Winter Sports . . .

It's that time of year again. The girls have started the annual winter sports program. Both are doing downhill skiing, so every Wednesday afternoon for 5 weeks they head up to Grand Targhee for a lesson and afternoon of free skiing. Jake and I went up the first week and were able to get pics of Tater. Here she is with a friend she met in her class. They came in for a hot chocolate break. No pictures of Cambrie this day because she didn't come off the hill until it was time to leave. They were both loving it.

Luckily Cambrie's teacher sent me some pics from one of their ski days.  Here are Cambrie, Sayler and Abby at the top of Dreamcatcher.

Cambrie with her ski class.  (She's the one in the multi-colored pants)

Brophy's Visit

 The Brophy Family came for a visit and we had a great time playing in the snow.

Sean & Heidi

Jake and Natalie on the snow mobile.

Mason pulling Natalie.

Jason pulling Sean around.

Hershey, Jake and Cambrie.

Natalie pulling Cambrie.

The guys took the kids ice fishing, here is Tatum's catch.

Heidi and I were even able to sneak away and go snowshoeing.  Here's our timer shot.

Gotta Love the Wii . . .

The Brophy's came to visit for the weekend and brought one of their games. . . Just Dance 2. It was a big hit with the kiddos, but an even bigger hit with Jason and Sean. It was pretty hilarious watching all their moves.

Look at that intensity on Jason's face.

Playing in the snow with Nana.

Nana came out to take care of the kiddos while Jason and I went to the Dominican Republic. The kids taught Nana how to build a snowman and how to really have fun in the snow.

Looks like Nana picked up some of Cambrie's habits.

Cambrie and Hershey.

Tatum and Jake. Snow Tatum's favorite food, if you can call it that.

X Country Fun!

This year the girls decided they wanted to try out nordic skiing. Teton Nordic has a 6 week recreation program and they ski at Teton Springs and Alta. The girls had a great time. They had all sorts of fun getting comfortable and learning to cross country ski. One day they even played soccer while skiing. Here they are just heading out.

Moose Creek

 We headed out to Moose Creek the other day with our friends the Bagleys.  They were all so excited to go, but Jake was out before we even made it down our road.  He must've been really tired because we just transferred him into the tube, covered him up, and he was good to go.

We stopped and took a hot cocoa & snack break a bit up the trail.  You can see Tater enjoying a big hunk of snow, her favorite treat.

 

Me & Jason

 

Jason hung out with the kiddos while we headed a bit further up the trail. 

Once we made it up the hill, the girls tried to ride the tube down, but they weren't moving much. 

Cambrie and Tatum loved Cross Country skiing.  We just picked up some new skis for Cambrie and Tatum was able to use Cambrie's old set, so it was the first time on them and they did awesome. 

Once Jake woke up he was raring to go.  He pretty much ran the whole way until he ran out of steam, the he rode on Jason's shoulders the rest of the way.  If only we could teach him to pace himself. 

Tater was loving the downhill part of the skiing.  I think she's really looking forward to Winter Sports this year.

 

Sledding Party!

 Cambrie wanted to have a sledding party for her 9th Birthday, so we had a few friends join us and headed out to Allen's Hill.  Jason used the snow machine to pull them all back up the hill and Hershey chased them down on every run.  We had a few really good wipe outs, but fortunately no injuries.

 

 

Cambrie wanted Chili, rolls & brownies with cookie dough frosting.  She was in heaven.

Temple Square!

Friday after Thanksgiving we headed to Salt Lake City so that we could visit with Grandma and Grandpa. We stayed in a hotel (which the kids were so excited about). We went over to see the Grandparents, but unfortunately Cambrie had a sore throat, so she couldn't see Grandma. This absolutely broke her heart, but we tried to make the best of it. While Jason visited, we headed to Target to get some goodies for Cambrie's upcoming birthday party. This seemed to cheer her up, but she still wishes she could have seen Grandma.
Later that night, we ate at Olive Garden, which the kids thought was a 'really fancy' restaurant, then we went to Temple Square to see the Christmas Lights. The kids definitely don't remember being in Salt Lake City. I had to laugh at the fact that Jason was explaining to them how the crosswalks work. It was chilly, but so beautiful to see the temple grounds all lit up. What a great way to start off the Christmas season.

 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. . .

With school out on both Monday and Tuesday due to weather, we found ourselves with all sorts of extra time, so Tuesday night we decided we should get out all our Christmas decorations. Jake had been asking several times each day, when we could decorate, so he was elated when he finally got his way. While all the kids loved decorating, Jake definitely got the most involved and was the most determined to put things where he wanted them to go. Here he is decorating the tree in our foyer.
This is Jake's tree. We suggested he put it up in his room, but he instead put it in the foyer so it could be seen every day by everyone.
Some tired kids after decorating.

The tree in the family room. Cambrie setting up the Little People Nativity.

What a fun night. Jason always insists on 'Turbo Decorating'. He brings our countless rubbermaid totes downstairs, then waits about 20 minutes before he starts carting them back upstairs, empty or not. The Dancing With the Stars finale was on, so that was the motivation to get the kids moving quickly. They were loving decorating, but really wanted to watch Dancing With the Stars.  Go figure.