XC Snowshoe Adventure

We planned our cross country snowshoe day on 'free winter access day,' so the kids wouldn't have to pay for anything except renting the snowshoes. I was watching the weather closely, and it looked like the cold spell was going to be gone by the time we went. We woke up to negative temperatures that morning, and I was so disappointed! We postponed the trip for an hour, so it would have time to warm up. The weather showed that it would be in the single digits by the time we started, which is doable. When we were 15 minutes from Harriman Park, I checked the weather again, and it had dropped significantly. We talked to the rangers, and they said as long as everyone had good gear, we were good to go. When we started, the temperature was -20 degrees! The crazy thing is, there were tons of people out skiing and snowshoeing in it! I thought for sure we'd be the only crazy ones out there. The other crazy thing is, we actually got hot! Before we even made it to the first warming hut, we were unzipping jackets! 18 of us went 5 miles in very, very frigid weather, and we had a great time! These kids are tough!

Getting started in -20 degrees!

Our hair and eyelashes were covered in frost within the first 5 minutes! Holly looked like an ice princess!

Mark was looking a little frozen!

Bailey and Mason

We stopped at a warming hut to have lunch. Inside the hut with the fire going, was only 5 degrees! Most of the kids just stayed outside to eat.

The Tetons!

Holly and Bailey

A few snow angels! Mason, Bailey, Holly, and Dylan.

Harriman Park is so pretty in the winter.

We survived! Grace, Hannah, Rachel, Justin, Hannah, Dylan, Ezri, Mason, Gilian, Coen, Mark, Eric, Natalie, Heather, Porter, Tricia, Holly, and Bailey.

Bailey's Gatorade was frozen!

The waters that were in our packs were frozen. We had to wait for them to thaw out in the car on the way home before we could drink them. Crazy stuff!

 These kids are so fun, and I'm sad I only have one more year of this before Bailey is off to college. Hopefully next year will be a touch warmer!

A Boy & His Dog!

I LOVE this picture with all my heart! Sawyer got Reeses for his 13th birthday, and they've been best buds ever since! You can see in this picture just how much she loves her boy!

Book of Mormon Challenge #3

Every year the seminary program at Bonneville issues a Book of Mormon challenge over the Christmas break.  Bailey got off to a slow start this year, and just like every year, I wonder how in the world she'll be able to finish it. But she always does! This year she finished it in 12 days! She picks a word to focus on each year, and this year her words were JOY/HAPPY/GLAD, and words like that.  She makes me proud! I'm not sure if a mission is in her future, but if she does decide to go, she will be very prepared!

Happy New Year!

We had our annual Stake New Years activity at Starlight Skate this year! All the kids in the stake skated for a couple hours, then we went back to the church for lunch, and the introduction of the 2017 mutual theme. 

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with wind and tossed." James 1: 5-6

Bailey, Madi, Emily

Our cute Eastview girls at startlight Skate.

Mike, Michael, Madi, Ben, Bailey, Andrew, Leif, Emily

 That night for our New Years celebration, we had a nacho bar, played games, and then toasted in the new year at midnight.

Cheers to a great 2016, and lots to look forward to in 2017!

Poppers!

We have some exciting things planned for 2017! Can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas! Bailey woke us up bright and early. She was a little miffed that Mark enforced the 'no earlier than 5:00' rule. She was up well before that, but she stayed in her room and opened her present from Mason. It was a nice and relaxing day until it was time to clear the driveway! It snowed so much that they even canceled church. And guess what.....the snowblower died!

Santa came! 

Hahahaha! This is one of Bailey's presents from Mason! Sadly, it's perfect for her!

Sawyer wore the ugly sweater, AND his cookie monster jammies! The look was fantastic (insert eye roll)!

Stockings!

After the kids opened a couple presents, the dogs would start crying until we brought over one for them. They did that the whole time we were opening stuff. Good thing we got them lots of stuff. They LOVE Christmas!

That should last her a couple days!

The only thing she asked for for Christmas was the complete series of Psych, and a water bottle. Santa came through!

Workout shoes!

Now she's all set for The Wizzarding World of Harry Potter over spring break!

Brian Regan tickets!

After presents we had sticky buns for breakfast, played with presents, got ready for church (which ended up canceled), watched movies, ate lots of food, and relaxed!

Snuggles for Oreo!

Making popcorn in her new popcorn maker!

The ruler she is holding went all the way under the snow!

Good thing she loves to shovel the driveway!

Mark worked on the snowblower for a long time, but couldn't get it to work.

All done plowing!

We love a white Christmas!

 We hope everyone had a great day! We sure did! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We stuck with all our usual traditions on Christmas Eve. We had a big dinner, watched The Grinch, read a couple Christmas stories, and threw reindeer dust. 

Gotta love the clothes! 

Christmas Eve dinner!

 We let Sawyer and Bailey pick their favorite Christmas stories to read this year. Bailey picked the Crippled Lamb. That's been her favorite since she was little. Sawyer picked Olive the Other Reindeer, and read it to us with an accent.

The Crippled Lamb

Sawyer read his story with a British accent. 

 I'm pretty sure they'll never be too old for reindeer dust! Most of the pictures were too blurry from all the jumping around.