The BrehiThomas Family Blog: February 2020

This month was crazy! A lot went on and we made a ton of memories. Be ready for our small novel about our life in February:

Mav & Lincoln Quotes/Short Stories:

I usually have these towards the end of the blog, but I thought we could kick it off with some laughs:

-One Saturday morning, I told Lincoln he needed to kick Maverick & Lehi out of his bed so he could make it. He walked over with a gleam of excitement flickering in his eyes as he wheeled back his leg and kicked Lehi in the shin like some sort of oblong soccer ball.

-Boy wrestling outside of my room, I heard Maverick (who has pinned Lincoln tell him, "Say Maverick's the winner!" to which Lincoln emphatically responded "Mav no winner!" and then giggled like a mad man. This phraseology continued for a solid 5 minutes. #truebrothers

-Maverick coming into my room in the middle of the night to tell me, "Mom. Lincoln's snoring is too loud, I can't sleep."I feel the same way with your Dad, kiddo. Join the club.

-Getting ready for bed:
Lehi, addressing Lincoln, "What is Mav wearing?"
"Ugh...PJs."
"What are you wearing?"
"....not PJs...." (finished with a smirk)

-Boys playing Smash Brothers, Maverick yells "I hate you!" to one of the characters. Brielle started to cry. Maverick knelt next to her, put his face right next to hers and in the sweetest baby talk voice you have heard said "Not you, Brielle. I'll never hate you!"

-Talking about how we love everyone in our family, even if they are grumpy or do something that isn't nice. Maverick added, "Yeah, we all make bad choices sometimes."
Lincoln responded, "No! Not me! I no hit someone in long time!"

-Confession. I opened by eyes during family prayer. And I am so happy I did so I was able to witness Lincoln trying repeatedly to get the t-rex dinosaur to fold its arms. He was confused why it wasn't working...it's arms were too short.

-Maverick saying family prayer before bed, "...please bless Brielle that she will sleep good so mom and dad will sleep good and please bless me that I won't whine when I do my homework tomorrow and that Lincoln will feel better."

-Looking around the inside of my van while waiting for grocery pick-up
Me: "Maverick left his jacket in here...."
Lincoln: "That little rat!"

Brielle's Blessing

We blessed Brielle on Superbowl Sunday! Our cute nephew, Beckett also made his appearance later that evening. Talk about a great day. ;)
Andrew, Bishop Batson, Brady Lorenc, and Lehi all stood in the circle.
One of my sweet friends texted me a few things that were in her blessing--her life will be one of joy, she will selflessly share her happiness with others, come to know the Savior as friend & brother--and she will share that knowledge with others, strive to be more like the Savior, and bring peace to others and our family. I am already seeing that last one transpire!

Bedtime Bloody Nose

Maverick crept to the stairs where he could see me in the living room, well after I had put them to bed. I was naturally a little annoyed with him and asked what he needed. He told me that his nose was bleeding. I had him come and we went to the bathroom--he wasn't kidding--he had blood all over his face and hands. We got the bleeding under control and I started to wash the blood off his face. He told me "thanks for taking care of me, mom. I really love that you do that for me." My mamma heart. What I thought was going to be an annoyance ended up being a pretty tender moment for the both of us.

Lincoln & the Pokemon Shirt

Lincoln really wanted to wear his Pokemon shirt, but it was dirty and sitting in the laundry basket. He was very sad about this news. I left him to his own devices in his room while I went downstairs to clean up the kitchen. A few minutes later, he called me to help him with something. Back up to his room I went. And oh ho ho, his own devices are sneaky ones. What did I behold, hanging up in his closet with his other, clean shirts? The Pokemon t-shirt. "See, it clean!"he proudly declared. I was laughing so hard and so impressed with his cunning, I let him wear his dirty shirt that he somehow managed to hang on a hanger and put up in his closet.

