Sledding

    The first of December was really cold, painfully cold. Then we got some snow and it was still cold but not so bad. I went through a time where winter was not so fun but when you have kids its fun to get excited about a big snowstorm. Maybe not the twenty minutes it takes to bundle everyone up though...
    Carly and Travis invited us to go sledding with them so we bundled up and headed out. Wyatt fell asleep the moment we got in the car so he took a nap for the first part while we played. Both of my children have inherited some of my cautiousness, which I don't really mind. It was fun to see Addie get progressively braver the longer we stayed. Wyatt was awake for long enough to go down a couple of times but didn't really warm up to it as much as Addie did. It's fun to have cousins close by that we can do things with, although we probably don't get out as much as we could.

 A funny note about Carly's snowsuit. She won it at a Atkinson family white elephant. It was supposed to be a gag gift but it is seriously awesome for doing barn chores in while its so cold and great for sledding too. Her niece was surprised that she wore it and Carly's thinking, uh "best white elephant ever".

 Wyatt was fine going on the big sled with Auntie, but did not enjoy the solo ride...not too surprising

Cuzzins

As I'm looking back trying to figure out what to document from my blogging sabbatical, we have several times where we got to spend time with cousins that live in New Mexico. When Jade and Haylee were here we went up to the Tracy Aviary. We've made it a tradition to take the frontrunner train and then a bus over to Liberty park. It's always an adventure and we've always almost left someone at one point or another and we are always making a mad dash not to miss the train, or just missing the train, get to hang out for a while waiting for the next one. This time it was Haylee and Wyatt that almost got left.  It also seems like we go when its freezing cold or really, really hot. It is fun though.
We also got to spend time with their whole family when they came up in July. We went to Seven Peaks one day, only to have thunder and lightning kick us out. We headed over to the BYU ancient history museum to wait it out, tried again and then decided to go to the Provo rec center instead. It was quite a fun set up and about ten minutes after we got there someone pooped in the pool...so everyone had to cram into the lap pool.  The kids still had fun though.

Ophir- Labor Day Weekend

    There's a little old mining town just after 5 mile pass off the road to Tooele that we've discovered to be a fun place to camp. The boys have been hunting there for a couple of years and this Labor day we pulled the trailers up and camped out for the weekend while the boys hunted. Alli and Cam brought their girls and Ben and Chelsea came as well as Jordan and Kirk so we had lots of cousins to play with.
    We camped right next to the creek and the kids had a grand time playing in the water. Wyatt loved riding his balance bike basically all over the place. One night I had just changed him into his PJs and he rode down the hill into a mud puddle. He was covered in mud and we had to wipe him off and change his clothes. Cam showed the kids how to makes bows and had brought some arrows that they could shoot. We also had fun riding the four wheeler through the water and around the trails.
    The first day we were there it was just me and the kids while the boys hunted so we drove the four wheeler down to the town museum-which consists of several of the old houses that have been preserved, some were moved, others remained where they originally were. It's always fun to get a little bit of history and the kids were on the lookout for rattlesnakes. After we were done, I couldn't get the four wheeler to start and was dreading having to walk a couple of miles back up the canyon with two kids...but luckily there were a couple of locals that helped me get it started. It was something silly like, I wasn't in neutral..
     It's a fun little spot and I wouldn't mind making it a tradition to camp up there. Not too far away, but so pretty and the kids loved it.