January:
True to tradition we had our Pope family Christmas New Years Eve through January 2nd. I hosted a little New Years Eve smorgasbord dinner, made a clock countdown for Lexi to do few activities until her bed time. We did dinner as a family first, played a candy cane game where you balance the candy cane on your finger and try to knock everyone else's off to be the last one standing, it was so much fun! Later before bed we did a glow in the dark dance party and played games after the kids went to bed. Then we rang in the New Year with sparkling cider and games.
That Saturday we spent the morning making my moms famous sugar cookies, it seriously is a labor of love, those cookies take a lot of time and effort. Thanks mom for always taking time to make them each year for us! After Hailey's nap we all went to Deleta Skating and roller skated for an hour before dinner, then we did take out from Texas Roadhouse and played more games after the kids went to bed.
Sunday we went to church, it was my first Sunday as the newly called Primary president and boy was I nervous. But I couldn't have asked for a better first Sunday of the new year, the kids were so well behaved and everyone got to their new classes with no issues, Hailey even went to Nursery for her first time that day! After church I got set apart and then we went home and had a Ham dinner before everyone had to head back to Utah. What a great way to start out January!
On January 25th Hailey officially turned 18 months, time really does fly as a parent. I know in most every post on here when it has anything to do with my kids I always say that, but its the truth! Hailey is such a joy always full of silliness and smiles like her sister! Lexi also started swim lessons again this month and she has been killing it, we are so proud of her overcoming her fears!
February:
This month was full of fun, we had our preschool Valentines Day party, the kids were so excited we could hardly get anything done the Tuesday before the class party. :) They played a fun matching game, made a cute butterfly M&M craft and passed out cute valentines to their friends. Justin and I celebrated Valentines day early because it fell on Monday and he had to work, we we went to Texas Roadhouse the Friday before and went to the movie "Death on the Nile" it was really good! I spent actual valentines day with my cute little Galentines (Lexi and Hailey), we did lunch together, went to Music time at the Library and just enjoyed some quality time us girls!
Lexi turned 5 on the 16th! I can't believe I have a 5 year old already, and soon she'll be in Kindergarten! (Let the tears begin) We celebrated her birthday by going to playgroup with our friends, rented a Scooby Doo movie and had Pizza with Aunt Dorothy. She got some new Paw Patrol toys from aunt Dorothy and a Dino Rancher toy Miguel. In March we have tickets as a family to go and see Disney on Ice, we are so excited!
To end the month our Preschool class did an in home field trip to the "Pizzeria" where we learned how to make our own individual pizzas it was so fun and yummy! The last weekend of February Justin and I took a couples trip to St. George where the guys went golfing and the girls shopped and enjoyed some time without our children.
March:
We were finally able to celebrate Lexi's birthday with her Birthday experience gift. She really wanted to go to Utah and stay in a hotel so we could swim and use the hot tub, and then I picked Disney on Ice for her because I knew she would love seeing all the characters and lets be honest its cheaper than Disneyland (even though I'd go there tomorrow if I could). We included my parents and two of my three siblings and spouse because its more fun in numbers! My parents and Justin and I stayed at the Marriot Inn in South Jordan and they had a big hot tub and pool to play in, the pool water was freezing but the hot tub was perfect. Lexi had a blast playing with aunt Emily, uncle Logan and uncle Brady in the pool, while Hailey just enjoyed floating on her back in the warmth of the hot tub. :)
Saturday we spent the morning with my parents and went to Scheels sporting good store where we took Lexi on a ferris wheel ride and bought her her first pair of soccer cleats, shin guards and ball for spring soccer. Then we took Hailey to aunt Kristin's house for a nap while the rest of us headed to Salt Lake for Disney on Ice. It was so much fun! Lexi was so excited the whole time, the minute Mickey and Minnie Mouse entered the Ice she sat up in her seat with the biggest smile on her face. Of course, me being me I started to cry a bit, but seriously its memories like these that I will cherish forever, and I hope that my kids will too. Lexi wore her Queen Else dress and had me do her hair in an "Elsa braid" she kept asking where Ana and Elsa were and when they finally came out on the ice she was ecstatic!! Such a great weekend with our wonderful family!
