Dolls and Drawings

The girls have been busy making clothes for their DC Superhero girl dolls. They got into my sewing stuff and have used it all and made a mess. 

They've done it before... Here's a link to when Abi made barbie dresses two years ago, and another time in 2019. This time it was mostly Lily and Sophi. I'm glad they are being creative and when they do things of their own initiative.

Natalie wrote letters today to Melodie and Ethan and wanted me to mail them. She wrote these on her own, and I thought they were really cute - 

Dear Mel, I hope U had a Great Christmas & I Love like love the earings U gave me. There so prety. UR very nice & I'm excited for us to get ice cream when U get home. Love Natalie to: Mel Look on the Back

And this one to Ethan made me lol - HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear Ethan hope U had a great (look on back) Christmas & Your The Best & UR very very nice & Hyrum got Drugs & AWESOME. Hope we can hang out more! Love Natalie To: Ethan

The little comment about Hyrum that was then rescinded made me smile, I'm sure it will give Ethan a good laugh too! Two other drawings - this one that Lily did on her tithing envelope two months ago -

And this one from October too, from a book that Sophi was working on, looks like it's about  a popular guy that all the girls are going crazy for, and he is trying to impress the main character but she is not impressed, cause "looks is not love"

The kids use a lot of paper and make lots of drawings and books and messes, but it's all good, I'm a little less up tight about it than I have been in the past, (I think/hope!)

Oh, one other thing - on New Years Eve, when the clock struck 12 (we go by New York time so it was 10 here in Utah) we welcomed the new year and the kids ran around the house barefoot to participate in the Socially Distanced Polar Bear Challenge that we usually do at the cabin with our neighbors. So for the record, Wes, Abi, Lily, Sophi, and Natalie all participated. Natalie was the only one I got a picture of:

Also, after a full day of skiing, Corey was done and so he tag teamed me and headed to bed. After he turned in, the kids noticed there were a lot of fire trucks across the tree farm. Wesley investigated, and told us that the neighbors house was on fire. 

I couldn't see it at first from inside the house, but then I did. I went outside and across the street to see better and see if there was anyone I could talk to or help. I did end up texting quite a few people and learned what was happening and that everyone got out ok. The house was left in ruins. It didn't totally burn to the ground, but it's destroyed. We all got out of the way when the fire truck came in front of our house to try and get the fire hydrant. 

There was a hydrant by the house that was on fire, but it was dried out so there was a problem there but finally they were able to get water up to fight the flames. Not how they ever thought they'd be starting off their year, right? I told Corey about it this morning and he and I walked over to take a look. You could see the sky through the window where the roof was gone. It was pretty bad. I'm glad that their beautiful yard looks ok and that the fire didn't spread to the other homes. Everyone was out last night and they didn't know what would happen, so they are all counting their blessings.