Strawberries!

These boys love strawberries and beg for them when we are at Sam's club.  I can't stand to pay 8 dollars for them in the off season and they never seem to understand.  They were pretty excited about them today.

 Jason used to break out in a rash when he ate strawberries, but he loves them so much that I let him have a few.  He didn't have a reaction this time, so I hope he's all clear on strawberries.  Poor kid really likes the things he can't have.

Stuff...

My mom hosted a great party in Orem for Christmas.  She had a theme for the year and it was cars.  She had made us each a scrapbook of my dad and the cars that he owned over the years.  She also went through all his old Hudson treasures and old car parts and found something for each of us.  She put them in a shadow box along with a picture of us with our dad.  

Dad died 11 years ago, so I don't burst into tears every time I think about him anymore, but I did cry when I looked at the scrapbook that my mom made for me.  I am a lucky girl to have had such a great dad here on earth.  He was pretty awesome, but man, my mom is amazing too.  She makes such an effort to make sure we stick together as a family and continue with traditions.  It was pretty crappy to have my dad die, but man, we'd all be a mess if Mom had died instead.  We tell her all the time that she needs to stick around for at least 20 more years.  She takes such good care of us.

Anyway, here's my shadow box...I love it.

We also had a flea market of the things that have been sitting and collecting dust for  years that my mom wanted us to enjoy.  When we have these things, we take turns picking out what we want.  The person with the first pick usually gets the best thing, but we all get something that we are pretty excited about.  This year, among other things, I got lots of books that Mom used to read to us as kids, my dad's Samuel Hall Society jacket...

...and my mom's gloves and hair piece that she wore to prom.  I forgot to get a picture of the hair piece.  I was going to see if I could comb it out.  It is a little worse for wear after all the years that we used it as a dress up, but the gloves are still perfect.
After I came home with my treasures, my mom sent me another one...

I love that picture of my mom...she's a babe for sure.  The girl in that picture has no idea of the life that is in store for her.  She's got some good days and some bad days on the way.  Most of all, she has some experiences that will mold her into a strong, wise, kind, amazing woman.  I tell you...I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have that beautiful girl as my mom.  She has been on a trip for most of the month of January and it is one of the only times she's been gone when we haven't been able to call or email her throughout the trip.  I miss her so much.  I miss her when I am making chocolate frosting and I can't remember if you add vanilla.  I didn't, but I probably should have.  Anyway, my Mom is the best and I can't wait for her to get home...just so that I know she's there on the other end of the phone line.

Addiction

Nate has an addiction and Jake feeds that addiction.  He likes the xbox and wii games that have vehicles.  Over the Christmas break, they played way too much.
We were down in Orem after Christmas and Nate was telling me he wanted to go home.  I couldn't figure out why he'd want to leave the fun in Orem to go home.  Then he told me he wanted to play the xbox.  I couldn't believe it.  Yikes.  He needs to be broken.

Companions...

Trucks.  Those are Jason's companions.  When Jake was his age, he carried trucks around everywhere too.  Nate was the same way, but he preferred planes and McQueen.  

Anyway, when I see Jason with his trucks at the table, I remember Jake as a kid.  I don't care how many times I asked the little Jake and now the little Jason to leave the trucks off the table, it just didn't/doesn't happen.  The tire tread ends up laced with food and then that food makes its way into messy tracks on the floor.  I think having Jake and Allie grow up on me has made me look at the little boys lives in a different way.  Now that I know they grow up so fast, I try to remember these little things.  They make me smile. 

Just so you know, the trucks are "di-sore truck". "puppy truck", and "ma-sur truck".  They can't sit further away from the food and they have to be right in the way.

An End of an Era...

As I mentioned earlier, Jason is done with the crib.  That means it was time to get it out of the house.  We started taking it down and the kids were all jumping around driving us nuts...then I realized that every one of my babies that slept in that crib were in that room...so I made them pose for pictures.  Sam didn't sleep in that crib...he never left anyone's arms long enough. So it's okay that he isn't in these pictures...

If that crib could talk, it would tell you tales of poo parties, vomit once or twice, crying binges, and climbing and falling escapades.  All those things happened often, but I think the crib would choose to remember sweet dreams, happy voices calling out in the morning, and hours and hours of watching me read books to my sweet babies before kissing them through the bars and leaving them in its care for the night.

Goodbye crib.  Thanks for taking care of my babies at night for so many years!

Missing...

These are the before pictures.  This is Jason's cuteness.  He found this sled in the Christmas decorations and found something to ride on the sled.  Then he took it outside.  I followed him with the camera and thought it was the cutest thing ever.  Then, I watched him play on the deck for a little while.  I put my camera battery on the charger, watched him play for a little while, and then went to get the camera again to take some more pictures...

