Sledding Fun

Trey got a new sled for Christmas.  He LOVES sitting in it...and playing with his blocks in it.  We decided it was time to take him out in the snow and show him how to really use it.  Other than Dale throwing snowballs at him (which he loves), Trey hasn't had much experience with snow.  We were pretty excited to take him out.

He loved sledding, but he couldn't walk in the snow at all (it was up past his knees), which really frustrated him.  He just kept falling over.  He only lasted for about 20 minutes, and then he'd had enough.  Fun times!

Merry Christmas!

I LOVE the month of December!  Of course, it may have something to do with the fact that I have the ENTIRE month off of work :).  I love getting to spend the month with my Trey man and my sweet hubby :).  I love all of the fun holiday preparation, and I even love having the time to clean our apartment!  Though I'm sure that last one will get old quickly once I'm a stay at home mom for good :). We spent the month doing the usual fun holiday celebrations...made gingerbread nativities/Santa's sleigh, went to our ward Christmas party, got together with friends, listened to tons of Christmas music, and of course ate way too many delicious treats.  We also went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point.  That trip is the reason this post has no pictures :).  We definitely took some, though not many due the huge downpour of snow.  We thought it would be fun to take the wagon ride through the lights instead of driving in our car, and that the snow would make it so much more magical :).  It was magical for about the first 5 minutes, then we started to freeze and Trey started to get antsy.  Another 5 minutes into it and we didn't care much about the lights, just getting back into our warm car!  The snow was coming down quicker, and we were getting more soaked by the second.  As soon as it was over we booked it back to our car.  It was quite the ordeal getting Trey in.  We had to unearth him from his piles of clothing so he wouldn't suffer from heat stroke once we blasted the heat.  In our rush I wasn't exactly thorough enough with checking to make sure we didn't lose anything in the process.  When we pulled out of the parking lot, we ran over a large lump...which turned out to be our camera.  It was surprisingly not smashed like I thought, but still completely broken and unusable.  So, no pictures from this month :(.  But on the upside, we got a new camera!  And let's face it, it was time.  The one we had been using I'd gotten in college...8 years ago.  Technology has come a long way in those 8 years!

We didn't get our camera until after Christmas, so once again, we didn't get pics of Trey at Christmas...guess we won't be voted Parents of the Year any time soon :).  But we did of course get it on video.  We were so super excited for Trey to open his presents this year now that he actually has complete control over his hands!  He had been practicing all month (we've been letting him unwrap Christmas books to read at night...he won't sit still for the stories, but he's one terrific unwrapper).  He was pretty excited too that we were actually letting him unwrap the presents instead of saying "No" every time he got close to the tree :).  Earlier in the month he started touching the end of a tree branch and would look at us and say "No." :).  He got some pretty fun presents, but lost interest half way through unwrapping.  He wanted to play with his loot!  Santa sure spoiled him this year :).  Another great Christmas enjoying time with family, eating dinner with my Grandma, and of course, relaxing in our Christmas Pjs.     

Get off the Bus!

Every year I read my class a book called, "Piper Reed: Navy Brat". The little girl in the story has a dad who is in the Navy and they have to move around a lot. Piper's goal is to spread the phrase "Get off the Bus" to all 50 states. It's her fancy way of saying, "No Way!" When I read it to my class I have them count how many times she says it in the book. They get a kick out of it :).

I'm not really sure why I like this book so much- maybe because my dad has been in the Army my whole life...guess I feel some sort of connection to Piper :).

I've been thinking a lot about the military lately. Probably because we just said goodbye to my dad and brother, who are both being deployed to Iraq for a year.

My dad and brother

This isn't the first time they've been over that way. The last time my dad was there I was a Senior in High School. It's been almost 10 years- now it's my little sister who is the Senior in High School. My little brother served in Iraq around 4 years ago...before he was married and had 2 little kids.

Jared and his sweet wife Amanda and darling kids Brodie and Brooke

I love this pic! Jared and Brodie :)

The week before they left our entire family got together for a BBQ. We talked, reminisced and laughed until we cried, remembering the crazy adventures we've had as a family...like the time we were cutting down our Christmas tree and our van almost got swept away in an icy river...or the time we went canoeing and almost went careening down a raging river of death :). Good times!

It was a bittersweet weekend. I loved that we were were all there together, but hated that we were there to say goodbye. I don't think any of us wanted to see the night end. I am grateful for my wonderful family! Thanks for serving Dad and Jared! I love you both!