New Supers in town...

Introducing the hottest new Superheroes in town...
Kaeleb Klassic and Brenny Bravo... capes specially designed and begged for by the heroes themselves.
This was a project brought to us by Grandpa. Wooden dragon puzzles... very intricate with many, many pieces. They had fun putting them together and painting them.

The snow is starting to melt, revealing lots of fresh mud... but the blue skies are cheery and we are enjoying the beginnings of an almost Spring. :)

Our Garfield- Style President's Day

We really wanted to do something fun this President's Day... but since we recently took a trip to St. George we didn't want to leave town. So, we decided to go sledding. I didn't get any pictures, but it was a memorable day.

It began as most days do, with a good workout. Kwint was using the door gym to do pull ups. Kaeleb wandered down the stairs and walked through the door it was attached to. Kwint called out to him, "Don't close the door!" Kaeleb thought he said "Close the door!" So, he closed the door. The door gym came crashing down gouging a hole in the wall and tearing through the laminate flooring below. What a way to start the day.

When the time came for sledding, the house was a mess and I didn't want to go sledding at the time of day that Kwint wanted to go, so I was very grumpy. But we suited up and I was determined to let everyone else have their fun in spite of my bad mood.

We got to the sledding hill and trudged up. Kwint helped both boys into the sled and gave them a little push. They barely moved. So, he moved them to a more packed path and gave them a bigger push. This time they went barreling down the hill at light speed. Un-be-knownst to us was a jump someone had built 2/3 of the way down. It had recently snowed and the jump just wasn't visible from where we were standing. But, the boys found it... and rather than catching some good air, the sled crashed into it and stopped. The boys didn't. Brennan bonked his head on Kaeleb's chin, did a full flip in the air and landed 10 feet away. Kaeleb flailed through the air landing on his face a few feet behind Brennan. They were both sobbing, but not badly hurt.

So, I was even more grumpy and now the boys were terrified to get back in the sled. But Kwint persevered and coaxed us all into another hour of good fun. And we actually did have fun.

Glad to have won the battle against the grumps, we loaded back into the car, ready for lunch. Unfortunately, we hadn't noticed that we had driven off the beaten path into a snow drift on the way in, and we were stuck up to our bumper in the snow. Try as we may to get out, we were spinning further and further into nowhere. We got out and dug as much snow as we could from under the tires and bumpers. Then I got behind the wheel and Kwint tried pushing the car while I hit the gas. Still no luck. Kwint finally hiked over to a nearby construction site and rallied 3 big construction workers to help him push. This time it worked! Phew!

We drove home deciding that we had better not try anything else that day and we both agreed that Garfield was right-- some Mondays you should just stay in bed.

Today Brennan started gymnastics. He has been so excited, so I thought I would take a few pics to remember the occasion. Tumbling very much suits his personality and he had a great time. Halfway through he came bounding over for a drink and I asked if he was having fun. He said "I sure am, Mom!"

Here he is waiting his turn for the vault. I love how straight and tall he is standing. :) When the teacher yells "Pineapples!" the kid on the purple circle makes a run for it. The girl standing next to him is one of his little Sunbeam friends, Ashton. We were glad to see that she is in his class, and I was glad to have her mom to chat with while they played.


Here is a happy smile after demonstrating a knee tuck off the wedge.
This part is his favorite-- a somersault down "the cheese", as he calls it. I love his ready pose.

My babies are growing up. *sigh* They are getting minds of their own. Both have decided they want to grow their hair out (Luke Skywalker style, of course) and have certain clothes they want to wear. Kaeleb is gone at school, playing with friends, and karate so much, and now he wants to take basketball, piano, and soccer. Brennan, of course, wants to do everything Brother does and I am beginning to realize just how precious the first 5 years are. It's all we really get! Suddenly, they are big and busy, and I just have to hope I get in enough influence when they are actually home!!