We had a visit from our first Leprechaun this year, he left the girls a trail of gold chocolate coins and a box of Lucky Charms. Lexi finished her swim lessons the weekend before spring break and is looking forward to starting soccer in April. We spent our Spring Break at home and did a staycation with friends again. Day 1 was spent at Geronimos trampoline park, Day 2 we went to Deleta for the Roll and Stroll, Day 3 we went swimming at a local Hotel, Day 4 we played at home and ran some errands up in Idaho Falls and Day 5 was spent at home just us doing our pizza movie night and we enjoyed the warm weekend outside.
On March 31st I took Lexi to her Elementary school to finish out her Kindergarten registration, it was bitter sweet for sure. I am so excited for her and she is over the moon about going to Kindergarten and riding a bus haha! Why do kids grow up so dang fast??
We started the month off doing a family date to a monster truck show, we went with Jared, Niki and Oliver. Lexi and Oliver had a blast, she loved all the trucks and the yummy nachos for dinner.
On April 8th we did a playgroup Easter egg hunt and it was a hit! We had each parent bring 10 filled eggs per child they brought and everyone loved it! We’ll definitely have to make it an annual thing!
The 13-16 my mom came for a visit while my dad had to go to a work conference in Vegas. We made the most of our time with grandma.
Day1 we dyed our Easter eggs as a whole family, Lexi was thrilled because we bought Paw Patrol stickers for them this year. That evening Lexi my mom and I went to a local Easter walk with Christ it was beautiful.
Day 2 we played at home with grandma, watched Lexi at her soccer game and went to dinner just us girls to Arctic Circle. (we went for the Easter bunny kids meals but they were out of bunnies at our location, luckily the one by Justin's work still had toy bunnies so he saved the day when he got home)
Day 3 we got up and got ready for the day and then took Grandma to see our local Discovery Museum in our mall. Lexi thought it was so cool to have grandma see our little mall and the fun things we have. After the Museum we went home for lunch and had an indoor Easter egg hunt since we were having really cold temperatures that week.
Day 4 we had a ward Easter activity where they had breakfast and a spiritual message. I helped set up tables and a little decor and then went to pick everyone up for breakfast. After the ward activity Lexi had soccer pictures and a game, we all went to watch Lexi and then I had to take my mom back to the shuttle to go home. We really enjoyed having her visit.
April 17 Easter Sunday we woke up to Lexi super excited that the Easter Bunny visited our house. He left the girls each a new dress, a new book each, some activities, candy and a new squashmallow pillow.
We spent the rest of the month enjoying the sunshine when we could, soccer games and went to see a new movie with some friends.
May:
We celebrated Cinco De Mayo at home early and then on the actual day went to Utah and stayed with Kristin and Artie and their kids. We made nachos and guacamole and had a great time with them. On Friday May 6th Logan graduated with his Bachelors degree from UVU, Justin and I went to the ceremony while Kristin watched our kids. That Saturday we helped Emily and Logan move out of their apartment and then went to lunch and played with the kids before we went home.
May 8th we celebrated Mothers Day and it was a great day! Justin and Lexi made me breakfast in bed, spoiled me with gifts and we had a dinner with his family.
May 12th Lexi had her last school field trip to a local park for Field day, we released our butterflies and both Lexi and I held one, we played games, did a giant parachute and had lunch together. Despite the cooler temperatures it was a great day!
May 14-15th Justin and I celebrated our Anniversary early since ours fell on a Sunday this year, we have been officially married 14 years! Luckily on the actual day of our Anniversary the weather was so hot and beautiful so we did a family BBQ and got our the kid pool and played outside with the kids.
May 18-21 My parents came for a visit to see Lexi's dance performance on the 19th and her last soccer game on the 21st. We sure are lucky to have so much family love and support for our kids!
May 24th Lexi graduated from Preschool (que the tears)! What a year we both had, it wasn't always easy being the teachers assistant and I am sure her teacher would agree it wasn't her easiest year either but we sure loved each of the kids and learned from them! I am so sad to see this year end but I am excited to watch see them grow and learn in their new adventure as Kindergarteners this FALL!
After Lexi's closing ceremony for school we went to lunch, picked out flowers for our garden and then started a new tradition and sprayed each other will silly string in the backyard to welcome "summer!"
