Kelli's New Hair

Kelli has been begging me for quite some time to let her cut her hair like her cousins.  (Yes Wade and Jenny, your kids are an inspiration. Now she can be called bob #4.)  So I finally let her and another thing she wanted to do was donate her hair to locks of love.  I haven't seen her hair this short since she was 18 months old.

Well, here is your before shot...( her hair was back in a pony tail and I put it down so we could see the length, so it is a little messy.)















And after...

My Little Soccer Player

Kelli has started to play soccer this year.  She is doing quite well for her first time and she seems to enjoy it, especially when she is goal keeper.  She likes to dance and twirl around in front of the goal.  At her last game, I had to keep yelling at her, "Kelli, watch the ball!"  She is quite funny, but so are all the other kids on the team.  It's fun to watch all of them play soccer at such a young age.  The other great thing is that Kelli's daddy is her coach!

Getting ready and excited for the big game!















Preparing the mind for the big game!

Kelli in action!
















"This time, I'm watching the ball and I'm ready!"

Springtime Fun and Easter

With the weather warming up, you can't help but get outside and enjoy the warm sunshine. So that is what we did last week on Thursday. I packed Carson in the backpack, packed a picnic lunch, and headed out the door with the dog. We hiked around in "the wild" as what Kelli calls it. There are a lot a trails by my house which make it fun for exploration and exercise. Anyway, so we hiked around on a trail, sat down in the trees and had a picnic lunch.

Easter came and my kids loved every minute of it. We started out letting the kids check out what was in their Easter baskets. In the afternoon, we had a BBQ and then we went back out in "the wild" to search for eggs which I hid a little earlier. And of course they loved looking for their eggs.

Here they are headed out to the secret hiding spot.

Finding the eggs.

Oh and just a little side note, look at what we have found in "the wild" by my house.

It seems quite tame which I'm sure you can tell by how close I got to it and I wonder what on earth is a pheasant doing up here!

My Little Monster

Carson loves to climb in Millie's kennel and sometimes he won't come out. I love him to death but sometimes I wish I could just leave him there for a while.

Daddy/Daughter Ski Day

My dad and I get together every year and plan a daddy/daughter

ski day. This year we decided to plan a trip up the mountains by Gunnison. So last Wednesday, I packed up the kids and my dog and drove down to Gunnison. I slept there over night and my dad and I got up the next morning and got ready for our adventure.

We packed our day packs and a lunch, dropped my kids off at my sister-in-law's house(thanks again so much Jenny) and headed up the mountain in my dad's truck, pulling the snow mobiles. Once we got to a good spot, we parked the truck and unloaded the snow mobiles. Then we drove further up the mountain to a great spot where we could put on our skies and go for a hike. And boy did we hike. We hiked up on top of the Black Mountain (for those who know the area). It's about 10,000 some feet in elevation. And what a beautiful day. I have never seen the sky so blue and there was no wind. It was such a blast. Here are a few pictures we took of each other that day.

And yes it was warm. We came home with farmer's tans.

I liked this next picture because you can see Mt Nebo and Timp way out in the background. You could see everything from where we were at. It was amazing! The snow on the mountain peaks made it a lot easier to point out different locations.

After skiing around on top the Black Mountain, we sat down and at our lunch and skied off, where we found the snow mobiles at the bottom and then drove them back to the truck. What a day!

Thanks dad, for such a fun day. I look forward to it again in 3 years. Until then, I will miss this a ton.

February Fun

The month of February was a blast. We got to spend 2 weekends in a row at my mother and father-in-law's cabin. Over President's weekend we hung out at the cabin with Chris' family and celebrated his dad's birthday. Kelli and Nana playing an intense game of go fish. Kelli loved this game and after she and her Nana were finished, Kelli insisted on having every one else play a game with her.

Saturday we spent the day taking turns snow mobiling and then we finished off the day taking the kids tubing. Kelli and Carson on the tube. Carson loved it!

Kelli with her cousin Porter.

Such a fun weekend, then we got to do it all over again the next weekend with my side of the family.

We spent Saturday skiing at Deer Valley. The rest of the weekend, took the kids tubing, the adults went snowmobiling except my mom and dad. They were willing

to let all their kids and spouses go snowmobiling while they watched all their grandchildren. All 13 of them might I add.

Carson in the snow.

Kelli in the snow.

One of the times Carson and I went down the hill, my keys and his binkie fell out of my pocket. I was an idiot for not zipping it up. After a bunch of us went down the hill, I realized that my keys and Carson's binkie were missing. We all looked everywhere digging through the snow. I thought for sure they were gone until spring. Amazingly, we dug in the right spot and found them. One of the best days of my life!

I just love this picture of Carson with his daddy.

Oh, and we can't forget the cool snow fort that uncle Greg built.

Me and Chris.

Me, Chris, all my brother, and their spouses. Don't we look awesome!

Thanks Kory and Darlene for letting my side of the family use your cabin, snowmobiles, and etc. Also thanks for always inviting us to spend time with you at your cabin when you come to Utah and for the fun weekend in February.

Thanks mom and dad for letting us go skiing and planning this trip every year. It was such a blast.

I am sad to say that this year was the last year we can have a family ski trip with my parents for 3 more years to come. They got called to be mission presidents for the Rapid City, South Dakota mission. I am sure excited for them and I know they will do an awesome job, but sad that they will be gone for so long.

Chewy Oatmeal Fudge Bars

I promised a lot of people that I would get this recipe up on my blog from Kortney's baby shower. I apologize that it has taken me so long.

Oatmeal Mixture

Cream together: 1 cup margarine, 2 eggs, 2 cups brown sugar, 2 tsp vanilla. Set aside.

Mix 2 and 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking soda....then add to the above mixture and then add 3 cups oatmeal.

Chocolate Mixture

1 package 12 oz chocolate chips, 1 cup sweetened condensed milk, 2 T margarine, and 1/2 tsp salt. Melt in microwave and stir until well blended. Then add 2 tsp vanilla and 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts.( You can add the nuts if you want. I didn't add them when I made it)

Spread 2/3 oatmeal mixture in greased cookie sheet. (helps if your hands are greased because the oatmeal mixture sticks to them)

Cover with the chocolate mixture.

Dot spoon rest of oatmeal mixture on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!