February 2018

February was a big month for us.  We celebrated Valentine's Day and took an impromptu trip to Southern Utah to visit Ferron and Price.  Foster started gymnastics at Gyminny Kids and James went on a field trip to Sea World.

Southern Utah Trip

Aunt Alta passed away in February so Mom and Dad were headed to Ferron for the funeral and they invited us to come along.  Scott had to work so it was me in the driver's seat for 12 hours.  We made it there in one piece and we all still liked each other when we got there!

The ride to Price was beautiful and we made some delicious stops along the way.  Including stopping at Cache Valley Creamery for some ice cream and cheese curds.  It was dairy heaven with a beautiful view of the farm.  

The boys and I spent Saturday in Price on our own while everyone went to the funeral.  We had so much fun exploring the small town.  The boys loved the dinosaur museum and we spent a long time looking at everything there.  The boys each picked out a small souvenir at the museum.  James got a dinosaur card game and Foster picked out some rocks for his rock collection.
Then we headed to Sherald's Drive-In for the boys' first drive-in experience.  We had such a great time discovering all the fun a small town has to offer.  We even stopped off at the tack and feed store to hold baby chicks.  It was a wonderful day with the boys that I'll never forget.

Sunday we went down to Ferron so the boys could see where Grandma and Grandpa grew up.  We took the tour of the town, stopping at the cemetery to see some of our relatives and then driving up the canyon a ways.  We showed the boys the homes where both of their grandparents lived when they were young.  We even visited an Alpaca farm which was the highlight.  All of us wanted to take an alpaca home with us.  

Visiting the Ferron Cemetery

Exploring Ferron Farmland

The boys loved spending time at Aunt Charlotte's house.  They spent most of their time downstairs in the basement with the player piano.  We had dinner at Aunt Charlotte's a few times during the week we were there and the boys still ask to go back to Aunt Charlotte's house.  

We also enjoyed the hotel where we stayed.  The boys and I had our own room and a lot of times we would spend an afternoon playing James' new dinosaur game or watching Foster swim in the pool.  Every evening we would get in bed and watch the Winter Olympics together.  It became our nightly tradition on our trip.

On our drive home we stopped in Las Vegas for the night.  I treated the boys to some candy at the biggest candy store we'd ever seen.  We also walked down to the Mirage to watch the Volcano erupt.  The next morning, we had breakfast at the Bellagio and walked through the Chinese New Year Exhibit.  It was such a great trip, I relish anytime I have with my boys and it was fun watching them thoroughly enjoy every minute!

James Goes to Sea World

I was able to accompany James to Sea World on his first grade field trip.  The boys had so much fun running around the park and seeing everything from sharks to killer whales.  The highlight of the day was a private Killer Whale show for all of the kids on the field trip.  The kids all stood up against the glass and were drenched by the end of the show.  They loved having the killer whales splash them with water.  I guess it didn't bother them that it was fish water.  

Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day with a steak dinner at home.  Every year, the boys love getting their Valentine shakes which are drinks made from vanilla ice cream, cherry 7UP, whipped cream, sprinkles and a licorice straw.  We all exchanged boxes of Sees Candy and cards.  I am lucky to have three Valentine's every year!

Foster Starts Gymnastics

Foster is loving his weekly gymnastics class.  He tries hard and has fun.  I love watching him and I'm so proud of him.  His coach is fairly serious, making sure he ends each move with the correct pose.  Foster has the pose down perfectly, the moves, he's still working on.

January 2018

Happy New Year 2018

James Turns Seven

Our first baby boy has been here seven years and I can scarcely believe it.  He is such a joy to all who know him.  His sweet tender heart and observance of those around him, make him a wonderful friend and son.  He is an expert in dinosaurs, sharks, reptiles and Godzilla.  He loves searching for bugs and lizards with his best friend Jacob.  He is a fast runner, getting faster all the time and loves running Mega Milers at school.  On any Saturday, you can find him playing with his dinosaurs or transformers in his room, racing mom or dad on family walks or playing with Bella and Foster.

James and his best friend Jacob

James has become very competitive with his running.  Always trying to beat the fastest runners in his class.  Now he is one of the fastest runners in his class.

James loves going on dates with MiAni.  These dates usually consist of lunch at Chik-Fil-A and Target where he gets to pick out a toy.  These two have had a special relationship since he was born.

James is our silly boy who can often be spotted in the front yard playing with dinosaurs or being the dinosaur.  On this particular day, he had just received his Indominous Rex costume and couldn't wait to scare dad when he got home from work.  He did a pretty good job too!

