February 2010- Dumont Dunes

Aiden is READY to RIDE

Matt and Zach on the quads

Zach making doughnuts

Matt making doughnuts

Aiden sitting on Jared's quad

Dominic, Zach, Gabriella, EmmaGrace, Matt, Aiden, and Garrett.

For the last couple of years, over President's Day Weekend, we take the trailer and quads to Dumont Dunes. This year we camped with the Hurley Family, Aughenbaugh family, and Castenada family. The kids had a blast, all they wanted to do was RIDE RIDE and Ride. poor Aiden, can't wait for the year when he can ride. We took up a battery powered quad, but it wouldn't move on the sand, so he spent half the time just sitting on someone's quad.

January 2010 Snow FUN

We live across the street from our good friends, the Hurley's, so almost everyday the kids get together and play. Today, they decided to play football with Jared and Jeff.

Dad and the boys.

We took a family trip to the house in Hatch in January for a weekend of snow fun. We have a favorite place we like to take the intertube on Cedar Mountain. This particular day was pretty awesome for me. **Disclaimer, I don't claim to be the smartest person in the world**

Jared had taken Matt and Zach up to the top of the hill, and I was standing at the bottom with Aiden taking pictures. There was another little boy and his friend who had come down the hill, and crashed into each other. They were both crying, and one boy was screaming that his back was hurt. Jared was waiting at the top, along with the other boys family. Since I was so close to the hurt boy, I figured as a mother, I should go and see if he was okay. I walked over to him, and asked if he was okay, he said no, and he couldn't move. I am no doctor, no medical training at that, so figured I shouldn't move him in case he was really hurt. I looked up at the top of the hill, and the boy's mother, and a friend were coming straight down the hill to help him.. but headed right at him. I think in my head, oh no, she is going to run right into him. I am thinking, what kind of mom heads straight down a steep snowy hill, on a sled, towards her hurt child. Well, obviously not a very smart one. Then I do something even smarter.... I decide I am going to STOP her on the sled from hitting her child. So I stand right in front her, thinking that I can stop her. Well, she hits me, I fly in the air, and land head first in the snow. Thank GOODNESS, i wasn't seriously hurt. With my track record, it could have been worse. Sore back for a few weeks, but nothing permanent.

Needless to say, I learned my lesson. I am not a superhero. I do not have the ability to stop 300 pounds of people on a sled.

Soccer SuperSTAR

My little superstar!

Zach doing a little " Oh YEAH" cheer for himself.

Aiden, lounging, while watching the game..

Zach getting in the mix of the game. Go ZACH.

Zach and one of his favorite team mates... Jayden

Zach has been such a good sport the last few years always being on the sideline while Matt has played baseball. This year, we put Zach into soccer and he LOVED it. Zach is such a goofy little boy, for those of you that know him. He is really smart, but can be a total SPACE cadet. He was really fun to watch playing soccer because he would chase after the ball, and then stop and do a summersault. He would kick the ball the wrong way into the other teams goalie... He was just fun to watch. GO TIGERS!!!

Polar Express

This was the snowstorm we hit leaving Arizona. It was beautiful!

Warming up at the fireplace with Evan and Matthew Vendetti after the snow fight.

Playing in the snow..... I didn't realize there would be so much snow, and didn't pack snow clothes for the boys. thank goodness they did bring gloves and warm jackets...

Matt and Zach fell asleep on the train ride back from the North Pole. We were on the late train and they were TIRED...

Santa Claus giving Zach his magical bell... " I do believe, I do believe."

Aiden watching out the window, looking for the North Pole.

On the TRAIN...

Daddy and Aiden outside the hotel. It was so cold there.....

The Fam, standing in front of an old train... Photo moment.

The kids waiting in line to see Santa before we headed to the North Pole.

