Bear Lake Beach Time

Ty and Tameka blessed Tuff the week after Gracie's blessing. Which meant the family was back in town! So we spent that Saturday at Bear Lake. None of the kids are shy when it comes to water and sand and had a blast playing with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. We took a break for lunch and kept the babies tucked away in the shade. Other than that it was water and sand all day long!

Celebrating

Like most years, we spread celebrating the 4th out as long as possible. It started at a neighborhood fireworks party on the 2nd.

The boys haven't ever seen "small" fireworks and I'm not so sure they knew what to expect as they kept waiting for a huge boom and sparks to light up the sky.

On the 3rd we celebrated the Goodliffes birthdays with some fun blowup water slides. That night was Logan's fireworks, but the boys fell asleep on our way into town, so we turned around, put them to bed and watched from our front step.

On the 4th they boys begged to go to Mack Park. So we swung by McDonalds and took our food to the park for a picnic. I think we were there for 5 hours. The boys love playing in the stream, Gracie loved laying on the blanket in the shade wiggling and napping. Both Chod and I wanted to take naps, but decided that wouldn't be the responsible thing to do.

That night we watched Lewiston's fireworks. Thinking the boys would once again fall asleep on the way we made sure they were bathed and in pajamas before leaving. Only to arrive with them wide awake. The mosquitos were out, so we were all doused in Off--so much for their bath!

Instagram Dump

1. Lilacs from the neighbors
2. Baby quilts are finished. Just waiting on baby.
3. Love boys in jammies
4. How not to become the favorite, by Lincoln. Grandma weighs a billion pounds.
5. Rootbeer Float for scoring a goal.
6. Planters
7. Popcorn + Smoothies. It's tradition.
8. Mother's Day Bouquet
9. She's here and still doesn't have a name.

Conference Traditions

For as long as I can remember there have been cinnamon rolls on Conference Sunday. Mom used to make them for Conference Brunch with the Thorntons and it has stuck.

 

It's a tradition Chod and the boys fully support.

While I was rolling dough, the boys stayed busy making "Conference Kabobs".

And every year by the time Sunday afternoon session rolls around I'm completely stir crazy and beg Chod to take us for a drive. This time we ended up at ATK to see the rockets.

Thanksgiving

We decided to stay home for Thanksgiving this year because Bentley was sick. And it was so nice to spend it with just the 4 of us and not have to share our time, while Chod was home, with anyone else. Lincoln helped Chod with a few projects outside because the weather was gorgeous. And Chod wished we had Christmas lights to hang up outside with the rest of the neighbors on the perfect 50 degree day.

My original Thanksgiving assignment was the water and an appetizer, so I was really excited to be able to fix the entire Thanksgiving meal by myself--and cooking all day is fun when you don't have anything else to worry about doing. The boys didn't last long, and after a bite or two Bentley retired to the couch for another nap. But that's okay because Chod really likes leftovers so I didn't have to cook for the rest of the weekend.

We have so much to be thankful for. Really, when we look back at the craziness of the last year it is easy to see that 2011 has been good to us. Very, very good.

Bear Lake 2011

 We got away to Bear Lake last week with the Hillmans. The lake is really high this year, making for a very small beach. But a beach is a beach to our boys and they had a great time playing the water and sand with the cousins.

 Linky warming up on the sand.

 Bentley and his buddy Ruby.

 Without waves like Lake Michigan the boys were pretty much free to play.

And I think that will be our one and only trip to Bear Lake this summer. Thanks for letting us join you, Hillmans!

Patriotic Pancakes

We started our second day of Independence weekend with red, white and blue pancakes. Bentley wanted nothing to do with them, but Chod convinced him to try a blue and white "Aggie" pancake. Lincoln on the other hand had no problem eating the artificial coloring.

Fireworks 2011

We kicked off our 4 days of celebrating last night with sparklers and Pop Rocks at our usual spot at the ball fields. Nothing like a little explosion in your mouth while watching the sky light up with fireworks!

April Fool's

Every year when April 1st arrives I think I should do something fun, but I've always talked myself out of it. My excuses range from didn't plan ahead, don't have enough time, to the boys are too little to actually get it. So this year I decided (a day ahead even) that I would pull at least 1 April Fool's prank. I filled some bowls with water and put them in the freezer.

Friday morning, when I handed them their bowls of Cheerios (a little bit of cereal and milk on top of the ice) the looks of confusion on their faces was hilarious when their spoons wouldn't go down. While I found it funny, it was obvious they didn't understand why in the world I would do something like that. I explained April Fool's Day to Bentley and he spent the rest of the day playing tricks on me. Things like putting grapes in my pockets and repeatedly opening the microwave as I tried to defrost dinner sent him into a fit of giggles.

Realizing that with him in the house there was no way I could successfully trick him at dinner, I invited Bentley to help me trick Chod. With my partner in crime we poured jell-o into glasses to look like juice and added straws, made meatloaf and mashed potato cupcakes for dinner, and spaghetti and meatballs for dessert. The anticipation for Chod to get home from work was so worth the trouble of our afternoon.

