Dec. 30th blowing snow storm

Yesterday on Dec. 29th we woke up to a bunch of snow outside and it took both of us shovelling 2 hours to get the driveway and sidewalks cleared. It was a heavy wet snow. By the time we were done we were soaked because it was kind of slush snowing. The drivway and sidewalks had standing water. So when the next part of the storm came rushing in with the Arctic Winds around 3:00 all the water turned to ice. For the rest of the evening the winds were howling and snow was blowing. Of course the fact that we had already shovelled didn't matter anymore. So in the morning after breakfast Jon went out to shovel again. My gloves were still soaked from the day before so I got to stay inside where it was warm. The kids went out to the neighbors yard behind us and tried turning over big rocks that were frozen in the mud. Obviously it didn't work very well.

Jon having fun shovelling the sidewalks again. We really would like a snowblower...sigh...

It really doesn't look like a lot of snow. But there is a good amount there. you can see from the above picture it is just a layer of ice and snow that isn't coming up. Jon can't get the car up the driveway because it is pure ice. So this is where it will be until the salt melts the driveway more.

The kids still playing with the rock. When they walked across our back lawn they didn't really even sink down. It was so hard and crusty. Still looks quite cold outside.

Christmas 2010

Pictures of Christmas Eve were already posted on mom and dad's blog so I just skipped to Christmas with one choice photo at the end of this post from the party last night.


Santa stacked presents this year so you can't really get a good feeling of how spoiled the kids are at times. But he did make it so we could get into the room...thats thinking ahead.



Both girls got the pillow pets they were so sure that they were getting.

Brittany was being goofy and pulling faces for the camera.

Rundown of gifts. Brittany: Bee pillow pet, lion pillow chum, zubols, squinkies, those rubber bracelets, art supplies, paper pad for art stuff, kinects (two sets), legos, robe. I think I am missing stuff, Bakugans. From mom and dad and cousin...zhu zhu pets and accessories, Safari tent, Safari animals, zubols.

Kylee: Unicorn pillow pet, cat pillow chum, zubols, squinkies, same rubber bracelets, art supplies, paper pad for art stuff, robe, guitar, the Beast barbie doll, Ariel barbie doll. I think I am missing stuff. From mom and dad and cousin...zhu zhu pets and accessories, zubols, pj's.

Jon: Mr. Heater, ratchet, metric and standard nut driver set. He still has a shirt that is on backorder that is supposedly coming. From Darren: A Team DVD, Iron Man II.

Me: Black skirt, red shirt, and grey cardigan. From Craig: Two black picture frames.

Combined: Mario Wii, Lego's Star Wars Wii, Toy Story 3, Tinker Bell Rescue, How to Train a Dragon, Shrek the final chapter, Planet 51 (from Jon's brother), puzzles, books

From mom and dad: Long table and 8 chairs like they have, fold up table like long table for camping, 8 pillows for couch, and BluRay disc player, ingredients for the chunky french toast from Kneaders, cherry cobler pan and ingredients, The Grinch book.

This picture was from the Christmas Eve party. And this is how Craig posed for me.

Kylee's Christmas Dance Recital

On Dec. 11 we went to watch Kylee's 1st dance recital. It was called "Cindy Lou-Who's version of The Grinch".

She loved getting into costume and dancing on stage. It was so cute to watch. If or when we figure out how to download our video from the video to the computer I will post if here. Everytime a song from the Grinch comes on the radio now, she has to have silence because those are now her favorite songs.

I can't remember the name of the songs she dance to (only one dance but they combined two songs into one). But it had to do with the "giddy up giddy up lets go...and its a marshmallow..."

Of course she looked really cute. One mistake we made was not buying her flowers they were selling at the entrance. We didn't know they were going to be doing that so we didn't have any cash on hand. She was quite disappointed at that...but we will know for next time. To make it up to her we said we would go to McDonalds for lunch and they could play on the play land thing.

All the pictures of Kylee dancing and the sign are from the dress rehearsal. It was a good thing we got them this night because the night of the performance they said no flash photography. Brittany was also our photographer for dress rehearsal. It kept her busy and occupied and she did a good job getting the pictures for us.

Before the actual performance Jon had Kylee go on stage to get a couple pictures of her in her costume.