May 30th Memorial Day, we visited great grandpa and grandpa Ruth's graves their new headstone was in and it looks beautiful! After the graves we all went to grab lunch and met up at our house to eat, we had Justin's parents, Matt and Hillary and their kids, Kristin and Artie and their boys and My kids, Justin had to work sadly.
June:
June 1st I decided to take another break from social media this summer, and we kicked off "Summer" with our playgroup and did a little end of school year bash, it was a lot of fun. Each mom brought a treat or an activity to share and we played at a local park.
June 2nd Lexi, Hailey and I did a Princess Tea Party, we got dressed up in our Princess dresses, wore crowns and I decorated the table while we drank "tea" (water) and ate animal cookies. The girls loved it!
June 4th Our cute cousin McKenzie had her baby shower for her twin boys in Boise, so I talked my parents and Emily to come with me. While we went to Boise Justin and Logan spent the day at home with Lexi and Hailey. We had such a blast seeing most of Aunt Geri's girls and Uncle Scott, can't believe it had been so long since we last saw them! So glad we got to celebrate with Kenzi, she is going to be one amazing momma!
June 5th we spent most of the day with my parents and Logan and Emily, we went to visit their friends puppies and Lexi and Hailey thought they were so cute. We are really trying to get our kids to be less terrified by animals. (but we aren't ready to get a pet so don't ask haha) We went for a bike ride and had a yummy pot roast dinner, and aunt Emily cut Lexi’s hair!
June 10-12 I went to Boise for a girls trip with my good friends Megan and Keira, we ate so much yummy food, saw Freak Alley, hiked table rock, shopped waaay to much and saw the second Downton Abbey movie. It was such a fun first girls trip for me!
June 13-15 we watched my friend Keira's kittens for a few days while she was in Utah, our kids absolutely adored them as did Justin. I had to keep reminding them they werent ours and that they would be going back home in a few days! I loved hearing Hailey call them "titties" haha immature I know but also hilarious!
June 22nd we finally were able to make it to our local splash pad, it had a broken part at the beginning of summer, the girls were thrilled when it finally opened! We invited our playgroup friends and had a blast!
June 24th our library hosted a teddy bear clinic and picnic, it was quite the popular place to be so sadly we didn’t make it through the line to the clinic but Justin came to the rescue and wrapped the girls stuffed animals up in ace bandages when we got home. Later after naps we went and did some shopping and had dinner at Chick-Fil-A, their summer peach shakes are so yummy!
June 25th Lexi was invited to her friend Aria’s birthday princess tea party! They were kind enough to let Hailey and I crash the party too!
Later that night I was able to attend a Brad Paisley concert with my sweet friend Chelsae! It was so much fun, I haven’t been to a concert in way to long, we bought cute neon matching shirts, loved people watching and made friends with a cute couple. But the coolest part was seeing how kind he is to his fans, he gave a sweet little girl a signed guitar, and another person his cowboy hat that he signed. It was a blast!
June 26th we had our monthly BBQ with our good friends, this month was our turn to host, so we bought a pizza oven for Justin’s new smoker and made some yummy pizzas. The kids all had a blast playing in our backyard and enjoying the sunshine!
To finish out the month of June we signed our girls up for our local bowling ally's free summer bowling program and the girls had a blast. We invited some of our friends to join us too!
July:
On July 1st our neighborhood started a new tradition of a 4th of July bike parade, we had all the children in our neighborhood decorate their bikes, scooters etc. with 4th of July decor and we met in one of our neighborhood streets and rode around until we made it to the park near our houses. The kids had so much fun and everyone loved the idea so I am excited to continue this tradition each year!
July 2nd We started the morning off tie dying the girls 4th of July shirts. Then we went to Justin's parents house for their towns annual celebration, but sadly we got rained out and weren't able to attend the afternoon festivities. But we did get to have a BBQ with his parents and sisters family.
July 3rd We went to church in the morning and then later that afternoon Justin's whole family got together for the annual BBQ at uncle Dan's house, we had wings and hot dogs and everyone brought different things to share. As always it was all delicious, after dinner we played yard games and visited and caught up with the cousins and aunt and uncles, it was a good time!
