Newest cousin

We welcomed the newest cousin to the family on 1/10/11 - Lila Brenda Bangerter, daughter of Nick and Darci.  She is such a doll, a tiny little thing with big eyes and dark curly hair.  Kylie was so excited, she LOVES babies!  Now we're almost even - 6 boys and 5 girls.  At Lila's blessing I rounded up all the kids and took some pictures, didn't get all of them smiling but at least they were looking at the camera (except for Lila of course).

(I love how tiny she looks in Pete's arm.)

What a good-looking bunch!

December highlights

Kylie's preschool Christmas program, she was quite shy and didn't really want to do anything (sounds familiar, Logan just gave us scowling eyes the whole time through his back in 2007).

   

I had realized it had been a very long time since we had been to Temple Square to see the lights at Christmas time, so I decided this year we were going.  It was Logan and Kylie's first time, and Trevor hadn't been since he was probably 3 or 4.  We decided to make it a family event, my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews all went.  We first ate at Crown Burger, then walked up the street to see the lights.  It was a very mild night which was nice, since I have many memories of freezing fingers and toes in years past.  What a great way to really feel the Christmas spirit.

Picture of the kids in their new Christmas church clothes in front of the tree.

Pete and I on Christmas Eve, a rare picture with both of us in it.

The traditional photo of the kids in their new pjs on stairs Christmas morning.

Kylie turns 4!  She decided she wanted a princess party so she wore her new Aurora dress and shoes she got for Christmas.  Her girl cousins also wore dresses they had - Abby was Belle, Rylee was Cinderella, and Presley was Tinker Bell.  We had the kids decorate crowns with jewels.  Kylie then opened her many presents - most of which was Disney Princess stuff.  We then had cake and ice cream.

October and November in a nutshell

October

Logan enjoyed another year of soccer and really seemed to learn a lot.

 Traditional pictures in Papa's pumpkin patch.  

Frightmares at Lagoon, our last hurrah with our season passes.

Halloween party at Grandma's in Bountiful with cousins and 2nd cousins on the 29th.  Trunk or treat and trick or treating in Wendover on the 30th (Saturday).  Trevor missed all the Halloween festivities as he was off with Pete deer hunting with his own Jr. tag, though neither of them got a deer this year.  Kylie was a fairy and Logan one of many Iron Mans this year.

 

November

The kids enjoyed the snow storm at Grandma's.

We also had our traditional Thanksgiving with dinner Wednesday night with my family and Thursday with Pete's family.  Pete went on his annual fishing trip with his dad and brother to Flaming Gorge Friday and Saturday.  While I did most of my Christmas shopping on Black Friday.  We enjoyed the Utah BYU game that was so exciting, coming down to a blocked field goal at the last second for the Utes win!

(Our littlest Ute fan, she loves to cheer for Utah.)

September adventures

Labor Day weekend - trip to Reno for the Rib Cook-off and to visit family of course.
As is tradition, we took the kids to feed the ducks and geese and play at the park at Virginia Lake.

I had a wonderful girls night out to see The Lion King broadway show with my mom, sister, and sisters-in-law.  Not my most favorite broadway musical I've seen, but very entertaining, it helps to know nearly all the songs and lines by heart thanks to watching the movie more times than I can count.

  

This is what I came home to after the General Women's Conference.  I gave Trevor a hard time for doing such a good job babysitting (not), though to be honest it could have just as easily happened when I was home.  Since this is the third time Kylie has cut her own hair, and this was by far the worst, I finally gathered up all scissors in the house and put them up very high.  I'm grateful that she didn't cut the front where most kids usually do, at least this was somewhat repairable.  For a week I pulled what hair she had left in back into a ponytail to cover up the really short part.  The following Saturday I took her to my hair stylist and she was able to fix it into a cute little a-line cut.  I don't know if this girl is ever going to have long hair!

back to school

It always amazes me how fast the summer break flies by.  Here it is back to school time again. 

