Merry Christmas

Another year has come and gone with its ups and downs but we mostly we have been blessed. We wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. Ideally the kids were to be dressed up as Mary, Joseph and a shepard boy and sing....after 5 takes I gave up.. You get what you get.

Carlos has been busy with work and fishing but always finds time to spend with the family. He works hard to take care of our family. We are grateful for all he does. This year we were able to go to Chile and spend a month with his parents and brothers and all their families. We had a great time and it will be a trip our family will always remember.

Nicol has been busy at home-busy is probably an understatement. She has enjoyed being home and volunteering at the school and driving kids here and there and fixing the house up to her liking.

Jacob turned 9 this year. He has been involved in Cub scouts and loves it. Jake has really gotten into soccer an played on a great team this year and scored several goals for his team. He finished 2nd grade with flying colors and has been doing awesome in 3rd grade too. He loves to play with his friends and with his family. He loves to read and build things with his legos. Mom has been teaching him piano...good thing he is a good learner.

Madison is growing up so fast. Now 6 and in first grade she is reading and having a blast. She enjoys laughing and being goofy. She did dance the first part of the year and really enjoys that. Madi is often dancing or singing around the house and can quickly get Sam to join in. She has lost most of her front teeth and for a while looked like she had no teeth at all.

Our little Sam is no longer a little. He has grwon so much in personality and is so much fun. He is talking mostly english but some gibberish that only he understands. HE loves to sing songs and play with his Dinosaurs and trains. Being home with mom all day has been fun to have more one on one attention. Sam has a contagious laugh and is always finding ways to show you his love. HE is my big helper.


We have been so blessed this year. We are grateful for health, our home, jobs, family and the counsel of a living prophet. We are grateful for our many friends who are in our lives and thier wonderful examples.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.

Winter Storm

Just what a little snow can do!!! Not our fault but still a pain. WE had at least 12'' today.

Snow

Nothing like a little snow.....

Jakes Birthday

For Jakes birthday we had a late pirate party. We ate dinner, then taught them to shoot a cannon (paper rockets with glow stick attached), they walked the plank and had a treasure hunt and then played some Lego Rockband and hide and seek. Jake had a lot fun with his friends..he has some great ones.

Halloween

Carving pumpkins. Madi and Jake both came up with thier own faces this year. THey even cleaned thier own pumpkins (which is the part I hate)



Halloween was fun.. Jake was a clone from Star Wars the clone wars, Madison was a white fairy, and Sam was supposed to be Superman but refused to wear the cape...so he was just a three year old.

Fall

So, I thought when the kids went back to school I would have more time to do things. Nope, life seems even busier. But some of the highlights.

Madison lost 3 teeth in 3 weeks... crazy. The Tooth Fairy did good until the last tooth- oops missed a night. I don't know how many teeth that kid can fit in there...she is destined or doomed for braces.

Jacob has been playing soccer and loves it. This year he moved up to the big field and playing positions. He has a great coach and plays with a lot of friends from school. Jake plays offense and made 5 awesome goals this season. Unfortunately I never had the camera until the last game where he didn't feel too well and chose to play defense and hardly saw the ball.. But we are proud of him.

We have a small yard....but it lacked something. Many neighbor kids would say, "you have a small yard", "there is nothing to do in your backyard", even my own kids would say to their friends, "our yard is boring". So a wonderful friend gave us the swingset in the backyard of their new house-they had their own and needed to unload the "old" one so we took it.. It fits perfect and the kids are out there constantly. Sam had something to unload all that energy....and Buff likes the view. Surprisingly enough it still has a 6 foot roof that still needs to be put up.

18 de Septiembre

We made empanadas for the 18 de Septiembre -Chile's Independence day. They were delicious.

Happy BIrthday Sam

It is hard to believe our baby just turned 3. I've been trying to keep him small for so long but he just keeps surprising us with his independence and ingenuity. Sam is such a fun kid to have in our family and keeps us all smiling. He likes to ride his bike all over, will make his own sandwich-including hot dogs-, and has a mild addiction to chocolate milk. He loves to play and has a crazy and entertaining imagination. He loves to play with others and by himself. Sam has also jumped right in to helping with chores: he's an excellent window washer and dirtier, also good with putting things away (not always where they should go, but the effort is there).

4th of July---on Lotus Way

The kids dressed up their bikes for the annual prairie 1st Ward 4th of July Parade.

Meet Buff

Meet Buff. He is the newest member of our family. He was in need of a good home and fell in to ours. He is a handful but a lot of fun. The kids love him and I have someone who wakes me up for a morning run.

Lagoon

Carlos' work had it's annual Lagoon day...it rained the whole time. So we bounced back on a sunny day and had a blast. Sam was able to go on all the kiddie rides a more. He loves the thrill. The Airplane and the Train the most. He did try the Ladybug drop and wasnt' as thrilled as we dropped but must have liked it enough to go again. He also did the Flying Aces and a Rattle Snake rapids (he didn't know what he was getting into---we got soaked)Love the face...he was getting into the shooting!!!
Madi tried the Bat and loved it. She also went on the wild mouse a few times. Jake finally tried the Wicked, I did have to bribe him and we rode it the day it rained-shorter lines. As we shot out of the tunnel and went straight up screaming...the rain pelting us in the face...terrified I thought, "what did I do, is Jake going to be okay?" I tried to look at his face but that is pretty much impossible on a ride that has you defying gravity and turning in all directions. We finished and he said, "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!! Can we go again?" It was a downpour by then so I said no! But he did go again.
It was a fun day and I was happy to see there were plenty of rides for us to go on as a family.