What is this you ask????  

I did too when I stepped into the shower and found this original art work!

At first I thought they were blobs of mousse, but then I soon realized this design was made from cotton balls.  I just want to know who teaches kids this stuff?  Every year someone has thrown wet toilet paper wads or cotton balls on the ceiling of the school bathroom...but how does generation after generation discover this?  

Well, at least it's in the shower, and really, kind of cute.  :)

With eye lashes even!  Oh...can I make a wild guess...uh...Ashlyn's work of art?

It didn't end there...the next morning I found this little creation...hmmm  I wonder who did that??

The Derby and the Wii

It's back folks, in full swing.....

The Pinewood Derby!  

We had a little break from this great tradition, but Taylor is now 8yrs old, and we're back to making Pinewood Derby cars.  

Yipee....:)

He came up with this great idea of making his car look like a Wii remote. 

 It looked FANTASTIC!  

Someone actually asked if he attached wheels to a real remote!

He didn't win the Derby, but didn't lose all the races either. Somewhere in between which is great with me.  

Taylor's award was "Best vehicle..not a car!"

Dad and son...working together on an awesome car...spending time together.  

That's what it's all about!

Black Ice

Well...as you can see...it was an eventful weekend.  Alyssa hit some black ice on her way to work early Saturday morning, and spun around and hit a big 'ol truck.  Wouldn't you know it, the truck had 2 tiny scratches, and the mud flap was hanging....from the 2 wires that held it in place...no big deal.  Her car is totaled, so if you love to work on cars...we're selling it for cheap!  Thank goodness Alyssa was fine, and was going slow, wearing her seat belt, etc.  Soooo frustrating!  

Such is life.

Waffle Party

So have you ever heard of a waffle party? 

 Well, we had one tonight.  

It's the end of the term, and a cold Friday night, so Connor invited a bunch of boys from the ward to come and eat waffles, and watch The Hobbit which just came out on DVD.  I will just say, it was a lot of WORK!  (I still have a bunch of dishes waiting for me!)  However, it was super yummy and a fun treat if you're tired of the same 'ol, same 'ol...you know...

pizza and popcorn....

Here is what we had, and what I learned:

• I borrowed a couple waffle irons from my friend, adding them to the 2 I had.  4 was a good number to keep the waffles coming.
• 4 types of syrup were perfect.  We had Raspberry (the Kodiak brand from Costco), maple syrup, homemade buttermilk syrup, and homemade chocolate topping. (I have a killer recipe!)
• We then had some strawberries, mini chocolate chips, whip cream, and sliced bananas.  
• Paper plates all around were perfect.
• And Lots and lots of bacon...

As you can see, I didn't waste time making the table cute, or putting the toppings in nice containers...nope...no flower centerpieces either..hey they're 13yrs old!  We did however have plenty of food for those growing boys...they all left the table holding their stomachs...

"I ate 5 waffles!"  "oh yeah?  I ate 6!"  

They are so appreciative and eat anything you put in front of them...much more satisfying than feeding my own family for sure!

Cousins and Trampolines!

We love love love our cousins...have I ever mentioned that?  Well, the kids felt like they were due for a get-together, but not just for an hour or two, a SLEEPOVER!  We don't allow sleepovers as a rule, but cousins are the exception. So we all descended on Ally's place with blankets and pillows in tow ready for a good 'ol time.  We weren't disappointed, Allyson had a big ball of candy that had been wrapped with packaging tape over and over, candy in each layer and the kids passed it around as a game. They played, watched a movie and played some more. For some reason I didn't get a picture of the kids sleeping in the bonus room, but they were super cute!  

(they had to tell the adults to quiet down...:)

Passing around the ball of candy

Nate came and slept over as well, isn't Sarah darling?

Emma and Sarah, watching their own movie...:)

Emma loves the movie "Brave".  She asked Parker to make her a bow and arrow.  

Didn't he do a great job?

Ally told me that Emma took her bow and arrow to her dance class, and all the kids gathered around and loved it!  Apparently she sleeps with it as well...better to be prepared, I always say!

Thanks Parker!

For Christmas we bought a new trampoline.  The weather has been so cold and snowy, that we finally had a nice day to put it up.  The boys enlisted their grandpa to help get the job done.

Uh....yeah...I stumbled upon this...;) Never a dull moment!

Best friends Ashlyn and Megan.

The kids decided to make the most of the old trampoline before we sold it...jumping from one to another, so fun!

Celebrating Winter

The last few weeks we...

Made Valentines Day boxes...Ashlyn made this darling zebra all by herself...well her big sister Alyssa helped a little too...:)

This is Taylor's "Dr. Who" Tardis for his valentines...don't worry if you don't know what it is..it's all the rage around here!

We held a family home evening Valentine's Day party.  We made valentines for Grandma and Grandpa, and all the cousins that live out of state. And of course we had to decorate our own cookies.  MMMmmmm!

On President's Day we went sledding up AF Canyon. It was perfect weather, and not crowded at all!!!

We of course invited all the cousins.  The girls are standing on an iced over lake.  We all actually walked across it to get to "the bowl" to go sledding". 

A little nerve racking...! 

In the background you can see an opening in the trees..this is the entrance to the bowl, a large area surrounded by hills to sled down.  There is a beautiful bald eagle that lives over there, my photographer son Connor took a bunch of awesome pics of that majestic bird!

Since we were in California for Ashlyn's birthday, we had a belated party with her friends.  Karl and I took them to a fun trampoline center then back to our house for doughnuts and ice cream.  

Great girls!

California!!!

California Vacation!  

We put our lives on hold for 8 glorious days and headed to much warmer weather and cleaner air.  The kids were amazing, and everything went as smooth as melted chocolate.

Here are some highlights:

We walked up the Oceanside Pier at dusk...spectacular! (and romantic!)

Sea World...

It wasn't a very busy day at Sea World, so we got to go on the rides multiple times.  Our dare devil daughter Ashlyn asked the guys that ran the "Manta", what the record was for people riding it in one day.  They said "26 times".  Ashlyn was determined to beat the record...she went on it 24 times...but we had to go.  

(she is in red on the 3rd row back)

Amazing girl!

Sea World again...at the whale show...so cool!

California Adventure.  

Some of our favorite rides were closed in Disneyland, so we chose to go to California Adventure instead...not cheap I'll tell ya!

Disney at night!

We took our family to the San Diego Temple where I went with my older kids to do baptisms for the dead and Karl hung out with the younger ones.  The temple president came and spoke to us and really made it special.

Ashlyn turned 10yrs. old on our vacation, so we celebrated at Uncle Milo's home with a dinner and yummy cake!

This was the view outside of our condo.  We stayed in luxury I'll tell ya!

My kids spent a morning playing tennis at our resort.  They haven't really played, so it was fun to just hit the ball back and forth.

We drove up the 101 coastal hwy and found a nice little beach to hang out on.  Being the end of January, it was cold, but as you can see...didn't stop the diehards in our family!

Karl spent a lot of time at the ocean as a kid, and couldn't resist buying a skip board for the kids to play on. (this Utah girl didn't even know what a skip board was!!)

  Connor practiced and practiced until he got it down.  The board now hangs on his bedroom wall...:)

Getting warm in the sand!

Our last day we went to Knotts Berry Farm.  I remember going when I was in High School, and thinking, "this is lame!"  But we had heard they built some awesome rides since then, so we decided to check it out.  SO WORTH IT!  If you like scary rides, this is it.  

My kids loved it!! 

This is the ride that you see above...it starts out catapulting you from 0-82mph in 2 sec!  

Such crazy fun!

C