Bunny Buns

Bentley loves when The Friend appears in the mailbox and spends hours "reading it". He takes it to bed with him at night and keeps track of where it is throughout the day. When April came a few days ago he put all of his focus on the kitchen craft of the month--Bunny Buns, and has been begging to make them ever since. Today was the day.

The April Friend isn't available online yet, but Bunny Buns are basically orange rolls twisted to make the ears and body and then sprinkles are used for the faces. Bentley helped with the entire process, the mixing, the twisting and the decorating. Somehow he missed out on clean up though.

They couldn't wait until all the faces were on before digging in. In fact Lincoln started licking the icing off before his poor bunny even had a face.

Lincoln loved them, and we have a few bunnies with missing body parts to prove it.

I think they turned out cute and Bentley is super proud of them.

Leprechaun Day

The boys set their leprechaun traps last night before going to bed. Bentley was sure they'd have at least one caught by morning, and he had plans of just what he'd do with the little guy.

After they were in bed, I instant messaged Deidra "its only st. patrick's day are traditions really worth it"

She wrote back that yes, yes they were. So I printed off the rainbow shamrock hunt, dug out our leprechaun foot prints and the green food coloring, and got busy leaving traces of a leprechaun behind.

This morning I was wakened by Bentley yelling "There's a leprechaun leaf on my door!" And jumping on my bed. I sent him to retrieve the said leprechaun leaf and convinced him that we should wait to start the rainbow hunt until Lincoln woke up. Then he Facetimed Chod, "Dad, it is Leprechaun Day, you need to come home. Leprechaun Day is a holiday." Chod agreed that it was a holiday, but he still had to work.

Minutes later Lincoln woke up (I think a sneaky little creature may have turned on his light provoking an early rise) and the hunt began.

It was all so exciting as they followed footprints, hunted for shamrocks, and found treats--but no leprechauns in our traps. Bentley was super grossed out that the leprechaun used our toilet without flushing, leaving the water green. And he refused to use the green milk.

So, I guess Deidra was right. As dumb as it seemed last night, it was totally worth it this morning.

The Return of Levi

Our crazy elf Levi returned from the North Pole on Dec. 1st to watch our home and report to Santa on the naughty or nice activity. The boys love Levi and run every morning to find him. The way Lincoln says Levi sounds a lot like how Wall-E says EVA.

Usually, Levi is found precariously perched in a high location. I wish I would have started snapping pictures of his locations at the first of the month, but my good ideas usually arrive a little late--so next year.

I have arrived

as a Christmas tree owner. Finally, after years of practice, our tree has budded out.

White and drifted snow

It seems wind and snow ruled our Christmas.

Our plan of spending Christmas morning at home and then joining the rest of the family Christmas day changed Wednesday morning. My dad called and advised us to come immediately. We quickly threw clothes, gifts, unfinished projects, and kids in the car and headed out. We weren't the only ones who changed plans and soon the entire family was gathered under the same roof.
With the whole family together the traditional Christmas Eve dinner was prepared.

Christmas pajamas were handed out.

And after the children were in bed, Santa's elves got busy finishing Christmas projects.

Christmas morning the kids awoke in new jammies. That sneaky Santa. And they wasted no time opening gifts.

As the kids played with their new toys and the wind continued to blow, we questioned whether the family party would go on that night.

It did. We loaded everyone into 4 wheel drive vehicles and made our way through the snow drifts. After dinner we shared our $1 stories and, like I expected, much good was done. We then drift busted our way back home.

We spent the last couple of days holed up inside the cabin, playing with toys, creating, and enjoying each other's company as the roads were closed.

This morning Chod and Brent decided if we were going to get out, this was as good of a chance as any. So we once again threw clothes, gifts, and children in the car and headed out. We let them blaze the trail and we followed.

We made it home safely and Chod has spent the last 1.5 hours shoveling our driveway.

Doughnut Day

Today is National Doughnut Day! I post about it on the other blog, but didn't want anyone to miss out on an excuse to eat a doughnut today!

New Year's Resolution

I resolve to quit lurking for the year of 2007, well at least lurk less.

What is lurking?

Lurking: In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely participates.

What does that mean? Well, it means I'm going to be better at leaving comments on other's blogs.

I challenge you to lurk less in 2007 too.

Traditions

Santa comes tonight! I thought I would share a few of our families traditions before the big day arrives.

#1-Something to play with, something to wear, something to read. Before our first Christmas as a married couple, I went to a little Christmas workshop were one of the presenters shared how they always give those 3 things at Christmas. That way their Christmas is balanced with toys, clothes and books.

#2-Tamales-Growing up our neighbor would bring us homemade tamales Christmas Eve. It was the only time of the year we ate tamales and we looked forward to the delivery. Even though they aren't a homemade gift, I am trying to serve tamales each Christmas season.

#3-Chocolate milk-the only tradition Chod remembers from his Christmases growing up is that they always had chocolate milk Christmas morning. Easy enough--chocolate milk it is.

There are other traditions that I would like to bring into our family, but we have yet to do them.

Merry Christmas!