Klondike 2013

The boys just came home from their overnight trip sleeping in a snow shelter that they constructed last weekend.  Better them than me.  I seriously don't think I could sleep wedged in a tunnel of snow. Jared said that the opening of his structure was just a little bit bigger than his back pack!

Yikes!

I guess you actually want it to wedge in there to block the cold.

Okay......

This year they had beautiful sunshine all day as opposed to the blizzard that they experienced last year.  This troop is a great group of boys and an incredible group of men.

I never worried about the boys. I knew they were in good hands if anything should arise. They have aclimated to the colder temps. It got down to 8 degrees last night with a high of 30 degrees today.

I'm proud of them. They would have never had an experience like this if we hadn't moved up here.  And the place they camped was only 30 min into Logan Canyon.

We love it here!

Sammy

Snowshoeing

Victoria's homeschool class that she attends once a month at Stokes Nature Center went snow shoeing this month.  We both had never done it before so we were looking forward to it for the past few weeks.  I have always seen nature studies that you can do where they just tell you to go out in the wild and look for animal tracks and observe nature in the winter.  I have always loved the idea but wasn't too successful.  So I was hoping that we would actually see some tracks.  We have lots of deer tracks around our house but that is about it.

Well, we saw....mouse, moose, elk, deer, rabbit, ermin and evidence that a beaver had crawled out of the river and walked around on the bank as well as a couple trees that it had gnawed down.

We were very pleased with our outing.

The kids went on a scavanger hunt to find a red stick, a brown stick, a leaf, a piece of grass and a berry. They also played a camouflage game that they have played previously. Victoria's hat came in handy for hiding.

Needless to say, we both loved snowshoeing.  It was much easier than anything we could imagine. It was hysterical to watch the kids run in them.....arms, legs and snow flying.

It is first on our list to obtain snowshoes. It would be an awesome way to just get out in the crisp cold air and breathe in winter.

Beautiful

Happy 17th!

This fun loving, robust little baby is now 17!

Funny,

He still gets energetic at 10 pm, making him a night owl,

those were the very red socks that tainted an entire load of white clothes.

 

I can still count on him helping and being responsible,

though he doesn't carry around a sippy cup full of milk 

and wear only a diaper and a tank top.

We always knew that he would need a trip to the emergency room before his third birthday....and then once again before his fourth. We waited 5 hours for the plastic surgeon to stitch 13 stitches into his upper lip. And then another 7 in his chin.

He still enjoys a good hike.

He loves to hike out front. I think it is more that he doesn't have any

patience to hike behind the rest of us.

I love my boy.

I never knew what it would be like to be looking up to my little boy.

 This is living proof that Jared really was once shorter than Daphne.

A handsome guy with a huge smile.

Happy Birthday Jared!

Our friends the Summits put together a fantastic surprise party for Jared.
The teens from Star Academy (our homeschool co-op) had a great time. 
The kids really enjoy being together.
Even Victoria got a chance to hang out with her friends that night.



PE

 We had PE, Homeschool style today.

It warmed up to a beautiful 39 degrees today. I never thought I would say such a thing. But now it is true.  We spent the afternoon at Gibbons Park sledding.

Definately a great way to get in some winter exercise. 

After an hour and a half, Victoria plopped down in the snow and asked if she could put her PJ's on when we get home. that is usually how I know she is tired and has had enough.

Victoria slid right off the edge and onto the side walk....oops.

I am so thankful that my ever growing children enjoy being with eachother.

With the storm this past week that kept us home for several days was driving them to get on eachothers nerves....and mine too.  I didn't think I could stand another day listening to them argue about the most ridiculous things that I have ever heard. And with Kirk gone for week 1 of 4, I felt like it would be an eternity before I have another adult home to have a complete thought with and not become sucked in to the crazy conversations.

This was a great way to expend the energy.  They had a pretty good snowball fight, which I felt was getting a little out of hand, even though there was plenty of laughter. I have learned to yank Victoria out of the way and out of the line of fire of the big kids. It isn't fun being hit with a snowball that my oldest son pelts me with.  He hasn't learned to go easy on his mom yet....hmmm maybe that is more intentional than I think. Either way, they all agreed that they had a great time together and were pleased to be out. The boys coached Victoria on how to slide without flipping over or off her sled. She actually listened to them. It was good to see them play together, no matter how old they may be. 

It was a great day.

Snow Ice Cream

What do you get with an abundance of snow and a can of condensed milk?

A sweet treat. 

I guess you have to try this atleast once. 

Shame On You!

In this house, it may happen that

"the dog ate my homework".

Samson is in big trouble.

He ate Jared's diorama that he was working on.

He is creating a scene out of the book The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein 

He was about to paint it today when he discovered

Sam having a snack of  flour and water papermache.

This dog will eat anything.

He is known for eating an entire loaf of zucchini bread, an entire tub of butter, several books, an insulated lunch bag, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the beading nipped off two pillows, numerous sandwiches, a box of cheeze-its, an entire apple pie...deep dish, a hamburger, two slices of pizza, a round of salami, a chicken leg, a 1lb block of cheeze, three tennis balls, a jar of peanut butter, perler beads, legos, a marker (bright blue), nail polish, a loaf of bread, a bucket, half a bag of tortillas, a box of ritz crackers, and now......

a partially constructed

Diorama