Byers cabin trip

The kids in the back of the truck going up to get on the snowmobiles

In February we went to the cabin with the Byers Family.  Unfortunately most of Doyle and Kris's family couldn't come with us but Logan, Taeya and Porter came.  Those from their family that didn't come, came up on Sunday for a few hours.  We have always talked about renting snowmobiles to take to the cabin so we finally decided to do it. We had such a great time with the snowmobiles.  We only had them rented for one full day so we got up early and got out there so we could make the most of our day. 

Jake and Dale

Everyone had a great time with the snowmobiles.  We had 2 new machines that were really great and we had 2 machines that were quite a bit older so they needed a little tlc.  Dale got really good at starting them every time one of the kids flooded it trying to start it.  He spent a good portion of the day starting machines and getting kids out of the snow when they got stuck.

Kyson and Taeya had a great time together.  When they were waiting for their turn to ride, they played in the snow.  They decided to dig a hole into the snow to see if they could dig all the way down to the street.  They never made it to the street but they had a good time trying.

At the end of the day a few of us went on a little adventure and we found a really cool meadow to ride in.  Dale was finally able to just ride and have fun.  He and Darrell raced each other and had a great time!

a few of us playing 5 crowns

Kierra, Kamry, Annie, Shawna, Grandma and Kayla up front

Katie was so sad that Macey wasn't able to come up to the cabin the whole time but she had a great time with her the few hours that she came on Sunday.

 

The kids spent a few hours sledding together.  They had a great time and loved going down in all sorts of funny ways.  This is Macey, Kyson, Katie and Porter all going down on the same tube.

Kierra, Kamry, Annie and Shawna all going together

Cute cousins!  Annie, Shawna, Kamry, Kayla and Kierra.  Even though they range in age from 14-18, they all get along really well and have a great time together!

The Byers family, missing David's family.  I can't ever seem to get a picture taken of the whole Byers family.  This will have to do for now.

Kyson and Taeya racing each other

Macey and Katie loved to run and jump on top of Jaxon when he would go down the hill

Gladys and her boys

We played some games all together in the living room.  It was so much fun and we all laughed hard!

Kierra, Jadon and Kyson

Kierra

Kyson

This is a group of us that went on a little ride up Guardsman pass.  It was such a cool ride on a very beautiful day

It was a great weekend and we made lots of memories.  I hope we can do it again someday!

sledding 2015

Katie making a snow fort

We love it when we are able to go to the cabin to celebrate New Year's.  This year Lisa's family, Paul's family and Dad were there with us.  We had such a great time!  I think the kids spent most of their time sledding.  Even though it was very cold outside, they spent hours and hours out there each day.  They even went night sledding.  It is great that they plow all the way down to the power plant because it makes such a great sledding path.  All of the cousins had such a fun time together!

Kyson going down head first

Taking a break from sledding to build a fort

Jadon trying snowboarding.  He got pretty good at it!

Jaxon was also pretty good at the snowboard thing

Kierra, Jake and Kyson having fun throwing each other in the snow

Kierra, snow angel

 



 This is one of my favorite pictures because it shows how much fun Katie is having.  She loves this little sled.  She spins around and around the whole time she goes down the path.  She goes pretty fast too.  She's quite a trooper.  She never says she wants to go in.  She will stay out for hours!

Jaxon liked to wait at the bottom and jump over whoever was coming down

 

The kids somehow came up with the idea of riding down the sledding trail hooked together in a circle.  They would hold onto each other's feet and spin in a circle while going down the hill.  It was really fun!


What a wonderful time!

Christmas 2014

 We had a fun Christmas season.  We started out by going to Airborne with the Byers family on Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve)  Unfortunately, I was having so much fun jumping that I didn't take any pictures.  On Christmas Eve, we did our annual tradition of going out to dinner and to a movie.  We went to Francessco's for dinner and then to big hero 6 for the movie.  It was good!

 After we got home from the movie, we set up the sugar town.  Dale and the kids gave me two sets that I didn't have so that was fun to add to it this year.

 After that we opened our Christmas eve jammies and then watched "It's a wonderful life".  This was the first time for all of the kids, except Jadon, to watch it.  They watched the whole thing but I'm not sure they loved it as much as I do.

Chrismas morning before all the madness began!

Kyson with his new crazy cart that Santa brought him and Jake.  Too bad it snowed on Christmas day so he couldn't use it

 The siblings drew names, like always, to give gifts to each other.  Katie was very excited to give Jadon his gift.  It was a Utah hoodie.

Kyson and Jake had each other this year.  Best buddies!

