4 Snowmobiles + 15 intertubes + Young Single Adults = A LOT OF FUN!!!!

The Young Single Adults held their annual Sledding Activity on Monte Cristo again this year! It was a lot of fun but a lot of work (for Scott--THANKS!!--Scott was at work last night pumping up tubes and getting things ready until 10:30 p.m. and he left this morning at 7:45 a.m. to go set up and he got home at 8 p.m and still had to unload the trailer)!!! Scott hauls in a table, chairs, firewood and intertubes into the tubing hill and makes a nice set up for this sledding activity! Scott's nephew, Justin, comes and help him. They use the snowmobiles to give everyone a ride to the top of the hill so you can just sled down!!! Mallory went down the hill at least 20 times herself!! She had a blast!! Hayley and Brittney each went down about 3 or 4 times (Brittney really surprised me because she liked it so much!!).

All week Mallory has been planning this activity. She knew Jackson was coming (our friends plus his dad is now in the Bishopric of the YSA ward with Scott) so she had everything planned out!! She talked all week about how many times she and Jackson would go down the hill! She is so funny!

It turned out to be a really nice day--it was sunny and warm and not cold at all! We had a fun time! There were a few other adventures today but I won't go into detail (Erin getting the truck stuck in the snow in the snowmobile parking lot--I didn't take any pictures--and our adventures on the way home plus getting Mallory and Hayley ready for a birthday party in 40 minutes after we got home from sledding--baths, dinner and all!) What an eventful day it was!!! Justin getting ready to take Jackson and Mallory up the hill AGAIN!!

Mallory, Scott, John and Anna


Brittney helping deflate the intertubes (all 29 pounds of her--I'm sure she was a great help!)



Mallory, Hayley and Scott at the bottom of the hill

Hayley, Mallory and Scott sliding down the hill

Ashley and Hayley--Hayley found a new friend on this trip--they made snow angels together and went on a little adventure!

Mallory and Scott

Mallory and Scott

Hayley and Brittney

Brittney and Erin

Jackson and Mallory

Brittney, Scott and Erin

Erin, Brittney, Scott and Mallory

Brittney sinking in the chair

Hayley making a snow angel

The loaded trailer (minus the inflated intertubes, another snowmobile)

Mallory's Hero

Sunday at church, MaryLou (a good friend and we're members of the same book club) pulled me over in the hall and asked if I had talked to her daughter Neecha (also the bishop's wife and a member of book club too) about her reading group (Neecha is also Mallory's reading teacher in the Extended Day Kindergarten at school). I told her that I hadn't and she began to tell me what Mallory had announced to her reading group the other day.

Mallory told her reading group that her dad was in the Olympics and he was an ice skater (see I told you we've been watching the Olympics too much!!)!!! Mallory was so proud that her dad was an Olympian!!

I started laughing and it took me a minute to realize where this comment from Mallory was coming from. When we were watching the pairs figure skating last week, Mallory and Hayley were in awe. They asked Scott and I if we could dance and skate like the Olympians on TV. I told them I could barely skate across the ice without falling down. Scott, on the other hand, told the girls that he could skate pretty good on the ponds playing hockey when he was growing up.

So armed with this information, Mallory's dad is her Olympic HERO!!! She wanted to make sure her reading group knew how wonderful her dad is (which he is!!)!!

MaryLou and I had had a good laugh! A few minutes later, I found Scott and we had another good laugh!!

What a cute girl!! Mallory's daddy can do anything!!!!

We finally made it to Krispie Kreme's!

Mallory finally has her doughnuts from Krispie Kreme's for her excellent grades! We have been meaning to go for a few weeks now but every time we are headed in the direction of Krispie Kreme's we run out of time to stop (or we forgot the report card)! Mallory was excited to have 6 doughnuts all to herself (she was planning on sharing with everyone until I purchased a dozen). She ate one doughnut tonight so she has five left (she is keeping track)! I'm sure she'll have one tomorrow morning for breakfast too!

Way to go Mallory!!!

You are an EXCELLENT student!!

NO MONSTERS!!

I have been meaning to post this for some time now but I kept forgetting to take a picture!!! I now have a picture so here goes:

Several months ago we were driving into our neighborhood and Hayley said, "There's no monsters in here!" Here comment took me by surprise and I had no idea what she was taking about. I questioned her and she said again, "There are no monsters here! The sign back there says there are NO MONSTERS!" I circled around the block again because I had missed the sign the first time because we had already passed it. As we came around again, Hayley pointed to this sign and said, "See, it says NO MONSTERS!" I laughed to myself and said, "Of course it says NO MONSTERS. There are NO MONSTERS in our neighborhood." A week or so later we were coming into our neighborhood from the other direction and guess what----we have another NO MONSTER sign there too! Hayley was quick to point it out!!



So in case you are wondering, our neighborhood is a TOTAL NO MONSTER ZONE!!! Your neighborhood just might be too! You'd better check and let us know!
You have to love the innocence of a 4 year old!!

Olympics 2010

I don't know about the rest of you, but we have totally been sucked into watching the Olympics! Scott and I stay up at least until 11 watching the Olympics and then we stay up an additional 30 minutes at least to watch the news. Needless to say, we are pretty tired when it's time to wake up in the morning!

I love watching the figure skating (I was so excited we won GOLD in the Men's figure skating --go Evan Lysacheck --I know I totally misspelled his name!!). Women's moguls were awesome and the Snowboarding--WOW!! The downhill events were awesome especially because the USA received medals in so many events!

