Our Cherished Moments: January 2010

And Even More Snow Play

Our town had a Snow Fest this last weekend, so we headed over to the park and joined the fun. They had a bunch of fun activities, all free and run by volunteers - mostly from the college.

Halle loved the snow bowling and would have done it a bunch more times had there not been a line. She was so proud of herself for hitting the pins.

The city built up a big hill with extra snow piled from somewhere else.

It looked like a lot of fun, but we decided to find a less popular hill with a bit less traffic. Even though we were right next to the hospital, we decided not to chance it.

Even on this hill we had a few near misses, but managed to keep all the kids safe and still have fun.

And after we got done, still living the Hannah Montana dream, we packed our bags to go spend the night at Neal's parents house.

Puzzles were the big thing this time for the 4 year old cousins. Caleb is helping Halle do the princess puzzle.

And another princess puzzle that was pretty tough, but these three figured it out. Way to go kids. We were glad we could spend time with everyone that came to visit.

A Girls Night

Since Neal is doing scouts now, he gets to go on monthly campouts with the boys. So this last weekend, we had a girls night.

We got into our comfy PJ's.

And painted our nails while watching the Hannah Montana movie.

And then as all girls nights go, we got a little silly. I remembered buying this wig a few years ago at an after-Halloween sale at Walmart, so I pulled it out and we tried it on. She had to go get her guitar and we sang to Hannah Montana songs. And then she would take it off and say, "look Mom, now I'm Miley." For those of you not totally informed on the subject, it's Hannah Montana's regular name when she's not performing.

The play ice cream cone made a perfect microphone.

We took turns taking pictures of each other wearing the wig and doing other silly stuff but since I'm the one writing this, I'm not sharing the ones she took of me.

Here's one last picture before we crash into bed.

She must have had a lot of fun because the next day she said to me, "I think Daddy needs to go camping again."

More Snow Play

We were supposed to go to my Grandma's house in Soda Springs this day, but it started snowing too hard to travel, so we stayed at my parent's house and played in the snow.

We had a "snow ball" fight.

Made snow people.

And made the guys pull the kids around the backyard. My dad plowed a trail around the yard so it wouldn't be so hard to pull them.

And Halle thought maybe she was tough enough to pull Rob for a turn.

Something I designed

Here is a picture of some townhomes I designed. I was just impressed with how they turned out so I thought I would share.

A Pink Bike or a Train for Christmas

Halle wanted either a pink bike or a train track for Christmas. She finally settled on the pink bike, which Santa miraculously brought her even though she refused to sit on his lap and tell him that's what she wanted.

But she still got to play with trains because her cousins got a big train set for Christmas. Thanks Nixon and Rett for sharing your Christmas present with Halle.

These pictures were actually taken the weekend before Christmas, but it was part of our Christmas celebration with Neal's side of the family. I stole these from Anneka's blog since my camera battery died that night.

After dinner, we decorated brownie houses . . . and had a few candies to eat too.

The kids were playing "sleeps" on the mattress in the spare room. They love to get all the fleece blankets together they can find and snuggle up for some pretend sleeping.

Then we opened presents from Grandma. She always gets them new jammies, which is great. We had a difficult time getting them all to stop focusing on the tree and turn around so we could get a picture.

But they are all so cute in their new PJ's. Thanks Grandma.

Christmas Eve with my family

So I am changing our blog background for Valentines day and just getting to our Christmas pictures. We usually spend Christmas Eve with my family eating dinner and reading the nativity story and singing songs. This year was no different. We started the afternoon with a bit of sledding which turned out to be very cold that day, but really fun.

Halle and Dad testing out the sled.

A major biff, but it didn't matter. Halle was ready for another turn.

Turns out playground equipment is pretty slippery in the winter time too. It's a little blurry from their speed (good thing Neal was there to slow them down), but the girls had fun going down the slides several times.

And so did Papa.

Halle is giving Angie and Abbie a push.

Halle and I didn't quite make it all the way down this hill this time.

Love Abbie's expression in this one. Of course Halle is still having a blast.

Here we are getting ready to finally enjoy our wonderful warm dinner.

We usually read through the scriptures and sing Christmas hymns after dinner. Due to the small ones there, we shortened the program and Halle and Abbie were in charge of setting up the nativity as the scriptures were being read.