St. Patrick's Day

For some reason, St. Patrick's Day has become a pretty fun holiday around here... Skyler & Kimberly were old enough to come up with their OWN idea for a trap to build to catch the Leprechaun, so it was fun to see their little minds planning it out & putting it together.

But of course Leprechauns don't LIKE it when the kids try to trap them, so they messed up both of the kids rooms pretty good.  Kimberly was especially disappointed that HER room got messed up, because SHE hadn't put a trap in HER room, so she thought the Leprechaun would only bother SKYLER, but of course, those Leprechauns aren't always the most predictable of little guys...

For breakfast we just had cereal, but the kids were AMAZED when their milk started turning GREEN!  Those tricky Leprechauns!  But soon afterward they found a yummy green snack that the Leprechaun had left for them (green marshmallows & green kool-aid),  so they quickly forgot about being upset about their messy rooms!

St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday this year, so I was a little worried about us all having CHURCH-clothes that had green on them, but somehow we all managed.  But even though Skyler DID have a tie that was green, he decided instead this year that he wanted to be TRICKY & wear green in a place that not everyone could see, so he just wore some green-striped socks this year & was hopeful that someone would pinch him so he could pinch them back 10 times!  But unfortunately, only one person questioned him about it (an adult) & pinched him, but then Skyler said he was too embarrassed to pinch them back anyways... Funny kid :)

Right before church we all ate a yummy GREEN lunch of green jello, green yogurt, green apples, green cucumbers, green kool-aid & green cookies, so we all left for church with quite satisfied little bellies!  It's always fun to do something a little different & a little special for a fun holiday at home with the kids!  Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Laron's Regional Basketball Game

 So our ward made it to the Regional Basketball Games this year, which Laron was pretty excited about!  They've had plenty of good skill & good turn-out every game too, which always helps.  The kids always ask if they can go watch Daddy play Basketball, but unfortunately, most of the games have been too late for getting kids to bed at a very decent hour, so we hadn't watched too many this year.  But the Regional game was a little earlier & a little more exciting, so we finally decided it was time to go cheer on our Daddy & watch him play the Basketball he loves...

The kids were excited to be in the stands as they watched Dad run back & forth dribbling the basketball & making a few baskets.  And then they got distracted with playing with the other kids.  And I got distracted talking with the other women there, of course, so we missed a few important plays of the game apparently.  Because shortly after half-time, suddenly everyone seemed annoyed as the umpire abruptly said the game was over & declared Laron's team to be the winners (even though they were down a few points at the time).

I still don't quite understand what all happened, but basically the other team got too many technicals or something (& at CHURCH-ball, they REALLY try to emphasize good sportsmanship & stuff!), so as soon as the other team reached the allotted amount of "too many," it was declared that the game was over & that was that.  I could tell as all us wives congratulated our husbands for winning the game, that they were disappointed in not having been able to play through to the end of the game & winning it fair & square, but I honestly was proud of them all for being good, honest, rule-keeping players the whole time instead of pushing the limits & being sassy & using bad language, just because they were getting a little competitive.  So congratulations to Laron & the rest of the team, for being more than just good Basketball players... You will always be winners in MY book!  

Skyler's 1st Loose Tooth!

I hadn't realized that Skyler was old enough to be loosing teeth yet, but apparently he is!  He lost his first tooth this February & now has a couple more getting looser every day.