Brittany also wanted a picture of her onstage next to the props.

Christmas Advent Calendar 2010

Thanks to Heather we had a Christmas Advent activity calendar this year. The girls were very excited every morning to open the next days events. We didn't get started officially until Dec. 6 but our Temple Square trip was a planned activity we were going to use. Here is a run down:

Dec. 6: Start reading a christmas story every night until Christmas. Even days Brittany picked one and odd days Kylee picked one.

Dec. 7: Make Christmas Chain

Dec. 8: Watch a Christmas movie. They chose A Dogs Christmas Carol.

Dec. 9: Santa Claus Craft. The one on the left with the wide had is Brittany's. The other is Kylee's.

Dec. 10: Christmas cupcakes after Kylee's dress rehearsal. Made green and red (pink) cupcakes.

Dec. 11: Kylee's Dance recital (pictures to be shown on a later post)

Dec. 12: Read the scripture story

Dec. 13: Lights at Thanksgiving Point

Dec. 14: Make snowflakes

Dec. 15: Pick out Christmas gifts for each other at the store.

Dec. 16: Drive around and look at Christmas lights.

Dec. 17: PJ Party. We played pin the carrot nose on the snowman. A draw a Christmas tree game that Brittany brought home from school. Snowball relay race with cottonballs. Ate cookies, popcorn, and other candy. All while wearing PJ's. The girls had a blast with this activity.

Dec. 18: Ride Trax (this one was postponed due to rain. So we will complete this at another time)

Dec. 19: Hot Cocoa (supposed to be smores too...but guess who forgot to get the stuff)

Dec. 20: Make Christmas cookies

Dec. 21: Deliver Christmas cookies

Dec. 22: Wrap cousin gifts and other gifts for each other.

Dec. 23: Bowers Christmas Party

Dec. 24: Korth Christmas Eve Party

Dec. 25: Christmas

(note: the spacing of the post did its own thing. Everytime I viewed it the spacing was different...sorry)

Temple Square Lights

On Saturday (Dec. 4) we took the kids to Temple Square to see the lights. They both like driving around and looking at them so we thought they would enjoy seeing tons of them in one location. Our only mistake was maybe we should have taken trax. Last time we went (5 yrs ago) we thought we remembered getting a token for parking at the Visitor Center. But they don't do that so we had to find an ATM to get $10 cash to pay to get out of the parking garage.

The kids really did enjoy seeing the lights. Kylee kept stopping and just starring then she would jump up and say ok. I think Brittnay's favorite part was seeing the white nativity statue on the pond with the floating candles all around. This was located before entering the grounds. I have to admit it did look pretty cool. The water was like glass and all the floating lights did look really pretty. We went inside the Visitor Center and up the ramp to view the Christ statue. Kylee went right up to his feet and just starred up at him for quite a while. We need to remember to take them back at a later time when it is not quite so crowded so they can get a better look.

The evening turned out pretty good, no major complaints except the parking arrangement. The kids enjoyed the lights but were ready to go when it was time. They both saw the horse and carriages so I think that may be a fun thing to try sometime as well.

(No pictures, my camera doesn't seem to do well in the dark. I will have to work on that because there were some areas that I would have like to have pictures)

Day after Thanksgiving drive...

Jon wanted to go on a drive and try out the new Lexus. So he and a co-worker decided we should go on the Pony Express Trail road the day after Thanksgiving. So we started our drive at 8:30 am (so much for sleeping in on a day off). The roads were not too bad, just a little layered in snow, deeper in some areas; although when we stopped for lunch or looked at points of interest-boy was it cold outside. On the Pony Express Trail we came to a Pet Cemetery, Jon's

co-worker got out to take a look and said it wasn't really interesting.

As we were driving, we came to a turn off that said sand dunes 40 miles away, so we detoured from our original plans and headed to the sand dunes. The kids in both cars were very excited to be able to go to the sand dunes because they all wanted to play in the sand. The Lexus did really good and we never got stuck. We only backed into a sage brush once that took off the driver side mud flap/fender. So now Jon has another item to add to his todo list. Seems like something always happens during our drives. On our way home as we got about 30 miles away out oil light came on, so Jon checked it and it said it was a little low. So we had to drive home carefully hoping the light would go off and stay off. When we got home he only had to add 1 1/4 quart of oil. Apparently the sensor is pretty sensitive. All in all it was a fun day. Jon got his 4-wheeling fix in for the day.