Here are some stats on James:
Favorite Food: Spaghetti, Cheeseburgers, Salmon, Pizza and Pineapple
Favorite Restaurant: In N Out Burger and Luna Cafe
Favorite Friends:Hudson McEwan, Jacob Whitehead, Levi G, Zach L, Jack Davis and Charlie Circuit
Favorite thing to do:Play with his toys in his room.
Favorite place to go: Target to shop for more toys to play with in his room!
Favorite Movie: Transformers
Favorite TV Show: Eye Witness Video, Nigel Marvin
Favorite Treat: Anything made of chocolate.  Especially chocolate milkshakes and chocolate ice cream
Favorite Toy:Dinosaurs, Transformers, Legos

For his birthday we went to In N Out after school with his buddies, Jacob, Hudson and of course brother Foster.

Mom also took James on a special date to the zoo, just the two of us.  We rode skyfari and saw all of his favorites; including the Chinese alligator.

December 2017

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We tried to keep things as simple as possible this holiday and focused on enjoying the holiday and focusing on Christ.  It was a master plan that we will try and repeat every Christmas.  Once again, we did our favorite Christmas tradition which is placing a piece of straw in the manger for each good deed we did for the month.  The boys love filling the manger and I love how it focuses us on Christ and doing things to make others happy.  This year we started a new tradition and it was wonderful.  Each night after dinner, we would light two candles.  As the candles burned, we read scriptures about the Savior.  By Christmas Eve, we had burned through both candles and had learned more about Christ.  The boys learned that Christ is a healer, miracles happen, Christ is a teacher and he teaches through parables and that He loves us.  I looked forward to doing this every night.

Foster and I made cookies. chocolate pretzels, and chocolate frosted browning for delivering to friends. I let the boys pick who they wanted to deliver the goodies to.  Foster picked our 80 year old neighbor Leon who lives alone.  Not only did he deliver the treats to Leon but he spent a half hour in his house asking him all sorts of questions.  At least two times later in the month, I couldn't find Foster, only to find he had left the house to go visit Leon.  It melted my heart.

A Month of Festivities

Both boys got to sit on Santa's lap at the ward Christmas party.  James and Jacob could not be separated at the party so they sat on Santa's lap together.  

James Christmas list:

Lego Killer Croc Set

Giganotosaurus Toy

Godzilla

Watering Hole Play Set

Foster's Christmas List:

Fart Gun

Gumball Machine

Godzilla 

Zombie Craft Set

Another Christmas tradition is Gingerbread House building.  This is always a fun night.  This year we talked about how we can make a happy home and we each gave examples as we built our gingerbread house.  It was a great FHE and the house turned out magnificently.  

Scott took some time off work throughout the month of December which meant we could spend some quality time as a family.  We went on bike rides, he took the boys to school in the mornings, we went to parties and visited all of our favorite Christmas lights.  It was so nice to have so much down time together.  

Bike Riding at Miramar Lake (Poor James was still in school)

Candy Cane Lane with hot chocolate is one of our favorite holiday nights.  

Scott and I got a babysitter and spent an afternoon on Harbor Island getting lunch.  It was a beautiful day in our beautiful city.  And the cake,  I still dream about it.

Foster had his very last preschool Christmas program with his bestie Charlotte.  These two have loved going to preschool together and next year they'll be headed to different elementary

schools.  It makes me want to cry when I see how fast these two are growing up.

Hiking Torrey Pines in the warm December weather.

Christmas is Finally Here!

After counting down, the big night finally arrived.  We spent the morning at church listening to beautiful music and hearing a message of Christ.  It was a great way to kick off the day.  Once we got home, I was in the kitchen baking and getting ready for our evening.  It was a great night with delicious food, a nativity program (forced on everyone by ME!), a visit from Santa and exchanging gifts.  Mom and dad made sure everything was perfect and we left feeling like we had a truly magical evening.

Makeshift Nativity.  I wrote the script and Foster helped with the costumes.

Santa's annual visit to Grandma's.  Both boys told me that they knew it was Grandpa and not the real Santa but that the real Santa is so busy on Christmas Eve that he sends Grandpa to Grandma's house.The Grandpa Santa is always well received.

After our great evening at Grandma and Grandpa's it was Christmas jammies and bed for these boys so Santa could get to work.

Christmas Morning

The boys woke up early but not too early and were very ready to see what Santa had brought.  James got a watering hole play set, jurassic world watch, and some dinosaur erasers.  Foster got a Zombie craft set, a gum ball machine and Zombie toys.  

After a wonderful Christmas morning, we went to Mi Ani's house for a delicious brunch and gift exchange.  We had a perfect day followed by a long Winter's nap!  

Scott and I surprised the boys with a basketball and basketball hoop.

Christmas night we decided to have a Jerusalem style dinner, on the floor next to the fire.  We called it Bethlehem Baskets dinner.  We ate hummus, pita, grapes and pomegranates.  Then we snuggled up and watched our annual Christmas night show, The Snowman.  This was my favorite evening of the month.  Snuggled up with my favorite people and dog in the world.