Spring Fever

Lots to catch up on. The last couple of months have been pretty busy with some neat activities. We've been able to have some wonderful trips to the temple for friends and family and have had chances to do some fun things with our kiddos.
Sage and I met my mom for a girls' weekend in Albuquerque to see "Wicked." Fabulous! We had such a good time--even stayed in a hotel that had a waterpark. Sage was super-brave and tried the wave rider!

Give Finn a paintbrush and look what happens! He loved having his hands painted and got such a kick out of smacking his face with his hands. He also ate a bit of paint. Big surprise.

We drove up to Twin Falls over Sage's spring break to see Mackenzie and Lance sealed. Wonderful day. I spent the rest of the week in Ogden. Sage and I went skiing at Snowbasin with my dad and had a great time. We did start off with a bit of an adventure--didn't exactly pick the easiest way down. Thankfully, Sage got over that trauma pretty quick and did so well. She says she learned how to go fast!

We also took Keiger skiing this year. Here he is at Sipapu, where he mastered the "magic carpet" treadmill thing that takes you to the top of the learning slope. He didn't want anybody to help him--he just wanted to go! He did a great job.

Firsts

We’ve loved getting wonderful pictures and letters from friends and family. What great reminders of the remarkable people who have touched our lives. It’s been such a wonderful Christmas vacation, just the blessing I needed to help slow down, simplify, and just be with my family. So apologies that this letter is late in coming. Since it is our FIRST time writing a New Year’s Letter, we figured we’d dedicate it to our family’s…
“Famous FIRSTS!”

SAGE
-Lost her first teeth! Drama! Drama! Drama!
-Started first grade and has her first chance to do homework. Thankfully, she has yet to have her first bad day at school. She loves it, especially being the first one to get her work done and among the first to finish her lunch so she can go to recess early.
-First year in Girl Scouts. She is the cutest little Daisy and proudly recites the motto.
-First summer riding bike without training wheels and first time swimming by herself.

KEIGER
-Turned four and had his first birthday party with friends. He has got to be the first kid to have a Buzz-Lightyear/Motorcyle party. Pin Buzz on the motorcycle is quite the game.
-Probably the first little boy to use such delightful phrases as, “Oh, my goodness gracious!” and “Awesome Possum!” He’s also the first to ask me if “goodness sake” was another name for Santa Claus. “You better watch out for goodness sake!”

FINNEAS
-First of our children to show us what it really means to write on walls and get into EVERYTHING. He’s the first to discover that he can carry the bathroom stool around to be able to reach whatever he can get his hands on.
-First to scare Sage and Keiger (okay, me and Jacob too) just by throwing stuff at them. When he raises his hand to throw, all of our hands instinctively cover our heads to protect ourselves. He’s got a good arm. I often see Keiger or Sage running away from Finn and screaming, “He’s gonna throw that at me!” Finn’s also the first one-year old I know who likes to get hit by snowballs.

MORGAN
-Ran first half-marathon.

JACOB
-Took Keiger and Sage coyote hunting for the first time.
-First year without shooting an animal in 7 years. So sad.
-Ran his first half marathon trail races where he placed 4th and 13th overall.

THE WHOLE FAM
-First trip to Disneyland where Kei rode the Matterhorn for the first and probably last time. Traumatic.
-First broken well, boiler, refrigerator and toilet overflow/flood all in one week! Then the garage door broke for the first time 1 weeks later. We had to laugh about it.

Hope the first of 2011 is great for you! This has got to be the first time we’ve written such a cheesy letter! Much love, Jacob, Morgan, Sage, Keiger & Finn

A Mouse in the House! And some pumpkins, too!

Aaack! Yes! I was watching a movie the other night when a mouse (ugh!) scurried out from behind the T.V. stand! It took a couple of nights to finally catch it. I was still in bed when this lovely picture was taken--I would never have let the kids near the thing! Keiger thought it was sooo cool the mouse's eyes were still open in the trap. Yuck!

Anyway, October has been full to the brim. Jacob's grandpa passed away last week so he has been in Oregon for the funeral. The Primary Program was this morning. We got through it with no injuries so we can all breath a bit easier. The kids did great.

We've been busy each weekend with some fun activities. Last week, we drove into the middle of nowhere New Mexico to McCall's Pumpkin Patch. It was so worth the drive. What a darling place! It was like barn amusement park: hayride to the pumpkin patch, bouncy houses, rubber ducky races, petting zoo, corn maze, a big ol' trampoline jump thingee that I want in my backyard, and more. We could have stayed so much longer. It was so fun.

We had an "It's the Great Pumpkin Pajama Party" last week--made yummy caramel apples and listened to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Kids had fun and it got them hyped up to ride the "It's the Great Pumpkin" train in Durango yesterday. We met my parents and all boarded the narrow guage train and rode for about 30 minutes to an area where there were all sorts of games, music, trick-or-treating, and a pumpkin patch maze. When Keiger saw Snoopy, he literally bolted from us and ran right over to him. He was so excited. We looked hard, but didn't see the Great Pumpkin. Maybe next year. Poor Linus.

Sage is dressed as a dalmation, by the way. Yes, their costumes are fairly hilarious this year.

So Jacob and I went to our first adult Halloween Costume party this year. The theme for the costumes was "famously dead." Think about that for a bit. Too fun. Anyway, I went as the scandalous Cleopatra and Jacob made a great Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter. There were some great costumes, but seriously, by 10 p.m. I was so ready for bed! I can't handle late-nighters anymore--could I ever? We've been lucky to have a good year with pumpkins in the garden. The kids, Sage particularly, were excited to pose with some of them.

Happy 1st Day of Autumn!!!

Hurray for Autumn, our favorite time of year!

So I've been doing a preschool playday for Keiger and one of his friends twice a week, one day at our house, one day at the other mom's house. It's been great fun. Couldn't resist putting in this photo from "BUG" day.

Goings-On

So I finally took the Hunger Games icon down, but, seriously, if you haven't read those books yet, you need to. Jacob even read them. And he liked them. Since our TV broke last July, and we just haven't really thought about fixing it, we've been doing a lot of reading at night. It's actually been really nice.

So about a month ago, I noticed a bottle of "no-scent" body wash in the shower and could only think one thing. Yep. Hunting season. The time of year Jacob lives for. He drew an elk and a deer archery tag this year, and, in a word, it's been...frustrating. "Lots of elk. No good shots," as Jacob says. He has until Wednesday before his season closes. We'll see. I keep telling it's going to be just fine if we have to get meat from the grocery store. He's not convinced.

We've decided to tear apart the yard again. Why not? No really, we've been wanting to get rid of some lilacs around the house that are just unwieldy and kinda ugly. It's turning into a big project, but once it's done, we're satisfied that the yard will finally be finished!!! Yippee!

Yesterday, we made our annual trip to the raspberry ranch. We've been waiting for the berries to come on, and I must say Sage and Keiger are good little pickers. They had a good time helping out, and we came home with plenty of berries to freeze and make jam. Yummy!

So Finn is completely unlike our other kids. He really is everywhere and into everything! Non-stop! I'm exercising in the family room the other morning, and I come into the kitchen to find that Finn discovered a measuring spoon and had been scooping dirt from an indoor plant and carrying it over to dump on the couch. So there's this trail of dirt across the kitchen floor and a lovely little pile of soil on the couch. He was so pleased. I have a feeling this little guy is going to keep us busy!