Totally Tubular 80's Bash

I loved the 80's!!! I mean whats not to love....big hair, great music, and bright clothes. Brooke through a surprise 30th birthday party for Wayne. Can you guess her theme??? You got it....80's. Brent and I sported out best 80's costume and had a blast. Brooke decorated with lots of great decorations, we played 80's trivia and sang karaoke. Well I didn't sing but Brent say enough songs to make up for that. He was the best 80's Rocker Ever! I love any excuse to dress up. Good Times!

Learning to rollerblade

Ethan got roller blades for Christmas. Brent put on his and went out to help him in the front yard. They worked on for about an hour. Ethan has been practicing. He is very determined! Now he totally has it. He cruises all over the backyard.

Snow trip

The end of February we decided to plan a trip up to the cabin to play in the snow. We went with Mark and Jaymi, the girls, and Spencer and Lizeth. When we got there most of the snow at the cabin had melted and there was only a couple of patches. We woke up on Saturday and headed up to sunrise to find some snow to play in. We got there and got all our gear on and headed up the hill. We were only there about 15 minutes before we got hit with a blizzard. It was so bad that we could hardly see. Needless to say we decided to head back to the cabin before the roads got really bad. We were all so sad because everyone was really looking forward to our snow day. The next morning when we woke up we realized that it had snowed all night long. When I looked out the window this is what I saw......

It actually worked out great. There was so much snow on the ground the the kids were able to sled all though the front yard. They also made some great snow angels.

Our family with the snowman that the kids made with Aunt Lizeth.

I was really surprised, Rylie loved playing in the snow.

Brent helped the kids sled.

Ethan and Allie with their cousins

We were a little nervous driving down the rim with all the snow, but the trip turned out to be so much fun.

And to the Republic... Amen.

Ok... I have to get this down before it's too late and I forget.... This has happened twice now and I can't stop laughing when it does.

We have always taken turns when it comes to saying the prayer on the food for meals, and usually there is someone crying everytime because they thought it was their turn. That someone is usally Kaleb, who I admire for wanting to say the prayer for every meal. At first we would have to help him all the way through the prayer from beginning to Amen.... but, he recently developed that "I can do it" mentality, and has been saying the prayer pretty much on his own. Well for the past couple of "Kaleb blessed" meals, the prayer has gone pretty much like this...

"Dear Heavenly Father... (pause)... Jesus Christ... (pause)... of the United States of America... and to the republic for which it stands..."

What the heck... where did that come from??? I felt like I was back in elementary school again, with the inability to hold in a laugh... Aren't I the parent here? What kind of example am I to my other 3 kids who are watching me drop my head and shake as I turn into a leaky, spewing air compressor? And where on earth did my 3 year old learn the Pledge of Allegiance, yet alone learn to incorporate it into his prayers? I felt like unfolding my arms and placing my hand on my heart. And to make matters worse... he needs a little help with the Pledge, too. So, do you help him with the prayer, or correct him on the Pledge? Decisions... decisions...

Both times this has happened, I was standing a little closer, and Jaime gave me the "you're closer... do something about it" stare. I normally love the "Your Closer" general rule around the house, since most of the time she is standing closer, that... and I just love giving it. Unfortunately, again it was me... So, I had to RUDELY interrupt his sweet little moment of grace and say, "Hey... just don't forget to bless the food" as he raises his head to give me that "why are you interrupting my prayer" look...

Now, I don't normally cry or laugh during prayers... or haven't for a long time... but Kaleb, you've definitely made me feel young again.

Thanks,
Dad

Girls Night Out

Allie got a new pair of shoes for Christmas. They were totally covered in pink glitter and she Loved them. The problem was that they would not stay on her feet. We decided that we needed a trip to the mall to see what else we could find. Aunt Jaymi and Kayley decided to come along. The girls had a blast! They both ended up with new shoes, a nightgown, and a pair of sunglasses. We had some fun girl time!

Golf Anyone?.....

