100 Days and Snow Days

This week we celebrated 100 days of school. I can hardly believe how fast that has gone by. When Tara was in 1st grade they counted how many steps were 100 steps, Emily brought 100 cheerios. Jacob did 100 math problems and wrote 100 words that he's learned in 1st grade and his class dressed up like an old man. Hmm.....how times have changed.

Emily won for the school cyber safety contest. She talked about getting parents to help you choose safe sites....drew a huge lap top with all her favorite places. Sorry I forgot to get a picture before it was turned in.

Gene's trip to Chicago has been cancelled so he will be here this week.

Yeah, we finally had a couple. A day off of school and one off of church. I count the Sunday too because that hardly ever happens....and I always get stressed about my gospel doctrine lessons and was a little bit happy to not have to teach today.

A snow storm hit Friday evening...but got icy and cold really quickly. Poor Tara had to stay home from a birthday party that was cancelled. She was not thrilled that she had to stay home with Mom and Dad and sit through Glen Beck.

Emily made a bead necklace twice. She did one and then I told her about using patterns and she realized it would be alot better if she did it again. The second one was fantastic. Notice there is no photo. That is because she stood up and walked over to the couch to show Tara and ....dropped it. There were tears....no joke. She had worked so hard for over an hour. Guess she learned a great rule of bead making.....stay still until Mom crimps the end with the pliers!!!

Jacob has been trying to find his dinosaur bones from a rock we got at the Dinosaur museum in St. George. He has also played with just about every toy in his room. We refused to let him dominate the tv choices all day....and it has been wonderful.

All three kids and Dad got outside twice. The snowballs were icy and hard, but they did build a snow castle out of the sand pails we had. We did 2 puzzles and are working on the third. One was a beach house (300), one was a corner cafe in Paris(500) and the other is the Salt Lake Temple (500). They are quick and alot of fun.

The only bad part about this storm was we ran out of syrup on Friday morning. And here we finally had time to cook french toast, and belgian waffles and couldn't.....We are going to add more to our food storage.....alot more.

Hooray for surprise snow days. Ohhh....and just heard that school starts 2 hours late tomorrow. Smile!

Happy 10th Birthday to Tara

Tara turned 10 last week and was thrilled that she did not have to go to school on her birthday. MLK jr. day ....yeah, no school. The best thing about the day was Mom did not say "No" to Tara all day. If she wanted to chew gum, eat her whole pack of tick tacks...that was ok. She had a friend over to play (Maddison), got to choose where we ate dinner (she chose steak at Texas Road House), what shows to watch and what to wear. Her comment at the end of the day was "I am all smiles today!" Thanks to everyone for the birthday cards and well wishes on her special day. She bought 3 new outfits and 5 pairs of earrings with the money she received. Thank you, thank you all!

My parent's backyard

Everything was covered with frost and snow. Even the icicles had frost on them. Burr....just thinking about it makes me cold. It was fun for short outings....but, we were sure glad the heat worked so well inside.

This was the front fence one morning when I went to go get Dad the newspaper.

This is the driveway

This is the backyard. What a pretty view of the sun on the mountains!

Uncle Jonathan

We know you don't ever look at our blog...but, we decided to add a photo of you and the kids just because you are so good lookin'.... And you were the most fun to be around during vacation! Thanks for letting us use your art studio and traveling with us.....to and from St. George.

Hoorah In and Out Burgers!

Utah Cousins

Such an adorable baby girl!

Hailey on her tippie toes with a remote that has no batteries.

Everyone enjoying Emily's new Nintendo DS game.

Tara and Brynlee....enjoying the festivities. Tara did such a good job keeping track of and helping all the little cousins. She's got a natural ability with children. We didn't ask her to do it, just wanted to.

From Left to Rght:Brielle-5, Emily-7, Elijah-4,Tara-9, Brooklynn 5mo., Hailey-1 1/2, Brynlee-2

New Year's Eve hats from our party poppers. Welcome 2010!

A smiley Brynlee!!

Brynlee and Grandpa's birthday party.

The kids were excited to finally meet their two new cousins that have joined the family since our last visit to Utah. Hailey we missed meeting by 2 days...that was 17 months ago! It's so hard to live so far away from really great playmates!

"Gingerbread" house

While visiting our friends, they gave us a gingerbread house kit of dark pressed wood.
We put it together and added the edible pieces and .....voila!

The best part is, it washes and can be used again next year. Of course, there was no gingerbread smell, but we didn't have to throw away gingerbread again. Because, honestly who eats the gingerbread part of the house? No one I know.

cookie making

The kids wanted to make cookies. Grandma was making them and asked the kids to help.

When it came time to decorate, she had to go somewhere and asked me to finish.

She said "let the kids do whatever they want."

"But....don't you need to give some away?" I asked nervously.

"Oh, they will be fine".

The first visitor that came, the bishop's family ate some cookies.

The oldest daughter said "That cookie was intense!"

Yes! because it's covered with an inch of icing and has every sprinkle on the table balanced on it!

Christmas Vacation part 3

Snow Play Days
Tara and Jake trying to hit cars that pass by with snow balls. They could barely get them over the fence.
Tara playing fetch with Panzer....Grandma's german shepherd dog.
Emily and "Maggie" uncle James' dog
Sweetie Pie the horse and Emily
Emily preparing with a pretty good sized snowball.
Tara defending herself with a snow shield.

Vacation part 2

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas
The kids shivering infront of Nativity scenes from around the world....this one from Korea, I think.

Lights by the reflecting pool.
Temple square with all the lights and snow.
A bright orange and red lit tree....looked like a burning bush by the Assembly Hall.
Breia, Tara, Emily, Salem, Sky, Brynn and Zoe Tullis.....notice the bare feet!
This is the place .......where Mom went to school......Brigham Young statue.
View from the window driving north to Provo.

We flew into Las Vegas, drove up to my grandmother's house in St. George, Ut.

(We stopped in Mesquite to visit with my aunt Teresa and her new husband Paul).

We spent the night and visited a bit and met my parents and brothers to drive back up to Logan.

We stopped in Filmore for lunch at Subway, stopped in Provo to show the kids the BYU campus (it's only fair they get equal chance at choosing a University...I definately helped them see the bonuses of education out west). We purchased BYU shirts and visited with a friend who still works at the BYU bookstore. It's great to have these connections.

We stopped in Sandy to see our friends the Tullis family. We finished the evening off with a visit to temple square to see the lights and concerts. It was a fabulous day.

Christmas Vacation part 1

Go stand by the elk kids....."Elf? Mom, I don't see any elves?...."
Tara and cousin Brynnlee chillin' at Subway
Emily and Jacob make a good 'cousin sandwich' with 5 year old Brielle. Uncle Jonathan texting in the background.
So happy to be flying. Beautiful day to be above the clouds.
Tara got the last row by the bathrooms all to herself. For the 5 hour flight, it was a good thing.

We originally decided this year would be the year to drive and visit my family for Christmas. Since it has been 8 years since we've been out west in December. My grandfather passed away and we found last minute very inexpensive tickets to fly. We had to miss a couple days of school and we HAD to fly. There were NO complaints from the children or myself. Gene caught up with us a few days later.