The boys first Ski trip

The boys loved the tow rope! we can't wait to go again. It was the cheapest fun we've had in a while. The ski rentals were 10 bucks each and the tow rope was free.

The first couple times was a bit treacherous. I was holding Sam and holding Jake's hand as he skied down. Taylor was holding and skiing with Luke. We both were trying to explain "Pizza" and "french fries" positions.

After just 2 runs or so they were doing it all by themselves. It's so fun to see your kids enjoying the outdoors and getting exercise. I can't wait until I am not prego and can really go skiing myself! It's been way too long and one day in sunny Utah snow reminded me how fun it is!!

Jump Club

Oh the things school age kids get to do..

One fun thing is afterschool jumpclub. They stay one day a week and learn to jump rope. It's great for the wintertime because we needed some active stuff to do around here.

I volunteered to help and it was fun to see Jake and Luke learn to jump rope. These pictures are from the "Jump Spectacular" (the performance at the end of the month for the parents). Not that exciting to watch -- but so fun for the kids. :) Way to go.

We REALLY LOVE cousins...

My mom was watching my brothers kids that lives in Ogden and on her way up brought a couple of St. George nieces and nephews as stow aways! We sure love our cousins and these are just the right age for fun. I got to experience 2 sets of twins for a few days.

This age can be so creative! They played olympics and made medals for all the contestants. But first things first, they had to change into indian clothing as soon as they got together!

Lucky for the St.George kids, it snowed a couple days while they were here. Fortunately, it was warm enough to play in too! They loved it.

I kind of slacked on cooking... Taylor was out of town so the kids got a lot of mac n cheese and pizza! What a cute bunch huh?
I was pretty thrilled about getting to braid a little girls hair! you can see the back of laura's hair here.
One day, we went sledding... That was a hit for all. Here's a cute pic of Laura.
here's Luke --
And Sam
Jake and Gavin going double...The inseparable cousins.
And then of course they had to figure out how to get Luke on there too. All three of them went down several times. It looks a little dangerous to me, but they loved it!
We sure love living closer to family..

We love Cousins!!!

Taylor's brother, Steve and his wife Stacy went on a cruise (so jealous of that) and so Taylor's mom was watching the kids for the week. We invited them over for FHE... Having cousins close is the BEST!!

We got to watch them for a couple days over the weekend and I cannot tell you how fun it is to have big kids around. My boys were constantly entertained and so was Taylor! :) 8 kids would be fun if they would all turn out like our niece and nephews!

Pirates Island Fun

Some kids are great sleepers.. Some are not. We are part of the latter group. :) As an incentive to stay in their beds until 7am -- we told Jake and Luke we would take them to Pirates Island if they could sleep 7 days straight without coming into our room....

They did it!! And here are pictures of their reward:

Too bad it only lasted the one week they were bribed. but, we'll have to think of another good bribe when the baby comes... It was a great week for mom and dad. :)

NOTE: Pirate's Island is not that great. We much prefer Chuck E Cheese at our house. More rides, cheaper, safer, and better for little kids.. I think PI is more for adults?? The atmosphere was great -- but the rest was not worth the money. Just my 2 cents.

A family of boys ....

Means we have a lot of battling.  You can see that Sam joins right in on the fun!! 

Dad is a sport to always play with them.  In his words, "It just keeps getting more and more fun the older they get."  He is a boy at heart for sure!