One funny story and I am off to get the boys from the neighbor's house. One evening last week Brennan said, "Buff guys don't wear shirts." We were amused, but didn't think much of it until the next morning when he sauntered into the kitchen wearing blue jeans... and no shirt. Kwint said "Where's your shirt?" Bren replied "I don't need it." I said "Oh yeah, cuz you're buff?" He said "Yep. I sure am a buff guy." Now it is all I can do to keep a shirt on the kid and if I want him to do anything I only have to say "Buff guys always eat their vegies" or "Buff guys always listen to their moms." and he jumps right up to do whatever I ask. I did have to tell him that when it is cold outside or they go places, buff guys do wear shirts.

Our All-American Weekend

While I would consider ourselves fairly normal people, we tend to be an atypical American family in the sports arena. Translation: We don't follow sports. At all. We like to be active and play sports of many sorts, but we don't watch ESPN, read the sports page, listen to sports radio or know what to say when conversations drifts towards any sport at all.

But this weekend we have felt very All-American and typical. Last night we went to a Jazz game. Our brother-in-law had a good deal on tickets (sort of) and a big group of our family decided to go watch the Jazz play the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game itself was rather upsetting since they lost, but we had a really good time.

Kaeleb especially loves basketball. He was on a city team last year in St. George and can't wait to play here in Heber. (They don't have a team until 2nd grade, so that will be next year.) He was super cute to watch during the game. Whenever the Jazz had the ball he would timidly yell "Go, Jazz, go!" and when they scored he would nearly jump off his chair with a hoot and an arm pump.
Brennan however, felt a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. We were up high, which could be intimidating to a 3 year old, he had never seen so many people in one place in all of his life, and it was pretty noisy. This is the expression on his face most of the game.
Until the end when he barfed on the stairs as we were leaving. Yes, it was great fun. We think all the nerves mixed with too much candy and Sprite were a not-so-winning combination. Or, it could be that he was so disgusted by the loss that he wanted to tell the team what he really thought of their lack of defensive action. Either way, we were slightly embarrassed, though everyone in the stands around us thought it was hilarious.

This hard to see, but we were so impressed that I have to include this picture of the Jazz Bear. (Why is our mascot a bear?) As you can see he is upside down, doing the splits on top of a really tall ladder. That would be hard, even without the bear suit.

Today we were even more American and actually watched the Super Bowl. Mostly we were looking for a reason to coerce our good friends Dave and Staci over to our house for salty snacks and lots of chit chat. Kwint and Dave have been friends since 8th grade drama class and we have had a lot of fun over the last ten years since we got married and he met Staci. Our house became a grand mass of chaos when the kids (our boys and their two daughters) put on knight armor and chased each other around with swords. They also have the cutest baby boy with dark eyes and dimples who crawled around getting stuck in the furniture. In between the food and catching up on life we sort of watched some of the game. At least, I know that the Packers won. So, thanks for coming guys, that was so fun!

I didn't blog last week because we were out of town and I forgot to bring the camera, so we have no pics; but we spent last weekend in sunny St. George. We had dinner with our best friends of the South, Nathan and Mary Lynne and their cute little guy McKay, which was another funny ordeal of sword slinging, train building, drum playing racket, but very fun. We spent a couple days with Kwint's sister and their family and did some hiking in our old stomping grounds. We hiked an old volcano and when we got to the top we walked in the crater it left when it erupted how-ever-many years ago. It was cool. The boys were amazed and only agreed to hike it once they were convinced it was not going to blow up while we were on it.

Kaeleb had a great week-- I went to parent teacher conference and was very pleased and proud of how well he is doing. That same day he tested for his gold belt in karate and passed. He was very enthusiastic about it. He actually slept with his belt. He said Sensei Josh said he could.
I am very proud of what a good boy he is and how hard he is trying.

Kwint has been busy with trying to balance his multi-faceted business and helping to open a new dojo with Kaeleb's karate teacher. He is rather excited about it. He is working on getting a black belt in Kenpo within a couple of years and is also contributing his Aikido experience and helping teach and write curriculum.

