Snow Fun at the Cabin!

 Another trip to the cabin for New Years! There were lots of pre-olympic things to see so we headed to the ski jumping in Park City. It was pretty fun to watch and get to know the names before the Olympics. 

 We went tubing, which is always a favorite.

 Ski day!! I feel like I haven't been skiing in so long it felt good to be out there. A and B are getting pretty good so it's fun to ski with them.

 Beautiful day!

 Taking a little break before going heading back up the lift.

 The cabin needed some maintenance so up on the roof everyone went to shovel the snow off. There might of been some jumping off the roof and sledding off it.

 Lots of fun in the snow!

 This little guy had fun too. He didn't care about the cold at all. 

 D and E 

 Happy boys!

First time sledding. He loved it and did it over and over again.

Christmas!!

 E was amazed by all the lights at this house. It was a crazy display.

 Christmas Eve tradition of acting out the Nativity. Baby Jesus wasn't very cooperative. 

 They did a great job!

 The scene before the craziness erupted. 

 The kids with their presents Santa gave them. Except E, he was still sleeping.

 B and C got a rainbow loom from me and then A and B got one to share from grandma and grandpa Mathews. So there was tons of rainbow looming! Rubber bands everywhere!!

 D got a doll and was in love!

 E woke up and didn't really get the idea of presents.

 He did like his gifts though.

 Especially his bubble machine!

 We put him in all the wrapping and just like most babies he loved playing in it.

 D changed her outfit to match her doll.

We had to do the nativity again Christmas night with the cousins. Traditions! 

It was a great Christmas and a wonderful year full of ups and downs. 

Christmas Performances

 Well B didn't have a Christmas performance this year but he did have Pinewood Derby. He came in 4th place.

 C's performance was so cute! I love watching the younger kids in their school performances.

 D and E had a great time watching too. D tried to sing along.

 Family love.

A plays the flute in middle school and she had a performance too. I was pretty impressed with the band. I'm so glad she decided to stick with the flute!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

 There is always lots of shopping to do for Christmas and E is big enough to sit with D in the car cart. He likes it for maybe 5 minutes.

 One of my teaching days for preschool only one other kid came and it was the day I had planned to make gingerbread cookies from scratch. What I thought was going to be a hard day was so easy. Lucky me! They had fun too:)

 I had so much left over that for FHE that night we all decorated cookies. The kids loved it.

 We went to see Santa and I was to cheap to buy the picture. Plus I didn't put much effort into what they were wearing. So I took this picture instead.

Only the upper part of the tree got decorated this year but E still found away to pull some things off. Who could get made at that cute smile?!

A Stop in Phoenix

 We have never been in Arizona before so we decided to stop in Phoenix for a night on the way home. Big B got some golfing in, of course, and I took the kids to the discovery museum down town. B wanted to ride this bike so bad so he decided to pay the money and do it.  

 On our way out we stopped to throw pies in each others faces. I think that was the highlight of the kids day.

 The kids loved getting each other!

Smiles all around:)

Breaking Tradition

 Big B's parents are serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Thatcher, Arizona. They are working in the institute with all the college students. So we broke tradition to visit them and see what they do in Thatcher. There is a temple there and you could even see it from their front door! 

 It was closed for Thanksgiving so we could only see it from behind the gates. It amazes me how temples are being built all over even in such small towns as Thatcher.

 My best friend from high school ended up in Thatcher to play basketball for college so I took some picture for her. I still can't believe she ended up there for two years!

 There is a mountain close by and we went up it for a picnic and there was snow. We had a snowball fight and did some small hikes.

 Handsome fellows enjoying the outdoors.

 These crazies love being outside! Sometimes I think we should be living somewhere like Thatcher or Panaca. 

E getting some grandpa time. They do share the same middle name.

We also spend a lot of time playing at the institute, took a walk around town, and helped grandma put on a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. It was great time!

Palm Springs

 For Thanksgiving this year we broke tradition and missed out on Panaca to visit Big B's parents on their mission in Arizona. On our way there we spent one night in Palm Springs and did a really fun hike to this waterfall. The kids had so much fun climbing rocks and hiking that they said it was even more fun then Disneyland. (They haven't been to Dland in so long I think they forgot how fun it is.)

 Getting to the waterfall wasn't enough so then we had to figure out how to get on the big island rock even closer to the waterfall.

 Cutest little tag alongs I've ever seen. They actually kept up really well and did everything the bigger kids did.

 They all made it!

There were so many pretty picture to take. We had a great time!