Blue and Gold and some other shots...

 A cute friend of mine took this at "craft time" while she was helping in the class.. Not sure what it is, but it looks to me like it has to do with sports.  SPORTs, are always on jake's mind!

Luke had a puppet show at school and his sweet teacher texted me this picture.  I love his beanie he is wearing for the show. :)

 Blue and Gold banquet ... now that Taylor is Pack Master, we get to REALLY enjoy pack meetings. They are always fun when Taylor is in charge.  We got some good cakes submitted for sure!

 What a bunch of fun cakes.  I found a few ideas on line, but Jake chose the hamburger style...  It was so easy and turned out super cute!  he won "most delicious looking."

Basket Ball Boys

Jake played competitive basketball this year on the 4th grade team.  So far in both soccer and basketball he has played up.  The B team on both sports, but he is just so dang competitive he does pretty well.  The coach is a great guy and played Jake quite a bit.

 L2R back: Jake Kaden Bryant Jack Coach Wolfe
L2R front: Addison Chase Hyatt Isach

 Luke was the all-star on his team this year.  Seriously, he and Lucas are the main scorers this year.  He did AWESOME!  He is just naturally athletic, so now we need to work on the motivated and competitive part.  He is so cute and loved to make baskets.

L2R back: coach, Nathan, Wesley, Luke, Kyle
L2R front: Zach, Lucas, Hunter
Thanks Coach Robb... he did an awesome job trying to wrangle these 1st graders.  It was a bunch of adrenaline to channel that's for sure!  Next year we'll work on double dribble and traveling. hahah

Ice Breaker Tourney

 We had quite the cheering section for Jake's icebreaker tournament in St. George.  He was in Heaven. We had all my family (even Annie and the girls were down for Kaitlynn's games).   And most of Taylor's family (Aaron and his family was visiting from Oregon and so Adam's family came down too.)

 He said, "good thing I gave them all a good show."  He played really hard and is fun to watch.  you can see his heart the whole game.

Jake excels at 'defender'.  He is not fast, but he is smart and quick.  He does a great job and the coach has already asked if he can have him next year too.  He is definitely not the most athletic on his team, but as my dad would say, "he's a heady player" and is in the right spot when needed. 

We went to the temple on Sunday and had to catch a quick shot with Grammie and Grandpa. 

 Another fun thing that happened this weekend was my cute niece getting engaged!  Luke Jeppson is a good kid and I'm so excited for them.  It was so fun to watch the whole thing as we were perched behind a tree across the street.  He took her to the "lock gate" and put their lock on it that she gave him for valentines day with the ring attached.  It was sweet. 

 I can't believe I'm old enough to have a niece getting MARRIED!! ahh.  So love this girl and am very happy that she has found the man of her dreams.  Keep it true Luke or else Aunt Dee Dee is coming after you!! :)

Happy Valentines Day...

To the many boys I love!!  I tried to make a cute dinner.... spaghetti, red jello, flower fruit plate and red drink.  They didn't like it.  My friend Jen was making Chicken Cordon Bleu and Jake was a little disappointed when I called him home from playing there to our dinner.  BUMMER... such is life with kids.  You try and they don't appreciate.

 In the end... they were happy I made an effort, (so I guess I was too). 
Oh...and the beautiful flowers were from Taylor, my true love and valentine!

Winter Happenings

Chess time..... hasn't been too bad this year, just had to deal with chess club once a week.  We skipped the December invitation (yay) but had to make an appearance at district.  We luckily slipped by making it to state by the skin of our teeth... whew!  Close call for mom and dad.

 It's funny that they actually know how to play.  That is more than I can say for myself! above: Luke concentrating on a move.

  Jake to the left playing a kid in our stake.

My two medal boys... maybe this will be the last year we have to sit through a chess tournament.

 For everyone involved.... LETS HOPE! :O  I'm such a supportive mom.... ugh.  I really don't like chess.  And really, they don't either.  They play once a year and it's at this tournament. Fortunately, they are getting old enough that there are some VERY good players.  They can't just get by anymore by verbally convincing the opponent into a stalemate. That has happened several times by the way!

