** * Our Life with 13 Kids * **: Climbing with M&C

Happy President's Day extended weekend. We had a nice chill day at home yesterday and then in the evening, we went climbing with Mel and Christian.

Back in January, I told Mel she should invite Christian climbing. Hyrum was like "Hey! What about me?!?!" and I said "Ahh! You're right, you first!" so Hyrum got January, and I told Mel that our February passes had her and Christian's names on them. Tonight was the night that we all went, it was fun! Mel on the left, Christian on the right.

They didn't keep track of how many they did, but I remember that for my first time, I did three top rope and after that I couldn't move my arms. They did more than three, so they win. K, I just went back and looked - my first time climbing was Nov 8, 2022, and from my records, it appears I did four climbs, so I stand corrected. But it only 3 routes cause I did one twice. Mel and Christian did more than 4 today, so good job guys, you two still win. We did a few boulders too. I did a total of 6 climbs and then 5 boulders. I was able to get the Pink V3, which is the only V3 I can do consistently. After that we took a pic of Mel and Christian.

Corey joked that she could use the belay glasses to see Christian better (cause he's so tall). "Do you want to put on your dating glasses?" haha, we were laughing.

A pic of Corey and I too - since we were doing the couple's photo thing.

So it was fun to spend time with them. We think Christian is great and they seem to be good for each other and to have fun together! They've been dating for almost a month (started dating Jan 19, and their first date was Dec 19). So we'll see where this leads! (No pressure Mel!) (...but if he proposes, you should say yes). After climbing we came back and they both stayed around for scriptures and a quick FHE activity of 5000, then they went back to Provo and we went to bed.

The older girls didn't have school again today, not sure why on that. The little boys had school. So we're not entirely back on routine and I'm guessing it will throw off the rest of the week a little bit. I walked the boys to the bus stop today. At first, I was just going to clear a path on the driveway for Peter to walk along (he was wearing cowboy boots with no tread), but Daniel had already walked on the snow, and since he stepped on it, his footprint stuck even when I tried to shovel it. They thought that was a pretty fun game and so then they were walking in front of me, facing backwards, teasing the shovel that he couldn't get their foot prints off and that he couldn't catch them.

They were laughing and squealing like it was the funnest game in the world. It was cute.

I had a nice walk to Sunrise Point this morning before I took them. It was cold but not too dreary, it was pretty.

A few more pics of my walk here. Wayne picked up Lily to go to Hale theater with him tonight. I gave him back his wedding topper from their wedding cake that I pieced together. He brought it over on Sunday when I asked him to bring a few wedding memorabilia. It broke years ago when a baby sitter was letting little Corey and his siblings jump on their parent's bed like a trampoline. Kinda fixed, I could tell it had been glued back together before.