Noah's Pinewood Derby

Noah did great and had lots of fun at his pinewood derby this year. I didn't get a picture of Ron and Noah! Dang it! Poor Ron's been working so much I'm amazed he was able to finish Noah's car.

#15 the Black bandit! took 3rd place out of 27 cars! The race winners were all within .001 of a second! He probably would have done better but in the finals one of the race "helpers" accidentally put his car on backwards. I'm not telling Noah that though! LOL

Callie pierced her ears!

Callie has been begging me for months if she could get her ears pierced. I decided a while ago that I would let her if she memorized all 13 Articles of Faith first. She worked really hard and did! (Thanks to her amazing primary teacher!) 

So proud of all my kids for memorizing the article of faith.

 And of course her best friend Sydney had to go too! And since Callie got her best friend there I thought mine should come too! Nessa's baby Arlee got her ears pierced too!

Family Doctor visits

My kids are rock stars at the Doctor. I'm so impressed with how they handle getting shots and visiting the doctor. I sit in the doctor's office listening to all the screams and terrified kids and think to myself how lucky I am to have kids that aren't scared of the doctor. Everyone got their flu shots today at Mason and Noah's well checks! awesome awesome! On another note I've got to make Mason a bunch of doctor appointments for his toe walking. Please insert face slap here. I'm so sick of specialist appointments with this kid. I know I don't have it bad and I'm grateful for my healthy kids but... Oh well. It needs to be done. I'm just hoping he stops ruining his feet.

no tears from any kids! April wasn't exactly happy about it but she didn't cry. I could watch this video of her all day. cute tough girl.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas break just flew by. I have enjoyed every second of family time, late nights, game nights, play time, hiking, too much eating, family bike rides and so much more! I didn't take nearly enough pictures.

Mason's spoils:
Bike (a REALLY nice bike. I'm a little nervous it's going to get trashed.)
Bug Robot I helped the boys assemble these bad boys and I'm really proud of myself. This is usually Ron's department so I'm patting myself on the back because they were a little complicated.
"Kingdom Keepers" Book series

Noah:
Bug Robot
A bunch of Pikachu things (stuffed animal, water bottle, wrist watch)
Pogostick
a nice set of Dodgeballs
"Captains Underpants" book series



Callie:
Scooter (she always wants to borrow Mason's scooter so we got her one similar to his)
Tumbling outfits
Hatchimal (a little bird that hatches out of an egg)
A doll that poops (this was all Ron's doing. She really wanted it so he ordered it. Can you see me rolling my eyes right now?) lol
A Build-a bear gift card


April:
Moana doll
Poppy doll
Trolls purse
Puzzles

One of my favorite gifts this year was my baby bike seat for my bicycle. I've already taken April out for a test run and she loved it!!! As a kid I remember going on a lot of family bike rides to freestone park for picnics and play time. I want my kids to have similar memories. Now all we need to do is get Ron a bike.



Mason totally surprised me with a necklace for Christmas. He asked me a while ago if he could make some jewelry and I knew he was making a necklace for April but I had no clue he put one together for me. My necklace is mostly black and has a tooth charm on it! It's perfect. He's such a cute kid.

Ron and I stayed up until 2:30am Christmas Eve assembling a ping pong table. I say "we" but really I mean Ron. I just supervised and provided emotional support while he did all the work. I LOVE ping pong and have wanted a table for years. So excited!!!

Family Hike

The weather this fall has been ridiculously hot. Thanksgiving weekend we decided to hit the trails and hike the Usery Mountain, Windcaves hike. The high for the day was 89 and yes I'm rolling my eyes. Despite the ridiculous heat we had a lot of fun. I think Ron is the only family member who didn't take a clumsy fall. Luckily no one was really hurt although Noah did lose a tooth on the hike! I'm still laughing over the whole situation. We were heading down the mountain and he was eating an apple. All the sudden I hear "Ow! Mom! I lost my tooth!" We looked for a few mins with no luck. So I told him he could write the tooth fairy a note.

Searching for the lost tooth. LOL

When you get to the top of this hike there are lots of squirrels and chipmunks. Mason even got one to eat right out of his hand!

Thankful Heart

Thanksgiving was loads of fun packed lots of family time. I love that this time of year is focused on Gratitude. My heart is so thankful and I know I'm very blessed. Ron's week to hunt is next week so we had him all to ourselves this weekend. Christmas got all set up at our home and we cleaned out the garage. We even squeezed in a family hike! So much to be thankful for. We were fortunate enough to have my grandparents come visit and really enjoyed hanging out with them. By the end of the visit April even recognized them as "Grandma and Grandpa!" So sweet.

I'm so thankful for the relationship I have with these two special people. I think they should move to AZ. Boise is too far and TOO cold!

My mom and I have been studying the life of the Savior in the scriptures and Grandpa joined in on our study session this Monday. Grandpa uses his finger to guide where he's reading so he doesn't get lost. During our reading he chuckled and paused for a moment to share a funny story about someone approaching him at the temple asking if he was reading Braille. I just love simple moments like this that I want to freeze in time.