On Monday, December 21, we took a road trip to Williams, Arizona (about 4 hours from Vegas) We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, and took the Polar Express to the North Pole to see Santa. I will have to say that one of my FAVORITE Christmas movies is the "Polar Express" starring Tom Hanks... I guess I was expecting the train ride to be more like the movie, and so were the boys. They were so excited on the train to get to the North Pole, and when we stopped and didn't get off, all the excitement was gone. That is until Santa got on the train to pass out magical bells. Overall.... was it worth the $500 it costs...hmmm I would say I don't know. Will we do it again?? not sure. Maybe in a few years when I forget how terrible the food was... I will convince Jared to take us again. The boys did have fun... in fact the best time they had was the next morning when we woke up and there was new fresh snow on the ground. We ran into our friends from Vegas, and all the kids played in the snow for a couple of hours. That was their favorite part.

October and November Highlights

Once again, I have been terrible about blogging. Here is a quick recap of some fun things that happened in October and November!!

Matt turned 7 on November 24th. We had a small family party at our house, and then Jared and I took Matt, Zach, and some friends and cousins to Laser Quest to play laser tag. It was actually REALLY fun, and everyone had a blast.

AIDEN turned TWO, on November 7! Happy Birthday baby.

While we were camping my dad, and Jared taught the boys the basics of repelling. For those of you that know my dad, he is an avid rock climber. He wishes all his sons and grandsons would climb with him. He put the boys in a harness, and they "repelled" down a tree and a rock climbing wall.

We did a lot of fun activities for Halloween this year. We had the school "Fall Festival", a Halloween party at our friends, home, and we spent Halloween in St.George. We also pulled our trailer up to Zion River Resort, in Utah, and camped for the rest of the weekend.

Aiden has turned into quite the little "ham." He loves having his picture taken, and this is basically the same smile I get from him everytime. I just love this little boy!

Apparently my brother Kris took this picture when I wasn't looking. So for payback, I am posting it on my blog. Oh, and he is still looking for a wife.... contact me if you know of any single ladies ;)

October- Matt finished up his 3rd Baseball Season. This was "fall ball" and played on a team called the Aces. Matt isn't the best player, but he seems to enjoy the game. I was a little frustrated with the coach this year, because instead of helping the kids get better by letting them play all different positions, he stuck the worst players in the outfield for ALL the games. Matt got bored towards the end of the season, because he was in the outfield, and decided he didn't want to play anymore. We will have to see if he changes his mind in the spring when it starts again.

We had to do a school project for Zachary's class.. We had to disguise a turkey, so Zach chose a CLOWN theme. I went to the party store and found this wig. Aiden loved it, and wanted to wear it all day. Of course, this is his new CHEESEY smile.

October 1st, Matt lost his first "real" tooth. He had his top tooth pulled out a year ago because it was injured, but this was the first tooth that feel out on it's own. Actually, it didn't fall out on it's own. The tooth had been loose for a few weeks, and Matt would NOT let me touch it, wiggle it, or inspect it at all. I figured it would fall out when it was ready. One Sunday after church, he was playing "puppy dog" with Aiden.. He had the leash in his mouth, and Aiden grabbed the leash, and it hit the tooth and knocked it out. Of course, his mouth filled with blood and he was HYSTERICAL. You would have thought he lost his arm. He cried that he wanted me to put the tooth back in. It took about 15 minutes to calm him down. In fact we called my youngest brother Jared, who is in dental school, and he convinced Matt it was okay the tooth came out, and that bleeding was normal. Needless to say, it was a traumatic experience for the first tooth. Good thing the tooth fairy was generous!

"Huh-uh"

In his short little life so far Aiden has been a boy of few words. He has learned to communicate with hand pointing, and "Uh, Uh, Uh" sounds. Right now he says, "Ma, Da, Bye Bye, and Uh oh." Last week he learned a new word "huh-uh" (no) and that is all he wants to say. He seems to understand when I ask him a question, and gives me the smart answer, "huh-uh," for everything he doesn't want to do. He is growing up so fast and makes me feel sad that my baby will be two in November. Time seems to go by a lot faster when you are "older" and not wanting time to go by so quick. The days of being young, and WANTING to get older seemed to take FOREVER. Aiden has definitely been my most curious boy, and is determined to do everything his older brothers do. If they are working on homework, he sitting right next them, pencil in hand, writing on their papers. He's fearless, but such a mommy's boy!