Trevor in 7th grade

Logan in 2nd grade

Kylie in preschool

I'm enjoying the quieter house during the day, it makes it much easier to get my work done.  So far they all seem to be liking their teachers/classes.  Love being back in a routine!

last hoorah of summer

Since we hadn't been camping since early June, we decided we better get out and go the weekend before school started.  We headed up to Angel Lake near Wells, NV, a quick one hour drive away.  We set up the trailer at our campsite, then went up to the lake where the kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water. 

It was getting dark and we were getting hungry so we went back to camp and started a fire to roast hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert.  After dinner it was pretty much bedtime (that is how late we eat dinner around here). 

The next day we woke up and ate breakfast.  The kids played a bit then Kylie and I went on a walk through the campground and we saw a deer quite close up.  We had seen some wild turkeys in the campground the evening before. 

We then headed back up to the lake and tried our hand at fishing.  Kylie and Logan were excited at the idea, but not so much in its application.  They lost interest fast, though it would probably have helped if we had caught anything.  Luckily there were a bunch of chipmunks nearby that were not shy and kept us entertained.  We were able to feed them out of our hands, I found one in our bag trying to find more food, and one even climbed up into my lap, until I noticed and and freaked out scaring it away. 

About lunch time we headed back to meet some friends, went to our campsite and cooked some yummy burgers for lunch.  After a little relaxing we packed up and headed back into Wells where we stopped for ice cream cones at McDonalds, then headed for home - tired, dirty, and happy.  We kept saying we need to do it more often, maybe we will next summer.

one crazy week

The week of August 8-14 was a crazy one that involved two trips into Bountiful and a lot of activities.

It started on Sunday the 8th, my grandpa's 92nd birthday.  We drove into Bountiful (in 2 vehicles as Pete had to turn around and return home that night then drive to Elko early Monday morning for a week of training for work) Sunday late afternoon, enjoyed Sunday dinner at Mom & Dad's, then went to Poppy's for his birthday celebration.  A lot of the family was there, we were only missing a handful of the grandkids and great-grandkids.  We had relay races for the kids, hence the headbands, visiting for the adults, and lots of food for everyone.  We have been so blessed to have Poppy with us this long and in such good health, he still helps my parents out on the farm! 

On Monday, I worked from my parents' house, then Ally and I took my kids and two of my nephews to Lagoon.  It was a bit more crowded than I anticipated for a Monday and significantly more so than the last time we went, but with season passes we just hit the rides we want with short enough lines and skip those with lines too long.

On Tuesday, I worked again from my parents' house until 5:30pm or so (my long day) then went and got a massage (much needed) then packed up and drove home to Wendover.

On Thursday, I took Trevor to register for 7th grade.  Yes, 7th grade, Jr. High.  How did he get old enough?  Seriously, where does the time go?  Later that night we packed up and the kids and I drove back into Bountiful.

On Friday, I worked a half day then made a trip to Walmart to buy a few school supplies and some new sandals for Logan since he had broken his, where I ran into an old friend and spent some time catching up.  We then met my two sisters-in-law and their boys at Lagoon-a-Beach.  After spending some time there, we decided to go hit a few rides.  It was hot and crowded, but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves anyway.  The lines weren't too long for the kiddy rides and a few others, but we did make the mistake of standing in line for way too long for the Log Flume (forget how slow it moves and isn't really worth the wait).  The kids really enjoy riding the rides with the cousins.  Before we left the park I let the kids play in the water fountain since they were still in their swim suits, they had a blast.  Kylie was hesitant at first but then realized it was fun to get soaked.

On Saturday, I went and got my haircut (much needed too) in the morning then ran some errands.  That night Trevor and I went with my sisters-in-law to New City Skyline's concert.  The lead singer, Paul, is my sister Ally's boyfriend.  I have loved their music for awhile now, but had yet to make it to a concert.  Wow, they are really good live and put on a great show!   Can't wait to go to another one.  Trevor seemed to enjoy his first concert experience, even if it was with his mom. They have a few songs/videos on Youtube, check them out. http://www.youtube.com/user/newcityskyline

On Sunday, we went to church with my parents, then packed up and headed back home.  It was a long and crazy busy week, but super fun!