Red Rock A-maze-ing!

Chester took the boys on a little outing to explore the red rock mazes so the boys could try out their new binoculars. Safe to say they had a fun time!

Rulon really loves the red color of the mountains and dirt in St. George, he watches for the first hint of red on the drive down from Orem and alrerts me to the fact that we are geting closer as he sees the color changing from brown to red. This time there had been so much rain that the earth was a much darker color than he was used to. As we got closer to St. George I could not believe Rulon had not informed me that we were getting close. No sooner had I dismissed this thought than Rulon asked, "Mom, what's wrong with St. George? It's all wrong." Had to smile at that!

Fake Christmas Morning - Holidays Part 2

We called our celebration "Fake Christmas" since it was on the morning of the 28th.  It was funny to hear the boys talking about Fake Christmas for the past two weeks and being totally fine with the idea.  I thought for sure they would at least ask to open one presents on real Christmas day since the cousins were here and celebrating on real Christmas... but no, the boys did not even ask one time. Amazing. They were definitely ready to go on the morning of Fake Christmas!!!  Rulon was the first to wake up and come find me, "MOM! Santa really did find us here and you wouldn't believe how full he made my stocking, I better go dump it out!!"  It was all I could do to slow him down enough to wake Mads and Chester...  Here are a few happy faces before the unwrapping began.

 Thanks to grandparents, family, neighbors, and friends for making our Christmas so very full and exciting, I cannot believe these leaning towers of gifts!

Mina didn't care much about what was in the presents, she just wanted the paper and packaging.  Such an easy to please age!!

Santa brought the boys each a new Hess truck, these were a big hit!! They have really cool lights and each truck hauls two motorcycles that light up as well.  Nice job Santa!

New construction sites to add to the Geotrax setup.

Our little "Birdie" loved chewing on her nre little birdie toy.

It was a very merry Christmas!!

Chester turns 34!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST CHESTER EVER!!!

How is it that moms and dads always get "help" opening their presents?

Mads gave Chester a new pair of ski socks to keep his old dogs warm!

Rulon is more of an accessory kind of gifter...

A new Red Sox Phiten necklace was in order!!

Just looking out for your chi daddo.

Chester is such a good husband and dad, he put up with me changing his birthday and Christmas this year. In order to spent the holidays in St. George with some of my family AND have our little family all in the same place for opening gifts together, we ended up celebrating Chester's birthday on the 27th and Christmas on the 28th.  I know it wasn't how it "should" have been but it was our own kind of perfect, thanks Chesty!

St. George for the Holidays! Part. 1

Painting sugar cookies, BRILLIANT grandma Patti!!

 The indoor pool was amazing.  Funny enough, it was Rulon talkig Mads into getting wet! Talk about role reversal!

 Ah, brotherly love.

 The Richards kiddos were there too.  Rulon was thrilled since Jessica is his best friend!

 Grandpa Dennis had his measuring stick checking depths and measuring children! Rulon got a kick out of that!

 Slippery sliding smiling faces!

The Magic that is Santa Claus

Santa made a special stop at our house before Christmas and it's a good thing!! It allowed the boys to personnaly let Santa know that we would be in St. George for Christmas.  Luckily, Santa assured them he would make his delivery there instead.  Whew!

 My boys are so enamored with Santa, he must have gotten 20 hugs and kisses from Rulon alone! Such a charming evening, we are so lucky to know Santa!

White Stuff

It seems as though my last post was a bit one sided, that is boy sided, so here are the pretties of the family!! Birdie and I stay nice and toasty warm together in the house while the boys teach the snow a lesson outside.  Seriously... they teach the snow serious lessons.

Lesson 1:

Utah snow will become Canadian if it wants to stay in our yard.

Lesson 2:

Why is Chester in shorts? Ok, not a lesson but whatever.

AND Lesson 3:

If snow dares to fall in our yard it will get "falled right back on" by 2 boys.

Faller Jr.

Faller Less Jr.

When the snow teaches the boys a lesson, like hey it's really cold and wet out here... the boys head indoors to do some hunting, mostly birds and small game. Occasionally a spider or ghost - but they are more elusive than you might think.  Full gear is always necessary, hydration as well, but that goes without saying.

I've warned them a time or two about Santa lurking about... heads up Mads.

Game face? check.