Pinewood Derby and Bon Voyage

Spencer's 1st Pinewood Derby was on Jan 23rd. He won a few, lost a few, and got the award for that flashiest car.

Karalee loves her new vanity. Thank you Uncle Tyler and Aunt Jennifer!! (And Karsten)

Chad went to Dallas for a Chase National Achievers trip early Friday morning. The night before he left, we surprised him with a Bon Voyage Party. We decorated the house, ate Chinese food (his favorite), and played some games. We had a good time. He came home this morning. We are so thankful he is back home. We love him and are thankful for his good job and that he works so hard for us.

Marlee got her first sucker! She loved it, until Karalee stole it from her and ate it while we were in the other room.

A Jedi Master, our Marlee is.

Spencer is playing a really cool song. (Spencer asked me to write that.)

Byrant, bless his heart, gets so tired at night he has trouble making it back to his bed after he makes a trip to the bathroom. He is a very sound sleeper, it is funny and a little scary, scary because he walks in his sleep. A few times he has woken up to go to the bathroom, but wasn't coherent and came into the family room area and opened the door to the garage thinking it was the bathroom, when we told him that wasn't the bathroom he turned around and then opened the pantry door, luckily we were still watching him, laughing of course, and helped him make it to the bathroom. He has also tried to open the front door, that is the scary part to me.

More pictures of Spencer's car named "Golden Flame."

Picture Scavenger Hunt

Yesterday I had the kids do a picture scavenger hunt. I got the idea from my amazing friend Anna Christensen. They kids had a lot of fun and it kept them happily busy for quite a while, well at least they were happy most of the time. I'll get to that story. Here are the things I asked to boys to take pictures of:

• A car on the highway behind our house
  
• Spencer's smile
• Sunshine on a leaf
• Karalee's smile
• A Flower
• Bryant's smile
• The blue sky
• Mommy's smile
• Something you make in the sand box
• Marlee
• Spencer doing a trick on the trampoline
• Bryant doing a trick on the trampoline

The boys were assigned to each take a picture of the things on the list in the order I gave them and when they finished they got a treat. Here are some of their pictures.

They got to me while I was cleaning the bathroom.

Spencer made a "sand alien"

While Bryant was making something in the sand he and Karalee got mad at each other and hit each other so he wanted to give up. I decided to take a picture of him pouting.

I took this picture of Spencer doing a trick so he could finish and get a treat.

When Bryant saw Spencer get a treat he decided to finish too. Here are the rest of his pictures.

Bryant made a dinosaur grave.

Christmas 2009

Christmas was so much fun this year. I think everyone was happy. We had the kids buy gifts for each other at yard sales so they could stretch their dollars a little father than normal. They had a good time picking things out for each other and keeping them hidden until it was time to wrap them. Santa brought our family a new trampoline mat. He brought Spencer, Bryant, and Chad Nintendo DS's. I got a wii fit plus, which has been SO fun. Karalee got a new dolly, and Marlee got some new fun toys. I don't have many pictures, we were having too much fun.

Christmas Eve

Getting ready to read The Night Before Christmas

Playing on the new trampoline

Spencer got baptized

Spencer got baptized two days ago on Dec. 19th. It was a great day. I am kind of bummed that the pictures turned out blurry. I am hoping Santa Clause brings us a new camera.

After the baptism we invited everyone over to our house for a brunch. We had a waffle bar, eggs, sausage and fruit. It was yummy. Thank you to all who helped us celebrate.

Fun

A few weeks ago I went to check on Marlee and she was hanging out in the toy room playing with the toys.

Spencer had a combined birthday party on Dec. 12th with Tyson Moore since their birthdays are on the same day. We had an ice skating party.

Bryant was so brave and got out there and tried skating, the dollar bribe I offered him helped. He had quite a few falls, but he said he was glad he did it.

The boys got finished ice skating a lot faster than we had planned. We were lucky there was a park next to the ice skating rink and we were able to keep having fun.

Marlee's first pony tail.

Karalee fell asleep with her babies while she was watching a movie.

Marlee had lots of fun scattering the newspaper all over.

Thanksgiving Stick Horse Rodeo

This year after our family had Thanksgiving dinner I planned a stick horse rodeo. It was a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures.

Telling kids the rules

Abe giving a great performance during the Bull Riding. The contestants were judged on their best make believe performance of riding a bull. It was funny.

Bryant doing the Bull Riding

He got bucked off

The Rescue Race

Weston and Kaitlyn having fun.

The tennis shoe race. All the kids put their shoes in a wheel barrow and then they were taken to the middle of the field and dumped in a big pile. The kids had to run down, find their shoes, put them on, and then race back to see if they could get some of the prize money.

Hunter and Josh in the wheelbarrow barrel race

Hunter and Addie in the wheelbarrow barrel race

Crystal and Darrell entered the race. Brady moved the chairs closer for them.

For the grand finale the stick horse keg race. I even participated for the first couple of rounds, but I stopped when my leg started hurting just a bit and Chad took my place.