Christmas and Sledding

After our trip to Puerto Rico we headed home and had a very relaxing wonderful Christmas. Christmas morning did start bright and early though. I thought we still had a few more years before our kids woke us up at 5:45, but no, Will woke up with pent up excitement, and woke up the rest of his brothers. The picture shows Will ready to go, and Nate and Jake still half asleep. The boys got what they asked for from Santa, had a great time opening presents, but then they were ready for sledding. The small picture of Will is him on my snowboard that he loves to ride. It has gotten more use in this last week than it has in years. It was nice to be home for Christmas.

Thanksgiving

The Koller Family (Paul's Sister) came down from Idaho for Thanksgiving. We went camping a couple of days before with them. It was quite cold, but we all survived and had a good time. We took our awesome camp trailer, but they were in a tent with almost every blanket in our house on top of them. When I went outside the camper in the morning the Thermometer read 6 degrees.

We went on a hike with them in Butler wash and saw some awesome Indian ruins.

Paul's parents got to Monticello the night before Thanksgiving and were here for a few days. I guess I lost all of the photos we took after they got here to a camera that we can't get to work. We had a great time. Paul and his dad went on an overnight backpacking trip after Thanksgiving. They had a fun time and are planning another trip in May.

Jake's Birthday (11/20)

Jake turned two in November, and he is a such a big boy. He wanted a bat cake, so a bat cake he got. I think it turned out pretty cute too. He loved opening presents. I kind of forgot to get him something when I was at Walmart, so I decided to wrap up all of the boys toys that I had confiscated from Will and Nate for not cleaning their room. The plan was the boys could earn a toy back everyday their room was clean, but they quickly forgot about the toys, and not too much later, I did too. So it turned out really well, I had a lot of toys for Jake's birthday. As he opened the presents, Will and Nate would comment, "Cool Jake, I used to have a toy like that." I laughed and said, "You Did? Whatever happened to that toy." I later told them that they were the boys toys, and they didn't care a bit that I gave them to Jake. Maybe next year I won't buy Christmas presents either.

Halloween (I realize that was a long time ago)

If I am going to pretend to be a blogger, I felt like I needed to go back in time and hit a few highlights. How could I not post pictures of my cute kids on Halloween? We went up to my parents house for Halloween again this year and trick or treated with all of the cousins. My kids had a blast, but I don't think Will will let us miss the Monticello Elementary Halloween Carnival again next year. Paul instituted a candy tax on all of the kids, and confiscated all of the full size candy bars, which there were quite a few. I guess it is a pretty good trick or treating neighborhood.

Puerto Rico

Paul and I have now been married for 10 years. We went to Puerto Rico to celebrate. For part of our trip we were there with Paul's parents and brother Brandon. For those of you who haven't been there it is highly recommended.

Some Trip highlights were snorkeling, the rain forest, Old San Juan, Bioluminescent Bay (where I got stung badly by a jellyfish), tostones and mufongo (awesome plantain treats), and time alone without kids (AWESOME).