so we could go home the next day, and ate all the good food.  Here's the view from our balcony, and the private beach at our resort.




Baby Nathan was always excited to face time with me, but Liam just cried in Kyle's arms :(.  

Right before our trip I chopped and donated my hair. I cut off 13", so it feels really different.  I'm terrible at selfies, but here's the before and after.



We helped sponsor an amazing family from Chile who has been working on getting their visas. It's been a long process and it finally came through this month.  We were so excited and went to dinner together to celebrate.   




Nathan bashed his head and in typical parent-of-a-5th-child style, Kyle calmly super glued it shut. 😆

Nathan has has started saying cheese for pictures, uh-oh when he drops things, and still says mama and dada.  He now folds his arms for prayer.  His other fun new trick is that he loves to sing the Addams family theme song with his siblings.  They will sing the chorus and at the part where you normally clap Nathan will click his tongue and smile. 

Nathan laughing: https://youtu.be/M0CzBZrEObQ

Clicking his tongue to Addams family: https://youtu.be/v5vaz1HGuHY

And eating a whole apple that he stabbed with a fork--

Our dentist has a Pac-Man game in his lobby and our kids love it. 

Kyle was featured on a podcast regarding his study of 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon.  He is in some collaborative Facebook groups and shared some thoughts in one, after which he was asked to go on their podcast.  Pretty cool!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh5ZwomHS6c

Kyle introduced Tyler to virtual reality for their date night this month.  Tyler loved it.

Other shenanigans: 

Liam refuses to get help vacuuming his room, Tyler made a functioning guitar out of a cardboard box and rubber bands, and has been practicing head stands.  





We have lunch together every Wednesday and when the weather is nice we love to go to a park next to my office.  Over the winter we've mostly been going to Carl's Jr. because they're the only indoor restaurant that has their kids' playground open since COVID.  Plus, we usually have it all to ourselves.  


I laughed as I overheard Alexa, the only girl, say this to her brothers while they were all playing legos: "hey guys, after your people are done with their robot battle can they come and visit the zoo I built?"

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