December 2011

Merry Christmas!
We had a great Christmas-lots' of family, food & fun!
It has been a little weird being close enough to visit family again for the holidays.  I know it should be great but I think we got a little used to having just our own little family Christmas.  With the boys getting older, it is hard to travel with gifts.  We were able to meet at my parents and see my sisters and their families which was really great.  I miss having the whole family get together and play games & enjoy their company til way to late at night.  Maybe some day we'll all live close enough to start a similar tradition.

We also made a quick trip to Temple Square with Shelly & Trevor & Family.  We decided the kids would like to ride the train.  So we met at the train station in Ogden and rode to the Train Station in down town Salt Lake.  It took about an hour, the kids really like it.  We ate dinner at the ever crowded, Crown Burger, then walked up and around to see the amazing lights and scenery.  I haven't done this since I was a teenager, it was even better than I remembered.  Minus the cold it was a really fun time.  We wore the kids out and they had a great time.  I love the spirit of family & at the temple even more so.

October 2011

Ryan's 2st grade class was invited for a tour of the firehouse.  It is just about a half mile up the road from the school.  So the plan was to just walk as a large group up.  Well the weather was really cold & wet so the kids got to ride the bus & the parents followed behind.  When we first arrived the split us into smaller groups and we first sat through a fire safety lesson, then went on a tour of the living spaces & last we got to go see and learn all about the tools & trucks.  Ryan thought it was super neat, he liked most getting to sit in the seat of the truck.

Later in the month we were able to catch up with my sister Shelly & her kids to go play at a Harvest Fun Farm.  They had the great big hay bales setup into a fort with old foam & mattresses to hide, jump & play on.  I would love to have the lack of fear as my kids too.  I get nervous on stuff like this but not kids-they had a blast!  They also had a corn maze & wagon ride.  We got the kids away from the hay bales for a few minutes to go walk through the maze.  It was fun, but the kids didn't seem to like to stay on the trail after a while they started just cutting through the corn so they could get back to the hay bales.  They would've stayed & played forever if we'd let them.

September 2011

I'm slowing getting all my pictures uploaded and sorted since getting settled here in Utah.  So I'm gonna go back and move to current.

September was a great month, the weather was perfect.  We were able to go on a lot of mountain bike rides.  Jeff has Mondays off work which has been great for us to go up on the mountain and ride a lot harder.  The boys are doing great learning to ride better and better.  I have to admit Brandon is better than me and he has less experience. But he has that "no Fear" thing to his advantage.  It was hard work but fun exercise.  We also went on a few hikes to see the fall colors.  I LOVE being so close to the outdoors again!

We also celebrated Brandon's 12th Birthday.  My how time has flown by.  He is growing into a great young man.  We are starting to trust him to stay home for small periods of time watching his brothers.  Brandon has been excelling at school and has been asked by the school to help tutor and he is doing great with it.  I think he really likes it.  It has helped him have more patience with his brothers too.  He is still very stubborn and strong willed like a pre-teen should be.  All around his is a great kid & we're so proud of him.

Then the end of Sept Tyson's class went on a field trip to the Environmental Center.  It was all about how we take care of nature.  They went on a small hike and learned about different things along the way.  They had a climbing wall that the kids just couldn't get enough of.  Then they made bird-feeders out of peanut butter & pine cones.  Lots' of fun!