 Hobblecreek did awesome though!!  They came in 2nd overall.  WhooHoo

 

We have a very cool sledding hill just a few miles from our house.  Called Jolley's ranch.  It's groomed for sledding and the kids love it.  We took the Frank boys, just because we don't have enough boys with just our family!  Aren't they cute!

 Dog Pile......

And away thy go!

 

Cute Sam and Nate always love to play in the snow.

Sam is 4

Sam was a little disoriented when we took him breakfast in bed.. Nate was more excited than Sam at first.

But, soon enough our cute Sam was awake and happy to celebrate.

He wanted a HULK party... so I made a cake and stuck a hulk in it.  Easiest cake ever!  He loved it.

Our little hulk turned 4.  How are my boys getting so big so fast.  This little guy has always melted my heart.  He is so sweet and cute and silly.  He still can't wake up from a nap without crying, but at least he sleeps through the night and rarely needs naps now. He has almost graduated from speech and loves going to school monday wednesday friday with his buddies.  Happy birthday Sam!

 We played a couple games...

to the left: Don't eat Hulk (eating skittles)







below: Hulk Smash (pop the balloons)

 to the left: Smash Hands (slimy hands that pick up paper)

And lets not forget PRESENTS!!  nate was so confused, he wanted every toy to be his.

Happy Birthday buddy!  We love you. 
L2R: Brydger, Sam, Chase, Nate
back row: Jake, Luke, Beckham (hidden behind Chase), and Carson (not pictured because he was playing), (lydia just a girl brydger's mom was babysitting)

Sundance.

 Luckily for Christmas, we can now do to Dad's basketball games in peace.... Actually, I was embarrassed about them all with electronics, so this only happened one time.  I decided they couldn't take them to games anymore.  Good decision, they usually will just play around and have fun... so I hate to see that replaced with sitting and staring at a screen!

So for president's day we went to Heber and met the Dehners for an adult sleepover!  They are always up for fun and I LOVE it. :)

 This arrangement lasted about 5 minutes and all of the Dehners came upstairs to sleep with their parents and my boys all went to their own beds.  It was a fun thought though...

 The dads can be entertained at all times if a ball is near!

 By the time we finished getting ready... I was pooped.  I was ready to go home.  Below is Taylor trying to help ME get my boots on.  They were frozen, and I swear it took me longer to get them on that it did to help the kids.

 But -- we finally succeeded and started up the mountain... and it's official, we are finally a total family that SKIIS!

 Taylor went to get the boys new gear this year and just ended up getting sam and nate outfitted as well.  We figure, they ski for free, so a babysitter is more expensive than just buying them their own stuff.  We'll see.  It was fun to take them, but took SOOO much time just to get all geared up and ready to ski that I was about done in, before we even started.

 The nice thing this year is that you can see the parking lot from the new lift.  So, we let the little kids watch a movie in the car after a couple hours and Taylor and I just took turns skiing with the bigs.

 I love this picture... it makes me so happy to be surrounded by boys.  I love it! Sometimes I forget I really want a girl too. :)

 We came up with a genius idea to buy dog harnesses for the little boys and then to keep them on a leash while they ski.  It works surprisingly well.  They are good for about 2 hours and then they are ready to be done.  It's a start. 

 A couple nights ago -- Rob texted Taylor and asked if he wanted to play hookie and ski for the morning.  I asked Taylor if the wives could join in... and reluctantly, they agreed. :) I love the Franks and was so excited to have a double date with Rob and Jenn.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day.  I just kept saying how much fun I was having and I just kept saying how easy and how fun it was without kids.  Apparently, everyone got the idea, that I was having fun without the kids... and Rob finally commented that it was starting to sound like I didn't really like my kids!  hahah I just didn't realize how much work they were until I went without them.  It was a super fun date and I can't wait to go again!