GO USA!!!!

Well after a few nights of being glued to the TV from 7 p.m. on, I decided I was wasting a lot of time (I don't just sit very well--I am a total multi-tasker and I would rather be accomplishing something while I just sit). I decided I would pull out the baby blankets and burps that I need to crochet around for some upcoming baby gifts. I managed to finish 2 big blankets and 3 burps (I ran out of thread to finish the last!) in just 4 nights of watching the Olympics! I wasn't crocheting nonstop because I couldn't crochet and watch figure skating at the same time and I had kids to bathe and put to bed. Tonight I went and bought another blanket and burp set along with more thread so I will be back in business (too bad the store didn't have another cute girl set--I know a lot of people having girls!!). I am really glad I was able to finish these gifts--here they are!!

Mallory lost a TOOTH!!

About a week and a half ago, we were all sitting at the table eating dinner. All of a sudden Mallory got a huge grin on her face and announced that she finally had her first loose tooth. She wiggled it and ran up to the bathroom to check it out in the mirror. She was all smiles when she returned!!

Well, Mallory was eating an apple tonight and her tooth fell out with her first bite!! She was so excited (and it didn't even hurt!!)! She put the tooth carefully into a Ziploc baggie (I was volunteering in her kindergarten class a few months ago and a boy in her class lost a tooth and I help him put it in a Ziploc bag so that is what you do when you lose a tooth) and made sure she stuck it under her pillow!

We have good news:
The TOOTH FAIRY made it to our house!!

VALENTINE'S DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Last night I left notes and a final treat for everyone on the kitchen table for Valentine's Day! (I think the girls are pretty sad this is the last day!! No more candy for Breakfast for awhile!) When I went downstairs to get breakfast before church this morning this is what I found on the kitchen table........................

Thank you Scott! I love you so much and I'm so glad I've had you as my Valentine for the past 11 years!!! You're the best!! You're the greatest and a real TROOPER!!!!

Decorating Valentine Cookies

What's Valentine's Day without Valentine Cookies???

This morning I went to Mallory's Kindergarten class for her Valentine's Day Party. We only had 30 minutes so the kids decorated sugar cookies and had soda and then we played "Valentine's Day Bingo". It was a quick party but the kids had fun.

At home this afternoon, we made sugar cookies so we could decorate them (luckily, Mallory didn't mind decorating and eating a cookie twice in one day)! My sister Aleece and her kids, Kaitlin, A.J. and Arika came over and Mallory's friend Morgan. The kids had a great time decorating their own cookie.

Brittney

Mallory and Morgan

A.J.


Mallory

Kaitlin and Hayley

Swimming Lessons in February????

Yes! That's right! Mallory and Hayley are doing swimming lessons in February! They took two sessions of swimming lessons in the summer and passed the Preschool Levels 1 and 2 for 3-5 year old's. There is a Preschool Level 3 and I thought I'd better have Mallory take it before she turned 6 next month and was too old for the final class before the Learn to Swim classes (I found out after I signed them up that she didn't have to take level 3 as I had thought). Anyway, we go to swimming lessons this month on Monday and Wednesday nights! Mallory and Hayley aren't in the same class this time (I haven't decided if that's good or bad yet) because there wasn't enough room. They are really enjoying it and are doing pretty good. Monday night (Scott and I were both there), Mallory came to me in the middle of class because she needed to go to the rest room. When I got back, Scott pointed to a lifeguard who was all wet and I guess he had to jump in after Hayley because she had slipped off the step and needed help while her teacher was taking another child in her class out to help them practice swimming. I am so glad the lifeguard was paying attention (I have noticed that they always are--they do their jobs very well). Hayley was fine and she wasn't traumatized or anything! Tonight she did very well staying on the step!!!

Mallory swimming on her back to the side after jumping into the pool to her teacher.

Mallory doing bobs

Hayley's teacher brought goggles for all the kids in her class to wear! Hayley thought they were pretty neat!!

14 Days of Valentine's

I started a new Valentine's Day tradition this year (I heard about this at a Relief Society class several years ago on making holidays more memorable and I kept forgetting to do it--but I finally remembered I wanted to do it this year). I am doing the 14 Days of Valentine's for Scott, Mallory, Hayley and Brittney. Each morning since February 1st I have left a little treat or gift for each person along with a personalized note of why I love them. It has been so much fun!! Each morning the girls run downstairs to the kitchen table to see what I have left at their spot on the table! They are so cute because they run to wherever I am to say "Thank you Mom"! Each morning before Scott goes to work, each of the girls want him to read them their personal note aloud! They are so cute! They get all smiley and excited as he reads the notes. As soon as Scott leaves for work, they want me to read their note to them again. There have been several mornings that my girls have eaten their treats and then they don't want anything for breakfast (I know I'm a bad mom--it's only 14 days out of the year though!!)!!!

Last night I set out a box of M&M's for Scott and a Valentine Candy Necklace making kit for each of the girls right after they went to bed along with their notes. Five minutes after I got everything set out, Tatiana and Cassie (Young Single Adults) stopped by to drop off our volleyball net they had borrowed. They came in and we ended up sitting around the kitchen table. They saw the girls candy necklace kits and I told Tatiana and Cassie they could have one. They both made necklaces while Scott and I talked to them for several hours. Luckily I had more candy necklace kits to put out for Mallory, Hayley and Brittney.

Here are the girls making their kits today--they did string most of the candy on the necklace before they ate it!

Hayley

Mallory

Brittney