We Can't Believe This Snow

The snow just keeps coming! When these pictures were taken we had at least 15 inches of snow and according to the news we got 3 more inches the next day. We are loving it!!!

I'm not sure why we let the kids play with sharp jagged sheets of ice!

This is our walk to the sledding hill...isn't it gorgeous?With all this snow in our backyard you'd think we could build a great snowman, but no, the snow is so dry it won't stick together...perfect snow for skiing though!

Las Cruces

This year we got an early Christmas present to go visit my family down in New Mexico for Thanksgiving. We had a great time! Thanks Mom and Dad for such a wonderful gift. And thank you to my brother Conrad and his wife Evie for letting us sleep at their house.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Oma and Opa's HouseOur cute niece Hayli

Hayli, Conrad and EvieJack enjoying his first Thanksgiving dinner he could actually eat!Our visit to Carlsbad Caverns Seeing the Christmas Lights on the Pecos River
One day we went to a Dessert Museum (really it was a zoo). There were a lot of fun things to see there, but Megan's favorite part was this report some kid did about New Mexico and she just had to have her picture taken next to it!
Every time we go to New Mexico we have to go to White Sands (these incredible white sand dunes). You can sled all day long without getting cold!

A Winter Wonderland!

It's a miracle! We have had snow in Portland for the past 7 days and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. The kids got the entire week before winter break off, which really isn't hard here since they'll cancel school at the sight of a snowflake. Megan and Porter were not one bit upset that they missed their class parties on Friday. I guess sledding, snowball fights, snowmen, and making snow angles trumps parties. To top it off no church for 2 weeks in a row - good thing we're already so spiritual!! HA HA! Truth be told, I am going to miss not going to church tomorrow. The Sunday before Christmas is one of my favorite.

These pictures were taken the first day of snow....we're now up to 10 inches!

Jack's Birthday Card

Ok, so Jack's birthday was well over a month ago, but a few days after his birthday our computer crashed and I have been off line for well over a month. (If you don't really want to hear about our computer woes skip the small print.) I ordered a new computer from Dell just hours before my computer crashed and it took over a month to get the new computer! There were lots of reasons why it took so long....Dell was behind on manufacturing because of the special promotion they were doing and DHL (the delivery company) lost the computer for awhile and then just plain forgot to put it on the truck everyday after that. Sean finally drove to the DHL office and picked it up himself. Needless to say we will be getting some of our money back.
Now back to Jack! Oma and Opa sent him this birthday card. It's pure entertainment each time he opens it. Check out the foot work!

Happy Birthday Jack!

I can't believe it! Jack just turned one a couple of days ago! He even got to celebrate twice. Once the day before his birthday with Nana, Poppy and Destiny and the second time on his real birthday. He was a little dissappointed come day 3 when he didn't get another slice of cake!

If you play this video you might want to plug your ears in the beginning while we're singing "Happy Birthday to You!"

1st Day of Soccer Too!

Not only was it the first day of school it was also the 1st day of soccer. Needless to say the kids slept well that night! Maybe as the year goes on we'll get some good action shots.

1st Day of School

To start the year off right we had a big breakfast at our house and invited the neighborhood kids to help eat it. We had to wake up extra early to pull it off, but it was a lot of fun!

It was so weird sending Megan and Porter off to school. Porter is in kindergarten and Megan is now in the 2nd grade. They have had a great start and both love their teachers.

We Need To Take This Girl To Vegas!

Last week we spent a couple of days on the coast at Seaside. We played a few games at the arcade on the boardwalk and Megan was on a winning streak! With $10 worth of quarters she won over 2,000 tickets! The most expensive prize in the place was 270 tickets. The kids got every prize they could ever want and we still had left over tickets, which we gave to the family standing behind us in line. They deserved it after having to wait for our kids to decide what they wanted.

Expressions From Jack

Money Ball

Sean came up with this game we like to call "Money Ball". It's a win, win for everyone. Sean gets to practice his golf swing while the kids practice their catching skills. For every ball they catch they either get 10 points or 10 cents (depending on how generous Sean feels that day), if they at least touch the ball they get 5 points/cents. After all the balls have been hit the kids gather them up and place the balls in a pile right next to their dad. Now Sean feels like he has his own little driving range in our backyard with ball retrievers and everything! Don't worry, he doesn't use real golf balls, he uses those light weight plastic ones!

Jack's Favorite Pastime

This Must be the Difference Between Boys and Girls!

Megan and Porter asked me to record them singing the 4th Article of Faith. Their performance matches their personalities to a T!

Wobbly Walker

Jack is now 10 months old and took his 1st 5 steps this last Sunday. After he did that we raced for the camera to try and capture it on video and this is what we got!

Porter turns 5!

Porter's birthday was a two day event.

Day 1 happened on his real birthday, July 31. Oma came from New Mexico to help celebrate. First we went to Out of this World ...

Then we went home and opened presents from the family. Porter finally got a new bike.
Next, Oma treated Megan and Porter to Chuck-E-Cheese. It was kid heaven!
On one of the games Megan hit the Jackpot and won 100 tickets, 2 balloons and cotton candy! Can you see her excitement? To top the day off Sean surprised Porter with a giant donut cake called the "Beast"! Porter had to run and get his "Fire Hat" before blowing out the candles.
Day 2 Happened Saturday, August 2. This was Porter's "Donut Birthday Party" (can you tell this kid loves donuts?) where he invited a few friends over for games, donuts and lots of fun.

The Cake

A Few Donuts

An Obstacle Course

Frosting Tag (really silly string)

A Donut Eating Contest

A Scavenger Hunt

Happy Birthday Porter!
We Love You!