Yard Cleanup

Our town has yard debris trash day in a week so we decided we should probably clean up our yard. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. It was frigid today! It even snowed a little.

Madelyn wanted Elsa hair.

The girls messing around with their dried out mud pies.

Funky bug Rory found.

Lily didn't last long. Her little hands were freezing!

Manly Dad all decked out in his workin' hard clothes.

Things We've Done

It's still winter and we're still stuck inside most days. But we did make ninja bread cookies. That was pretty exciting.

Say cheese!..... That was lovely dear.

I was being a totally attentive mother and told Madelyn to go entertain her sister for a minute after she woke up from nap. This is what I found. Madelyn snooping through her Dad's journal. Luckily she can't read. Who knows what dark secrets she might have found.

Madelyn also really likes the maps and pictures in her Dad's scriptures.

The completely aloof sister.

Birthday

I forgot I had a few birthday pictures.

Lily licking the beater after I made frosting for my technicolored cupcakes.

Opening presents. I was making a really weird face in all the present pictures. Maybe it's just how I look all the time. But this one was the least weird.

Christmas in Idaho

We spent Christmas break with Pops and Toots this year. (And Pete, Kansas, Laura, Ammon and Inny) We had such a blast!! There were games and snowboarding and dates and good food and really good company.

We did a lot of sledding. Madelyn loved it... Lily not so much.

Uncle Ian was such a sport and hauled my girls all over the place.

Lily only lasted a few minutes. There were a lot of tears.

Woo hoo!

Such joy! (Except Lily, poor kid.)

Snow angels with Toots.

Sitting it out but still having fun.

Madelyn, Ian, Lily and Dad sledding on the family heirloom.

Adam sledding aggressively.

We eventually decided the church hill was too wussy so we went to the property and sledded there for a while.

Happy Pete.

The long trek up.

Candace loving the snow.

"Come on Candace! It'll be fun!"

Nope.

Pete goes alone.

Madelyn, Pete and Candace on a milder part of the hill.

On a different day Rory and I got to escape to Harriman State Park to cross country ski. It was a gorgeous day!

And that's all the pictures we took. Except these of some mountain sheep we saw on the drive home. Thanks for such a great vacation Mom and Dad!

Oh, and here are some pictures of Lily's new teeth. Madelyn was my helper.

Bottoms.

Tops.

Enough!!

Festivities and an Early Christmas

Rory is really great about crafting with Madelyn. They made a gingerbread house together a few weeks ago. 

She was very careful about putting all the candy on. It's been hard for her to understand that she's not supposed to be eating the candy off the house though.

Lily lending moral support.

Finished product.

We also decorated Christmas cookies.

And before our long trek to Idaho we decided to open a few presents. They were so excited.

Thanks Grandma Jo!