a great january

usually january is such a slog for me – i really struggle with the post-christmas, deep-winter blues and i am just thrilled when that first month of the year is over. but this year, january felt like a gift. we had some super fun family adventures and there was beautiful snow and some really exciting new things for our kids.

here’s some photos from that month!

on new years eve, the day after we got home from our road trip, we undecorated our christmas tree and had a nye party with leftover christmas crackers and some bubbly.

we got these knuckleheads to bed…

we counted down to 9pm, pretending it was midnight, and then burned our christmas tree in our driveway – an exciting new wright family tradition.

we also had sparklers!

and a rousing few rounds of a favourite family game, “don’t eat pete!”:

we spent part of new years day at the ice skating rink. the boys loved it but it was so crowded and chaotic, ha!

we got back into our regular day-to-day stuff at home – making big messes in the play room and creating all sorts of imaginary things (mo disappeared into the craft room and made this shield and sword all on his own):

and there was the most amazing sunset on the evening of january first – a little kiss on the cheek from god going into 2022 🙂

bedtime sweetness – the babies drinking their bottles and matching with the kitchen rug, the boys reading narnia cuddled up in mom & dad’s bed (gabe was so cozy that he fell fast asleep 🙂 ) :

fun at the library – babies playing while the boys picked out new books:

a bike/scooter ride marveling at the glowing snowy mountains – i’ll forever submit that mount timpanogos is the most beautiful mountain on earth!

a trip to the bean life science museum on campus – a favourite spot of moses and gabriel’s:

fun after swimming lessons at the rec center (which is our happy place and haven):

an afternoon at the dino museum at thanksgiving point on mo’s early-out day … the boys spent some hard-earned cash at the museum shop and were so psyched:

a saturday morning adventure to some hot springs on the other side of utah lake – this was so so fun! we weren’t sure if we wanted to go through the effort of getting the babies in, but they loved it just as much as the boys so i’m glad we did!! there’s something pretty magical about being in a warm pool on a very cold day, surrounded by mountains in the distance.

another saturday i got to meet my sisters in salt lake and head up millcreek canyon to go on a gorgeous hike together. winter hiking is the best!!

meanwhile, ian took the kids to antelope island to see the bison herds there. gabriel was pretty pumped about the magnet they got at the visitors’ center.

the one big bummer about this january – we finally had our turn and got covid. i wasn’t feeling well and tested negative but took another test the next morning just to be safe because my brothers were coming to stay at our house and omicron was spiking hard in utah. when it came back positive i was shocked. it was such a weird feeling to see those two lines – after nearly two years of working so so hard to not get (and especially not pass on) this virus, it was just so surreal to actually have it. ian tested positive a few days later and we also had the kids tested even though they were showing zero symptoms. gabriel, august and eve tested positive, and moses escaped (probably because he had recently had his second round of the vaccine).

we tried to make the most of quarantining … lots of lego building …

… hanging out in pjs all day …

… scrambling in the river bed in rock canyon and enjoying golden hour shadows …

… coming up with new activities at home (moses’s “discoveries in the garden list” activity was completely independent and unprompted – love it!) …

… a day spent sledding and ice cabe building at my parents’ house in park city (they were in hawaii) ..
(gabriel found this epic 80s snowsuit in the massive snow clothes bin in the garage – it has since become very, very beloved and worn nearly every day!)

… and then we celebrated our freedom when our quarantine was up and ian and i were both feeling so much better – we both had very mild symptoms (thank you vaccine!!) but were super fatigued.

eve started standing on her won at the end of december and was always so so proud of herself 🙂 in january she took her first steps!! // for his “sharing time” at school, gabriel asked me to take a photo of him with his deeply loved dino puzzle – what santa brought him for christmas – which he quickly mastered doing “with no help and no clues!” :

moses conquered the rock wall at the rec center swimming pool – very exciting – and he started karate lessons!!

probably the most exciting bit from january is that august got glasses!! we knew he needed them at the end of 2021 but it took a while to get them back from the lab with his prescription. it was pretty amazing to watch him wear them for the first time and look around in amazement. almost immediately he started moving around more and making more rapid progress in catching up on his physical milestones. and he looks so dang cute!

ian and i got to use my parents’ season tickets and go to a jazz game for date night (felt so wild to be in a crowd like that!). it was really fun, and the jazz won!

polaroids by moses:

selfies in the back of the car by moses:

an early valentine’s day card set up right in front of the garage door so daddy would see it right when he got home 🙂 :

my niece eliza is our regular babysitter. she’s so so awesome and i love that my kids get to have this bond with their cousin! how awesome is this photo she sent me one day – ha, mo’s face! // and more august-in-glasses cuteness overload:

we went to the midway ice castles one afternoon/evening. it was really fun but also so freaking cold and also really crowded. we made the most of it with hot chocolate and going down the ice slides and vowing to bundle up way more next year 🙂