Always an adventure

This weekend was full of many things.  We had a science fair project to finish up, get ready for church and teach a new song to the primary.

Caleb chose to test different vinegars to see which one produced Co2 the best.  So, we got the supplies: 5 different vinegars, baking soda, balloons, water bottles and towels.  We needed lots of them.  It was fun to watch the balloons inflate with the reaction from the baking soda and vinegar.  And I think we may have learned a few things too.

See, we needed those towels. While Caleb and I were busy filling water bottles with vinegar and balloons with baking soda; Peter, William and Haley were conducting their own "experiments."  Experiments that landed them all in the bathtub afterwards, every kitchen towel dirty and a very big mess to clean up and mop.

The mess!!!  But they had fun.

Moving on to Sunday night and one sad boy.  Caleb wanted to play balloon volleyball with me after church.  I said yes, as soon as I had dinner almost done because Steve was coming for dinner.  He sweetly waited and then we started our game.  It was fun, we were laughing and going for the balloon. I hit it to Caleb, Caleb went with one of his goalie moves to dive for the balloon...sadly his head came into contact with the very hard window sill and they both lost.  Instant blood gushing from his head and that white piece he is holding is the window sill that his head broke off on contact.  OUCH!  I ran and grabbed a towel for his head and Rob and Caleb headed for Insta-care.  Steve pulled up at that moment to watch them drive away to eventually get 5 stitches.  Poor guy!  While Caleb was waiting for the stitches he pulled the towel away and found a chunk of hair.  Seems as if that white slab of windowsill cut his hair on impact.  What a tough kid.  Also, while they were gone and the rest of us were eating dinner Haley and William were playing in the brown room and suddenly we heard the sound of breaking glass.  Seems as if they knocked over one of the table lamps and it broke.  I think that room was cursed last night.  Then this morning he woke up with a bad ear-ache.  UGH.  I still sent him to school seeing as how he had this awesome science fair project to turn in.  Bad mom, I hope not.  But one thing is for sure, Life is always an adventure.  I will try to focus on the good parts of the adventure.

The countdown begins...8 week to go

Tonight we had Pa and Betty come over and start Peter's baptism countdown.  He received his "8" shirt and Pa and Betty shared with us their baptism stories.  Then we played baptism bingo where we read over different members of the Gray Family's baptism stories.  It was a fun night and we are excited to get to his baptism day and learn all about the special things it will bring.

Happy 2014!

Fun with glow-sticks...

Yummy dinner with glowing lights.  Even the fish ate by candle light.

We built a fire in the fireplace, played with glow sticks, it was a great way to ring in the new year.  Of course there were a few fights over glow stick colors and pretty much everyone was asleep before the rest of the neighborhood started celebrating with fireworks, but we had fun.
As we were sitting by the fire I asking everyone to think of their favorite memories from the last year.

This is one of Haley's memories that she mentioned, one day after dropping the boys off at school we found this baby calf in a field near our house.  We would visit it weekly and Haley and William loved how small and soft it was.

William remembered learning how to ride his bike.

 

And being on his own soccer team!

Peter remembered all the fun he had with his best friend, Parker, at Scofield.

 

Also the time when Peter spotted the bear in Scofield.  That was exciting.

And he could not forget the game when he scored his first goal!  He also mentioned playing with his brothers as being a favorite time of 2013.

Caleb mentioned so many things that he wanted to remember from this last year.  

Scofield was at the top!  That place is the best!

Turning one decade old!  This kid is the best ever.  I love him more and more! He proves to be a stud every day.

 

Caleb also said his favorite memory was his brothers.  These boys sure know how to fight at times and get on each other's nerves, but they also know how to be good together.  Caleb also wrote down his family, Popcorn the lamb (which he named), the Buffalo calf from Yellowstone, primary and singing (which he is awesome at), music and playing his violin, smiles, books and prayer.  Like I said, he is a stud.

We all remembered the fun times that we spent together.

The baby goat, Brownie!  A definite favorite!  OH, and the lambs and horses all following us in the field and scaring Haley.  Oh, the good times that we have together.

The buffalo getting a police escort in Yellowstone!  So awesome!!!

One of Diedre's personal favorites, hiking up the mountain at Scofield, and feeling so accomplished and together as a family when we made it to the top.  Boy was that a mountain!  At least it was for the 5 of us, one of which carried little Haley the whole way and the other three which did it all on their own.  Way to go us!!!!!

 So, as I was laying there, helping Haley go to sleep, and thinking about the past year and the new year that lay ahead; I was thinking about what I desire for the new year, some of my hopes for my family.
These are just some of the most important for my family:
For Rob, to help us feel close together.
For Caleb, to help him prepare for the priesthood next year.
For Peter, (this is a biggie) to help him feel happy.  He is such a wonderful boy, but boy can he get grumpy.  I want him to feel happiness.  And I also want for him to feel such an outpouring of the spirit when he is baptized that he never wants to let it go.
For William, for him to learn to read this year.
For Haley, to continue her love of singing.
Most importantly, I want to be a part of all their lives.  For us all to grow in happiness, to work together, to serve each other, and to have a hope the good that lies ahead.  I love this family of mine!

Christmas celebrations

Who says you have to celebrate only on the day itself?  The season is so fun when you spread the joy out all month long.

 We got a couple of good snow storms before Christmas and we were able to build a fort, have a good snowball fight (Caleb and Parent only participated) and we got some good sized icicles.

 Haley finally enjoys nursery (the last month of the year she got an awesome teacher and now loves it), better late than never.  She really enjoyed the present she got of bubbles.

 Yes, they do love each other every now and then.  This is Christmas Eve.

 We found a very cool house this year.  The decorations included a fire breathing sea monster, dinosaurs and a light up pig.  Oh, and they even had seals popping up out of the bush with a ball on the nose.  Not your typical santa and his reindeer here, people.

 Haley saw this snowman decoration and called it a robot.  So cute.  And of course Caleb needed a picture with it.

 Caleb always being inventive started sledding down this hill with no snow.  They had a pretty good time with it.

 Two of the loved Christmas presents this year.

This is a shot from Christmas Eve.  Caleb did a great job with Silent Night on the violin.  Seeing as how he only really practiced for 2 and a half days it was a pretty good job.  Peter also did great with his "Fiesta de la Posada (Party at the Inn)"song.  People were happy, for the most part.  They had fun with surprise presents, playing in the snow, time off from school and eating more sugar than real food for a good 3 days in a row.  

Christmas lunch Day 5

We went with a nativity theme today, plus the pringles because heck the boys like them.  I was rather proud of myself for thinking to put the animal cracker cookies in.

 So, this is what the boys ate at school.

But this is what they saw when they opened up the lunch bag...all wrapped up and ready for Christmas break to begin.

Its SNOWING!!!!!! and Christmas lunch Day 4

This picture does not do it justice!  The snowflakes are big and beautiful and there are lots and lots of them.  YEAH!!!!!

Snow means water for our lake, yes!  It means yummy snow ice-cream to eat after school with the boys.   Forts to build and snowball fights to keep happy instead of turn ugly.  We love it.  We even had snow-flake pancakes this morning to encourage the snow to come down.  It worked!

 And yes, I planned this lunch perfectly.  Snow!  The water bottle is my favorite, a melted snowman.

Christmas lunch Day 3

Rudolph!

 Kids make the holidays more fun.