When I first told him about leaving his tooth under his pillow for the "Tooth Fairy", Skyler TOTALLY didn't believe me!  I guess it sounded too good to be true to him!  So we borrowed my family's old special "Tooth Fairy Pillowcase" & put his tooth in the little tooth pocket that night... The next morning he came running up to us shouting, "The Tooth Fairy is real!  The Tooth Fairy is real!  She left me 4 quarters!"  After Kimberly noticed that Skyler had gotten MONEY out of the ordeal, she suddenly was determined to find a loose tooth of her own... But unfortunately none of them were even close yet!  :)  So, I guess we're on to yet another fun milestone of childhood... SO fun being a parent!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day this year was fun... That morning, I left a trail of candy out of each of the kid's room that led to a little treat, which they loved of course.  And then for dinner I really wanted to do something extra special, so I bought a bunch of yummy fruit (a real treat for us!) & just made some simple smiley faces out of the fruit on each of our plates.  The dinner wasn't anything too amazing after that, but at least we got to start off with something a little funner, to show them how much I love them!  :)  We tried to keep things pretty SIMPLE this year, but it was fun nonetheless!  I sure LOVE these guys!

A WHOLE New World!

So it's been fun seeing the kids get older & hitting some new milestones lately... The girls now love to play dress-up & they've discovered that it's funner reading books up on top of the bookcase! 

I've also finally figured out a few more ways to do the girls hair than the typical pigtails we seemed to be doing everyday, which is improvement for me!  The girls have also been loving painting our toenails together lately... In fact, Bailey wouldn't hardly keep her socks ON after we painted her toenails for the first time, because she just wanted to see her cute little painted nails!

Even Laron painted the girl's toenails one morning because the girls were BEGGING him!  Funny to watch!

This Winter I've been working on teaching the kids how to do chores & surprisingly they've really kind-of loved the added feeling of responsibility & capability.  Even little Bailey can now help us unload the dishwasher... Pretty impressive!

One day Laron brought home a BIG box from work & this is what the kids and I made out of it...  PACE BURGERS!  Skyler helped me come up with the prices, which were hilarious!  Laron decided that HE couldn't afford to eat there!  So then the kids decided that they would throw in a free shake with every purchase... It was fun to see them cooking up all of our orders & being so excited about it!

One day I was reading the kids some books & had to leave for a minute to get something out of the oven.  When I came back, Skyler shushed me & told me that Kimberly had fallen asleep, so he scooted over so she could lay on his lap... How precious!

Every time Laron leaves for a church meeting, we've taught the kids to gather & say, "Good luck serving the Lord!"  It really has helped them to not feel so sad when Laron has to leave & it helps remind Laron that the reason he's leaving us, yet again, is to serve the Lord.  Not because he likes his calling more than us, but because he's serving the Lord.  The kids also love waiting at the top of the stairs lately for Daddy to come home & shouting "Daddy!"  So sweet to watch them be SO excited about their love for their Daddy!

Going Sledding

Well, we finally got around to taking the kids sledding this year (but of course we waited until the END of the snowy-season instead of doing it early on!) & the kids had a BLAST!  Even though the kids never last as long as we think they will, it's always WELL worth the effort it takes!

Once we got all situated at the top of the hill, Skyler wasn't quite so sure about being pushed down it, but Kimberly jumped right up & wanted the first turn... It was SO fun listening to her thrills of excitement as she slid ALL the way down the hill!  She's pretty adventurous, that girl!  We even accidentally pushed her down a spot that had a JUMP on it, which she LOVED even better!

Finally after seeing Kimberly having so much fun, Skyler was brave enough to try it out himself, but we had to make SURE he wasn't going to be hitting any JUMPS before he'd venture down...  Bailey on the other hand preferred to just sit on the sidelines & WATCH.  We got her to go down TWICE with Laron or I, but she cried the whole way down, so we gave up on encouraging her to try again & just let her enjoy watching the kids.  Every time she'd hear Kimberly SCREAM from excitement, she just giggled & giggled, feeling the excitement in the air, so I guess we could still say that she had a good time!

After we got home, we of course had to have some hot chocolate, which was the perfect ending to a perfect family outing...  We'll definitely have to do it again NEXT year!

Freezing Rain!

