Toothless

My kids have always been "late bloomers" with losing their teeth. Most start losing them around 1st grade...but here we see, Raegan has lost her two front teeth and she is in 3rd grade. She is new to pulling her own teeth out.  Her two bottom teeth had to be pulled by the dentist.  So she was a little terrified.  But she did it and she is a gorgeous princess!

Tarin (shhh don't tell), has been planting notes around the house that sprouted from a lesson that came from activity days.  So when Rae lost her teeth, this is what we found.

Ammon had strep throat, so she left one for him too.  Such a sweet girl we have.

Ice Skating

Took the kids Ice Skating at the Seven Peaks Rink in Provo.  It was a blast!

This was the kids first time ever ice skating.  It was an interesting experience, but left them with wanting more.  Ammon did pretty good.  Tarin and Raegan have been rollerblading and picked up on the balance thing right away.  Rian and Jarom...another story.  They had a tough time and got a close up view of the floor many times.  But despite sore ankles and muscles, they want to come back sometime and do it again.  It was a fun afternoon.

All together having fun.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving day was a lot of fun.  Started out with some good 'ol footfall.  Everyone in Utah County have the same ideas so the fields were full of guys playing at Lone Peak High School.  No injuries, so I was happy.  :o)

Next we went to Trent's parents church building to play games with family.  As you can see Ammon had a blast!

After games, we had a few hours to relax, but I didn't want to do that, I wanted to enjoy the day! So Jarom, Tarin and Raegan all wanted to ride to the mouth of American Fork Canyon. Gorgeous day and a good work out.  By the time we made it, using the bike paths, they were beat.  It was funny to see them flop down and rest.

We were right were the creek ran, so we stuck around and listened to the water and threw rocks.  I love spending time with my kids. (Poor little buddy Ammon wanted to come, but I knew he wouldn't be able to make the entire ride.)  I'm glad we got to spend the time together.

After riding bikes, it was time to head over to Gma and Gpa Wardwell's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  Gma did a fabulous job with her table settings and accommodating 13 kids and 10 adults!  Good food and great family.  What else could you ask for! 

Random

A few random things... Ammon had dinner table for his chore.  So to actually capture him wanting to do his chore, and doing a good job at it...  I had to have proof, and he's so cute.  I do remember a picture my mom has of me doing the same thing when I was his age.  Now I know why she took it.

I finally got our family pics up and organized.  Not my ideal framing, but hey, it's the first time I've hung anything in our homes, over the years, for fear of moving or something.  So this was a mile stone.

The other night with Tarin at her play tryouts, this was the moon we saw coming up over the mountains.  It was awesome!  Wish I had a better pic of it!

BYU Ladies Soccer

BYU women's soccer team made it to the Sweet 16, so we took the family and watched the game.  It was a little rainy and chilly, but it was a lot of fun to be around such awesome energy of the crowd!

Yep, after awhile, the littler ones got a bit restless...  Oh well, BYU won and Rian and Trent went to the next game the following week to see them in the final 8.  Sadly, they lost to North Carolina, but a good game all the same. 

Proud Missionary

Drew Tolbert was like 9 yrs old when we moved out to Georgia, and now look what he's doing!! Amazing!  Angela called me and asked if we could pick him up from the airport and deliver him to the MTC.  First off, to hear Angela's southern draw...it took me back home!  I miss her and was so glad she thought of us.  I knew this was a mission for Trent to head up.  I took over a meeting he had to go to so he could be there to escort Drew. Trent was able to take him to get a few supplies that he knew Drew would need...like a journal and other things.   I hope it was as spiritually beneficial for Drew as it was for Trent.  What an honor. 

yes, Trent is very white and short.  We all knew that...  :o)

Of all the stations to be dropped off, the one that lined up perfectly had Kent Craig, also from back home in Georgia!  How awesome is that!  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  Good luck to you Drew, Philly will be challenging, but worth it.

BYU Game

This was Tarin and Raegan's first BYU football game!  It was the last home game of the season, and thanks to Wendy Hill, we had tickets to enjoy it!  Too bad it was right after the big snowfall and it was really really cold!!  So cold the stands were very empty...but good for us, we just sat where ever we wanted.  But the car thermostat kept saying 28 degrees, but I think it was a bit colder in that open stadium.  But I was prepared with hot chocolate and hand warmers! 

Very cool to see the big flag come out with all the army guys, and then the band with the big Y!

This being the last home game, the seniors were recognized, including our neighbor Wren Brown...who also had an older brother play for BYU.  The fireworks were pretty cool.

BYU was playing Idaho, and lets just say BYU kept these guys running the banners a lot with all the touchdowns they made.

And yes, my little eskimos were bundled up!  It was a late game, and cold, so we only stayed til half time.  But they loved being there and enjoying the football game energy!  And they loved getting a T-shirt of their own!  Go Blue!

Fall/Winter Time

Our Aspen trees finally dropped their leaves.  And they are a lot of fun for the kids.  We had one dumping of snow, but I guess they were hungry for more, so they used the leaves for snow angels.  Such perfect weather, a warm day in the 60's in November!

Picture for Activity Days Recognition Breakfast.  My two girls are growing up!

NEXT DAY...

...look what happened!!

Seriously, the day before it was warm and gorgeous!  But I guess we were on borrowed time.  The kids were super excited for sure!  Ammon had to ride his bike through it and enjoyed making his own tracks and skidding through it. He also mentioned the snow "tastes like ice". Very profound...I know.

I heard last year was a mild winter and was kind of hoping for another one, but on the news they mentioned that since this last snow fall, we have already surpassed the inches from the entire last winter!  So I guess I'm in for it!  Oh well, this has been fun stocking the kids up on winter gloves and coats!  They love to play in it.

Ammon and Jarom building a snow fort to play snowball fight with the neighbors.

Fall 2012 Piano Recital

When moving here we had to find a new piano teacher.  And I think we found a real good one.  Her name is Lynsie Browne and knows how to capture our kids attention.  This was their first recital here and they did a great job.  They obviously don't look too enthusiastic about me making them pose for this picture, but hey, one day they may look back and be glad I took it.

This year I'm teaching Raegan on my own, so she will have her own recital with the family soon.

The kids with their teacher at the Piano Gallery in Orem where the recital took place.

California Boys

Wish Trent was the one posting this, but we know how that goes...  Trent gets together with his mission/BYU roommates every other year.  This year was in San Diego to do some surfing.  Jeremy lives in San Diego, so they crashed at his place and he gathered some boards and equipment.  And that's just what they did, beach and more beach.  These guys are from all backgrounds and it's pretty neat to see how when they get together its like back to the good 'ol days...nothing else matters.

Trent, Jason, Seth, Jeremy, Evan and Chris

Trent and Evan

Football on the beach

Day One, Jason was stung by a sting ray!  Luckily it wasn't too bad and the vaca went on.  Glad you are okay Jay.

 

Something I don't have a picture of, is the mad game of Euker (card game) that is tradition.  They stay up for hours playing this game and even have a "rug" they use as leverage.  Luckily, Trent represented our family well and didn't come home with it...even saved Jason butt too.  Nice work honey!

Memories will last forever with these guys!