 Kierra got a picture of Gladys coming up to our door on Christmas morning.  My kids are always so excited to see their grandma. They love her so much!

 Jake got a ton of pokemon cards for Christmas.  As soon as he opened them, he found a spot to sit on the floor and organize them.  He stayed there for a really long time.

 My kids and Dale gave me a toilet for Christmas because we have plans to redo our main bathroom this year.  I was really excited.  I love my family!

Katie with her elastics that go to the loom she got

 Christmas night we all went to my Dad's for dinner.  This year, instead of giving cousin gifts, we did a service project.  We made blankets and bags for the Ronald McDonald house.  It was fun!

All the cousins that were there

It was a fun Christmas but there was definitely a huge void without my mom there.  She has always been such a big part of Christmas.  Her house is always decorated for Christmas and she always made Christmas special.  Lisa made her bread and gave us all a loaf.  I love that bread and it will always make me think of mom because she always made us that at Christmas.  I had a hard time getting into the spirit this year and I think it was because I really miss my mom.  But Christmas time always makes me grateful for my family.  It is so much fun to do fun things together.  There is magic in the air that I just love.  I'm happy to have shelter and the things we need.  It's weird to think that next Christmas Jadon won't be with us.  I'm also having a hard time dealing with that.  At the same time, I'm so excited to have a missionary in our family.  Merry Christmas!

Kyson is Ten!

 Today Kyson celebrated his 10th birthday.  All of his siblings went to the store together last night and bought him some presents.

Dale explaining the menu to Kyson

 Since Kyson's birthday was on Sunday, Dale and I took him out for his birthday dinner last night.  He decided a long time ago that he wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.

We picked 4 different kinds of wings, his favorite was the regular buffalo flavor

 We had a such a great time with Kyson.  We always love spending one on one time with our kids.

This is the super yummy dessert that Kyson picked, dessert nachos!

Kyson is such a great little kid.  He always wants to do the right thing and he loves to do things for people.  He is such a wonderful brother, especially to Jake.  He is always reminding Jake of the things he needs to do for school so he doesn't forget.  He is super smart and does really well in school.  He told me he didn't want to ever miss a day of school because he will miss learning something and then someone might get smarter than him.  He is really good at getting his homework done and I never have to remind him.  He also loves sports.  Since it is football season, he is into playing football.  Nearly every day after school, he rounds up kids in the neighborhood to play football in the backyard.  He also loves to watch the Utah games with Jadon and Jaxon.  Kyson is just an all around good kid.  I'm so thankful that he was sent to our family.  I love you Ky!

Katie is Six!

 Katie was so excited for her birthday.  She made a countdown calendar in the beginning of October that went to the end of the year.  She loved knowing how many days it was until Halloween and then her birthday and finally Christmas.  She decided that she wanted to go ice skating for her birthday. Her favorite thing to do is stand in between two adults and hold their hands while we all skate together.  We wanted her to learn to skate by herself and she did a pretty good job balancing and standing still but couldn't quite skate without holding on to the wall.  We all had a good time.

 

Katie trying to learn to balance by herself.

 That night we went to Golden Corral for dinner.  My dad decided that we were going to go out this year for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Since we couldn't get a private room on Thanksgiving Day, we decided to do it the night before which was Katie's birthday.  She loves the cotton candy and the chocolate fountain so she was happy about that.

Katie opening presents
She loved everything that her siblings gave her!

 Katie is growing up to fast.  It's hard to believe that she is in Kindergarten.  Her teacher says she is a joy to have in her class.  She is a friend to everyone and is always happy. 

 Katie is full of personality.  She's a creative, sassy little princess!  She loves to play and is super good at playing by herself.  She has a fabulous imagination.  I will frequently catch her talking to her dolls or whatever she is playing with.  She is very spoiled.  She is used to getting her way and isn't very happy when things don't go her way.  We are working on that.  She has been such a joy to me.  She's been my little buddy for the last 6 years and I have enjoyed our time together.  She's a sweetheart and I love her!

swim team

 Kierra has always loved to swim and this year she decided to join the Copper Hills swim team.  It is quite a commitment!  She has practice every morning from 5:30-6:30 and then again every day after school from 3:00-5:00. 

 Yesterday was her first swim meet.  We have a lot to learn about the whole swimming thing because this is new but it was fun to watch her.  She definitely can swim faster than anyone in our family.

 We are really proud of her for deciding to do this.  Especially since it is such a huge commitment!  I hope that she will stick with it an enjoy the season.

At least everyone didn't beat her!