I am busy trying to keep up with everyone else and keep order in the house. I keep cleaning and cleaning and never actually finish. But I like the illusion of order in my brain. I have actually felt a great deal of stress over taxes this year. Our book keeping system is different in Park City. It took me two years to figure out the old system and now I am clueless again. Accounting and I just don't get along and yet I am doing the books because who else will? Luckily, I am not an accountant and we have a good one (Hi Nathan!) who is patient with my ineptitude.

My favorite Brenny story of the week is this: He picked up a pen and a piece of paper and said "Mom, close your eyes. How do you spell 'I love you with all my heart'?" I melted. I wanted to hug him. He yelled "Close your eyes!" and then as I spelled it he wrote chicken scratches on the paper, and then said "Open your eyes, Mom, this is for you!" Amidst the chicken scratches he did write 4 actual letters, which surprised me. lool and an upside down v. I loved it.

Well, apparently I needed a little journal time. I love blogging for myself, even if no one else reads it. Sometimes I wonder if I leave out all the junk and make it sound like life is too good here at our house. Trust me, it is hard here like it is at any one else's house, but who wants to read all the crummy stuff, and why would I want to remember it anyway, unless it is to learn from it? I will wait until I learn a few things to write the crummy stuff and use this as a place to count my blessings, because I really am thankful for the 3 guys in my life and all of our opportunities to grow.

This Is Why We Are Here...

Yesterday we spent the day in the snowy woods of the family cabin... This is my favorite "look" in all of nature!
The snow is piled pretty high...
and the boys had fun playing "Three Kings" which is a game they made up by fashioning three thrones in the snow pile you see here.
We spent a good chunk of time snowmobiling with Kris, Talan, Barbi's dad and her brother Preston. Here are Kris and Talan...
Kaeleb, Kwint, and Brennan ready to ride...
Me and my Brenny guy... No, he wasn't driving, just posing...
Kwint hookey-bobbed up the hill and snowboarded down...
A fun mode of transportation...

Happy New Year 2011!

A few last tidbits of 2010....
Here we are, making a gingerbread train on the day after Christmas when we finally felt good enough to celebrate.Here is the pre-New Year's storm which dumped 26 inches of snow on our porches. Next year, when this isn't a novelty, I will stop posting pictures of snow. For now, we think it is amazing!

Kaeleb took this picture of himself. Ha ha!! I love it.

I didn't take any pictures on New Years, but we had a lot of fun with friends (thank you Burke and Heidi!) and family (thank you Grandpa & Grandma!). We went to the movies and finished the weekend off by celebrating Baby Gracie's blessing day at Kris and Barbi's. Now, back to the grindstone this week!

Merry Christmas!!

