The Osterhouse: Hibernation

By now we've lived in some pretty cold places, a stint in Utah for college, Maryland which can get really cold, and I don't exactly consider England to be a tropical paradise...but I feel like this January in Utah is testing me! There is something wrong when you have to give yourself a 15 minutes prep talk just to go grocery shopping. I am beginning to question my sanity now that I am happy to see temperatures in the upper 30's. What is wrong with me???

I have been trying to make the best of it however, and here are the pictures to prove it. A little sample of what we've been up to lately and what has kept my spirits up.

First, at the beginning of January we were able to have our very good friends, the T's! We miss them so much and were so happy to have them stay with us a few days. Here are their handsome boys with the mustache neck warmers I got them for Christmas.

Suspicious R:

Calculating S:

Bold & Brave R:

Mischievous K:

Now for something about R. He and Clara have literally been friends since she was 4 months old and he was born. They are eerily alike in so many ways and have always played so well together. We moved away from them when they were 5 but this visit showed that they are still tight friends. Here they are evenly sharing a soda:

And here they are sharing snacks and playing games.

Jonas has been stuffing his blanket into his pj's lately. He claims he has a baby in his belly and then complains when he spills on his shirt while eating his cereal. I completely relate, Jonas. Been there.

Nell loves her pop-pops. Every time we leave Aunt Ronae's house she has at least one - or two - in hand. The other day I noticed she was eating both at the same time. Sometimes alternating and sometimes attempting to put both in at once.

While Devin was locked in the basement working away, I decided to do a little project on my own. I did not like my bookshelves and thought they would look better painted white to go with our fireplace surround. It did not go perfectly well, but in the end I'm glad I did it. I like the touch of wallpaper on the back.

before

after

Here's Clara looking beautiful just after her dance recital. What a cutie! She did so well and Jonas & Nell sat mesmerized, clapping the whole time.

I love it when these two get along so well. They always play but Jonas likes to tease. Nell fell asleep in the car holding his hand. I would to - he has the warmest hands!

Thanks to Wendy, Jonas got the perfect hat and gloves this year for Christmas. He LOVES them! Can you tell? The silly monster fits his personality perfectly.

And what better way to ring in the new year than with my adorable daughter, Clara. We had a fun night.

We broke down and bought a treadmill. The freezing temperatures and pitch black were not enough to lure me outside. As much as I feel like a lab rat, I am happy to be able to run regularly again. But, as seen by this picture, it was very heavy but Devin managed to push it into the room and set it up.

No winter could be complete without sickness. Like the swollen pink eye? Tasty! That is nothing compared to how sick Nell has been this winter. It just doesn't stop!

We also managed to bundle up and make a snowman or two. Pretty fun stuff!

Nell is just like her sister. She loves to "cook" and is very excited to help out. She wanted her apple cut the other day, and kept saying she wanted to "cook", meaning she wanted to cut it. I wouldn't let her do it alone but she wouldn't let me help...so she ended up biting into it. Stubborn cook!

There have been occasions that have brought us out of hibernation. Both surrounding people we love. We were able to drive to Idaho for our nephew's mission homecoming. The roads were horrible on the way home, but it was such a great experience we were so glad to have been there!

The other very happy experience was with Tommy Webber, my birth mother's son. He is such a wonderful person to be around and so much fun! We love him! He got his mission call last week to Tacoma, Washington and we were able to go to the temple with him the next day. What an experience. We were so happy to be a part of it and so happy to know him!

When I had had enough of the cold, we drove south to Las Vegas to visit our good friends, the Walnums. We had so much fun talking and catching up, it had been years since we had all seen each other. Clara and Ali got along superbly. Here's a sampling:

Clara, Jonas and Nell are beginning to go a bit crazy and have taken up sword fighting.

Nell's hair is acting like a sword here. Her very first pony tail and be careful not to get your eye near it or she'll poke it out!

Jonas is going for a new look, what do you think? Really, he had a ophthalmology appointment that went really well. We are so far very very happy with his medical team at Primary Children's!!