Reagan's Birthday and Other January Fun

While the title of the post indicates that I'll only write about January, I am actually going to start with December 30th.  On December 30th, Matt found a motorcycle on the KSL classifieds that he was interested in purchasing.  Since the motorcycle was in South Jordan, we decided to make an outing of it and go look at the motorcycle together.  On the bright side, the motorcycle was exactly what Matt was looking for.  So, we are now the proud owners of a motorcycle.  Unfortunately, the man who sold it to us was smoking in the garage, which meant that I couldn't get a good look at it.  The smell made me absolutely sick, and since the girls are unfamiliar with the smell, they also felt like they needed to leave the garage.  Don't worry, we weren't rude.  We just said we were cold and needed to go wait in the car.

Kirsten waiting in the car while Daddy loaded the motorcycle on the trailer.

Reagan waiting in the car.

 After purchasing the motorcycle, we went out for dinner at Denny's.  Denny's is the girls' favorite restaurant, and my parents gave us a gift card for Christmas.   When we got there, our server told us that they were a little backed up in the kitchen, which should have cued us in to the fact that we were going to be waiting a long time, but unfortunately, we were so hungry that we didn't even consider leaving.  Well, an hour later when our food came, we weren't just hungry, we were ravenous.  All of us finished our meal within about five minutes.  It was crazy!  I've never seen our little girls shove so much food in their mouths so quickly.

When we were done with dinner, we went up to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to look at the Christmas lights.  We'd heard that Temple Square was a lot less busy after Christmas, which definitely proved to be true.  It was nice to look around, and the girls were so impressed by the beauty of the temple and the lights.  Reagan decided that she would get married in the Salt Lake Temple.  Kirsten is still sure that she'll get married in the Provo City Center Temple.  Either one is fine with me.

Our family standing in front of the Temple at the Reflecting Pool

Two days later Reagan graduated from Nursery at Church and started going to Primary.  There are four little kids in her Sunbeam class, and she seems to really enjoy being away from all the babies in Nursery.  Last Sunday I even got to substitute in her class, and it was fun to see her with her friend Gracie.

Reagan and Gracie getting ready to go to Primary.

We've had lunch with my parents several times this month, and Kirsten has started being more affectionate with my dad.  It makes them both happy!

Kirsten with my dad

One afternoon we went to play at the mall.  Here's Kirsten with Bananas in Pajamas.

And Reagan in the ice cream truck.

 The Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day was District Development Day at Kirsten's school.  So, she didn't have any school, which meant that she got to go to Story Time at the Springville Library with Reagan and me.  She was so excited to be able to go because Story Time is something she has missed since she started school.  After Story Time was over, the Story Time leaders pulled out a whole bunch of toys for the kids to play with.  It's nice for the girls to have a big room to run around in, especially in the middle of January when going outside isn't always an appealing option.

Kirsten played with this horse. 

I loved watching Reagan roll over this ball over and over again.

The next day was Reagan's friend birthday party.  We had several friends come over, including Brett, Alana, Gracie, Harper, and Elayna.  They started off by decorating party hats with doggy stickers, and then they went off and played.  After awhile I called them together to play a few party games, including Pin the Paw Print on the Puppy and Freeze Dance.  Then they had snacks, cake, and ice cream.  After that, Reagan got to open her presents.  It was a fun birthday party, and she was very pleased with all of it.

Reagan decorating her party hat.

Kirsten wearing her party hat.

Reagan wearing her party hat.

Kirsten and Reagan dancing.

Didn't Daddy look like an angel as he brought Reagan her cake?

Reagan getting ready to blow out her candles

Kiddos eating 

Kiddos eating

Reagan opening presents

 The next day we had my parents and Brian's family over for Reagan's family birthday party.  I made homemade pizza, and Norma brought a salad.  The kids played together a ton.

Reagan with Sierra and Norma

Reagan eating ice cream

Nana and Grampa gave her a FurReal Friends bunny that Reagan named Bun Bun.

Bun Bun makes silly noises and spins in a circle.

She got a Tinker Bell fairy and stuffed German Shepherd from Mom and Dad.

And Princess Palace Pets from Brian, Norma, William, and Sierra

 On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I took the girls to jump at the Kangaroo Zoo.  It was so much fun to see them enjoy themselves.  I wish I could have jumped with them.  I look forward to not being huge someday and being able to be more active again.

Reagan and Kirsten jumping at the Kangaroo Zoo

 On Tuesday, which was Reagan's actual birthday, I took her out shopping for some new clothes.  My mom watched Kirsten, which meant that I got that time with just Reagan.  I loved being able to help her pick out clothes and talk to just her.  Then we went over to the Excel Eye Center to pick up Reagan's new glasses.  Earlier in the month she had an eye appointment because I had noticed that one of her eyes was involuntarily crossing.  It turns out she has lazy eye and is a little bit farsighted.  Fortunately, they were able to figure that out, and the glasses should retrain her eyes.  She might need to wear glasses forever, and she might not.  As a person who wears glasses, I suppose there are definitely worse things than having to wear glasses for the rest of your life.  She is has adjusted to the glasses really well, and that makes me happy.

That evening we went out to eat at Denny's to celebrate her birthday again, and we brought a gift from Mimzy.

Reagan opening her present.

She got a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal and a Winnie the Pooh sticker book!

 The next day we went to the mall again because I'd read that they give kids a small birthday gift in the mall office.  She got a Pinwheel, and the girls played on the mall playground.  The next day a birthday present arrived from Papa and Beth, which was exciting for Reagan, but by that time, Kirsten was definitely done celebrating Reagan's birthday.  Good grief!  I'm sure it was hard to watch Reagan get something nearly everyday for a week!

Last week we had a couple of fun outings, including lunch at Nana and Grampa's house, a visit to the BYU Paleontology Museum, and a visit to the BYU Bean Life Science Museum.  On Saturday, Daddy took them ice skating while I took a nap, and that evening Matt and I went to see Cash on Delivery at the Orem Hale Center Theater.  It was such a funny play.

The girls played in the snow at Nana and Grampa's house

 I'm looking forward to February because on the first day of February I will be 35 weeks pregnant, which means I'll only have five more weeks of the insanity that is the third trimester of pregnancy.