So in January we had some pretty crazy weather one day... Have you ever heard of "FREEZING RAIN!?"  Me neither until this January.  Freezing rain is when a warm pocket of air gets trapped above a cold pocket of air, so then when it rains, the water immediently FREEZES on everything it hits, creating SHEETS of ice all over EVERYTHING!  Cars looked like a waterfall had fallen on them & then frozen, and the sidewalks & roads were all covered with a thick sheet of ice, making VERY dangerous driving conditions for everyone, but also a GREAT ice-skating-rink for us out on the driveway to play on!  :)

There was also a thin layer of ice frozen across the whole top of the snow already piled up in our yard, so Laron figured out that we could break-off big pieces of ice & throw them across the ice-field & watch them SHATTER into a hundred pieces as they slid down our pretend bowling lane... But it was hard to see the broken ice pieces on top of the snow, so Laron got the great idea to put drops of food coloring on the chunks of ice before we threw them & then we could see how far our ice really traveled before it shattered!  The kids LOVED this & since school was canceled for the day anyway, we stayed out there WAY too long, just playing around with the crazy ice.  It's kind-of hard to see, but in the next picture you can see some of our shattered pieces of ice, broken up across our icy backyard...  Our yard looked pretty colorful that day!!!

I'm glad Laron knows how to turn a crazy weather phenomenon into a day of fun memories!  But since Utah has only experienced "freezing rain" 9 times since 1940, its probably something that we won't be experiencing again any time soon... :)

TONS of Snow!

We have had a really crazy winter this year... Not much snow at ALL until about Christmas-time, and then in January & February we've been hit with a FURRY of snowstorm after snowstorm!  The kids are loving it, parents are getting tired of shoveling it, but our mountains can use the moisture, so I guess it's been good.

Bailey's not been quite so sure about the snow, although she thinks it's pretty tasty to eat of course!  But she sure never lasts very long once everyone goes outside to play... I think she feels like she can't walk very well all bundled up in her big, bulky snow-pants & boots.

Skyler this year has become quite a snow-shoveler!  It's usually HIS idea nowadays first thing in the morning... "Dad!  We gotta go push the snow!  I'll go get ready & meet you out there!"  His Daddy's taught him this year to serve others by shoveling their driveways occasionally too.  They especially took good care of our next door neighbor, who's husband passed away last year & she's been really struggling with it all.  If Skyler ever saw MaryAnn beat them outside to the snow in her driveway, he really got worried & would rush out to her assistance, CERTAIN that she couldn't shovel her driveway without him!  So I guess this winter has been good for that... It has given Skyler many opportunities to learn to serve others!

Laron's Car Accident

So Laron had the day off work yesterday, but they called him in to work extra because someone else called in sick, so like the nice guy he is, he volunteered to help them out.  The only problem was that by the time he drove home, there was a terrible snow storm going on that was making the freeways VERY icy.  Laron has lived in the very snowy world of Wyoming most of his life, so he's actually a really great driver in the snow, but icy conditions are harder to maneuver through...

So he was in the slow lane, going far below the speed limit because of the weather, when his car slid on some ice & into another lane where he got hit by another car.  Apparently the other driver was really nice about it, but car accidents are still no fun.  The cop that came & looked at the cars said he thought Laron's would probably be considered totaled, which we weren't thrilled about.  But after Laron being stuck in Bountiful for the night (he stayed with my Grandpa) & getting it towed to a car mechanic in the morning, it looks like we ARE going to just get it fixed, since we wouldn't be able to to buy a NEW car for under the $1,500 it'll cost to get it fixed.  Laron just had them fix the necessary repairs (not any of the cosmetic body work), so it still looks a little rough, but at least it'll still get him to work & back.  So although it'll be annoying to be down to one car for awhile, I'm just glad that Laron's okay... Because cars are replaceable, but husbands are NOT!  There's nothing like getting a call that your husband's been in a car accident to make you appreciate the blessings you DO have!  So here's what the car looked like AFTER getting it all fixed up... You definitely can still tell it was in an accident, but apparently it's a lot better than what it started as!