A Weekend Away

We just returned from one of the best weekends we have had in a long time.  I am so glad that Seth got us up here again so that we could get away and just be together as a family.  We LOVE Bear Lake.  It is such a relaxing get-away, especially in the winter.  Its just us and some deer.

We had a great time watching the Olympics, sledding, playing in the snow, swimming, going on walks, and eating at our favorite little restaurants here.

 Between the no phone calls, nothing pulling us out the door to go do something, or work, I think we are just happier here.  We just get to be together and there is nothing better than that.  Not to mention that going to church here always makes me happy.  They have the best ward with such a special, humble feeling.  I learned so much.  This weekend I learned a life changing lesson about the difference between being thankful and showing gratitude. 

Their stake is fasting to be grateful for the moisture they have received this year (we really are having a very dry winter, very hard on the farmers) instead of fasting for more.  They feel they need to first be thankful for what they have been given instead of continually asking for more of what they have already received.  The speaker used the example of being thankful he had a shovel to dig his car out of the snow when he got stuck, but being grateful for a son who volunteered to shovel the car out for him.

I need to show more gratitude in my life by always being thankful for and happy with the blessings I have received in my life.  I was raised in a strong, loving family where I learned the gospel, I got a great education and degree, I served a mission for my church, married a worthy, loving man who I love, have a beautiful home, I have three amazing and healthy children, and we all love each other.  I don't think there is anything that  could ever out weigh all of my blessings.  I can be more grateful by being more kind, loving, and happy.  What a wonderful weekend full of family and revelation!  I can't wait to go back.

 We had one good day of sledding before the snow started melting.  We tried to sled as long as we could on what was left.

 The kids had a blast plying in the piles and piles of snow.  They had forts, mountains, burrows...

 

 The city pool here is the best.  Indoors and warm.  We swam as much as we could.  Chloe had fun swimming on a "rainbow".  The boys had fun trying to making the biggest splash and touch the bottom of the pool.

 One of our favorite things we did this weekend was walk the boardwalk in the snow and walk to the lake.  It was fun to walk all the way out to the water and feel how cold it was.

 Chloe was my buddy on the walk until she got too tired to walk.  Then suddenly Dad was the one to be with since Mom wouldn't carry her.

 We finally got to see some deer up the road from us.  We say their foot prints all around but still hadn't seen any.  Glad we did.  It just doesn't feel like a trip is complete with out seeing our deer.

James Lost His First Tooth!

James was so excited to have a loose tooth until he realized that it would eventually have to be pulled out.  He was so nervous about it.  He tried to let it stay in this mouth for as long as he could.  But today was the day.  He tried his best to be brave but the poor kid got so worked up about it that when his tooth did come out he didn't even know. 
As soon as he calmed down he was pretty excited that he got to put it under his pillow and that the Tooth Fairy would be coming to him. Hope the Tooth Fairy can find him all the way up here in Bear Lake! ;)

Figure Dancing

Chloe is mesmerized by figure skating.  She loves it.  She will sit and watch it with me all night.  She says its the most beautiful dancing she's ever seen.  She is excited that she is learning, but can't understand why she can't do the jumps yet.  She said it is, "taking way too long"

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Tonight when we were watching I was so glad I had my phone by me so that I could capture this little moment.  She was copying everything the ice skater (Gracie Gold) was doing.  I like to call it her very own style...figure dancing! :)

Progress

We are just amazed at Chloe's skating progress in just 3 times of going.  She is working so hard and we are so proud of her.

James is having a hard time connecting with his coach, but it trying his best.  We are so glad he love the free time skating the best because then he can really go and do what he loves.

Sam is doing great.  His teacher is teaching him a lot of different things and you can see his little face scrunch in concentration as he tries to get his body to do new things.

I'm Doing as the Lord Commanded

Today as I was sitting in the Front Room (our Scripture Room) Sam came in, grabbed his scriptures, sat down, opened them and exclaimed, "Mom, if you need anything I'll be doing as the Lord commanded", and began to read.
I love this kid! :)

Valentine's Day

Love is in the air at our house!  We love each other and we love Valentine's Day.  We had a great Valentine's Day.  It was filled with gifts, parties, treats and family.  Does it get any better than that?!

The kids woke up to their spoils laid out for them.  A book and candy from Mom, a Lego from Dad, some money and pink drink from Grandma M and a yummy personalized brownie from Grandma T.

I have been working on the quiet books I gave them for over a year now.  I wanted to give them to them a lot earlier but never got around to finishing them.  Well, my mom (so glad she's been around lately) whipped me back into shape and to me going on them again.  Sometimes you just need a buddy to finish a project.

Because I have been working on them for so long I was worried they wouldn't love them after all the work I put into them.  But I am please to report that they loved them and played with them all morning and shared them with everyone who came over.  Success!  :) 

 I had to give Seth a little Valentine too.  I found some funny Lego phone cases on eBay for dirt cheap so I used his dad's account so he wouldn't know and I got us "his and hers" cases.  He loved them so that made me happy.

