Hubby Points

Josh earned some major hubby points when I came home to find this. He was pouring the base for one set of steps off of the deck...the deck that we started, what, maybe 3 or 4 years ago??

the Surgery Club

Lander joins the surgery club when he needs to have a hernia repaired. 

This is Lander, still in the operating room, just after the surgery before his breathing tube was removed. 

Dixie got to watch the entire surgery!!!

 Eagerly waiting for his surgery.

He was so, so, so (!!!!) excited to have surgery....until afterwards. 

Jake piled Lander's animals on him to comfort a hurting Lander.

 a brave little boy, trying to smile with mom & Jake. 

Oh yeah, and Lander's other best friends (Kitty, Donkey, Fu-fu, Gecko, and Froggy).

Jakster

Here are few tidbits about Jakey from this spring.

He had a band concert,

 coveted a car,

 and a hat,

 read a lot of books and did several book reports/projects,

and played with lots of friends.

(Jake, Devin and Brianna in St. George)

fire!

We woke up (EARLY!) to the sounds of firetrucks driving by the Chipmans' house while we were in Utah. Apparently, a hay barn had caught fire and trucks were filling up near the house. This nice fireman let us take his picture.

 Jake, Sydney, Jenna, Lander

General Conference

Jake was so impressed by Temple Square when we visited in February, that he asked if we could attend a live General Conference session. How could a parent say no to that?? We were able to get our hands on tickets for the Saturday morning session. Jake LOVED it. He told us many times in his most sincere and respectful way, "that is so much more entertaining that watching it on tv." Entertaining, huh? Well, okay. I'm not sure that was the exact response we were looking for, but we'll take it.

Grams 79th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Grams!

She was princess for the day while celebrating her birthday at Shauna's with most of the family.

 Dixie, Beth, Grams, Shelly, Dayna

Grammy, Shauna, Samantha, Kylie, Ava, Grace, Tre

Spring is HERE!

I shouldn't be so excited to see spring, after our barely-there winter, but I just can't help it! The boys have been exhausting themselves outside in the balmy fifty-something weather and it's been simply wonderful! Our little garden seedlings are growing in the window seal. Little banks of snow are all but disappeared. Day light savings is here. Summer is on its way. Hurray!!

Here are some pictures that I took this evening as the boys enjoyed the warm weather.

Hayden W, Lander, Dillan S, Reuben W

Lander

 Reuben W, Hayden W, Lander, Dillan S

Jake

 Dillan S and Jake

Jake Graduates

from the D.A.R.E. program

a school program to help teach kids to avoid drugs, alcohol and violence

our first blizzard

Just so happened that the first blizzard that we experienced this winter fell on Leap Day. It wasn't a bad blizzard...it mostly just blew our meager few inches of snow away and into our trampoline pit. The pit usually fills up with snow and is the main backyard attraction, but until today it hadn't had much snow. The boys were so excited that they braved the bitter weather, building a snow cave until after dark.

Leap Day 2012

 Lander took Leap Day literally. 

He wouldn't stop jumping and climbing all over Josh.

boys weekend

Josh spent the weekend at a shooting club with the guys, honing his "necessary" skills. 

They had a ton of fun. Josh earned the "distinguished graduate" award. Very difficult for a first timer.

??, Josh, Jeff W, ??

then vs now

The first picture was taken in 2004 on a visit to Temple Square. We didn't make it back until 2012. I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison of the photos to see how much we've all changed in between the visits. Look at those itty-bitty boys!!!

the day that the theater burned down

Saturday, February 18th started out with chores. Then we decided that we should go to the movie. Ten minutes into Sherlock Holmes II, fire alarms sounded and we were forced to evacuate the movie theater. It seemed that their was a fire. Yippee. So, it was 2:30 pm and we didn't know what to do. On a whim, we decided that we should meet up with the Chipmans at the Little America and go to Temple Square. So, by 3:30 we were off, headed to Utah.

Jake, Lander, Sydney & Jenna riding Trax. This was a first for the boys.

 standing in front of the organ at the Old Tabernacle

 the kids were awed by the Cristos

 Dixie and the little (or not so little!) boys

Superbowl Party

Our version of a superbowl party...

TV watching & a little accupuncture

 OUCH! Looks like that one hurt!

(and yes, those are Spongebob sheets covering the window)

p.s. This was taken just before Josh nearly passed out. What a pansy. (XOX-Babe!)

 Lander wanted to try it, so Papa put a needle in his hand. See the green plastic top?

 We bribed Jake to try it. He was too chicken to try it without a little incentive.

Lander, Jake & Papa

Ski School

The boys chose ski school instead of basketball this year. We became a little worried when snow seemed to skip over Idaho this winter, but we ended up having just enough to ski on. The boys loved it & picked up on it really well. We hope to do it again next year.

Dixie's last day of....

GLASSES!

This picture was taken at lunch just before Dixie's lasik appointment (hence the no makeup & glasses....YIKES!). This little girl took our order. It was so sweet!

P.S. The lasik was a hit! 20/15 vision in the left eye, 20/10 vision in the right!!! Woot! Woot!