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

Lander's Hidden Talent

Good thing Thanksgiving is tomorrow. It looks like Lander desperately needs some food.

(It's worse in real life. I'm still having nightmares!) 

JJ Designs

Josh is never one to sit still and he always needs to have a creative outlet. This fall he started to use his creativity to design knives. He draws the knife blade, then takes it to a local (but also one of the best in the country) Damascus steel producers who then forge his blades to his specifications. Then Josh creates the handles. 

Tae Kwan Do Demonstration

The martial arts academy hosted a demonstration/fund raiser. This was the first time that Jake and Lander had to perform in front of a real audience. Lander was thrilled to be wearing his new uniform (even if his name wasn't embroidered on the back yet). Both boys broke their boards on the first try. They did a good job!

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

Egg Drop Experiment

Jake had an assignment: figure out a way to drop an egg without breaking it. The rules:

1. The egg has to be raw

2. The egg and it's package can only weigh 120 grams

3. The package can not be bigger than 6"x6"

Our solution? A ziplock bag stuffed with Rice Krispies.

The first attempt at 3 feet worked, so we tried 8 feet.

 It worked.

Good thing too, because Jake's science grade depended on it.

In class they would be graded on whether the egg could survive a 3 foot and 6 foot fall. The grand-champions would compete for a 20 foot fall, so we thought we had better test out our egg.

Jake drops his egg from the second story window.

IT WORKED!

IT WORKED!

Jake went to school, confident in his abilities, but when it came time for testing, his bag flipped just slightly wrong and his egg broke on the 20 foot drop. Bummer!

Straw Maze

We (finally) made it to the straw maze. It was so much fun! The boys ran on top of a giant tire. We raced through the maze at record speed and were told that were the fasted that the employees had ever seen.

It still took us more than 15 minutes!

We didn't tell the employee that the reason we were so fast was because Jake was worried that the sun would set. Sunset means that the employees haunt the maze.

He was having none of that!




Lander, Dixie and Jake

Jake does flips off of giant straw bales while Lander awaits his turn

Lander & Arrow of Light

Lander worked very hard on his Cub Scouts. He earned EVERY badge as a Webelo and was awarded the Arrow of Light, the only Cub Scout award that can be worn on a Boy Scout uniform.

Way to go, Buddy!

fall days

Summer or fall. Which season is our favorite? Right now, we are leaning towards fall!

Belt Testing Time, Again

Jake and Lander earn their orange belts in Tae Kwan Do. Dixie earns her yellow belt.

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.

Seattle

We stayed overnight in downtown Seattle. We swam in the pool, walked to the Space Needle and enjoyed pizza at a very trendy and urban-style downtown restaurant.

The boys were terrified.

They were convinced that we would be mugged or killed.

I'm glad that they were wrong.

Friday Harbor & the San Juan Islands

Dixie and Josh at Friday Harbor

Even good times have to end, so it was with a sad good-bye that we boarded the ferry for the States for the long ride home. We stopped briefly at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  It made us realize that our arms wouldn't have to be twisted very hard to come back to stay.

The ferry ride was very beautiful. We started in Sydney, BC and ended in Anacortes, Washington, passing what felt like hundreds of little green islands.

Except this island. It was strangely brown. If you look closely you can see a herd of sitka deer. In the 1970s turned Speiden Island into a safari-style retreat.  Hunting is no longer allowed and the sitka deer population has skyrocketed. They were everywhere!

Sitka deer are a subspecies of mule deer, but considerably smaller. They are good swimmers and can occasionally be seen crossing the deep channels between islands.

Jake started to get a bit antsy after a few hours of sitting on the ferry. He had to work hard to contain himeslf.

 Lander overlooking San Juan Island