February Fun

It is still winter here in Cache Valley.  We are continuing to enjoy the snow and the cold weather.  

I am training for a 30K so I am continuing my training despite the cold.  I needed to do an 18 mile run this week so I decided to run up to Hardware Ranch.  Yes, this was all uphill but luckily it was a slow grade and I took my time.  When I got up to Hardware, I saw this huge heard of elk.

There were elk everywhere!  It really made the run exciting to see all of the wildlife.  Russell and Charlotte met me at the top and drove me home.  They were excited to see the elk as well. 

Over President's Weekend we took advantage of the kids being out of school and took them to Logan Canyon to a place called "The Sinks."

This was an amazing area to go sledding.  The hills were so steep and big it seemed like you were falling forever whenever you went down them.  We also went so fast we thought we were going to crash and die!

No matter how scared we were to go down, we just kept going.  The bad part of the hills was coming back up to the top.  Because the hills were so big, it took a lot of energy and effort to get back up.  It was totally worth it though!

Even though winter is my least favorite season, there are some fun things to do during the winter!

 Another fun thing we did this month was make bread.

Charlotte loved helping with kneading the bread.  She also liked watching the bread rise and get bigger.  Mostly our favorite part was eating the bread!

This month during the Canyon Colt recognition assembly, Logan was recognized.

Logan was so excited to be recognized in this assembly for being a great student and for using the 7 Habits.  His teacher gave him the award for being one of a kind.  She said he is such a happy kid, a hard worker, and always gets his work done.  Good job Logan.

Ski Day

What a fun day with this favorite girl of mine. Emily and I got the chance to go "Ski the Beave" at Beaver Mountain. It was the 4th and 5th grade ski day for Canyon Elementary and Emily really wanted to go. It has been at least 15 years since I have skied and it was not a fun time, but I sucked it up for this pretty girl and off we went. We loaded the bus early in the morning and what a cold day to remember. The wind chill up at the school was chilling us to the bone. Emily was so excited to get up to the mountain and start skiing. The drive was fun, Emily and I talked and played games. I love seeing this girl smile. 

When we got to the mountain, the staff did a great job getting all of the kids ready and it was way organized. Emily got her skies and I helped get the kids ready with all their gear. After everyone was outfitted, it was off to the instructors to teach us how to ski. Emily did a great job. I thought she would be scared and very timid, but she was all in and loved it. The instructors we great with her and she was learning fast. 

I was watching and learning and catching on. I was a little timid because of my last skiing adventure, so I took it slow and easy. The instructions were a great help and I wish I knew these things when I first started to ski. Every time Emily accomplished one of the things the instructors had them do she was way excited and grinning ear to ear. She caught on really fast. They had us start with the basics by learning how to walk sideways up the hill and clip in and clip out of our bindings. Then it was off to the Magic Carpet hill for a little bunny hill. Emily did a good job with her first time down the hill. They taught us the "Y" stopping method and we both took it to heart and got the stopping part down. We both had our skis close to the "Y" method every time we went down the hill just in case. After going down the hill a lot and getting better every time, the instructors cut us free to go have fun. It was off to the real fun to see what kind of skiers we really were. We did the one hill they said was the best one for us to do first. We both jumped on the lifts and headed to the top of the hill for our first official time down the hill. 

Here we are all smiling and having a great time. It was a gorgeous day and we were all getting hot. Who knew that skiing was such a crazy work out. We shredded off some of our clothing and cooled off. The first time down the hill was so much fun for both of us. Emily was a pro at it. The first time she fell she was embarrassed and started to apologize to Ayzleigh and me. We both told her to not apologize. She got back up and started again. I was very impressed with her and how strong she was to get up and keep going. There was a funny time where she and Ayzleigh went by themselves and I took another hill. I fell a couple times trying to be outgoing. I got to the bottom of the hill to wait for Emily to catch up. I kept waiting and waiting and I was getting a little worried. Then I looked down toward the lifts and there she was in line and ready to do it again. I was way surprised that she was down that fast and in line. I skied down to her and laughed at her and told her she was speedy.  She and Ayzleigh both laughed at me. Emily said she was going down the mountain so fast and couldn't stop. I was way impressed and started to laugh with them. I thought to myself that I am glad she was able to stop before she got to the lift. What a go-getter. 

Check out her skiing in this video.

We skied for about 4 hours and by the end of the day we were both exhausted and ready to go home. Okay, Emily could have kept skiing forever, it was me that was tired and ready to be done. It is not fun getting older. I thought my legs were in good shape but after skiing I thought otherwise. We had so many fun memories together and really cannot wait until next year. I think we went down the hills at least 10 or more times and every time we got better and better. Emily was fearless in her abilities. I think we need to get this girl skiing next year. 

Happy Camper Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  This year the kids really got into it and had some fun parties at school. They really racked in the treats too.

In Emily's class, she had to build her own Valentine box.  This box had to be extra awesome because she was having a competition with all her classmates on who could make the best box.  We thought and thought about what Emily could make to insure a win.  Here is what we came up with:

We call it the Happy Camper!  I think it turned out so cute!  The box is in the shape of an oval and then we decorated it with paper and lace to make it look just like a camp trailer.  We even put her name on the front window visor just like the Terry trailers but instead it is an Emily trailer.  Emily absolutely loved how this turned out and was really excited to take it to school to show off to her class.  

On Valentine's Day, her class voted for her Happy Camper box.  She won "Best of Show" in the competition!  She was so excited to win.  Russell and I were excited too because we had both helped her build this masterpiece.  We considered it a win for the whole family because we all helped.  

