Our First Significant Snowfall

Gavin couldn't wait to get out and go sledding at the first sign of snow. We have this tiny mole hill by our house that he had a blast of a time going down. I had to join in on the fun but thought it would be fun to try and document the experience. Now, being the perfectionist that I am with my picture taking (don't get this confused with a professional photographer, which I am far from,) most of the following pictures would have been deleted but that wouldn't document how much fun we truly had. Even looking at them now, brings back joyful memories! I had a really hard time getting us both in the picture while sledding down the hill as I took the pictures as you will see.

I think this one was posed but it looks as if I'm being choked.


We got two fun filled days out of our snowfall. Today we built a huge snowman that my neighbors son had to help me lift the middle piece up on the base because it was so heavy but we ran out of time finishing the snowman with a face etc. so I never took the final picture. I just thought it was cute because Gavin had a hard time pushing the ball of snow when it got so big.

"It Looks Like it's a 100 MILES But it's Not!"

Doing some tricks along the way

Riding up the hill!

This is the hill he biked up!

Gavin (who is 5) said he wanted to ride his bike to preschool. Over the summer I refused to drive the kids to their piano lessons, swim lessons etc. and told them we were going to save gas and get some exercise. They all did great but I had always had Gavin in the bike trailer while I biked to and fro thinking he would get to tired. But he did a great job biking all the way to preschool yesterday he only had to stop a few short times. The first time he yelled out that his bike wouldn't go anymore. I saw that his backpack strap was caught in the chain. I was able to get it out and then we were off again with the backpack on my back this time. When we were 2/3 of the way there he says "It looks like we've been going a 100 miles but its not huh?" What felt like a 100 miles to him was an AMAZING total of 2.07 miles! It was pretty flat except for a small hill just at the end. He was almost to the top of the hill when he said "I just can't take it anymore" I said look we are almost there and he just kept on going! Another cute thing he said along the way was "My hands are getting tired and they are say to stop but my legs are saying keep on going, keep on going!" I am so proud of him. If he keeps this up I'll have a new partner for my century rides in a few years!

We finally got our family pictures and individual pictures of our kids. Its been a few years sad to say. They turned out great and I just had to show off how gorgeous they all are.

AHH THE EXCITEMENT AND INNOCENCE OF YOUTH!!

If your family has never been "Booed" it is quite the fun experience for the kids, but I didn't realize how much fun they actually had. Hunter was babysitting Graham and Gavin while Darren was at Bishopric meetings and Cort and I were at YM's when we got Booed this year. When Darren got home the boys were soooo excited to share with him what they got to do. They were so proud of themselves because they followed the directions and made copies of the papers and delivered their "Goodies" to not only 2 families but to 3. The part that I think is the cutest is what they gave as a treat. Family 1 got 5 cinnamon bears in a little plastic baggie, family 2 got a handful of peanut M&M's and family 3 got 3 fruit snacks! They were quite determined too. They told us how they would ring the doorbell and then hide but they wouldn't come to the door so they kept doing it until they came! They caught a couple of times too in their attempts to be sneaky. They even scared one family (whose husband was out of town) who called another neighbor to send out their older boys to see who kept ringing and leaving. Those boys scared our boys who were hiding in the bushes. Don't you just remember how fun it was to be so excited over little things like this and really sharing from the heart with others? I hope to remember this and be excited over the little things. FYI we did redeem ourselves and took homemade cookies (enough for the whole family) the next night and they again loved hiding and giggling in the dark as they waited for our neighbors to answer the door and find another surprise!

The CUTE Phrase of the Day

Don't you think that kids say the cutest things? Or sometimes the strangest? I thought I would start writing them down so I don't forget. My kids are growing up so fast and I am having a hard time with this. I hope that by doing this I will be able to jar my memory, when my memory, or mind for that matter is gone. (It seems to be going quick)

"Pliblige"- Graham
As in- "Can I have a pliblige (privilege) since I've been sooo good?" He says, with his huge smile that makes his eyes disappear! (How can you say no to that?)

"I want to be black" -Hunter
"What are you going to be for Halloween" I asked one night. "I want to be black"
"You want to be a black guy?"Darren says!!! "Why do you want to be a black person?" Cortlynd says, "You're being racist"
"What's racist?" Hunter says. Poor innocent boy just wanted to dress up in black clothes.

"What the Freakin' Heck? -Gavin
Used in a sentence: "What the freakin heck was that?" he said when I dropped the broom on the ground. Or "You scared the freakin heck out of me!"