A couple of weeks ago Brent decided to take Ethan golfing. It is one of their favorite things to do together. When Kaleb found out that they were going he really wanted to go too. Now Brent being the good Daddy that he is said that he could go. I thought to my self, there is no way this is going to go well. I am glad to say that I was wrong. Brent said it went great and they had a lot of fun.

Aunt Brooke had bought Kaleb a foam golf club for Christmas so Kaleb used that. He definitely isn't ready to use the real ones. As you can tell by the smile on his face.....he really didn't care.

Wahoo!!!

Here are a couple pics of the deep sea fishing trip I was able to go on while we were in the Carribbean. This fish is called a "wahoo".... I don't know if it's because that's what I was screaming when I hooked in or what... Unfortunately, the skipper of the boat takes all the caught fish to the market for extra cash in his pocket, and apparently it's a pretty penny per lb for wahoo. He says it is kind of a sweet tasting fish. I was willing to pay him to freeze it and ship it to my house (since they don't let you take it back on the cruise ship), but apparently he doesn't do that. It's kind of crappy considering you burn the heck out of your arms reeling these fish in and someone else gets to partake in the goodness. Part of that burning could have been due to the fact that the drag on the reel I was using was broken, and wasn't til after about 10 minutes of reeling that I realized the wasn't grabbing and the fish had pulled the line another hundred yards or so. My Luck! I was a little exhausted to say the least when finally pulled this in the boat. This one was about 40lbs. I can only imaging trying to pull in a sailfish or marlin. I'll have to find some wahoo locally to try it out. There are actually a couple of restaurants called Wahoos in Cali, Texas, and even Colorado. They make wahoo tacos!!

There were a couple people on the boat, like the kid taking my picture, that got snubbed on the trip and didn't catch anything. So, I guess I should feel lucky. I just thought we'd have a lot more action on our 3 hour tour... One of the guys with us was from the Bahamas, and he hooked into a tuna. That little thing fought harder than the other fish twice its size.

It was a blast and definitely something I'll be doing again, just on a more dedicated and time permitting trip. A few hours is just not enough time for a fishing trip. We'll need at least a week next time... oh... and next time were bringin' the goods home!

B:

Rainy Day

Last week we were lucky enough to get Lots and Lots of rain. It was pretty cold outside but we decided to let our kids go out and play in it. They kicked and splashed water everywhere. Our backyard was pretty flooded. Our trampoline is in the ground and the hole was completely filled with water. The kids had 20 minutes of fun before we brought them in and put them straight into the hot shower.

Ethan decided to come out and play at the very end. He HATES to be cold. He only lasted about 2 minutes before he was done.

Why must it end?

Ok, so when I stepped on the scale this morning, I can swear I heard it cough out, "What the Junk!" I now know why 90% of New Year's resolutions have to do with losing weight... it's because santa stuffs way too many goodies into your stocking, but you don't realize it til your week long buffet of sweets and candies has passed and all the clothes in your closet are about ready to be thrown in the "Hope To" box... you know the clothes you "hope to" fit into again someday.

It's hard to believe that Christmas vacation is already over... It pretty much ruined my entire evening last night knowing I had to go back to work and wait another year to do it all again. It was a fun Christmas vacation. The weather was actually somewhat perfect this year, allowing the entire family to go to the park and do multiple outside activities. As you can tell from this "mid-day" post, I'm still not that driven to jump right into my work projects and let Christmas vacation officially end.

So, you'll never guess what one of my new years resolutions is...

B:

Where's the Camera?

I few weeks ago we were racing out the door to get to a family function. We were loading the kids when I noticed that Rylie needed her nose wiped. She was already buckled in the car so I hopped out and got it. In the process of pulling out the wipes I knocked my camera out onto the ground. I'm sure you can see where this story is going......I didn't realize it had fallen out and we backed out of the driveway. As we felt the crunch under the tire, Brent said maybe that was the newspaper. Then when I looked at the driveway I saw my MUNCHED camera case. AHHHHHH! I PANICKED! Unfortunately my camera is totally broken. I am still mourning the loss of my camera:(