He Came!!
Kwint and I woke up early aroud 6 am.... We are both pretty sick. Still. We couldn't breathe to stay asleep. So, we waited for the boys to wake up. We waited and waited... showered, ate, read scriptures, watched half of a movie... Really? When we were kids we both remember waking up at 3 am and being told by our parents we had to wait until at least 6 to get up. Then we would get up every half hour or so to ask if it was 6am yet. Not these boys. Around 8 am Kaeleb woke up and sauntered down. He looked at all the presents and said nothing. We said "Kaeleb, look! Santa came!" We showed him the cookie crumbs....We showed him the apple core remains the reindeer left on the back porch...
And then he started smiling. He begged to open his presents. We told him he had to wait for Brennan to wake up. Tick, tock, tick, tock. He ate a bowl of Cheerios. He watched a TV show. Got dressed. Combed his hair. Tick, tock, tick, tock.... Finally at 9 am we let him investigate his stocking.
A few minutes later Brennan came downstairs looking very sleepy. He is pretty sick, as well, but not sick enough to ignore the sight before his eyes. He ran from place to place investigating and then started grabbing presents that had his name on them, ready to rip into them. We suggested he start with his stocking... Both boys were so excited that Santa put spin-toothbrushes in their stockings.
Then we took turns (sort of) opening gifts. Here are a few of the favorite items received... Legos!! Brennan lucked out and got Lego Star Wars from Santa and Uncle Gerritt & Aunt Melissa. Kaeleb got Harry Potter Lego sets from the same two sources. I love themed Christmases. I couldn't have planned it better myself. ;)
Playmobil! Oh, how we love Playmobil at our house! Kaeleb got a giant dragon and a wolf knight and Brennan got a castle with a mini dragon and a knight with a horse. We love putting them together and creating great battle scenes. These will go well with the knights and pirates we already had.
Here they are with their favorite items: The giant dragon and the green knight who sits on the green dragon.
Grandma DeAnn bought the boys and their cousin Talan matching pirate shirts. They were so happy! The shirt says "Shake Your Booty" I love it.
Grandpa Tom gave them matching sword & shield sets. Oh, for joy!! Especially since mean Mom told them they had enough swords and couldn't ask Santa for any weapons. Grandpa always comes through with the goods! What are Grandpa's for if not to spoil their grandsons?
Kwint gave me some nice clothes and this jewelry set, which I always love, and his mom gave me a food processor so I can lazily chop & grate all my veggies & cheese from now on. YES! My mom made us a new afghan which is beautiful and exactly matches our couch pillows.
I didn't take enough pictures and none of Kwint who felt too sick to want to be in them anyway, but he got a new TV from me and his parents and a few other trinkets he was amused with. We missed the family breakfast (didn't want to share our germs) and we didn't feel good enough to do anything except watch movies-- luckily we got 3 new movies to keep us busy all day-- but we learned that the simplicity of Christmas was all we really needed to feel the joy of the season. We have each other, and we have our testimonies of the Christ child, and that is what matters most on this special day.

Now, if we can get better, we have a whole week of family fun ahead!

Daddy's Birthday & Christmas Eve

Oh, Santa...
"I just can't wait for you to come... and I've got cookies..." (Veggie Tales Christmas Spectacular)But first, Happy Birthday to Dad!

We have had a very interesting holiday thus far. We are sick. Very sick. We think we may have the flu, or something like unto it, with a bit of a bacterial twist as certain symptoms, but not all symptoms, have responded to a good ol' Z-pac. It started two weeks ago when Kaeleb got the gunk, then passed it to Brennan, then on to Kwint and me, then Kaeleb again with a fever and the gunk, then me with a fever and gunk, then Kwint again, and Brennan again. We had 3 parties in a row planned for this week... and canceled.

Last night we thought we were on the mend so we decided to go to Kwint's parents to celebrate his birthday. We'd had to cancel a party with our friends, so we were sad and wanted to do something fun. And it was...


This was everyone's favorite-- an authentic imitation Star Wars light saber.
We settled in to watch a Christmas carol when my fever set in. It was a miserable night and when we woke up this morning we knew we'd better just head home and hunker down, missing the family Christmas Eve dinner.

But first, we let the boys open a present each-- the ones they picked out and purchased with their allowance money for each other. Brenny bought Kaeleb a blue basketball,
and Kaeleb bought Brennan a lego airplane set. They were both so happy and thankful to each other. This will be a good tradition. :)
Then, we hit the road at just the right time to see SANTA himself, driving a tractor down Main Street in Layton. I suppose the sleigh is getting the pre-Christmas tune up. Awesome!!
Upon our arrival at home, we put on our Christmas jammies,
and after watching several old Christmas movies on TV while blowing our noses, we drank the ceremonial hot cocoa and toasted to our good health, which we hope returns by morning, and read Luke II before retiring early to bed.

We set out the cookies, and an apple for the reindeer (Brennan heard that they like to eat apples, core and all) and then Kaeleb said "Mom, I think we should leave a present for Santa. I thought it was so kind of him... but what would we leave? He looked all around and decided on two kit kat bars. He wrote a note that said "Dear Santa, I want you to have this." Next year we will have to plan a purchase for Santa. I think he gets enough sweets on Christmas Eve, don't you?

As he was falling asleep Brennan, who asked Santa to bring Playmobil knight sets, said "Mom, if Santa brings me playmobil, I hope he brings a princess so you can be her." Oh, Santa....