4th of July was spent with Justin's side of the family, but this year was different because we didn't do the family BBQ at Dan's instead we went to Shelley and spent the day with Matt's family. The morning started off the same at our 4th of July parade, the kids scored big and each went home with a gallon sized zip lock of candy! After the parade Justin and I went to Matt's to set up the bounce house we rented for the kids, everyone had a blast! That night we had our family BBQ and then watched the fireworks that Matt's neighborhood chipped in to buy. Hailey LOVED the fireworks she kept clapping her hands and saying wow! Lexi was so happy to spend time with her cousins especially Claire and Cate.
On July 5th we went to the Zoo with Justin's family, then that afternoon we went to see the new Minion movie, it was pretty funny! That night we did a small BBQ with his family and then took the kids home for some much needed sleep. :)
On July 6th both of Justin's sisters families went back home and so we spent the day catching up from all the holiday fun! Later that evening we went as a little family to the Pool for the first time this summer, the kids loved it and had such a great time!
July 8th Brady and his girlfriend Kelsey came to visit, she is from our town a friend was having a baby shower so he asked if they could come stay so I could meet her. She is such a sweetheart and we all really enjoyed having them.
July 10th we did our first backyard smores of the summer with Lexi as a little date night, she loved staying up late with just mom and dad. Also Justin is an excellent smores maker!
July 15-17 we were in Utah for a little Harris family reunion, we got into town on Friday and had dinner with my parents, Brady and Emily and Logan. Sadly (but also good for Emily) Emily had been previously contracted to do hair and makeup for a family friends wedding so she and Logan weren't able to spend the weekend with us. So we made sure to sneak in some times before they had to go to Park City. We had dinner at Golden Coral, and then went to our Airbnb to check in, once we were done there we headed to Bahama Bucks for their amazing shaved ice!
Saturday morning the guys all went golfing so my mom and I took the girls to get breakfast, true to Lexi fashion she chose McDonalds. After we ate we took the kids to play at a local park and then went home to get ready for the day. We ate lunch and then put Hailey down for her nap so she would be rested before the family reunion started. After her nap we headed over to Bonneville park in Utah and met up with my moms side of the family. Most of her side was able to attend which was great because I hadn't seen some of my cousins for 10 years! We did a potluck dinner, played some yard games, the kids enjoyed the park and we just visited with each other and had a great time!
Sunday we woke up and got packed then checked out of our Airbnb and headed to Denny's for breakfast. We weren't able to make it work to meet up with Brady, Kelsey (his girlfriend) Emily and Logan so we all opted to just eat and head back home. It was a crazy, busy and hot yet fun weekend!!
July 25th Hailey turned TWO! We celebrated our sweet girl with a small friend party at McDonalds, the kids all came for lunch and then we had cupcakes for dessert. After nap time we went and visited aunt Dorothy and Grandma Almond and open some presents. After that we met as a family at the swimming pool, we brought pizza and ice cream and swam until almost bedtime. I can't believe our baby is already 2 years old.
We ended July with a trip to the Reservoir with our friends, sadly the weather didn't hold out so we didn't last as long as I would've hoped, also Hailey wasn't a huge fan of the sand haha. Before the weather took a turn the kids (occasionally Hailey too) enjoyed the water, playing in the sand and the yummy food we all brought.
August was full of last minute summer bucket list plans. Justin and Lexi did a campout in our backyard, we celebrated our local town with a parade which was fun because it wasn't far from our house!
Justin and I took Lexi to Lagoon for her very first time as our summer last hoorah! She loved the ride Bombora, Lady Bug bop and even thought Rattlesnake Rapids was fun! We got our favorite cold treat Dippin' Dots and just enjoyed our time with just Lexi. Lexi said she couldn't wait to take Hailey once she was old enough!
On August 22nd we went to Lexi's back to school night at her elementary school, she got to drop off all her school items to her classroom and have pizza on the front lawn.
August 23rd we did our traditional family back to school dinner where we picked a theme for us to work on or remember the whole year. This year I chose " Knowledge is Power." I decorated with capes, face masks, and a cute superhero backdrop, Lexi thought it was so cool!