Valentine's Day

In total honest, Lehi and I think Valentines Day is overrated. But recognize it is fun for the kiddos. Maverick's school did a carnation fundraiser, where you paid $1 per flower, told who you wanted it delivered to, and the student council brought them around on Valentines. I asked Maverick if he wanted to get one for anybody and he decided he would buy one for Miss Medina. We got hers before school a few weeks before Valentines. After dropping Mav off in his classroom, I went back and bought one from me to Maverick.

I was excited to hear what Mav thought of my surprise Valentine's Day afternoon when I picked him up. He was full of energy and had a lot of fun at their class party. He told me he got a flower from his friend, Lily, me, AND his grandparents...I think there was a mis-delivery, because his grandparents did not get him one 🤣. When we were driving home, he told me,"Next year, I am going to get some for the people in my class that didn't get one and then proceeded to tell me their names. Love this kid.

I had to hurry home from parent pickup because I had my primary class over to decorate sugar cookies & play games. It was loud, crazy, and so much fun. Pie face was a fan favorite, as well as Brielle.

I also did some flower deliveries to some beauties in my ward--fresh flowers are my favorite! Sister Manchester's husband does photography and shared a close up tulip picture with me after I had dropped them off.

Lehi brought home Yum Thai, I got my flowers, and it was a nice, quiet evening. We topped off the night with my traditional Valentines Cake from Dad. Midnight Delight from Cold Stone and playing Spot It with the boys.

My card for Leh. Eagles' football. I know his heart.

Sonic the Hedgog

Lehi took the boys to see Sonic in theater. When he came home, he looked tired. I asked him how it went--he said Maverick cried he missed me (mom) the majority of the time. Lincoln sat and watched, no problem, did awesome.

Colorado Calling

In November, Kristina convinced us to join her family in their annual ski trip to Durango. We jumped on board, knowing how much Lehi would love using his snowboard again and how much Maverick wanted to play in snow. Tasha & Ronnie's families came, too. It was so much, chaotic fun. We shared a slope-side condo with the Westensee & Hurless, where we all pretty much had a whole floor to ourselves and walked out the front door and were at the bunny hill. Heaven. Especially with the boys learning to ski.

But I am getting ahead of myself. I knew we were off to a great start when we stopped to fill up and I found a vanilla coke. I don't really care for soda and don't like carbonation, but a vanilla coke will get me every time. The boys were soooo good and Brielle babe was even better. Lehi and I spent most of the time playing 100,000 million questions. Literally. We asked questions/talked about everything under the sun, from what would your dream date be to if you were a farmer, what would you grow. We were scraping the bottom of the barrel towards the end of the 9 hours that day, but we had some pretty awesome/random conversations. Never stop dating your spouse--and getting to know each other is a huge part of that! So I don't forget, Lehi's ideal date is (this one shocked me) going to a quiet, fancy restaurant dressed up and then go somewhere pretty. A close second was campfire dutch oven & camping--talk about a contrast! ;) Others included going to an arcade and playing games (like a nickle one) and a shooting range (that was one I suggested).

When we reached San Angelo, we quickly remembered when we drove from Idaho to Texas for our move and Lehi and I were so excited when we saw San Angelo, because we were exhausted and thought it said San Antonio. As we reminisced about that city (calling it that "stinking city that gave us false hope") Maverick perked up and said, "it sounds like a ninja turtle name!"

Lincoln also told Lehi "Dad stop talking." He responded, "Why? So you can talk?"
"Yeah! .... Daddy I lob you."

We split up the drive with a hotel in New Mexico (although we only had about 4 hours after that). The boys were bouncing off the walls and Brielle was being her normal sweet self. After a (fairly) restful sleep, Lehi took the boys down for breakfast, bringing it back up to the room for me. Lehi said one of the hotel cooks asked if he wanted a cheese omelet, which he happily waited to be cooked. When he showed me, asking if I wanted to share it, I was a little hesitant. He said it tasted a little weird. I tried it. Nacho cheese y'all. It was an omelet filled with nacho cheese 🤣 Needless-to-say the two sample bites (to discover the source of the cheese) were all that were consumed.

