December

Well, we had a fun December.  We got our yummy goodie plates out.  I tried a new recipe that was marshmallows dipped in caramel and then rolled in rice krispies-YUMMY!  I got my sewing done for the last of my Christmas presents.  Annika was a on track break and I was baby-sitting.  We finally got snow.  We also brought Annika ice skating for the first time.  Ryan sat out with Ash and I took Annika around as long as my ankles could handle it. She loved it and tried so hard.  I was really proud of her.  She got scooting around by herself for part of it too.  I mainly dragged her around.   We had a lot of fun.  

Ryan's mom flew in town to spend the weekend with us mid December.  We had a great time visiting Quilt Shops, and the local Hobby Lobby (love it), Michaels, but better because they have fabric.  We even scored a 99cent pattern sale, could not love that better.  Then we took her to the cemetery downtown where a lot of the prophets are buried.  That was neat to see.  We took lots of pictures, and are glad we went the day we did before the snow fell.  We had a great time with her relaxing, playing games and playing with the kids.

We took her to the Red Iguana for dinner.  It is a great Mexican restaurant.  It is a great place to eat, and a great place to try Mole sauce if you dare.  We all enjoyed our food.

We got to go see the Lights at Temple Square with Marianne while she was here.  The kids loved the lights and we survived the cold and the LONG, uphill walk to where we parked the car up by the capitol.

While Marianne was in town, she watched the kids for us while we went to an overnight Christmas Party for Ryan's work.  We were supposed to do snowmobiling during the day, but they cancelled it a few weeks before because there was no snow.  But, the day of the party, the snow started falling.  Ryan and I saw like 7 accidents on our drive to Midway.  We saw 3 in a matter of 5 minutes of one highway.  We also had to pull over and wait for a tow truck to pull a car out of a ditch that had slid off the road.  Once we got to the Homestead Resort we settled in so we would not have to go out in the snow.  It is a fun little place with a crater hot springs.  We enjoyed a nice dinner that night, and stayed up late with a few other couples hanging out in the hot tub, and playing games late into the morning.  It was fun and a nice getaway from the kids.  We had not gotten away from the kids other than the occasional spend the night at Grandma's when we are in Las Vegas, since Annika was like 1 1/2 when we went to Arizona.  It was a much needed short getaway.  Here is a picture of the snow by one of the ponds that was steaming.

Well, we finally got some snow and we have a great sledding hill near our house and this is how we spent one Saturday  We even got it to where Ashton will go down the hill by himself, smiling the whole time.  I also wanted to post these pics to show Vegas folks who got snow and didn't have anything to wear, what you really bundle up in to play in the snow.  Forget the sweatshirts, shorts and sandals.  You gotta have the real stuff when it is like 22 degrees when you are driving to school at 8:30 in the morning.  

Ashton's Birthday and Thanksgiving

I am finally updating our blog, so here is some old news, but still stuff I need to put on the blog for our journaling.  We got to go to Thanksgiving in sunny Las Vegas, even though at that time, we had not really had that many cold days here yet either.  It was fun for my family because 5 of the 6 kids in my family were there, which meant like 10 or more cousins always at Grandma's house running around playing, or playing in the backyard as you can see from Ash's picture (his favorite place to be).  We had yummy meals at both parents' houses and had to do In N Out for Ryan while we were there.  Ryan got in some "guy time" shooting in the desert, and I got in Twilight for the second time with the girls.  Ryan and I got in a Macayo's trip and a trip together to the temple, which never happens since we live so far from family that helps to baby-sit.  We had a good time as always, but then had to get back to real life for a few weeks before Annika went on track break.

We were lucky enough to celebrate Ashton's 2nd birthday on Thanksgiving Day with both of our families while we were in Vegas.  Ash got the GeoTrax train set, and TONS of Hot Wheels toys.  He loves it all.  Here is a little bit about my sweet, little boy who is becoming less of a baby all the time. 

Ashton loves cars, trains, planes, anything with wheels on it.  He loves to dump out his Hot Wheel cars all over.  He loves to watch Wall-E and Lightning (Cars).  He loves Mater, Sally, Lightning and Lightning Truck (Mack).  He loves track (car track) and train (GeoTrax).  He loves to be tickled and has a precious little laugh.  He loves nut-no (oatmeal) and his nee nee(binky).  He is still a blanket boy and is often carrying multiple blankets around the house.  He still goes to bed holding the tags on his blanket.  He sleeps in a big boy bed, but will not get rid of his pacifier.  He loves to cuddle with his mom and dad, and loves to chase his big sister around.  He loves to get his hair pretty and is a "handsome guy".  Ashton likes nursery, and helps say every prayer that is said by repeating all the words.  He loves to be outside, and can always find the path through snow, dirt or rocks.  He loves to wear everybody's shoes around the house and is pretty good at clean up time too.  He is a joy to have in our house, and his silly personality brings many smiles to his families faces.  We loves Ashton!

Here he is eating part of his car birthday cake.