Snowboarding

Last spring, we decided to purchase season passes to Beaver Mountain Ski Resort in Logan. The winters up here can be a little long and cold. And Rett was missing his old time spent on the slopes. And, since we bought them so early, they were a lot less cheap. And bonus, kids under 5 are free with season pass holders. So we figured we'd see how the kids did. We looked all summer, and finally got two tiny snowboards, bindings, and boots off of KSL (A local Craigslist). After our trip to get the Christmas Tree, I was really worried about the boys freezing to death! So Christmas Eve, when we went up to Grandpa Kip's house in Lava, we took the snowboards to try it out. He has the best driveway every for sledding, and we have loved that through the years. But turns out it is great for snowboarding too! And we used a four wheeler to give rides back to the top, which made it so much easier! It only took a few runs before Crew had it all figured out! And by the end of the couple of hours he was going all the way down the driveway without falling. Drake is getting so close to figuring out how to steer and once he gets that, he'll be keeping up with his big brother. They absolutely loved it! They didn't complain about being cold at all! And they did not want to stop. In fact, we learned that our boys do not give up. Drake was so mad when it was getting dark and we told him he had to go inside. We haven't gone up to Beaver yet, and frankly, I'm scared for Rett and I. I haven't been for 12 years, and wasn't that good to begin with. It's been a while for Rett too, but at least he was really good back in the day! We'll see if we can get through the season without injuring ourselves too bad!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Full of family, friends, and neighbors. We made tons of goodies and delivered 50 goody plates! Crew and Drake did a great job of running them to the doors while I stayed in my heated car! They were good sports. We made a quick trip to Utah. And we spent Christmas day playing with new toys and being lazy around the house. It was nice. We did actually leave the house once, to go visit a neighbor, but we were still in our jammies. It was just nice to let the kids relax and do whatever they wanted. This year we opened a Christmas book every night in December. It was fun to be surprised and then get to read a story as a family. We got to Skype with family we didn't get to see. It makes me so grateful for technology! I love this time of year because we remember to tell people we love and care about how much they mean to us! And we hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!

This is Crew's part in the Christmas Program at his school. He did a good job with his little reindeer antlers! 

Christmas Morning Presents.

Playing with some of the new presents!

Visit with Santa! Drake looked like he was going to start crying any minute!

This is getting our Christmas Tree this year. It was a funny story. We drove way up in the mountains. And then spotted a tree only 50 yards from the truck. The boys were already crying about being cold on the super short, closest to the truck tree we will ever find! It made me wonder what we were thinking investing in snowboards for the boys when they couldn't even last 10 minutes. But that story will be continued tomorrow. Needless to say, we ended up with a super cute and almost perfect Christmas Tree. I would bet it's the nicest one we have cut yet!

My Mom and Papa Kurt sent us a great Christmas package. It included these hats that the antlers move and light up and sings "Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer". This is Drake doing a silly dance in the hate. He is so funny! Makes me giggle all the time! Guess how much Rett likes the noisy hats!

We spent Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday in Utah. We got to visit Grandma Teresa (Rett's Mom), Ron, TJ, Megan, Seth, Jess, Grandma Cook, Tiff, Brian, Maggie, Sam, Gabe, Michael, Josh, and Jolene. It was way too short, but lot's of fun to see everyone. Saturday we ran some last minute shopping errands, and Saturday evening had dinner with the family at TJ and Megan's. Then Teresa and I got to go watch the Nutcracker, while Megan played her violin in the orchestra. It was a lot of fun and beautifully done, both the ballet and the orchestra! The boys all hung out together while we were there. Sunday morning we had breakfast at Tiffiny and Brian's. And the cousins got to do some great playing. The trip was much too short, and I wish we had more time with everyone, but it was so great to see them all!

Christmas Eve we went to Grandpa Kip and Debbie's for dinner, gifts, and snow fun. It was great. I will post pictures from the snow tomorrow. We got to hang out with Debbie's daughter Summer and her family. They have super cute and fun kids. And TJ and Megan made the trip up too. It was tons of good food and lot's of fun to be with everyone. 

Puppy Sitting

We love puppies. This is Cruse. Before you start thinking we have enough dogs or why would you name your dog that when your kids name is Crew...He's not ours. We're socializing him for Mark and Gail. And he's a fun little guy.

