Minecraft Mother-Son Date

The middle school hosted a mother-son, Minecraft themed party. Lander and I decided to go all out, and made these super awesome (if I must say so myself) Minecraft t-shirts to wear. They were the talk of the party!

 We played all sorts of games and activities. Lander was in his glory.

Rasberries & the Dilemma

We had a bit of a dilemma....what to do with the enormous piles of old raspberry canes? In the past we had placed them in the garbage can, but Dixie wanted to try something different. Josh was sure that it would end in an epic failure, and melting of the fence. So we made a few smaller piles and Lander readied himself with the hose while we waited for a wind-free day. 

Our plan worked!

just a normal spring day in Idaho

Beautiful, isn't it?

Composting = Happy Wife

Good Hubby Award goes to Josh when he helps Dixie build a compost bin

Airsoft Wars

Spring and warmer weather means that little warriors emerge at our house

Lander D.A.R.E.'s you!

Lander graduated from the D.A.R.E. program, designed to help kids choose to stay away from drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. I "dare" you to find him in the crowd.

Sorry.

Couldn't help myself.

He's third row from the bottom, third kid from the right

 Lander and Kaiden Stowell, one of his best friends this year

J.J. Designs

 Josh has been busy coming up with more knife designs

a little friendly competition

Jake and Lander performed at the Friendship Open, a tae kwan do tournament and demonstration in West Jordan, Utah. They "competed" in two events, the demo team and a bow staff demonstration.

Lander and Jake perform the bow staff routine that they created

It was so much fun to watch them perform!

Lander jumps off of Master Laderman and breaks a board during the demo

 the demo team

 Jake & Lander show off the team trophy

 and their medals

shooting it up at Front Site

We spent a long weekend at Front Site, the gun training school in Puhrump, Nevada, known for it's brothel and shooting club. 

We do what we can to expose our children to the world, apparently.

And when that isn't enough, we head to Wal-Mart. 

The boys did a 4-day kids course. They hiked, learned survival techniques, and even experimented on ways to purify water. Jake refused to try the ropes course (it is pretty gynormous). Both boys got to shoot an oozi. 

Josh and Dixie spent those four days in the Defensive Handgun course. The normally pleasant weather was frigid, and wet.

Score!

Okay, maybe not a score, but the sun eventually came out, and the four layers of coats did too.

It took a day or two for Dixie to start to gain good trigger control (frozen fingers didn't help!), but she was *starting* to get the hang of it by the last day, enough that she earned "graduate". Too bad she wasn't good enough to win the competition at the end. 

Oh well.

Guess you win some, and you lose some, right?

BYU-Idaho Demonstration

Lander performs a nunchuck routine 

(he is on the left of Master Laderman who is wearing white)

Jake & Lander perform "tae geuk pal jang", a fairly technical form

(Jake is on left of Master Laderman, Lander is on the right)

Demo at BYU-Idaho

The boys had the opportunity to do a tae kwan do demonstration at BYU-Idaho during half time. The crowds were riveted. Mostly because it was 99% parents and family. But we didn't care. It was a great chance to learn how to perform in front of a crowd.

Master Laderman instructs the students

 Lining the kids up 

(Jake and Lander are in the far back, black uniforms)

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.

Little Snow Blowers

It was with great sadness (seriously!) that Dixie realized she couldn't blow the snow thanks to her recent surgery. This meant that it was time to teach the boys.

They insisted on shoveling snow at first, but then realized that it would take several hours to do the entire driveway and consented to learning how to use the big, scary snowblower.

They did great! And now mom actually kind of likes sending them out to do her old chore!

Don't leave, Grandma!

Grandma Nala was kind enough to come pamper Dixie after her surgery. The boys were SO (!!!) happy to have her here.

Jake was very upset that he missed saying goodbye (he was at a scout campout) and Lander wanted her to come back as soon as she drove away. They sure love their Grandma Nala!

Grandma Nala and Lander take a few last pictures before she departs.

Bye,  bye Grandma! We love you!

Grandma gets cello lessons

Lander teaches Grandma Nala how to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on his cello

Surgery Club, Revisited

Pretending that it wasn't really a problem was no longer working, so Dixie finally had to get her shoulder fixed.

She had hurt it while lifting an unconscious patient more than 3 years ago and it was progressively getting worse.

Lander was worried that she would beat him in the "Surgery Club". Apparently, he is keeping tabs on who has the most surgeries and was concerned that his mom would beat him.

The shoulder surgery went well, with a full recovery expected with a BUT "you cannot do any exercise for 3 months."

THREE months!?! You have got to be kidding! Blech!

Tiffany brightened the day with this unexpected flower surprise. Josh was a little nervous, realizing that perhaps he should of thought of flowers first. Oh well! They were amazing! Most of the flowers lasted for 3 full weeks!

Thanks for the wonderful flowers, Tiff!

Concentration, Sir!

It was belt testing time for the boys and Grandma Nala was able to watch their performance. They were nervous, but they passed!

Instructor Laderman even allowed Dixie to demonstrate breaking a board using a side kick so that she could show off some of her skills to her own mommy.

A Tragedy & a Note

Lander had a little mishap in his room and the shattered stained glass picture frame that mom made was broken.

He was devastated.

And sure that he was going to be "dead meat" when mom got home.

He survived.

Mom wasn't mad, just a little sad. Has she fixed it yet? Not quite. Maybe she will get to it this summer...

"I'm being a missionary!"

I passed Jake and his friend, Thomas R, as they were out collecting fast offerings. This is something that they do once a month and the money is donated to the poor and needy.

It was really cold so I stopped to offer them a ride. 

They said, "No thanks. You know, we were just talking about it. We are out here walking, just like missionaries. Look! We are being missionaries!"

They were so happy and eager as they performed their Priesthood duty. It was the perfect ending to my day!

New Years at Badger Creek

The Anderson family invited us for a fun sledding adventure at Badger Creek near Tetonia. Badger Creek holds a special place in our hearts. It started what we endearingly call the "make it or break it" weekend while Josh and I were dating.

Dixie had invited Josh on an overnight trip to Ricks College's Badger Creek Outdoor Center sponsored by the ROTC class that she was taking. She invited Josh, who she had been dating for 2 or 3 weeks. (Crazy, I know). We went and on the second morning arranged to have Gramps pick up us so that we could visit Josh's grandparents, who Dixie had met once before.

While we were visiting the grandparents, a brutal blizzard struck up. We were stranded.

For FIVE days.

That's five days of no makeup,

no deodorant,

no clean underwear,

no glasses

During those five days, Dixie lost a contact lens, had to borrow Grams' deoderant, went commando so that she could have clean underwear and even slept in clothes provided by Grams. We ran out of eggs.

Good times.

Apparently, it was a "make it weekend".

So, it was with these memories that we headed back to Badger Creek with the kiddos (and their friend Keaton L) for some New Years fun.

Cross Country Skiing

Josh decided that it was time to teach the boys how to cross country ski. They loved it!

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. 

Meet "Sammy"

The cycle of life continues. Buy a baby pet. Pet dies. Buy another pet.

This is Jake's newest acquisition, a long haired Siberian hamster he named "Sammy".

the drive home from Driggs

The boys passed these two bull moose while driving home from Driggs. 

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