Random Jan. Fun AKA Digital Overload

Wow, I take way too many pictures.  But they are all so fun.

After several below-freezing weeks in the negative degrees, we finally had a day up in the 20's.  We had to take advantage of the "warm" weather and get out to play.

Brecken took some pictures of Torv at the Dr's office at his 6 mo. check.

 Torv has had such a hard time teething.  We can tell it hurts him a lot and he had a really hard time sleeping. Daddy was good about loving him back to sleep.

Goofballs!

Poor little Lana was sick for about a full week with fevers.  This is when she finally got better and could go outside to play again.

And this is what she would look like with freckles.  She told me she had wanted to taste the slim fast powder.

I LOVE that my kiddos read.  It was such a peaceful quiet moment in our crazy home, I had to snap a picture to record it.

 We took the kids out to Golden Corral for their first time eating at a buffet.  They loved it.

Having an indoor picnic since it was way too cold to have one outside.

 Daddy went to tuck LANA in one night and this is what I found:

I'm glad these two love each other so much.

Caden's 8th Birthday Party- Playing at Planet Play

Caden's Pokemon Ball Cake

I thought it would be easier this year to go somewhere where the kids could play and go nuts and I wouldn't have to worry about games or decorations or clean up, so we went to Planet Play!  Driving up to Sandy.

We met a few more friends there.  Here they all are:

James, Lana, Brecken, Caden, Jonathon, Wyatt, Tasia, and AJ

They had so much fun playing arcade games, mini bowling, and of course driving the go-karts (Caden's favorite since he is tall enough to drive his own.

After playing for a while we headed to the party room for presents and cake.  When we came in at the beginning I explained that we hadn't reserved anything and asked where we could do cake and presents.  The kid assured me we could use any empty room including the party room.  Yeah, he was wrong.  They came and told us we had to move- I was so embarrassed   By the time they found us another place to go we had finished the party.  Luckily, everyone had a good time anyway.

I think Brans and my consensus was that this was fun and all, but it is much easier to do parties at our house or at a local park.  Then we don't have to worry about transportation, keeping track of a bunch of kids in a crowded venue, or bringing in outside food.  

I'm glad the kids had fun and Brans and I had a good learning experience.

Caden's Baptism Photo Shoots

Caden was so excited about getting baptized!  So, a couple weeks before the big day we had a couple of photoshoots.  Olya took all the amazing outdoor pictures!  She is amazing. And he is such a stud muffin!

A few days before that I was having him try on his new suit and decided to take a few shots while he was all dressed up.

 He is not a big fan of having his picture taken- but we managed to get some good ones anyway.

And his real personality coming out.

Olya took him out to get some really nice pictures by  the church.  It was during our negative temperatures spell.  Poor guy froze with that thin jacket, no gloves, and dress shoes.  It was worth it though, right...

 I love how this shows off our beautiful valley and mountains.

Caden is going to be an amazing missionary some day!

Super Star Basketball Player Caden!

I think we found Caden's sport!  (Although he was a pretty stinkin' awesome goalie at soccer too) This was his first year and he worked hard and rocked it!  He scored about 10 baskets each game and was amazing on defense as well.  He loved it and was so sad when the season ended.

Warming up before his first game.

 Caden is an amazing shot.  We thought he might be since he won a ribbon for the basket shooting competition at field day last year.

 Go team, go.  He loved getting to be on another sports team with his buddy James.

 Lana and I spectating.

So proud of our boy!

The Last Day of Christmas Vacation

Branson was back to work for the last day of Christmas vacation so the kids and I "splurged".

We went out to lunch at Burger King!

Brecken was loving the King crown.

 That afternoon we went back to work on Optimus Prime (legos).  

Thanks to Chantelle for the genius idea of dumping legos on a blanket rather than the floor- a million times quicker to clean up.

Almost assembled (I don't even know how many hours this took- Brecken is one determined kid).

 And his final product!  He wouldn't let anyone touch it (and I don't blame him after all the time it took to put him together) for several days.

 Lana kind of permanently borrowed this Minnie Mouse dress from a neighbor   Here she is wearing it over her pajamas.

 And over play clothes with Mommy's boots.  She seriously did not take the dress off for at least week until it disappeared in to the laundry.

Happy New Year's 2013

We rang in the New Year in the traditional Eagle Mtn way- game night!  We had it at our house, playing wild card games with the adults upstairs and the kids doing their thing downstairs.

We had some of our best buddies: The Snidemans, the Clarks, and the Hortons! 

At the stroke of midnight I kissed my hubby and then went downstairs to tell the kids Happy New Year.  Lana was upstairs going strong but I found the boys passed out on the couch in the basement.

 We decided to start a new family tradition this year of making a time capsule, we filled it with things from the past year and even let the kids pick a few of their things to put in it.

We filled out a questionaire about each person and added some actual things: the outfit we brought Torv home from the hospital in, the boys' medals from soccer, some tickets from the OMSI from our trip to Oregon and a few other things.

Next up was lunch time.  Here are Brecken and Lana eating thier Millenium Falcon Star Wars sandwiches made from the sandwich cutters Uncle Mo and Aunt Ari gave them at Christmas.

 Then we headed out for some sledding.  This was the perfect year for sledding, we always had snow.

 I think they were having fun...

Lana would beg to go down the hill with Daddy.  After a few trips he asked her if she just wanted him to go down with her so that he would pull her back up the hill.  She answered candidly, "Yes Daddy."

How many people can you fit on one sled?

Mom giving them a push.

We were definitely ready for some hot cocoa when we got back.

And the perfect end to a truly Happy New Year's Day- snuggling in bed with Dad watching Bugs Bunny   (Lana was already passed out in her own bed so it was just the boys)