We're Back

7 suitcases unpacked and put away

10 loads of laundry done and folded,
but only 8 are put away :).
All worth the wonderful 7 day
Caribbean cruise!

Roatan, Hondurus

Spider monkeys
and a beautiful beach.

Visiting the Mask, High, and Jaguar
Temples of Belize were amazing.
Aar, E, Al, and D
hiked the 14 story High Temple.

Scuba diving in Cozumel was
breathtaking.
The boys insisted on Mexican
wrestling masks.

What better way to spend
a Saturday than on a beautiful
Bahama beach basking in the sun.

Thank you
Dane and Jody
for an amazing vacation
and many, many wonderful memories!

Time Flies

I can't believe how fast time flies!

We bought our house 8 years ago.

We moved back from California 4 years ago.

And this cute, blonde, boy is going

to be 10 years old in 1 month!

Just yesterday Drew said to me,

Mom, I can't figure it out.

You're only 29,

but E is going to be 10.

I know he didn't come out when you were 19.

How does that work?

What a sweetheart to think I'm only 29!

All the other boys proudly tell everyone how

old I am. They need to learn a thing or two from D!

Talk

D gave his 1st talk in Primary yesterday.

He wrote and gave the whole talk by himself.

Here it is.....

On Thursday night I went to the Draper Temple

house of opening.

My favorite parts were the place you get married

and the place you get baptized.

I felt Heavenly Father and Jesus in my heart.

I love them so much.

The important part about temples is

that you can be together forever with your family.

He did such a great job.

Alex's Birthday Party

Alex had a bunch of his buddies over for a Mad Scientist birthday party.

They did experiments, like mentos in the diet coke.

Lots of dry ice.
Making slime.
And making Mad Scientist cup cakes, with worms.

We even heard one of them say to Alex,
"This was the best birthday party ever!"
Happy Birthday Alex!

Star Student

This week Alex was chosen as the

Star Student!

We made a poster of his favorite things.

Today the little boys and I

were invited to his classroom to talk about him.

Some of the soon to be birthday boy's favorite things:

1. FOOTBALL

Favorite teams - BYU and New England Patriots

2. Reading

Currently reading - Fablehaven Series

3. Traveling

The beach and Disneyworld

4. Math

5. Steak

6. Art

Loves learning to use new art mediums

7. Hockey

8. Build A Dino Dactyl

9. Bakugan

10. Pokeman cards

The kids could then ask questions.

After the questions the class said,

Alex why don't you do a subtraction problem for your Mom.

Then I started hearing

Yeah, he's so smart. He should skip a grade.

I know he should be in 3rd grade.

No he should be in college!

The math problem...

999,014 - 998,910 = 104

It was fun visiting his class,

seeing how great he gets along with all his classmates,

and meeting all his friends.

A Gentleman's Sport

E has a new favorite past time
second only to football.
He can't wait for Mondays at 4:00.
When you ask him why he replies,
"Because it's sword fighting without getting in trouble.
DUH!"

Without further ado,
E the fencer -
foil to be specific.
He wants to do epee,
but so far they're learning foil.

He's catching on quickly.
The boys and I went to watch today.
Now Alex wants to fence.

Off to Preschool

P is absolutely loving preschool!
In January, he moved up to the older class
and is loving it.
He has to wear a uniform now -
khaki, black, or navy pants,
solid oxfords or polos,
and solid sweater vests in the winter.

Yesterday, he was telling me all about
his great day.
He and his two best friends,
Max and Barrett,
played in the mud at recess
and got their gloves all dirty.
He informed me that none of the girls
wanted to play with them because
girls don't like to get dirty!

The handsome fellow busy at work.

Smelling eucalyptus
while learning about Australia.

I just love these pictures of him at school.

The Crater

Let's just say it has been
a long time since I've been scuba diving.
However, with our upcoming trip,
we headed to the Crater for some
refresher dives.

Aar is the best
The first dive was only 10 minutes long
and 35 feet deep.
However, I was feeling much more
comfortable the second time -
20 minutes and 62 feet.
It was a lot of fun!
I think I'm ready for the open water.

As we got in the car
Aar noticed his wedding ring was gone.
He went back in and let
them know.
Before we even got home
we had a message that the dive master
had gone diving and found his ring.

The next day we headed up again to get the ring.
It was fun showing the boys the crater.



E and Al want to try
SNUBA on the trip.

Yeah, the ring was found!

Cousins

We love it when Kade and Addi
come to play!
First, I get to do Add's hair :).
I love it when she says,
"Dr. Nan do Add's hair!"
Then they play and play
until they can't play anymore.
Until finally it's time for...

A Show!

Scuba

Aaron rented a tank to check
out our scuba gear.
Look who loved trying everything out!

D is definitely a fish!
He can't wait to go snorkeling.

Winter Wonderland

Well it snowed another 8 inches today!
We shoveled the driveway 4 times!
It's great to have boys to help with that job!

With all the snow
the boys have been having
a blast sledding.
There is a new favorite spot near our house
that the boys love.
Kids have even built jumps
which makes for more fun.

E loves sledding!

Dare Devil Drew

Alex loved the jumps!

After 1 ride, Peyton
preferred watching :)
even though he kept saying
he loved sledding,
only he'd go again later.

White Christmas

We had a wonderful, white Christmas!

Aar got to break in his new
coat and boots!

Christmas is always so magical with kids
and this year was no exception.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
It was so great to be with family.
We miss everyone who wasn't here!!

Happy New Year!

Very Merry Christmas Party

It wasn't until our last day that the bad weather came.

It rained like crazy. We were all soaked - even through our ponchos.
The upside...
the parks were empty.
We rode Expedition Everest
until no one wanted to ride anymore.

After lunch at Tepan Edo
we headed back to the hotel for a little
rest before the Very Merry Christmas Party.
We found a Build-A-Dino
in the T-Rex Cafe which the boys loved!
The forecast said that it should be
clear by the party.

And clear it was!
The weather was perfect and better yet
the park was empty.
We got to ride Goofy's Barnstormer,
the Rocket Ride, and the Blue Line
over and over again without getting off.

Everyone loved Mickey's Philharmagic
and the all you can eat
hot chocolate, cookies, apples,
and apple juice.

The castle looked so festive
in all the Christmas lights.

The fireworks show was AMAZING!!
What a perfect end to a great trip!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Day 6

We started the day off as Disney Studios opened.
Aaron and Troy ran ahead to
get Fast Passes to Toy Story Mania.
Just as they finished getting the passes
we all arrived to walk on the ride.

After the ride we had about 30 minutes
before we could use our Fast Passes,
so the Dads and the 4 big boys
headed to their favorite...
Rockin' Rollercoaster.
Tanya, Ella, Dylan, Peyton, and I
went to meet Woody
and then we happened upon the Power Rangers.
Peyton insisted on meeting
everyone of them, except the pink one
because that's for girls like Ella,
twice. He's never seen
Power Rangers before, but he was intrigued.

After a fun morning at Disney Studios
it was off to Epcot for more fun in the sun!