Year in review, Part 2

November wasnt super awesome, especially for Brylee. She came down with one sickness after another. Colds, to stomach aches and puke turned into strep throat. Must have been her exposure to all the new kindergarten germs. As if she didnt already miss enough school, then she had an allergic reaction to the strep throat meds. She wasnt too miserable, just a little itchy and a rash from head to toe. She looked worse than she felt, but definitely had to miss more school again for the next few days until this cleared up. 

At least one good thing came out of November...Thanksgiving!

Yum, whipped cream! 

Thankfully, Brylee felt good in time for her 6th birthday. She had a few friends over and they partied Frozen style. 

Pin the nose on Olaf. 

Snowball toss 

Brylee had big plans for her Frozen cake. 3 tiers including chocolate and light up snowflakes. Each tier was even a different shade of pink. After every birthday, Im thinking buying a store bought cake is looking better and better. 

On the morning of her actual birthday, our Elf on the Shelf showed up with a gift for Brylee. Of course, he knows her well, and got her some North Pole candy.   

Zack was also pretty excited that Scout finally came, and brought candy with him.

Madi had a few accomplishments in December. First off was her first High School Orchestra Concert. (I tried to attach a video, but for some reason they are all too choppy.) She's right in the middle of this pic. See her? Right......there! 

Next, she earned her personal progress award. Here is the table with all her projects, or something representing her projects anyway. 

And finally...we finished her room in the basement. Two years of birthday and Christmas presents finally put to good use. :) 

The rest of December is all traditional holiday stuff, like decorating gingerbread houses. . .

Going to see Christmas Lights. . .

and acting out the Christmas Story. 

And of course we cant forget our Christmas Eve Jammies. . .

And to wrap up the year in review, we have Christmas! The family got six flags passes again this year. 

Santa also brought us some magformers. The kids discovered these at Uncle Willies house last summer, and loved them. Plus, it kept them busy, so bonus for us parents too! 

Madi got Ryan a "Big Daddy" mug. 

And I got what every women desires...jewlery and chocolate! 

And for the final reveals:

Brylee: New chair, Frozen bounce on ball, Tag reading system, Anna Doll, Frozen sticker book, "Epic" Movie, princess Calendar, Barbie stuff, necklace and stocking stuffers. 

Zack: Chair, Remote Control airplane, microscope, Kinex, "How to Train your Dragon 2" movie, Frisbee, and stocking stuffers,  

Alissa: I-Home, Canvas' and paint, bedroom rug, shirt, necklace, roller blades, "Transylvania" movie, stocking stuffers. 

Katelin: New phone, Levi jacket, dry erase calendar, rug for room, sisters picture, necklace, "Maleficent" Movie, sleeping bag, stocking stuffers. 

Madi: New phone, sleeping bag, dancing water speakers, sandles, art supplies, scarf, hat with ear phones, necklace, "Hunger Games" movie, stocking stuffers. 

The two oldest were pretty psyched about their upgraded phones.  

The two younger ones found interest in a metal garbage can we purchased a few days later. Go figure.

And that my friend, is how we catch up on almost a years worth of events! Phew! 

See you next year! ;)

Vacation 2014

It had been about 3 summer's since we last visited Utah, so we felt like it was time again. Besides, it made a good stopping point on our way to Disneyland, and we couldnt drive through without visiting family. After a long 22 hours in the car, we finally arrived. Good to see that sign!

Our first stop on the way to Disney, was Hurricane to visit Grandma and Grandpa Heaton. It happened to be July 24th, which is usually a pretty big deal in Utah, or it used to be, so we got some fireworks to celebrate. The wind wasnt really cooperating much, but it just made it more exciting!  

The next day, the kids wanted to go for a ride in Grandma and Grandpas new RV. We packed up lunch and headed to Cedar Breaks. They were pretty happy to not have to wear seat belts, and to have a couch to sit on. 

On the way up the canyon, we made a little pit stop at a park. The kids thought this little stream was neat stuff.  Maybe it was the presence of an actual hill to climb down.

Cedar Breaks was pretty amazing. This is what makes me miss living in Utah.  

The next day, Grandma and Grandpa took us to this Rec Center near St. George. it reminded the kids of a miniature Dells and they had a lot of fun.  

Katelin fell in love with the palm trees and begged me to take a picture.  

After Disney we spent some time in the Salt Lake area visiting more family and friends.

At Ryans parents, Aunt Mindy was excited to show us her new salon room including the shampoo bowl.

Grandma and Grandpa Taylor also let the kids drive around in this little VW with their cousins. FYI- they are not awesome drivers.

Before we left, Brylee decided to check out the shampoo bowl one more time and ended up soaking herself and the entire room. Good thing Mindy loves her! Oops!

Our next visit was at my brothers house. Uncle Dan took all the kids for a ride on his dirt bike. 

Cousin Tanner even bravely let Madi try to ride his dirt bike on her own. This ended quickly with Madi crashing into the garden bed. Yes folks, she is going to be behind the wheel soon. Yikes! 

We also encountered a few snakes on our trip. Two were at my friend Tawna's house. Zack clearly has no fear for these creatures. 

The third was at Uncle James's house. All the kids liked this one.

Our final stop in Salt Lake was at our good friends house. We spent the night catching up. Even though Zack and Brandon cheer for different teams, they still get along. 

We really miss having the Wilson's in Wisconsin!  

Our next destination was Boise, Idaho to visit Ryans family some more. Uncle Willie took us to one of their favorite hang outs, Dart Zone. Its basically a big nerf gun war. The kids all had a blast, except Brylee of course, who just watched with me. 

After Dart Wars we took a little tube ride down the Boise River. Thought I had pictures of that, but cant find any. (I will have to get copies from Tina, since I was a little occupied trying to keep the raft from tipping or getting stuck.) Later on, Ryan and I got some much needed adult time with Willie and Tina. We went to this cute burger joint themed around mustaches. What do you think about Ryans new one?

Grandma and Grandpa Taylor came to join us in Idaho and brought along their VW to add to Willie's Police car. The kids all had a good time chasing each other down, and their driving improved a little.

Grandma bought all the girls matching tap shoes and had us put on a show and pose. Arent we cute? 

(No we dont all tap. And I assured her it wouldnt happen again! At least not with me.) 

Before we left we visited a little lake off of the Boise River called Eagle Island. The kids always enjoy time in the water, especially when they get thrown into it...

It was sad to leave, but after 3 weeks away, home (and Jovi) was calling. We took the long way home through Montana and stopped on the way to visit some friends in Minnesota. It was a very productive and long trip, and we were glad to finally be back.