2 different Climates

Even though the ice was horrendous and a pain to chip off your car and drive in... Alex and his cousin Kenzie still found a way to make the best of it. Sledding! I felt so bad for Kenzie though, she biffed it on one ride and scraped up her face on the ice, poor girl! But they were able to enjoy some fun for about an hour before the unpleasant incident. Alex has thoroughly enjoyed no school these past couple of days, and was hoping for a delay today, haha. :)Cami on the other hand has only had to deal with the cruddy weather for one day. Because she is soaking up the sun in Hawaii! My parents took the 3 older grand-girls on a special special trip. I keep telling Cami she is being spoiled ;)... she loves it. :) They almost didn't make their flight because of road closures on that first day of icy rain... but with chains on and several hours on the road... they made it to Portland the night before their flight. This is the girls trying on their snorkel gear: Left to Right- Tate, Cami, and Kate. They are beaming and I love it. :)The girls sharing a bed in the hotel the night before getting on the airplane to Hawaii. (These are pictures from my parent's phone, so some of them are a little blurry).
They are finally there! We have been talking to Cami every night and get a few pictures here and there. Alex loves talking to Cami about all the things she's seeing and doing. It was hard for him at first w/the fact that she was going to Hawaii and not him. But with the daily phone calls, he's soaking it up like he's there with her. I love seeing that connection between the two. Listening to Alex tell Cami he misses her and loves her and Cami saying the same thing... I love it. Not having your sibling around daily sometimes makes you realize how much you actually do love them.In Hawaii at Costco... haha, kind of makes me laugh. But apparently, my dad says they make a Hawaiin dog there that's delish! Cheap meals are awesome!Cami is loving the experience and we are so happy for her. What a treat! She knows it, and I keep reminding her, this is something special. :) She is special.
Her trip has just started and she gets to be there for a week! So more fun pictures to come :).

Finally...

Can I say that? Finally! We've been anxiously waiting for some snow to come our way. Cami was so excited she was up by 6:45 because she heard last night that there might be snow. She was hoping for some kind of school delay, but not this time. Darn it! Cami and Alex will have to wait til after school to dive into the snow. But Carson and I didn't want to wait that long. I told myself I should get out there too, at least for 15 minutes. Plus, Carson wasn't sure how to play in the snow since he's had little experience that he can remember... so I showed him how :). After awhile we decided it was time for some hot cocoa... Mmmm-Mm! He doesn't drink much of the hot chocolate, but he sure loves those mallows we put on top ;).As I was finishing up, I noticed the marshmallows formed a C at the bottom. I started to laugh and showed Carson... "Look, C for Carson!" He got a kick out of that:). Life is far from perfect, but it does have it's perfect moments. That's what I live for.

When he cooks

I've said it once, and I'll say it again... I love it when Jeremy cooks. He goes all out and tries the things I would never do... haha, like homemade egg rolls. He carefully plans, researches, and compares recipies. Then like magic, whips it all together! And 99% of the time, it's soooo good. One motivation for the egg roll excitement was because we got a fry daddy for Christmas, and of course, he is the first to try it out. :)
They were so good, that I naturally ate one too many. Plus food almost always tastes better when someone else cooks it ;0). Next, homemade donuts!

Z's bday

Another year, another birthday for my brother Zack. This year Kori made a delicious birthday breakfast, French Toast Creme Brulee! Divine! Then drove to the bottom of Badger Mountain and hiked the 2 mile switch back trail up to the top. Every kid made it without a single whine! I was worried about the two youngest Carson and William being only 3 and 2, but they were awesome. Plus, Tyler brought the stoller and muscled it out up the trail when one of them was feeling tired. It was a fun 2 hours :). At the TOP... we made it :).The boys went shooting later that day and tried out Zack's new target toys. Then after dinner we had cake. Making sure he blew them out before the neices did ;).We had a fun day with Zack and family. Happy Birthday Zack, we love you!

Before the New Year....

On New Years Eve morning, Cami got baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was such a beautiful day. I told Cami that the sun was shining so bright because the heavens were so happy! Grandma Elli got her a most precious baptismal dress, and Cami felt like a princess. Due to all the commotion of the holidays and family events happening, I did not get the word out very well to all who might have wanted to come. But I know she felt overwhelming loved by all the family who was able to come and a few others who attended. Thank you to all for making this day so special for her! What a sweet moment it was for father and daughter on this day. She was so excited about this day, almost more than Christmas and her birthday. :) It's really been a huge week for Cami. Christmas, birthday, and baptism all in one week.I had forgotten a hair band to put Cami's wet hair back with after she was baptised. But Thank heavens for my sis-in-law Kori who is always prepared :).Grandma Ellie spoke on the Holy Ghost at Cami's baptism. This is Grandma Ellie's first grandchild baptised.Grandma Cheeto spoke on baptism. Cami had personally asked those she wanted to speak. I thought it was so sweet. My mom took several other pictures of Cami with all the families, but will post those later when I get them.Now one of the biggest treats was that we had Aunt Melissa (Jer's oldest sister), Uncle Tyler, Bailey Jo, and Jayden with us ALL the way from Texas! We haven't seen them in 2 Years! How wonderful it was to see them again :). We miss them.Now this is Chelsea Smithee, Jeremy's half-sister, who just last month was able contact us through facebook. She is such a sweetie and we have LOVED getting to know her more. She is Grandpa Steve's daughter from his last marriage. We totally see Anderson in her :). Proud brothers, who love to see the example came has set for them.After the baptism, we had a luncheon for family. There was an unexpected funeral that day too, so we had to switch things around at the church, but thankfully the Primary room is ample big to fit and feed all the family :). Along with lunch, we did a little birthday celebration with all the fam to wish Cami a happy birthday. She requested ice cream cake :).The big crowd :).Mmmmm, ice cream! All the cousins were first in line for dessert :).Thanks Grandpa Cheeto for serving the cake to everyone!Waiting for their turn ;)Mother and daughter... I seriously love this picture for these two, so beautiful!Fuzzy picture and fuzzy face! Nice Ty :).It took Cami forever to get wound down from all the excitement, then pictures, and changing out of her dress so she didn't get food on it. So she had dessert first, then a little lunch ;).Chatting with each other, n Jess' lovely face, haha.Happy momma :).Jess makes all these faces of purpose, I just love her!After food, some of the cousins ran outside to burn the energy off... I love little children!!When the baptism was over, we all headed home for a moment to rest. We had one last day with family in town so we decided to go ride horse's at Uncle Randell's house. Man did the kids Love that! Alex wanted to ride by himself, but I'm proud of him for being a gentleman, and letting Miss Bailey on with him. He got to ride by himself later.Cami says she wants horse riding lessons... haha, we'll see ;). But she did get to ride the horse without an adult leading her for some time. Bailey Jo and her dadNow Aunt Melissa is the queen of riding horses... in fact she really was a rodeo queen at one point! She Loves horses, and I love to see her passion. She has no fear and will even get on jumpy M.T. (the horse). She's got a gift. :)Jayden was a little suspicious of all the big animals around her, so Papa Steve held her and tried to keep her warm.Even Carson got to ride a horsey!After awhile, Grandma Ellie finally took Jay Jay inside... she conked out in the warmth of her grandma's arms.After riding we all went out to Red Robin. It was such a fun day, and evening. They sang to Cami for her birthday at Red Robin, so Bailey and Cami enjoyed some dessert. :) What a way to end the year! Happy New Years to all!