Trial #2

 Hudson has so much fun with his friends at school.

This Gravitrax Lydia got for Christmas has been a hit. I think Loren likes it more than anyone. The kids absolutely love building sets with dad when he gets home from work. I love when Christmas gifts are as amazing as I hoped. 

Another Christmas hit has been Hudson's Polar Express. He loves taking the lego men for a ride.

Allie's been learning how to braid and wanted to take a picture of her hair creation. 

The kids have played with these Piccasotiles every single day since Christmas. These have been another amazing find, I wish I would have got them years ago. I love seeing all the creative things the kids build and come up with with these. 

This was Jace's first time in the snow. He loved being bundled up like a marshmallow. 

Lindsay graduated boot camp! Seriously so proud of this girl for doing an incredibly difficult thing. 

Hudson saw this sign on our walk and said, "Mom, that sign says definitely no trains here."

Lydia gave an amazing presentation for her SEM class. She had spent months of researching geodes and made a five minute powerpoint presentation to share with the fourth grade. I was so proud of her. 

Normally I delete the pictures Hudson takes on my phone but this one was too cute. 

Loren and Shaun spent all of January preparing for their trial. Every morning the week before when Loren would wake up he would exclaim, "Is it REALLY Tuesday??" "Is it REALLY Wednesday??" "Is it REALLY Friday??" It was a bit humorous to me as he was genuinely shocked it was a day closer to trial. It was a tough month. I spent a lot of time alone with the kids. I had to go ministering one night and left Lydia alone with the kids for the first time while I went for 40 minutes. She did a great job and as soon as we get her a device she can contact us on, I think she'll be good to babysit! Wahoooo! Lydia is so responsible and I completely trust her. I love the young women she is becoming. 

The past month I really tried to not just survive until trial was over. I had better days than others but I wanted to stretch myself and see if I could find joy in everyday. The week of the trial I took the kids out of school and we drove to The Treehouse Museum in Ogden. Normally I wouldn't try something like that by myself but I wanted to try something that pushed my out of my comfort zone a bit. It ended up being a total blast! Jace and I ran like four miles as I tried to keep track of him flittering from exhibit to exhibit but other than that, we all had a lot of fun. I'm proud of myself for doing a hard thing that turned into a great memory. 

Jace sat on the fire engine for like thirty minutes and would't let anyone else on it. Future fireman I guess!

Both of their faces crack me up.

After we wore ourselves out, we drove to Loren and Dad's Airbnb in Farmington to spend the night. That's another thing I'm proud of myself for, packing all the kids myself for an overnight trip. It was so nice to be with Loren. I was stressed thinking we'd be a distraction but I think it turned out to be a good pick me up for him. The house was huge and had a foosball table, basketball hoops, air hockey and a hot tub. Lindsay and Reiden were able to be there too. We enjoyed having dinner with them and soaking in the hot tub later that evening talking mostly about trial, then a new topic, then back to trial. The next morning the boys left for trial and the kids and I stayed at the house for a bit longer so they could play in the hot tub. Overall it was a nice way to break up the week and the kids made some great memories. 

Putting on this trial was one of the hardest things Loren has ever had to do. The judge was absolutely awful and had no idea what she was talking about. She treated Loren and Dad like dirt and Loren had to experience some extremely humbling experiences. It's hard to sum it all up but in a nutshell, the week was such an emotional roller coaster. To top it off, at the very end opposing counsel gave the jury documents they weren't supposed to see and screwed up the whole case. So now Loren and Dad will be filing for a mistrial, or will be appealing. It's a bit deflating as they'll probably have to wait a year for the process to finish but hopefully the result will be worth it. I'm so proud of Loren. It's hard to explain just how difficult it is to put on a trial, physically, emotionally and mentally. He's learned so much and I could not be more proud to be his wife. 

Life is good and we're enjoying being together as a family again after a crazy month.