Drake's Pledge of Allegiance

I know that the preschool says the pledge but I had no idea Drake could say it all by himself. So cute!

Hallloween

The boys had a great Halloween. The school did all of their parties on Friday before Halloween, which was probably better for them, because they didn't have to deal with all the candy and craziness the next day, but it was kind of lame to send kids to school on Halloween without costumes. Our grade school also does a really fun Halloween Carnival that was Friday night. Drake was a bat and Crew was Captain America. 

We carved pumpkins Monday night for Family Home Evening. It was fun and messy. And the boys were excited to put their pumpkins out on the porch.

I help at focus groups in Crew's classroom on Fridays, and the teacher asked me to plan their Halloween Party. I got a few other moms and we planned some games and crafts. I did a cookie decorating table. It was fun and super messy. And I think all the kids loved it. Although, they did ask why they missed recess. We tried explaining that they'd been playing the whole time, but some were pretty disappointed. 

Then at the Trunk or Treat on Wednesday night, Crew decided that he was going to be a cowboy instead of Captain America. Imagine that. Crew, wanting to be a cowboy! It drives Dad crazy. But, it's also just a silly holiday, where kids get to dress up, so why not let them dress up in what makes them happy. Trying to make it more ok, Crew told us "This costume doesn't even cost anything, because I already have everything for it!" Which would be great, had his Captain America costume not been bought specifically for him this year!!!! But really, it makes him happy to be a cowboy, so I think that's great.

Noffin!

When asked what Drake had eaten, he simply said "Noffin" (Nothing). It made me giggle. Obviously he had eaten something! And upon more research, I found out that he had eaten spoonfuls of nestle chocolate quick powder! Super yummy! I guess I was too slow at getting his chocolate milk that day! When I told him that I knew he'd eaten something, he asked me how I knew. I told him to look in the mirror. And he came back giggling! I obviously don't encourage story telling or lying, but sometimes it is pretty funny what kids think they might get away with.

Did you know

That Drake can brush his teeth with his toes? It actually looks like more effort to me but at least we're getting the job done. He really is the silliest boy ever! He does that kind of thing all the time. We love his sense of humor and we are so grateful when he makes us laugh!

There are a few things the boys have been waiting to do. One of which was bowling. They finally talked us into taking them Saturday night. They had a ton of fun and think bowling is awesome. They even set up a bowling alley in our basement. We're glad they had fun.

Our First Snow of the Year

The boys were so excited about the first snow of the season. We woke up on Tuesday to find a beautiful white blanket. The boys were up at 7:00 and wanted to go out to play before it was even light. It was so magical for them. I was glad they were excited.
There are actually a lot of things I like about winter time. I love the holidays. This year we are all planning to spend a lot of time snowboarding at Beaver Mountain. I also love being able to spend more time inside and keeping my house clean. I love having dinner ready when Rett gets home. I love working on sewing or crafting projects. But mostly I'm grateful for changes in the season. I am always ready for the next season to arrive and look forward to the changes it brings to life. Winter time is here!

School Pictures

Crew loves kindergarten still. And we are so glad he loves it so much! He's so cute! Here are his school pictures. His smile is not exactly him, but I'm sure they told him to smile and he was probably nervous so this is what it turned out as. It's still really cute though.

Soccer

Crew got to play soccer this fall. He loved it and was pretty good for never playing before. Rett told him through the whole season that if he scored a goal he would take everyone to ice cream. The last few games is when Crew started getting the concepts down better. He's still not super coordinated enough, but it's getting better. The very last game was also the opening of the waterfowl hunt, so Rett wasn't there. But Crew seriously came within an inch of making a goal. It hit the goal post. So Rett took us all for milkshakes! He was on a 5 & 6 year old team.  It was amazing the difference that a year of playing made for kids. So he's hoping to be super stealthy next year! Way to go Crew, we're so glad you had fun playing soccer!

This is The Place Park

So, after Seth's wedding, we decided since we were there, and it was free, we would explore the park. It was a lot of fun for the boys. The petting zoo was definitely among the highlights! But there was tons of cool stuff, and we didn't even get to go through the whole park because the boys ended up getting really tired and whiney. Don't worry though, when we would say that, they would insist they weren't tired! We got pony rides, got to watch a black smith working, tried stilts, saw a school house, and much more. The boys had a fun time, and it was nice to be able to walk around, talk, and spend time with family.