Blake is now reading simple books and is so excited to finally be able to read to his sister. Landen has been doing it for a long time now and Blake loves that he gets his turn.
As you can see, she didn't mind that he was willing to spend the time with her. They are such good little buddies.

She had to be like big brother (that is a sticker on her shirt from the doctor...she loves to Raaaarrrr like a lion)

The kids are enjoying Friday night movie night together. I think they are watching Babe or something exciting like that. This is before we broke out the popcorn and snacks!



Last Saturday I finally got the chance to go skiing with Jeb and the boys.

Blake told me I should come every Saturday with them. I told him I didn't have a season pass like he did. He then said, "Mom, it's easy! All you have to do is go to the ski shop and get your picture taken!" I realized that was all HE had to do...Mom and Dad have to pay for it. :)

Landen and I got to ride more intense Blue hills this time. I think I am finally getting better. I had a blast!

I know we post a lot of ski pictures but that is the majority of what we are doing and taking pictures of this winter. I should have gone to Jeb's indoor soccer game last night and taken pictures, but I stayed behind to put Savannah to bed. He took the boys with him and his team won the final game and took first place! He loves playing so much. He always comes home in the best mood!:)

Landen has 2 friends over from school today. I was giving them their afterschool snack and they were being typical 7 year old boys. They were talking about a lot of "funny" potty stuff, trying to impress each other (this age is really interesting to watch as they learn to interact with their peers). They were being really loud and goofy and then all of a sudden Landen said, "Did you hear that President Hinckley died?" They all got quiet and started talking about how sad they were and that they were really going to miss him. I thought it was so sweet and couldn't believe the reverence and respect that came over them. We really are going to miss such a wonderful prophet. I told them they will come to know and love the next prophet too.

Like I mentioned before, Blake is reading now and does a really great job. He doesn't have the interest to sit down and do it as often as Landen did (he is much more into being active) but he seems really pleased to have caught on to it.

Savannah is finally in nursery. It has been nice to have her in there with little friends. She is our youngest so she seems way too small to be old enough to go to her "own class" but she loves it. She is talking a lot too (not in sentences yet). My favorite is when she says "cookie" and "baby". We recently went to the pediatric neurologist and he said she is doing so well we don't have to come back for regular visits anymore! Yeah! Not unless we notice something unusual.

For those of you who don't know, when I was 20 weeks pregnant with her, we found out she had a rare cyst in her brain called Dandy-walker. The possibilities of what we could deal with were on a wide spectrum. Anywhere from severe mental retardation or dying at birth, to showing no signs unless you look at an MRI and see a picture of her brain. If you google Dandy-walker and see other children who suffer from this you will realize how blessed we are to have her develop so well. Anyway, we are so grateful to put it somewhat behind us!

I was going to include a post that Jeb wrote on his family's site about our ski day, but this ended up getting super long! Maybe I will post it another time. To summarize the day could not have been more perfect. It was sunny, 45 degrees and absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to go with them all again! We felt bad leaving Savannah, but she didn't seem to mind.

Winter!!

Seeing this picture really freaked me out! I have a hard time letting my kids grow up. I would rather be oblivious than see them here, riding by themselves with no bar or anything (Yikes!). Jeb had them recite the important chair lift safety rules for me and I felt a little better. At least their Dad cares also...he is a lot more daring than I am though (which can be good for the kids!)

Enjoying the ride! Landen is just in his sweatshirt here. As they were leaving the house, Jeb called out, "grab your coats and get in the car". (Jeb had all the skis, helmets, pants, gloves, hats, goggles and snacks) Of course, Landen did not grab his coat. Luckily, it was quite warm but then it started to snow on them and he got really wet!

Dad and his boys (not much of Blake)



The two rascals!


Jeb and I skiing at Snowbird. It was so cold that day...in the negatives. Jeb lent me his mask (can you even tell that is me?). I don't even know how he was able to smile...the wind was so bad!

Jeb, Adam M., Adam B., Lane and my cousin Spencer all went snowboarding/skiing the day after Christmas

We made it home from Utah less than a week ago. We had a wonderful Christmas with the Buffington family. I added some ski pictures on here because that is all I have from Christmas so far. We only had our video camera with us during Christmas Eve and day, but everyone snapped lots of cute pics for us and promised to send them. So I will probably post Christmas pictures in the middle of March or something. :)

We left for Utah on December 21st around noon. We had planned on leaving earlier but Landen was having his Christmas party at school. All of the families were invited and the first graders got dressed up and read stories they had written. We told Landen we could go but would have to leave early. Of course we didn't get out of there as early as we would have liked, but he had a great time so that is all that mattered. We knew a storm was coming so we were trying to get out of there. We were about 40 minutes into the drive when Jeb realized he had forgotten his laptop (he needed it a little for work). I was very annoyed :) but kept smiling and saying (through clenched teeth, "it's okay honey, no big deal...we can drive 40 minutes back and then start all over again". We were determined to have a fun trip so I let it go without the lecture. Then our friends, the Conovers called. They were on their way to Utah also and were about an hour ahead of us. They said it was snowing and visibility was getting really bad. We pressed on and made it 2 hours out of Denver to Laramie, Wyoming where they closed I-80. Luckily, the Conovers were stranded with us so we just made a fun day of it! They have four boys, 2 of which are my kids ages. It ended up being a good time...the kids thought it was great! Luckily on the way home from Utah, we had perfect roads. The Conovers went home earlier than we did and ended up getting stranded again! I don't think they want to do Christmas away from home again for a long time!

The Christmas festivities were so nice. I felt really busy through the holiday season (good busy :)) so it was nice to be around family and relax and enjoy everything the way I wanted to. Landen's favorite present was a K'nex roller coaster and rollerblades. Blake loves his skateboard and Transformer helmet. A couple of days ago we cleaned out our unfinished basement so the kids have a ton of room. They have been rollerblading everyday down there(Blake got some for his b-day in October) and love it so much! Savannah follows them all over pushing her little stroller. It is very nice to see them have such a great time. Savannah got little twin babies she likes to take care of and a few other things.

On Christmas Eve Landen had a fever and was complaining his throat hurt. He was able to push through Christmas day, but after that he was pretty sick. Then of course, it went down the line...Blake had a turn and then Savannah got it bad. We finally got healthy and Landen was excited to go back school on Tuesday (the 8th). All day Monday he said his head and throat hurt again. I was not excited because Jeb had just left town that morning to go to the Electronics show in Vegas. I took him to the doctor and sure enough, it was strep! I am just waiting for the other kids to get it. I called Jeb this morning before his meetings and he had the chills all day yesterday and he felt like "he was swallowing needles". He and Landen spent a lot of time together on the slopes on Saturday so I'm sure he has strep throat too. We love to share in our family! :)

The day after Christmas Jeb went snowboarding with 2 of his bros, 2 of mine and my cousin. The day after that Jeb and I went skiing together for the first time since we have been married! We had such a great time. I am planning on joining him and the kids at the end of January to see their progress (and to have them help me get better!) Like I said, they went skiing again on Saturday and I loved listening to them share all of their adventures with me. All 3 of them (Jeb, Landen and Blake) had huge smiles on their faces. It has been such a great experience for them all to enjoy. Not to mention I get a lot done while they are gone. :) They only go until 1 or 2pm so we still get to spend a lot of time together.

Well, I guess I'll sign off for now! I hope all of our friends had a wonderful holiday!