The boys had their own bed, Brielle a pack n' play, but as soon as I laid Brielle down to change her, the boys were all in our space

"Cheese" omelet

We had a bit of a gap between check-out for the hotel and check-in for the Condo, so we drove to Durango and did some exploring. Man, it was almost like night and day when you crossed New Mexico into Colorado (with NM being the night 😉). I didn't realize just how much I missed the mountains. Kristina told us about a park we could take the boys...it did not disappoint. Lehi stayed in the van with Brielle and I supervised. It was seriously legit, next to a small creek (it was a little stinky, though), the play-scape had all sorts of cool gadgets, and the tower was two stories high. We seriously considered taking them back if the skiing didn't go great for them. Maverick also proudly announced to anyone he saw "Hi! I'm from Texas!"
Durango is a super cute town with lots of small shops around main street. We drove around, taking in the sights.

My boys have an issue with taking pictures when it is bright outside...this was as good as it was going to get.

We were the first to check-in and explore the condo. It was awesome. Three floors, huge kitchen, balconies looking at the slopes/mountains, etc. The best part of this particular location, is with so many kids trying skiing out, we were a few steps away from the bunny hill with the magic carpet.We quickly became spoiled with the location and know if we go again, we are going to budget for a slope-side again. Soooo worth it. Before we went inside to unload our luggage/food, we let the boys play in the snow for a bit. It was the first time Lincoln had ever seen/touched snow...he described it perfectly, "It's cold!" Overall, he was a little impartial to it. Maverick, on the other hand, looked like he had been made to play in snow.
(For pictures, Mav in green w/pom hat, Lincoln in black w/red pom hat, Dallin green w/gray pants)

While a day-by-day account would be great, the whole trip just blends together, so this is more of a comprehensive overview. Cousins quickly arrived, mayhem and fun began. They all played together so well. Both Maverick and Lincoln showed an interest in wanting to skii, so we decided we would rent skiis for them to give it a go. ...and then Lincoln started running a fever. So we rented skis for Maverick the first day and let him go at it. He did so well! At first he was a little scared, but got the hang of things pretty quickly! It took a few runs down holding on to Lehi or my hand, but then he said he wanted to do it all himself, and he did an awesome job. Sweet Lincoln was a trooper and just stood by me the whole time so I could help/watch Mav. (Lehi did take him on a run or two on his snowboard down the bunny hill and got some good smiles out of him). And Brielle, our sweet darling, looked like the cutest little snow babe and was content with me holding her. Most of the day was rotations between watching kiddos, giving kids time to ski, giving adults time to ski, naps for kids, etc. We pretty much went with the flow of things and made tentative plans. Lehi was able to get some good runs in, I was able to help Maverick with Brielle in tow and Lincoln being a champ. Towards the end of the day, we planned a sister's run down the mountain. But I have never skied and knew it might be a total fail, attempting to do so without an ACL. I am glad I went in with low expectations (hahaha) . Kristina and Ronnie spent some time helping me get the hang of things. Then we headed up to a larger bunny hill....and I failed, miserably. I just couldn't get my knees to allow my skis to "pizza" to slow down. After a good amount of trying, I admitted defeat--for this trip! I am determined to be able to snowboard or ski with Lehi someday! I told the sisters to go have fun and to take pictures to tell me about their stories. we were all worn out and having a blast by the end of the day, minus Lincoln. He was just miserable, but such a good sport. We made sure to stay on top of his medicine, which took the edge off the fever. We tried to keep him away from the other kids the best we could, too. I noticed his tonsils were red, large, and had pockets of puss, symptoms/signs that we are all too familiar with. He never tests positive for strep even though everything points to it, and no one else ever gets sick. We still took pre-cautions, but our gut feeling was his normal tonsil flareup/irritation. Lincoln also had "scooter marks"in his underwear and changed without us knowing....he disposed of the evidence in the side pocket of the diaper bag. How do I know this? I blindly reached in to get a pacifier and ran my hand directly into it. Thanks, buddy.