When I went back out, there was no Jason.  I asked Nate if he could see him and he said he couldn't.  I went back in the house to get some shoes and a jacket on and then I started to look in all the usual places.  I looked on the wheeler, in the sand box, around the side of the house, in the garage.  Then I called out to him and checked the Baltzer's house.  I checked inside our house again and then I started to worry.  How could he be so far gone in a matter of seconds?  I got Mike involved in the hunt.  He went to the other neighbor's backyard and we were both calling out for him.  I knocked on doors and asked if he had come by.  In my mind, he had gone out front and was taken by someone driving by, because I couldn't imagine where he could have gone so fast.  I knew he was only in footy jammies and it was cold out.  By now, it had been 10 minutes since I had last seen him and we had neighbors looking with us.  I was getting pretty freaked out because I couldn't imagine how he could have gotten further than the places we checked without being taken.  I was just about to call the police when he came sauntering up from across the street and down by the river.  I didn't know if I should beat him or hug him and never let go.  I ended up doing a little of both...I hugged him while I swatted his bum...it probably didn't teach him anything.
We sent everyone back into their houses and then calm was restored to my heart.  That dang kid!
I know I don't want to wish away any stages of life, but man, things get easier when kids can understand boundaries and danger...and telling me where they are going.  I'm just grateful it wasn't summer and the river wasn't running.  He must have been hiding from me when I first called out to him in the back yard.  Then when I went in to get shoes and a coat, he must have crossed the street because then I continued the search in the back yard before I even went to the front.  I was just so sure that he wouldn't be gone to any place new that I didn't even think to look across the street by the river.  That dang kid...
Anyway, that's the story of the runaway Jason and the little toy sled.  He no longer has back yard roaming privileges of any kind.  I hope he is better by spring.

A Quidditch Pitch

I sent Allie and Jake into the toy room to play with Lego's and this is what came of it...

There was a bit of a fight because Jake was making one too and he thought Allie was taking all the pieces.  So, we took pictures of Allie's and then we'll dismantle it so Jake can have his.

Go Fish

The last few weeks have brought a new skill from Jason...concentration.  Every once in a while, he'll find a quiet place and just play and play.  When he does, I make everyone leave him alone.  This was one of those times.  I was making dinner and it was a magical half hour. 

I'd like to say he got excited when he'd catch a fish, but he was so serious about it all that there really wasn't any of that.  It was so cute!

New Year's Eve

We were in town for New Year's this year.  Mike and I left the kids and went out to dinner earlier in the evening, so that was nice, but other than that, we were pretty boring.  We celebrated the new year at 8 and then sent Jason off to bed.

Jake, Allie, and Nate stayed up with me and Mike and we played Sorry and Uno.  Then we let them watch a movie until close to midnight.
Nate fell asleep pretty quickly, and so did Jake.
Allie stayed up, but when it was time to go to the tree burning, she didn't feel very well, so I sent her off to bed.  Mike wimped out too and stayed home with the ones who were sleeping.

Jake got up and helped me drag our Christmas tree out to count down till midnight with the Dunkley's.

It was a great fire, as always.

Happy 2015.

Star Valley

We went to Star Valley over the Christmas break. 

The kids had fun on Grandpa's snowmobiles.

We also went down to the river and skated on the ice.

They all liked it when Mike would push them on the ice so they could "penguin slide".

It was a beautiful day.

Grandma's house...

We had a great time at Grandma's house.  

We got more gifts as we showed up.

The rest of the family showed up over the next few hours (except Kim, Blake, and Nicole who were sick...bummer).
We all went to this really cool place called Provo Beach.  They had a high ropes course, bowling, laser tag, a little kid land, arcade games, and a bunch of other things to do.
Allie loved the high ropes course.  I think she was pretty terrified at first, but she ended up loving it and stayed for hours.

Nate and Jason just loved it all.  They sort of ran wild.

Jake, my brothers, Kaylee, and Baylor did the flo rider.
That was a good laugh.

Lots of good surfing, but lots of good crashes too...

Jake got tired of falling, so he rode it on his belly the rest of the time.

All the little girls were pretty excited to see the princesses show up.  Nate wanted in on the picture too.

They rode the carousel...

...and cheated wildly at every game they played...

It was just really fun.  We stayed for hours and hours and had a great time.  We didn't want to leave.  It wasn't always fun to chase those littles around, but it really wasn't as bad as it could have been.  They had a great time too.