Playing the President's Piano

Our family had the opportunity to eat dinner with President Kim Clark of BYU Idaho and his wife, Sue (who is Dixie's first cousin once removed, or some other configuration!) at their home in Rexburg. While there, they offered to let Lander play a song on their piano. On a side note, this was also Lander's 12th birthday!

Birthday Surprise

Josh unveils his birthday surprise for Dixie, 

a new bench for the front porch that he made.

best Father's Day ever

Lander makes a card for Josh on Father's Day 

Easter in Driggs

We celebrated Easter in Driggs. Lander and Grams pose by the fantastic cake that she made for the party.

It's become a bit of a tradition. And tradition dictates that we do an indoor (it's Idaho and cold outside - duh!) Easter egg hunt.

Valentine Pig

Lander's class had to make their own boxes for their Valentine's Day cards. Lander wanted to make a pig. This is what we came up with. Cards and treats were placed in the pig's mouth.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning begins with a few traditions.

Tradition #1: Mom and Dad tell the boys when they can come out of their rooms. 

(This year it was 7 am)

Tradition #2: Shower, get dressed and comb your hair 

(who wants grubby-haired, pj pictures? Sorry, but not us!)

Tradition #3: Take picture in hallway 

(Anyone else notice how they don't really look little anymore?)

Tradition #4: After the hallway pictures, 

the boys can come down to see what Santa brought.

(Looks like Jake is pleased!) 

 Tradition #5: Snap a few photos before the crazy begins!

Dixie, Jake and Lander

Tyler, Travis, Lucas, Jake and Lander on Christmas morning

Tyler & Travis

Jake and Lander have a special bond with Tyler and Travis and were thrilled that they could come up for Christmas this year.  The "Big Boys" did a great job of keeping the "Little Boys" entertained so that the grown ups could also have a nice time.

Tyler and Lander play in the snow

 Lander shows off his gingerbread house after FHE.

 Alan poses with the presents on Christmas Eve. The boys love how silly their uncle can get.

Dixie loving on Lucas. 

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Driggs this year with the cousins, Shelly and Jarrod,  Nana, Grams and Todd.

Jake, Drew, Ava, Lander, Jayden sitting at the "kids" table

Lander turns 11

All that Lander wanted for his birthday was a demo team uniform and bow staff so he could join the tae kwan do demo team and a remote control car.

The demo team uniform meant that he had to commit to 6 months of being on the demo team which includes putting on special performances. Mom made him think about it for about 6 months to be sure that he was really willing to make the commitment.

He did not expect the uniform for his birthday and was so excited!




Papa joins us for Lander's birthday celebration

40

Yep, it's true.

Josh turned 40.

Happy birthday, babe!

Josh opens Lander's gift, a Skylander video game character.

Lander lights the candles on the cake.

Yellow Chairs

Josh went shopping for Dixie's birthday

and returned home with these. Swoon!

Nana's Birthday

Lander and Nana. Celebrating Nana's birthday.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Paying our Respect

Memorial Day was spent tidying up family grave sites. We started at the Bates Cemetery in Driggs.

Jake places flowers at Peepaw's grave

Lander missing Peepaw 

Then we moved on to Jackson, Wyoming to the "wild cemetery" next to Snow King Resort. Jake and Lander's great-great and great-great-great grandmothers are buried here.

Lander cleans weeds and debris from Grandma Mamie's headstone

Grams was worried that she would not ever be able to make the trek to the grave site because it is steep, rocky and uneven. But, as you can see, she made it, and was so glad that she could.

Shauna, Dixie, Grams, Jake

 All done!

Shauna, Grams, Dixie & Jake, ready for a little break

that's my boy!

Lander came home from school eager to share his Mother's Day gifts. The first was a coupon jar with lots of fun acts of service that Lander was giving to his mom. Some of the coupons were scratched out.

"Mom, I already do those anyways!" 

This was the first one that Lander chose. On purpose!

What a sweet, sweet boy!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter in Driggs with Grams and Nana.

Lander counts his Easter eggs

 Jake finds eggs on the mantle

The boys enjoying their contraban Kinder Surprise Eggs, egg shaped chocolates that have little toys hidden inside. We had to smuggle them in to the US from the Netherlands. Customs will confiscate them if they find them. Wouldn't want kids to choke, right? ;)

3.141592653.....

Jake's been learning about Pi at school and since it was March 14th (Get it? 3-14...), we decided that we should "celebrate" by going out for pie and watching silly youtube videos quoting pi out to a hundred places. Well that, and the Pepsi Max prank on youtube. (Couldn't stop laughing at that one!) If you haven't seen it, it's a must! This was our attempt at getting a nice picture of the boys.

They take after their father.

Disc Golf in December

The boys left to go Disc golfing. This is what they did instead.

Christmas PJ's

Christmas PJ picture time. 

Say "Cheese!"

Lander, Jayden, Jake

Ava, Drew

 Okay, one more time, kids.

Ten photos later (channel Spongebob narrator voice).

Another parenting lesson in futility learned.

sledding at Targhee

Sledding at Grand Targhee digressed to this:

Drew, Jayden, Lander, Jake, Ava

So glad that we bought tickets!

Christmas Decorations

Lander decided to decorate the buffet for Christmas. This is what he came up with. All on his own. Can I repeat that?

ALL. ON. HIS. OWN. 

Good job!!