The kids went down a steep hill and had a hard time getting back up. They kept asking for us to come get them. We weren't sure if we would be able to get back up if we went down so we just kept telling them they can do it. Obviously they made it back up after a little workout on their part.

What I am thankful for - by Kylee

Today in Kylee's pre-school they asked everyone what they were thankful for.

Kylee said "I am thankful for my fridge, the microwave, and my family, Brittany, mommy, daddy, and me".

I agree. Who wouldn't be thankful for the fridge that holds our food so we can eat and the microwave that heats our leftovers so again we can eat.

Christmas Tree Hunting 2010

We went on our annual Christmas Tree adventure. It was a long day...7:00 am - 7:30 pm but we got our tree. We didn't get very many pictures because Jon and dad put the tree directly up on the Lexus before I could take a picture. But oh well. We will take one when it is up and decorated.

Thanks for the breakfast at Flying J mom and dad. We met Darren, Jenny, Camden, Mom and Dad at Flying J around 8:00 and waited for the Lomax family to join us. Then we headed down to the Fish Lake area. The first spot we went to we didn't find any trees we liked. Lomax's must have found some because they didn't join us after we relocated. Pretty much after we parked in the 2nd spot and started walking in (waiting for mom and dad's truck to join us) we found a few we liked. Then we decided on one and cut it down. So we were done...yeah!!! So then we only needed 4 more trees. Needless to say we were all successful and the trees all looked good.

October FHE

We had FHE at our house this month. Since earlier in the week it had been cold we decided to have Chili and the fixings to go with it. By the time FHE rolled around it wasn't as cold but it still tasted ok.

We didn't do a lesson but I wanted to have some sort of activity for the kids to do. Mom gave us an idea for an activity that they did in their "group". You take yellow and brown zingers, pretzels, skittles, round sprinkles, and frosting for glue and let the kids make their own bugs. They seemed to enjoy making them and it kept them busy for a little while. I actually bought the round sprinkles for the kids to use but found them in a bag after everyone left. So now we have lots of fall colored sprinkles to use...I guess cupcakes would work.

Craig taking it easy.

Grayden just wanted to play on the computer.

Finally sleeping....

We didn't want to wake Finn up during the picture so we covered his face.

Halloween 2010

On Thursday I took the kids to Jon's work for the annual work trick-or-treating time. They scored on candy and had tons of fun going around the buildings. If I could I would call that good for candy purposes...but they like to go around the neighborhood too.

Brittany had her school parade on Friday. This year she wanted to be Astrid from How to Train your Dragon. They walked up and down the aisles of the lunchroom/gym and then got to go have their class party.


I decided to take pictures of them on Saturday night BEFORE going out for trick-or-treating because it was raining so hard. I figured the costumes would be quite wet by the time they got back. We could only find one umbrella. Again they scored on the candy end of things, eventhough it was raining. I think more people came out about 7:00 after the rain stopped, because we started getting more kids coming to our door.

Kylee wanted to be a pink princess. Here she is doing a little curtsy. Her dress is supposed to light up but it didn't work. But she seemed ok with that.

They have been posing right next to each other with their arms around each other a couple different times. It surprises me because Brittany usually doesn't like to be that close. But I think it is cute and I don't say anything.

Pumpkin time

We went to Schmidts this year to let the kids pick their own pumpkins out. Brittany ran way away from us to the farthest section to begin her pumpkin hunt. She had her picture taken by several pumpkins and then we would discover that the other side was rotting. You would think that we would have started checking before posing for pictures. But we finally found one. She wanted a tall, skinny, fat one (now does that make sense?) I don't think we ended up with a picture of the actual one she found except for the picture of her coloring it. She ended up with one that wouldn't stand up so I said it was sleeping. Kylee found hers a lot faster and was excited to color it. So she started helping mom and dad pick their pumpkins out.

We don't carve our pumpkins yet. The kids have to much fun coloring them. We'll see how long we can get away with that.