JANUARY 2021

If you want to see a few more photos, click on this link to go to the photo album for January 2021

JANUARY 2021 started off in the best possible way!

We got to be up in Billings Montana to be with Amanda and Jimmy as their new children were sealed to them in the temple there.

Charlotte, Alex and Aidan were so excited and happy!

And so were we!

They are super loving kids and Amanda and Jimmy have done a wonderful job of helping them have a "forever family."

Charlotte really loves Scott...she just needs that Grandpa guy!

Back in Utah, in our YSA Ward, we kicked off a yearly calendar with weekly challenges relating to Temple and Family History.

The first challenge was to take a selfie of yourself in a mask, then upload it to Family Tree to save for future posterity to see.

I suggest that you each do this!

OK...so we are still doing our SUNDAY NIGHT HOT COCOA with a new recipe each week.

Austin kicked this off for us and we each make the same flavor of the week.

I big favorite so far is this PEANUT BUTTER HOT COCOA

And COOKIES AND CREAM was really tasty as well

As was SNICKERDOODLE (our choice for the week of Cinnamon flavor.)

YUM!  And a good excuse to make some Snickerdoodles to go with it!

So, Scott got a new HUGE lens for the camera.

We went out birding with Aaron to get going.

You can see how close he got to a bird that was pretty far away.

This is a Ring-necked Duck by the way.

An American Kestrel

A Goldfinch in Breanna's front yard.

A Great Egret at a pond in Orem.

The same Egret in flight.

We took our birding adventures on the road to NEW JERSEY!!!

We packed a bunch of children's binoculars to have the kids help us!

Cassidy loved them!

As did Klay!  They wanted to take them each time we went out on a walk.

Bennett was also a pretty avid birder and was always on the lookout for something interesting.

He had been telling us things he was seeing before we even arrived.

A bird that we had worked hard all year to see in Utah is apparently as common as Robins are in New Jersey!

The White-breasted Nuthatch is all over the place out there...and they sound like squeaky toys!

Carter was not as into birding, but did get out with us on several outings.

We got to see VIRTUAL SCHOOL at it's finest!

Each child had their own station where they could be online with their teacher or do projects.

Jenna needs 3 sets of eyes for the students...to make sure they stay on task...

Carter's station is upstairs in his room...he is the best at staying on task.

And while the kids are in school...Jenna and I did our online HIIT class a couple times together!  

We went out about every day to some kind of park...they have the BEST parks out there!

We saw a really cool woodpecker out east.  This is the Red-bellied Woodpecker...k'know the one with the red head and not so red of a belly.

This is our little bird watcher.

And cook!  Seriously, I could not keep up with him making the cupcake batter...he is a natural cook!

And Cassidy loves playing with all the pots and pans afterwards so it works!

We had CUPCAKE WARS!

As long as there is FROSTING and SPRINKLES then Cassidy is happy!

Klay made several creations.

As did Bennett.  Notice the bananas on his.

And Carter's creation.  We used some cool frosting tips that were really fun.

So, here are some of our creations.  Impossible to have a winner in this war!

Klay back out looking for birds.

And we found some!

The Bluejays are so amazing.

Northern Mockingbird.

Another cute Nuthatch.

Carolina Wren.

And some cute boys on a walk in the woods.

Back at home, we did some sidewalk chalk and drew the kids and then they jumped on them!

And then Cassidy ended up with the scary mask and gun combo.  It was hysterical!

From that scary face to this face!

We went on a long outing to a really cool Environmental Center.

Even the sparrows in NJ are different.

This White-throated Sparrow is very common out in NJ but rare in Utah.

The Tufted Titmouse are also a common bird out there but not in Utah at all.

We were entertained by this PIGEON TREE.

It was covered in pigeons!

We liked to see the Hooded Merganser.  They are pretty interesting.

We had a whole family outing on Saturday.  We went to 3 different parks and walked around.

At one, we saw this female Cardinal whose colors were so strange but pretty!

Incredible Bluejay photo.  The colors just pop!

And finally some great Cardinals that are red!

Our little birdwatcher Cassidy.

and Klay.

And Carter.

And Bennett.

And Jenna and Cassidy!

Grandma, Jenna and Cassidy in a bird blind.

Sunday while we were there, Carter was ordained to be a Deacon and received the Aaronic Priesthood.

How great that Dad and both Grandpas got to be there!

Cute Mommy Jenna and her big boy!

Grandma reading with the kiddos.

And Grandpa playing Foosball with the boys.

We joined in the Saturday night HOT COCOA with Austin's family tonight.  The flavor was SALTED CARAMEL and it was tasty!

Back in Utah we were solo birders again!

Scott photographed some funny bird prints from our large back windows...the birds run into them all the time.  You can see feather and tail print here.  Crazy!

Out by Utah Lake, we saw about 5 Bald Eagles.  3 were out at the edge of the ice fishing like these 2.

We also saw a rare Say's Phoebe out by the burned area near the dike road.  So pretty!

On Skipper Bay we saw some really cute Downy Woodpeckers.

We finally made it up to Farmington Bay WMA where we saw over a dozen Bald Eagles.  They were there with hundreds of gulls.  Really cool!

We saw a bunch of Northern Harriers.

And, finally saw the Tundra Swans we had been hoping to see.  They migrate through here January through March.

Scott has taken some beautiful sunset photos out by the lake.

We love our walks in the evenings and are grateful they are getting longer now that it is staying light later.