 Here are the delicious Brownies my mom made for us.  Let's just say they were worth breaking the diet for!

 Tonight my brother, Dave, and his family came in town for a visit.  They wanted to be able to see my parents before they headed back to Spain and we were delighted they asked to stay with us.  My kids have the best cousins in the world.  They are a lot older, but they played with them so much. 

Do I Look Stuffed?

We decided to go out as a family tonight for Valentine's Day instead of tomorrow.  Between being Friday night and Valentine's Day we thought we'd avoid the crowds. 
After eating his meal Sam sat back, rubbed his tummy and said, "Do I look stuffed to you?"  Ha!  He cracks me up.  My little skin and bone son thinking he was so big he could explode!

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

 I've been having a great time getting ready for Valentine's Day this week.  Especially since I have been feeling so good (back-wise) lately.  I get to do Sam's class Valentine's party.  I have been making some really fun games to go with the ones I put together last year.  Among the fun new games are Popsicle stick and dental floss bows with q-tip arrows, Valentine's Charades and Plinko.  I was really impressed with how it turned out.  Sometimes, well, most times, my crazy visions in my head don't quite turn out how I envisioned them, but this is one of those times it did.  I tried the game out on my kids and they played it for hours, so it's safe to say that all that work paid off. 
Sam wanted to make a Valentine's box this year.  I avoided the subject last year and just sent him with a bag which he didn't seem to mind, so I was hoping that would fly again, but a guess it's a bigger deal that I thought.
We looked online together and he liked the idea of a dragon/dinosaur so we came up with something in between.  It was fun to do it and I know he is very proud of it and can't wait to take it to school, so that in itself makes it worth it. 

The Lego Movie

We had a great time as a family going to The Lego Movie today.  We have been dying for this to come out ever since they released the previews last year.  Anyone who knows us knows we are a little bit over the top when it comes to Legos (myself included).  I tried to deny it for a while, but I too have been sucked into the Lego Vortex of Insaneness.
The movie was fantastic.  We already find ourselves quoting it and singing the bits of the songs we picked up.  Can't wait to get the music and the movie!

Learn to Skate (Chloe's First Time on the Ice)

We decided to put all three of our kids in a Learn to Skate program.  We felt that the boys would benefit from learning specific skills to help their skating, instead of just throwing them out on the rink and wanting them to play hockey.
Chloe had to get in the mix of things too.  She said she wanted to play hockey too.  I think that just meant that we had better not be planning on doing something and not be including her, because when we got to the rink the first night she say girls in little dresses skating and she said, "what are they doing?  I want to do that!
We had a great time our first night there.  The coaches are great and work well with the kids.  Chloe was grinning ear to ear the whole night and we were impressed to see that by the end of her first class she could shuffle herself around and when she fell she could get back up on her own.  Pretty impressive.

 The boys had a great time too.  I think they enjoyed getting out on the ice without all their gear and ice and just having and good time.

Gaming Buddies

James and Fynn are quite the little buddies now.  They have discovered video games together.  James is always begging for Fynn to come over.  They will go play games for hours.  It's really nice when Fynn does come over because they "disappear" for hours and I get a lot done!  ;)
The funny things is that you wouldn't think that they talk much, but James is always telling me about the things they've talked about.  I'm so glad they are such good buddies.

Back to Hockey

Tonight the boys got back on the ice after a two year absence. We weren't sure what to expect, so we decided just to go and see how they did. When we stopped going due to Seth's busy school schedule, Sam was just getting the hang of it, so we were hoping that he hadn't lost any of his progress. James was still just learning, so we were anxious to see how he did.
Sam (blue #10) did great.  He went right into the class and did all the drills.  I think he got tired very quickly, because when the scrimmage began he started falling all over the place.  It was fun to see him panting and sweating when we was done.  He definitely got a good workout.

 James (orange #8) was a little more timid.  He worked with Seth and was trying his best to stay on his feet.  We still haven't made it to get him new skates, so he was on rentals.  You could tell.  He was not moving very well, but he did try his best.

I love this video.  You can see about how the night went for James and you can see Sam in the background doing his best to be a part of the scrimmage.

The Hard Life

Need I say more?!  I think the boys are enjoying the new TV in my room! ;)  And silly me, I thought it was for me to enjoy.

Princess Party

Our community center held a princess party for all the girls today.  It was so fun.   We went with Chloe's good buddy, Paige.  We were excited that we could take Haley with us too.

 The girls were thrilled that the princesses came all the way from Disneyland to be there.

 At the party we got to frost cookies

 Make a tiara

 Singing with the princesses

And get balloon animals.

 There was also face painting, but since the line was so long we decided to come home and paint our faces ourselves.