Russell sent me these flowers for Valentine's Day.  They are so beautiful and they smell so good.  I love them!  We all had a great Valentine's Day.

Wizard of Oz

This week has been the Leaders in the Arts week at the elementary.  As part of that week, the school put on a musical play.  This year they did the Wizard of Oz.  Emily and Colby wanted to be part of the play so they each picked a part to play.  Emily tried out for the Scarecrow part but unfortunately did not get that part.  Instead of the Scarecrow, she got to be a Munchkin.  Colby was part of the Stage Crew and loved helping with the play.

 

Emily made a great Munchkin.  She got to dance and sing with the whole group when Dorthy landed in Oz.

This is their "Wicked Witch is Dead" song and dance.  If you look closely, you will see Colby holding up the door to Dorthy's house.  He was so funny to watch because he kept sticking his head out and peeking around the corner of the props.  He liked looking out to see all of the people.  Russell and I liked watching for him and laughing when we saw his face.

Along with being a Munchkin, Emily was also a Poppy in another scene.  In the same scene, Colby made his on stage debut as a Crow.  He and the other stage crew kids flew on the stage and around the main characters dressed as Crows.  The Lion fought them off though.  Then Emily and the other Poppies put the main characters to sleep with their magical pollen.

The whole play was amazing and so good for an elementary.  The actors were great and it was very well put together.  Emily and Colby did an awesome job on their parts too.  At the end of the four shows, the whole cast got together for a big picture.  We gave Colby and Emily a fun congratulatory note.  Way to go kids!

Another fun thing Emily got to do this week was the participate in the One Book One School assembly.  As part of the Lighthouse leadership team, her group put on an assembly to introduce the book the school would be reading together.  

In the skit, they talked about having dreams and working toward them.  Emily played her fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Lockhart.  According to the skit, Mrs. Lockhart's dream is to someday be a Utah Jazz cheerleader!  Mrs. Lockhart loves the Jazz so this was a perfect for her!

This week has been a week of theater.  We also went down to West Jordan to see Paul's play.

This year he was in the the musical, Cinderella.  Paul played a part in the ensemble.  He was great in the play.  Paul was an excellent ball room dancer and singer.  The kids loved this play as well.  Way to go, Paul!

We love celebrating the Arts!

Happy 7th Birthday, Logan!

Happy Birthday Logan!!  Can you believe this kid is seven years old?

This year for his birthday Logan wanted a Ninjago birthday cake.  So I made him the blue ninja, Jay.  He loved it.  

On his birthday, he was recognized in his class and got to have a celebration.

Logan loves his teacher, Mrs. McDaniel, and she is really great for Logan.  Logan loved being the center of attention in his class.  Each of the classmates got to sing happy birthday to him and ask him a question or give him a complement.  We could tell that Logan is a ladies man because all of the girls rose their hand and told him he was their best friend.  I loved hearing all of the kids say how nice and friendly Logan was to all of them.  He is definitely a friendly person and loves to be around people.

For his birthday this year, we decided to have a family party.  Logan wanted to go to the Cache Valley Fun Park and play the arcade games. 

The kids had a great time playing all of the games and winning as many tickets as they could.  Logan liked the Skeeball game, Colby liked the basketball shooting game, Emily liked the Fruit Ninja game, and Charlotte liked the duck smash game.  Russell and I played the games that gave us the most tickets.  With all of the kids tokens combine, we had about 250 tickets to turn in for prizes.  We split them up and everyone got to choose their favorite prizes at the desk.  After we had turned in all of our prize tickets, the kids wanted to try out the photo booth.  I didn't want to pay for the photo booth so we just used my phone in the booth instead.  I think they turned out pretty funny.

After playing at the Fun Park for a while, we headed to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  This is one of Logan's favorite places to eat.  We loved our meal.  Logan was surprised when the waitress brought out the Texas Roadhouse Birthday Saddle and had him get on it and ride while they sang to him.

He thought that was pretty cool.  He loved having everyone sing to him but he wasn't sure he like everyone looking at him.  What a great birthday surprise.

When we had finished dinner, we went back home to open presents.

Logan received a lot of fun presents like new shoes, clothes, a model car, and Ninjago Legos.  He and Colby loved building the Legos.  Then they had Spinjitzu battles with all of their Ninjago Legos.  The new Lloyd Ninja won every time because he had an actual spin shooter.

The best present of all for Logan was his new bike! 

He couldn't wait to go outside and ride it around the block.  This bike was something he had been wanting for a while because his old bike was really trashed.  The tires were so wore out they had absolutely no tread on them at all.  This new bike is also bigger and much cooler looking he said.  He was really excited for this.

When we got too cold to stay outside any longer, we went back in for cake and ice cream.  We loved singing Happy Birthday to Logan. 

Logan is even old enough to cut and serve his own cake.  We couldn't wait for him to give us a slice of his cake.  

Logan is our sweet boy.  He is always thinking of others and loves to play.  He is very happy-go-lucky and carefree.  Sometimes this is a bad thing because he is more interested in playing than doing what he is supposed to, but, on the other hand, I think we all need to be a little more like Logan.  Logan loves playing with Charlotte and the other kids.  He is very adaptable and is willing to do what others want to do just so he can play with them.  Logan makes friends easily.  He is also very smart and is learning so much in school.  He loves reading and his favorite subject is math.  He is currently learning all of his addition and subtraction facts.  

Happy Birthday, Logan!  I hope you had a great birthday.  We love you and are so glad you are in our family!