The next day, Lincoln started to feel better and told us he wanted to ski. Most of the kids that had gone yesterday were pretty self-sufficient in doing down the hill and just needed help loading/unloading from the magic carpet. Lincoln killed it. He did a run holding my hand and then did it all on his own....and he loved it. After getting the rust off a few kiddos, Ronnie and I manned the magic carpet, her standing at the bottom and me at the top, helping to direct traffic and get them started/stopped. I am sure we were quite the sight, Ronnie and her twins and me and Brielle, shuffling kids everywhere. Eventually, Tasha got Brielle and put her down for a nap while Richael stayed in with her and the twins. Having two fully functional hands made the work so much easier! ;) It was a day of switching, a little coordinating, and a lot of playing by ear. The kids finished up the evening by sledding. No major injuries were acquired, but Maverick and Parker (of course) hit a fire hydrant at a decent speed.

We got our traditional Nertz game in, played quiplash, and soaked up our time together. It was a family vacation I would 110% do again. Both Maverick and Lincoln even asked for skis for Christmas (sorry snowboarding Lehi). Family vacation with family for the win! Until next time!

Day 2 it was 7 degrees, so I bundled that baby up! Someone thought I was holding a stuffed animal and came up to me to ask...then they realized it was a baby

The drive home was a straight-shot because Lehi had to get home to take his private pilot licence exam the next day. I think we tuckered the kids out. ;) At one point, Brielle was holding Lehi's pinky so tight that it started to turn blue. Girl's got an iron grip. We showed Maverick the picture of him sleeping later...he laughed.

Toilet Paper Disaster

It was a Thursday night. Lehi has passed his pilots exam! We planned to celebrate later that evening with a date night-in. Evening came, Lehi was at primary activities, I was getting kids to bed. Maverick and Lincoln had been tucked in and I was wrestling Brielle to sleep. Yes, she can sometimes be cranky. During this time, Mav came down and told me the toilet was plugged. This happens sometimes and usually all you have to do is flush. Made a mental note to do that after laying Brielle down. Girlfriend was crying and mad at me for a good amount of time when she finally gave into sleep. I was holding her on the couch when I heard it raining outside. I thought it was weird, checked my phone to double check (blinds were all closed so I couldn't see outside and it was dark) and it was clear skies...but I could still hear it! So I got up and looked behind me to see, water....drizzling in my reading nook. It took a second to register what might be happening. I quickly carried Brielle upstairs, laid her down, and ran into the boys' bathroom. Water. Everywhere. The source, the toilet. I quickly called Andrew and asked him what steps I should take to prevent damage as much as possible. I used the emergency switch to turn off the water and started to mop up as fast as I could to prevent it from getting into the carpet in the hall. While gathering all the towels/blankets we owned, I called Lehi and told him he needed to hurry home. He did. I cleaned up all the standing water in the bathroom, pulled up the carpet that had gotten wet, and headed downstairs. Water was pouring through the light fixtures, vents, and in random areas throughout the ceiling. So I started clean up there. What was supposed to be a nice date-night in, ended up being a super romantic, cleaning up toilet water in the candle light (electrical system shorted as a safety precaution). Andrew came with industrial fans to dry out the carpet area upstairs, which were completely dry by morning. Lehi said it was a good thing Maverick was asleep by the time he got home. Now to get someone out to do some drywall work for us!...at least we have a cute pilot in the house!

Restoration FHE

We were trying of ways to get our littles involved with thinking/learning about the Restoration in preparation for General Conference—Lincoln requested Hide & Go Seek as our activity for FHE and thus our lesson was born! The person hiding had a paper with something that was restored and the rest of us found them. We talked about each item before the next person hid. We tried to iterate that gospel truths were “hidden” and then “found again” during the restoration. It was a hit for the most part....Lincoln had a close-to-bedtime meltdown, but otherwise it went pretty well!