February 2015

One of my favorite winter pastimes is ice skating so every year I drag the kids down to the local ice rink and put them on skates hoping that someday they will like it as much as I do. They are getting the hang of it and each year is a little more fun for them.

We celebrated my birthday in February - John and the kids made me a delicious chocolate cake!

Grandma moved into her town home nearby in late February! Its so nice to have a Grandma living close by. Here are the kids testing out her carpet for comfort.

Notice the glasses on Carson! We've discovered that he is near-sighted. He does not mind wearing them, he was amazed at what he could see when he first put them on!

During the move Grandma was getting rid of some unnecessary things and gave us her pasta maker. Rachel and Carson LOVE pasta and were very eager to try making some so we gave it a shot. It was actually very good and easy to make!

In late February Rachel and I had an opportunity to meet Shannon Hale at our local library. She is one of Rachel favorite authors and has written the Ever After High series of books. Shannon gave a great talk about her road to becoming a writer, and even had with her a stack of rejection letters she received before she had anything accepted by a publisher. After the talk we waited in line for over an hour but finally it was Rachel's turn to meet her and have her sign some books. And Rachel's tooth came out while we were standing in line! 

January 2015

Rachel did a biography book report in January and chose to read about Annie Oakley. Her book report was shaped like a person with the report being in the arms and legs, the head drawn to look like Annie Oakley, and the torso drawn to look like a book cover. It was fun to learn about Annie Oakley - Rachel did a great job on the report and I think her artwork is amazing.

One of our New Year's Resolutions is to take more family outings. We started with the new Living Planet Aquarium not too far from us. We saw lots of great things, penguins, sharks, octopus and more! They even had a 4D theater - 3D glasses plus vibrating seats to make it feel even more real.

On the way out the kids posed with their new stuffed friends.

Our next outing this month was Antelope Island, an island in the Great Salt Lake. It is actually a state park and was a beautiful place to visit on a sunny day in January.

A magpie perched on an interesting rock outcrop.

We did a short hike up to some rocks with a commanding view of the lake and mountains surrounding the island. The kids had fun playing on the rocks and it was wonderful to soak up some sunshine in the middle of winter.

gorgeous scenery

December 2014

Imagine my surprise when I picked Carson up from school one day to find this! One of his classmates had a birthday and brought in these sticky mustaches for the whole class. Too cute.

Rachel was giving her barbie dolls a day at the bath/spa one day and she used a straw to create bubbles in barbie's bath. It got more fun as the bubbles expanded and soon Carson was in on it too.

Merry Christmas! It was fun to have lots of family visiting for the holidays. Grandad, Deb & Shivani and Pete & Jen were all here. Here the kids are trying on their light-up Rudolph noses.

Only Grandad can fall asleep while sitting up at a table.

Grandad gets his very own hedgehog!

Rachel and Shivani had fun playing dress-up. Rachel is wearing her 'fashion' glasses.

We had a huge snowstorm on Christmas day so there was plenty of snow for playing and sledding.

November 2014

The kids got their first in-state Grandma in November! Grandma decided to make the move from CA and is staying with us while she fixes up her new town home nearby. Rachel and Carson love having Grandma around, here they are playing Candyland with her. 

We had to take Grandma to our favorite Chinese restaurant.

We had an early snow before Thanksgiving. Isn't the first snow fall of the year the most fun to play in?

Rachel threw snow up in the air for this shot!

The snow mound created by the snow-blower, dubbed "Fort McHenry" by the kids.

For Thanksgiving we headed to Pete and Jen's house this year, along with Jen's family. Rachel and Carson played the piano while Jen's Mom sang along.

Thanks Aunt Jen for the gingerbread house kit!

That night we walked to the nearby botanical gardens which were lit up for the Christmas season. Beautiful gardens and a nice night for a walk.

The next day we hiked up a nearby peak. It was a perfect day for a hike and surprisingly warm for late November. Despite the whining and complaining the kids did actually make it to the top!

This is Carson's favorite way to hike!