Snowbird Visit May 2011

We spent the last week in May at Snowbird Ski Resort. This has been a record year for snowfall and you can see from this picture how much snow was still there when we were there. They were able to have weekend skiing until the 4th of July. Thank you to Grandpa Nix and Pat for letting us use their timeshare condo. They were up there at the same time and we also enjoyed several good visits with Kenneth's sister, Suzy, who works at the resort.
We had a beautiful snowstorm while we were there. We were glad we could cozy up inside and watch the snow.
Here we are at the kiddie pool with Matt, Jessica, and family. Note the depth of the snow around the pool. The pool is nicely heated and it is fun to enjoy the warm water amidst all the snow. It even started to snow one evening as we were swimming.
Chloe the fish jumping into the pool.
Look at Landon jumping into the pool.
I really enjoyed having some time to do some journaling and scrapbooking.
Chloe, Landon, Tanner, and Grandma waving to the folks down below. We are on the balcony of our room.
A beautiful sunset in a beautiful place. We enjoyed our week at Snowbird. It was very relaxing and fun. We especially loved having some of the kids come up and have fun with us.

Disneyland May 2011

Dan and Betsy invited me to go Disneyland with them in May. We left on Saturday and returned home the next Saturday. We stayed a night in Las Vegas on the way down and on the way home. We enjoyed 5 wonderfully fun days at Disneyland. We started in the morning when it opened and some days spent the whole day and evening in the park. Some days we went back to the hotel for a little rest in the afternoon and then went back to the park in the evening. With 3 adults we had the freedom to take turns on the rides and watching Ellie when she couldn't go on the rides. The weather was cool and comfortable all week. We had some rain one morning and the park made a fortune on selling rain ponchos. The rain stopped and the sun was shining by 11 a.m.
We stayed at the World Mark property that was within walking distance of Disneyland. Sometimes we walked to the park and sometimes we rode the bus. This is the view of the pool from our room. We could also see the tops of some of the rides in the park from our room.
We all got to meet Snow White. She was especially sweet to Addy.
Addy loved meeting all the princesses and getting their autographs in her special book. We went to see them several mornings first thing when the lines were shorter.
Meeting Micky at his house.
Easton loved riding in all the cars.
Riding with Dan and Ellie.
I loved the landscaping at Disneyland. I want these in my backyard!
Cute baby Ellie was so good and patient throughout the whole week.

Our Visit in Houston April 2011

David had a conference in San Diego in April. He wanted to take Tamara with him so she could visit with her family so they invited us to come and spend the week with Evan and Jared. They took baby Jacen with them so he could get to know his California grandparents. We jumped at the chance and really enjoyed our week with the boys. We had a couple of days with the whole family before Dave and Tamara left. We attended Evan's T-ball game where Dave was helping him learn the finer points of the game. Watching 5 year olds play T-Ball is great entertainment.
Sweet baby Jacen getting loves from his Mommy!
On school days we helped Evan get to the bus stop in the morning and met him there in the afternoon when he came home. We took Jared to preschool on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and picked him up when he was finished at 11:30.
One of our favorite things to do during our visit was to take walks around the lakes in their neighborhood. We would usually walk in the morning and then after dinner we would go for another walk.
We loved watching and feeding the baby ducks on our walks around the lake.
Kenneth enjoyed walking with Rocky. Here he is actually running with Jared and Rocky!! Rocky would go crazy with excitement whenever we got his leash out to go for a walk.

We enjoyed attending Jared's end of the preschool year graduation and program. Jared will be there another year so he wasn't graduating but he did a very good job singing the cute songs with the other kids.

Jared received a special scrapbook of his preschool year from his bonding buddy teacher. His preschool is at the high school and the program trains the students in early childhood education so each of the children have one of the students as their special buddy. It is a great program.
We ended each day with stories and songs. Sometimes even Rocky joined us.

Celebrating Adam's and Grandpa's Birthdays March 2011

In March we celebrated Adam's 1st birthday and Kenneth's 67th birthday. The party theme was based on the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".
Adam's cake was the very hungry caterpillar, Grandpa's cake was the beautiful butterfly.
We read the story of the very hungry caterpillar who started out very little, then ate and ate, made a cocoon around himself, and became a beautiful butterfly.
Our hungry little caterpillars went around the family room looking for food to eat. They found lots of fruit and other good things to eat.
Then the kids rolled up in toilet paper cocoons just like the hungry caterpillar did and popped out to become beautiful butterflys.
Jessica helped everyone sing songs and play musical instruments.
Adam and Kenneth had lots of family and friends gather to celebrate their birthdays.

Family Baptism and Baby Blessing

On Saturday, February 5, Chloe was baptized and confirmed. It was a special day for all of us. After the baptism, we all went over to Aaron and Diane's house and enjoyed a sweet and savory crepe brunch and had some great visiting time. The next day we all went to Farmington for Ellie's blessing day. It all made for a very fun weekend.
Ellie Elizabeth arriving at the church for the special occasion.
Addy and Grandma at the church. She is such a grown-up big sister now.
Easton and all the other kids enjoyed the train table and other fun toys.
Baby Ellie with Grandma.
Nix Family picture. Sure missed David and Michelle's families.
Four Generations. So blessed.
As always, we enjoyed lots of delicious food. Betsy's chicken salad and deviled eggs are outstanding.
Cute little bootie cakes and cookies for dessert.


Becky and Scott with 2 hungry little boys, Adam and Tanner.

Celebrating Christmas and New Years

Christmas Eve started with spending part of the afternoon and early evening with the Petersons. We acted out our traditional nativity. Adam was Joseph (who with his cute baby smile made Mary walk while he rode), Becky was Mary, Scott was the grumpy innkeeper, DeNae, Scott's sister, was and is an angel, Dad was the narrator, and I got to play the coveted and sought after role (at least in the Nix Family) of the donkey.
We left Becky, Scott, and Adam and went up to Dan and Betsy's to spend the rest of Christmas eve with them. We enjoyed special pancakes that are part of Betsy's family traditions, the kids got to open presents of new slippers and pjs, and we read Christmas stories before bedtime. They were so excited that it took them awhile to settle down and go to sleep.

Addy and Grandma tending our Babies.
Christmas morning excitement!! We spent the night at Dan and Betsy's and enjoyed watching Addy and Easton discover what Santa had left for them. After breakfast we came home and Dan and Betsy and the kids headed to Vernal to spend the rest of the weekend with Betsy's family.
We enjoyed Christmas afternoon at Matt and Jessica's home where we opened family gifts and had a delicious ham and turkey dinner.

On New Years Eve, we all met at a bowling alley in Bountiful and enjoyed a fun game. It is so fun to watch the kids bowl. They were all so excited and enjoyed the game. After that we went up to Dan and Betsy's house for soup, snacks, yummy drinks, and their famous traditional funnel cakes. We celebrated the New Year a little early so all the kids could get home to bed before it was too late.