Skiing

With the kids having Monday and Tuesday off of school, Matt and I decided to be really daring and take our 3 older kids skiing. We heard about a great deal at Alta where you can go on one beginner lift for free from 3:00-4:30 everyday, and then the tow rope on the bunny hill is free. Since we didn't need any more than that we decided to try it. Besides the fact that Matt and I aren't exactly experienced skiiers and that are kids are still pretty young, we were most nervous because last time Matt went skiing (two years ago) he tore his ACL. Still we wouldn't have been so nervous if he had been going down a black diamond when he did it, but he wasn't!! But that's a story for another time! Despite all our nervousness, we figured the price of ski rentals (and discounted at that-thank you happenings book) was worth at least trying it! We rented our skis the night before we went so we let the kids try them on in our house, just to get the feel of it. Aren't those little skis cute?!!

Snow plowing is much easier on carpet!!

Alli surprised Matt and I the most. She caught on really quickly!

We found an ad on KSL of a guy who was having a ski sale in his garage on Monday, so we went to check it out. Although he had been doing it for 6 weeks and all the skiis were gone, we got 5 pairs of snow pants and 3 pairs of kids goggles for $8!!! I'm so glad we had those goggles!!!

Matt, Alli, Caden, and Taylor @ Alta Ski resort.

Alta got 18" of snow the night before and morning we went. Sweet!

Like I said before, Alli did the best, but as you can see she wrecked a lot. Notice all the snow stuck to the fur of her hood. We spent an hour and 1/2 on the tow rope which is enough to wear anyone out, but Alli and Caden both did really well. Taylor made it up by himself once, but the rest of the time he would end up getting dragged by it and lose his skiis, so Matt and I ended up towing him with us. Then we headed for the lift. Alli and I went on the lift a total of 3 times. Taylor went twice, and Caden and Matt went once. They all did so much better than I thought they would! Taylor didn't want any help the first time down until near the end. His second time down he skiied between my legs the whole way crying cause he was cold. Our third time up Alli decided she didn't want to do it anymore. I think she was finally getting cold and tired...but skiing was the only way down! On our last final hill she took quite a spill and got stuck in a big mound of powder. She lost a glove, and every time she tried to get out of the powder she seemed to sink more. By the time we got back to the car she was done!!! But so was the lift so it worked out perfectly. All in all we had such a fun time and I can't wait to take them again!!!

Don't let the bed bugs bite!

Yesterday morning, I woke up with 3 itchy bumps...one on my leg, one on my back, and one on my side. My first thought was that something bit me during the night. Then I recalled a story on the news a few years ago that talked about a problem with bed bugs!!! EWWW! I try to keep our house very clean and thoughts of bugs in my house (let alone in my bed) creep me out beyond measure. I asked Matt if he had gotten bitten, and he had not. Nevertheless I checked our mattress just in case. Nothing! Whew. Maybe a very hungry spider got in our bed and that would be the end. Still creepy! But hopefully it was gone now. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night scratching my leg. Not again!!! I felt itchy in several places and as I scrathced I could feel little bumps! I'm getting eaten in my bed!!!! I was so creeped out, I got up and got a flash light to check again. Obviously it woke Matt up and he proceeded to very patiently help me check between all the sheets and blankets and in the mattress. Still nothing, and still he had not gotten bitten by anything. "What is the problem?" I wondered. Why am I getting bitten and not him!!! I asked him to trade me sides in the bed to see if I could find relief. When I got up this morning I was more itchy than ever. My head was itching like crazy and even my eyelids itched! Now my mind started to run wild! What if I have lice and it's crawling all over me? What if there's fleas?!!! We don't even have a pet!!! I ran to the bathroom, scratching like crazy, to check my hair. I see nothing in my hair, but two welts on my eyelids. These bumps are looking more like a rash suddenly. They were now all over my back, tummy and neck! I called Matt in a panic to come see what I see. He takes one look and says..."could it be an allergic reaction from your anit-biotic?" DUH!!!!! How many times have I seen this before? Alli is allergic to penicilin, Owen had an allergic reaction to it as well, I diagnosed my friend's daughter when she was on amoxicilin...HOW DID I MISS THIS?!!! By now I could be the neighborhood doctor specializing in recognizing hives! I had a root canal last week that was infected and so was on anti-biotics. I had taken it right before I went to bed last night which was why it got so bad during the night. If Matt hadn't been home to see it, I would've gone right on taking my anti-biotic. How dumb could I be?!! Some of you will take one look at this picture and know exactly what it was...I should've too. Thank goodness I'm not living in a bug infested house! :)

Christmas '09

I keep waiting for things to slow down so I can blog about the holidays, but have finally decided that may never happen, so things will just have to go undone for now so I don't get too far behind!

Our holidays were so much fun and went by way too fast! As always, Christmas was so much fun, filled with friends, family, parties, food, and more family! I absolutely love this time of year and everything that goes with it!

We spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family at his parent's house. Every year we have dinner and the kids do a little Christmas pageant. They love doing it and it is our hope that it helps them focus on why we celebrate Christmas. Then we open presents from Gma and Gpa W. and then go home to open a present before putting out the milk and cookies for Santa and going to bed. On the way home from Matt's parents house the kids watch for Rudolph's nose in the sky, which is amazing to hear how many times they see him! ;) Uncle Chris even called some hotline that tells you exactly where Santa is in the world. When he called, Santa was in Bolivia (which was no more than an hour before we drove home). So Santa is very quick! Here are the kids in their Christmas Eve pj's. I tried to do away with the traditional opening a present on Christmas Eve. We started it when Alli was tiny, and it's not always pj's...but usually something they can sleep with. One year I made them blankets (when it was just Alli and Caden). But they really didn't need anything this year. So when I told the kids we may not do that this year, they had the most disappointed looks on their faces, and that did it!!! They got a very un-needed pair of pj's. But they loved them and that made it all worth it!

Sadly, I only took a few pictures on Christmas morning. When I'm in the middle of it all, I'm enjoying it so much and I forget to pick up the camera...then a month later I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures!!! The kids all got bean bag chairs (which was a huge hit!!! Especially for Owen). I love them too!

My sister (Cadie) and my brother (Russ) came in from out of town so the whole fam was together for my Mom's birthday and New Years. All the grandaughters ended up staying in Lehi between my parents house and Thayne and Amber's house (big thanks to them!!!) I got to bring a couple of the boys back to sleep over with our boys for a few days. We loved having them and I must say...boys are so easy!!! All they need is a wii and some food every once in a while! :)

Crazy boys! From bottom to top: Ian, Caden, Brayden, and Taylor. Oops! Half of Taylor! I'm not a very good photographer!

One of the days all my family was here, we went to Thayne and Amber's house to go sledding. Owen loved it out in the snow!

Yes those are cement stairs they are sledding right next to, and yes they are headed strait for the road. Luckily Thayne and Russ built a snow wall to keep them from sledding out into the street! Jeff also brought his four wheeler over and pulled the kids behind that. It was lots of fun! Thanks again Thayne and Amber for letting us bombard your house!!!

I didn't get any pictures of it, but we spent New Year's Eve at my sister Kelli's house. We had a fun time playing games, and we even had a talent show with all the grand kids. We have some pretty talented kids in our family!

It was a lot of fun spending time with family over the holidays! We look forward to it again next year!

Temple Square

We've been going to Temple Square every year since Alli was a baby (and probably even before). But last year we started something new that I love and want to make a tradition. After freezing in the cold winter air looking at the awesome lights on Temple Square, we head home and build a fire in our living room fireplace and make hot chocolate. Last night we spread a big blanket on the floor and had donuts and hot chocolate and told Christmas stories and our favorite memories and Christmas traditions. Matt and I told the kids our favorite memories of Christmas' when we were young (which our kids love hearing stories of our childhoods). It was so fun and I defintely want to keep this one up! Owen definitely had the best (and warmest) seat!

Dad and the kids!

Mom and the kids!

Owen trying to climb over Matt who was acting as a barricade from the fire! He is a little pyro (just like Matt!!!)

Cheers!

Gingerbread Houses

This is another one of our favorite Christmas traditions. It sure makes a mess, but it's well worth it!!! Don't be fooled by this picture....Matt is sitting in front of MY masterpiece!!!
Owen loved eating the m&m's!

The mayhem and the fun!

The finished products!

The kids did these 100% by themselves. It's really fun to do these kind of things with your kids when you're not doing it for them!

Tis the Season!

After our fabulous Thanksgiving feast at Matt's grandparents house, we headed home to deck the halls! We usually decorate the day after Thanksgiving, but we got home so early on Thanksgiving that we decided to get it done that night, and go see "A Christmas Carol" the next day. We love decorating together...blaring Christmas music. It's such a great way to start the Christmas season!!! I love that our kids climb the stairs to reach the top of the tree!

This (and a hotwheels) are Owen's contributions to the tree~ Love that he wanted to help!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Vampires, mummies, and ninjas...oh my!!!

We had such a fun Halloween. The kids seemed to have lots of opportunities to wear their costumes this year. Here they are...

Our little mummy.

This isn't the cutest picture of Owen, but he wasn't being very cooperative! So it's the best we got!

Our "red ninja." (Taylor)
The picture turned pink :( I'm afraid our camera is dying!

Our "blue ninja" (Caden)

Our very scary vampire. Alli really enjoyed playing the role of a vampire...as you can see!

Trick or Treating with our friends (the Wrights)

Last but not least...trick or treating at Matt's work. This is such a fun tradition and since Halloween was on a Saturday, we got to go the day before Halloween which gave the kids 0ne more opportunity to dress up. It worked out perfectly because the kids didn't have school because of a teacher comp day (or something like that).

We had lots of fun...now on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! Yay!