Lexi's first day of Kindergarten was on August 24th, she woke up so nervous but told me she was also excited! She wore her Kindergarten t-shirt that I bought her, and I got her a matching heart bracelet for her to wear with me for her first day! We packed her lunch and Hailey and I dropped her off with her friends. She looked so grown up, it was hard for me to fight off the tears but I held it together! I picked her up from the school bus and she had the biggest grin on her face and yelled " Mom, my day was AMAZING!" As we walked home she told me all about her day and then we ate some chocolate chip cookies and continued sharing about our day. Oh how I love you Lexi!
To finish off August Justin and I took a quick weekend trip just us to Boise to watch our nephew Teagon play football at the Boise State arena. It was so cool to see them play on the "Smurf Turf."
On September 1st we celebrated my mom for her birthday with a facetime call, and Lexi started her first day of dance class. She sure loves to dance and loves Mrs. Kristi and her friends! 
On September 9th we took the girls to the State Fair and they loved it! We did the petting zoo, face paining, pony rides walked around a lot and ate yummy ice cream!
September 23 Pope Family Reunion
Day 1: we met at Emily and Logan’s apartment, ate lunch and put the littles down for a nap. While they slept Justin, Lexi my dad and I took a ride in their RZR. It was loud but fun! After naps we went to check into our Air Bnb, ate pizza, the guys broke in the ping pong table with Lexi’s help and then after the kids went to bed we celebrated our dads 65th birthday! 
September 24
Day 2: we started the morning with family pictures up Sundance it was beautiful. Hailey was not in the mood for photos so we had to rush through them. After pictures everyone grabbed lunch and then naps for the little ones, during naps we played games and ate more food. After naps we went to a local pumpkin patch as a family, picked pumpkins, the girls rode a barrel train, played in a corn pit and we all took a hay ride!
September 25:
Day 3: we checked out if our air bnb at 10, player at a local park for an hour and then went to my aunt and uncles to play in their pool and eat lunch. Hailey took a nap and Lexi and Justin played in the pool, we had such a great weekend with family! 
On September 29th Justin and I got the house all decorated for Halloween!
October:
On October 1st we had our Halloween kick off it started with a visit from Spooky Ooky spider š· he brought the girls their new pajamas and cereal, they loved it!
On October 2nd I hosted a movie premiere of Hocus Pocus 2 at my house, it was so much fun! We had treats and great company!
October 4th we Boo’d our neighbors!
October 7th we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch!
October 9th we made our haunted gingerbread house!
October 10th we went to Wild Adventure Corn Maze as a family home evening activity
October 11th was our neighborhood Fall Social it was so fun, we had great food, face painting and a barrel train ride!
October 15th we attended the Homecoming parade for our local college with friends. The girls loved the floats and all the candy of course! After that I stopped by my friend Megan’s baby shower and then we went to see Justin’s family and rode our 4 wheeler and Justin’s dads RZR with our nephews.
October 16th our favorite babysitter gave her mission farewell talk so we attended as a family. That night we washed our pumpkins in preparation to paint them for FHE.
October 17th we had cousins over for pizza and painting pumpkins for FHE
October 21st Lexi’s school had breakfast and a book and then the kindergarteners all went to the pumpkin patch for their field trip. I was lucky enough to go as a chaperone! I sure love my one on one time with Lexi!
October 23 I survived planning and putting on my very first primary program! It was a lot of work but we’ll worth it, the children did amazing!
October 24-28 Lexi’s school had their Red Ribbon week day 1 was wear red, day 2 future is bright wear bright clothes. Day 3 super hero day, day 4 crazy day we did unicorn hair and crazy clothes, and day 5 was sports team day.
October 25 we had our playgroup Halloween party and it was so much fun. The kids dressed up, danced and played and then we did a costume parade and trick or treating.
October 28th we went to a local trick or treat and then went to see Justin’s family. We had homemade pizza, played games and enjoyed company!
October 31st Happy Halloween! We did our annual spooky dinner as a family, this year I made monster burgers thanks to my awesome cousins idea on Instagram, and then we all went trick or treating!
November came with no fall weather all winter weather! We built our first ever giant snowman as a family in our backyard. Lexi helped shovel the front walk, but ultimately enjoyed riding on the 4-wheeler with Justin while he plowed the driveway, haha.
November 19 we got a special early Christmas present from Santa. He invited our family to a breakfast with him, he even got the girls some matching pajamas to wear. Lexi was thrilled to also have her friend Grant there too.
