Enjoying the snow

With all the beautiful snow we have it would be a shame not to put it to use. So we did just that! We loaded up the 4wheelers, called some friends, and headed out to Little Willow Road. We pulled each other on skies and tubes and went sledding down the hill. It was sort of the lazy man's way of tubing though because instead of hiking the tubing hill we rode 4wheelers and dropped each other off... Not near the exercise of "regular" tubing.

Hyrum

Lydia, Hyrum and I

Hyrum and Ernie

Lydia and Jon

Our friends

Jon's homemade sled

Jon's one of the most creative people I know. Luckily I'm married to him, because I could almost say the opposite is true for me :) We make a great pair! We wanted to pull each other on sleds with the 4-wheeler so this is what Jon came up with. The seat is a seat he took out of our boat last spring and it's just been sitting in the garage. The sled is a sled he make a couple years ago for Hyrum out of an old pair of skis and wood. Here's a video of Jon riding on it. He did take a pretty good fall but I didn't get it on video. We're sure enjoying all the beautiful snow we have!!!

Hot tub

Right before Thanksgiving we bought ourselves a hot tub. It's a great way to get warm on these cold winter days. The kids love to go "swimming" in it. Jon would sit in it every night if I'd join him (he usually does without me anyway), but when it's snowing and windy and 10 degrees outside, the walk up and down our porch stairs before and after sitting in it are a little too much for me in a swimsuit. Today was a beautiful sunny day so after breakfast we all jumped in. I love relaxing days at home with our family. These days are few now, but thanks to the new Dr. coming there'll be more in future :)

4-wheeling on Christmas

(Posted by Jon)
We went out to my parents house today in New Plymouth. Craig, Elise and Marae are home for Christmas. Craig just got back from his 2 year mission in Washington D.C. We had a yummy elk roast then went out skiing behind 4- wheelers. Uncle Roger was out driving for a while doing his best to dump me off my skis. Craig came out and put on some skis, he has not skied much before but was a great sport. He was taking some good falls so Rachel decided to get some footage. She wanted to get his sound effects, but he quit using them when the camera came out. Here are a couple of short videos of Craig.




Here's a few photos of others on the 4-wheelers. Elise took a turn pulling Hyrum and his friend Trevor on the tube. What a good Aunt she is! It was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun with the snow.

Hyrum and Trevor

Elise and Jon

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a cold snowy night and the night we delivered our goody plates to friends and neighbors. The kids were good sports despite the cold... the bribe that they could open a couple presents that night if they were good probably helped.

The goody plates

Look at all that snow!

Hyrum helping Lydia open the first present. G & G Lindsey gave Lydia a princess nightgown and slippers. Being the girly girl that she is, she loves them! (Lydia was wearing her swimsuit in hopes she'd get to "swim" in the hot tub).

Gloria from Alaska sent Hyrum a romote control truck, which as you can tell he was excited about!

Welcome home Craig

Craig (Jon's youngest brother) returned home from his 2 year mission to Washington DC on Thursday. Despite the snowy weather, a few of the siblings were able to make it up for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out and visiting with them. Of course there was a lot of 4-wheeling. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the newly returned missionary to post...

Hyrum with two of his favorite Aunts, Elise and Marae

Whitney, Juliet, Lindsey and Bronson enjoying a cup of hot cocoa on a very cold night.

Hyrum decked out in his snow attire with Uncle Bret in the background.

Marae, Brooklyn, Bella and Elise. Notice the pink baby... oh well, it's the idea that's important :)

Lydia with baby Kira (Nick and Larissa's foster daughter). Lydia LOVED the baby!

Jonnie just chilling

Hyrum's TaVaci

TaVaci is a performing arts group Hyrum is a part of. This is his second year and he really enjoys it. They had their Christmas concert today and a special visitor came at the end. Hyrum enjoyed the visitor, but Lydia wasn't too fond of him!

The story of our tree

It's been a tradition in our family the last 3 years to get our Christmas tree from the mountains. They aren't always the prettiest but we have a good time getting one and they smell nice. This year Jon found the "perfect tree". If only I would have taken a picture of it! It was actually 3 trees in one. Three trees came off one stump. I insisted that it was too large for our small living room, but it was cold and getting dark and Jon was excited about it so I gave it. Needless to say it was a little too large for our living room so two of the trees were cut off and placed outside and only one remains. It's still not the prettiest, but it's ours and we enjoy it :)





Notice the stump? The tree stand is off to the left of where the tree actually comes up. It fell over the 1st night we had it and got several of my presents wet so Jon had to tie it up. Understandably it needed a little help with it's balance.

This is a photo of the kids with their "North Pole". They had gotten out a few decorations and were playing North Pole. I thought it was cute and had to snap a photo.


This is Hyrum with the "fake" Santa at our ward party. Some time ago Hyrum learned the real Santa doesn't come to ward parties. The fake Santa's are Santa's friends and they pass along messages to the real Santa. Hyrum didn't hestitate when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, "An X-Box and a Wii." Unfortunately, for Hyrum, Mom and Dad let Santa know that we're not ready for either and a nice toy would be better.



Lydia didn't care too much for Santa. She loved watching him from a distance and wouldn't stop talking about him before and after the party, but would have nothing to do with sitting on his lap. She thought it was kind of him to give her an orange though :)

Thanksgiving weekend

We spent Thanksgiving in Washington this year with the DeCoria clan. All six kids and spouses were there. It was great to see everyone and the food was, of course, yummie!

Taunya and Brooke did a fabulous job decorating the table and room. The pictures don't look near as nice as it was. I'm glad someone has creativity in this family :)

Julie, Bubbs, Dallas

Kira/Emma(sorry Kira and Emma but at least I didn't call you "twin"), Savannah, Anika

Layken and Lydia

Hyrum with his huge turkey leg

Two rosy cheeked boys, Hyrum & Jackson, after running around in the gym working up an appetite!

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It's sort of joke in the family that when Jon and I come to visit my parents we always cause a stir in one way or another. My parent's had been wanting new carpet for quite sometime so Jon and I decided that was a weekend project that we'd help them get done. In less than 48 hrs we had carpet bought and laid and a few walls painted. The following are some photos of the process. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the end project. Mom or Taunya you'll have to send me some or post some on your blog that I can steal. The house looks great and Mom was even okay with the carpet we picked out. Way to go us!

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These next pictures are of Kaleb's 4th birthday party. The kids had a great time with the bounce house and trampoline.

Anika, Easton, Lydia

Easton and Lydia. Lydia's about 7 months older that Easton and Anika so she was a little more stable on the trampoline.

Lydia did good with the trampoline, but for some reason didn't care for the bounce house. You can tell by the smile on Hyrum's face he was having a great time!

Hyrum and Joshua