November 21-26 During Thanksgiving break we went to Deleta for their roll and stroll, celebrated Justin’s 34th birthday and ate lots of Turkey! The day after thanksgiving Justin, his dad and brother in law started working on our new fireplace! That weekend we went to the light parade and Christmas in the night time skies, it was so fun to make lasting memories with our kids!
November 30th I hosted my 3rd annual Christmas cookie swap, it was a blast as always! Yummy snacks, fun games, great conversations and group! Oh and I can’t forget the delicious cookies! Yum!
December 1st we had our annual Christmas kick off, we had breakfast for dinner and then decorated our gingerbread house.
December 2nd I took the shuttle to Utah to spend some time with my family. Back in October my younger brother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He decided to have a full thyroidectomy done to hopefully remove all cancer and prevent it from coming back. So I went to be with him during this crazy time!
December 3rd I spent all day with my cute and talented little sister at her hair salon. She did my hair and we always it turned out amazing!
December 4th my parents got to Utah county and we had dinner, went to see a Christmas light show and watched one of our family favorites “While you were sleeping.”
December 5th Brady went in for his surgery, sadly the time he got scheduled for was later than we hoped for, and I needed to hit the shuttle back home during his surgery. Luckily I was there through all his pre-op stuff but then Emily and I grabbed lunch and she took me to the shuttle. Great news! The doctor was able to remove his thyroid and there was no further spread of cancer! Brady is officially cancer free!! (Cue Happy tears!)
December 6th we had our Ward Christmas party, Santa came for a visit prior to dinner and the kids were so excited. We had a wonderful meal, a beautifully spiritual message and lots of great conversations!
December 8th Lexi and I taught Hailey how to make our salt dough ornaments.
December 11th we painted our ornaments and wrote our letters to Santa. We have a local family who has connections to Santa and they put out a special mailbox that delivers to Santa.
December 13 Hailey and I had our playgroups Christmas party, the kids did a toy exchange, played and ate snacks. Later that afternoon when Lexi got home from school we went sledding with some friends. Then that night Lexi had her dance recital, she nailed it!
December 14 Hailey saw Santa at the Library!
December 16th the girls got letters back from Santa, he even included a picture of Rudolph! They were so excited!
December 18th we had our monthly traeger Sunday with our friends! We did an adult white elephant exchange, had amazing tacos and sides and the kids played and played. So fun!
December 19-25 Christmas break was filled with fun! Lexi and I made sugar cookies, we went to Deleta for roll and stroll, watched movies, spent time with cousins sledding and making gingerbread houses. Had a family Christmas Eve party and yummy Christmas day dinner.
December 24 Christmas Eve was spent with Justin’s family at his parents house. We went sledding, did gingerbread houses with the cousins and ate yummy Italian food. Then we did our live family nativity. Justin and I were Mary and Joseph, Lexi was an angel and Hailey was a mix of angel and sheep haha. It was so cute. Then we played some games, did the piƱata and a sock exchange for the kids. After that we drove home and got the cookies and Dr. Pepper out for Santa (a request in his letter to the girls).
December 25th Christmas morning! Christmas is always magical but having it fall on a Sunday makes it more special! We got the girls up at 7:30 because we had church at 9 and they would’ve slept in had we not. Santa came and brought Lexi her orange remote control car, and a bonus lime green for Hailey and or mom and dad to use. Hailey got a set of Frozen 2 toys but she might have been more excited about the car than the toys. Haha. We opened our gifts, had a quick breakfast and got ready for church. It was a beautiful sacrament meeting filled with the spirit and Christmas music. After church we had grandmas homemade cinnamon roll she made for us, then we got ready and headed to Justin’s parents for an early dinner since his sister had to get back to see her husbands side of the family. We spent the rest of the day games and just enjoying each other’s
We had my family for our annual Christmas and New Years celebration! On the first night we went to the La Belle ice palace. The second day was New Year’s Eve and we did a count down to noon for the kids, then the adults went to the hot pools. Later that night we had our Smorgasbord for dinner and played lots of Mario Kart and played games. Sunday we went to church had a tri tip dinner and played more Mario Kart. Everyone went home Monday, we had such a fun time!
