Warm Sunshine in January

We had some amazingly warm weather last week. It is now a normal January, cold and snowy - but I wanted to relive the warmth and fun we had last week. Above pictured is the MAN, he pulled all three kids to the tennis courts so we could play. I rode the other bike, by myelf. Every time I would get close the the kids they woudl say "Hurry Dad, Mom is going to win us, hurry, hurry". Poor guy was going up hill, pulling three kids that were yelling at him to go Faster! Coming back down was great though! We had a great time playing tennis together. Jeff of course won, in fact we don't even keep score because it would just be pathetic. But it is fun. The best part is we have three little helpers to collect our balls. Really, I don't feel too bad hitting the balls all over the place, because that way the kids have somehting to do.

I was also able to play Soccer and tennis two different times last week. The kids about lived at the park all week, it was wonderful! Soccer and Tennis are great, us Moms get some good exercise and some healthy competition and the kids play and play and play at the park and chasing our balls. I am glad I live somewhere that lets a bit of sunshine and warmth in through the dead of winter. I can take the cold now, for a bit at least.

SwagBucks

I just found out about Swagbucks! It is a search engine (similiar to Google) that randomly gives you 'swagbucks' as you search for various things. These 'swagbucks' can be redeemed for gift cards or merchandise. It seems to do a good search. They also reward you for trading in cell phones, and shopping through their site. Nice, easy way to earn a little extra. If you are interested in checking it out go to http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=297645.

Happy New Year!

We have had a wonderful holiday season. Christmas is so fun with little ones. We had some friends over for Christmas eve. We ate lots of yummy appetizer (a family tradition), re-inacted the nativity, played the "left-right game", had a talent show (with children 5 and under it was quite entertaining), and watched Santa through Norad tracking. It was a fun and busy evening. Our kids went to bed great, with visions of Santa in their heads.

We left the day after Christmas to visit family. It is always wonderful to spend time with family. The kids loved playing with cousins and friends. They got to have some snow to play in as well. We had no snow in Colorado when we left. In fact on Christmas day we walked to the park and let the kids play. They enjoyed the "big" sledding hills at Grandmas house (made from snow plows piling snow of the road). Brea kept begging to go out, so I finally bundled her up and set her out. She loved it, and stayed out just as long as the big kids.


We also got to teach Jackie how to ski. My brother Tony took his daugter Hallie and I took Jackie to the bunny hill at Targhee. They have a magic carpet which the kids simply stand on and it taked them up the hill. It was so easy, much better than the old rope tow I learned on. Jackie has absolutly no fear. I tried to teach her how to "make a pizza" with her skis so she could stop, but she didn't want to do that. Instead she would simply ski down, and then when she wanted to stop she would just fall. I would have to make sure I was right behind her on the magic carpet because as soon as she got off she would head down the hill. I coudn't believe how "unafraid" she was. It was fun to see her skiing, and enjoying it. Unfortunaltly we were having such a good time that I forgot to take a picture until right when we were leaving, so it is just of her holding her skis. Then my batteries died right when I was trying to take one of her and Hallie together. Oh well. It was fun.

Jeff and I got to try out Cross Country skiing for the first time. We went up by Tarhee and it was so beautiful . I really enjoyed it. It is just like hiking except on skis and in the snow. The snow was gorgeous, and it was nice way to get a little exercise and enjoy it.

We got to see lots of family on both sides and even see and stay at one of my old roomates. I haven't seen her for about 5 years, since our oldest girls were only 6 months old. Jackie had such a great time playing with her girls. It was fun to catch up and visit with her and her husband.

Well, we are back home now and getting into the swing of things. I found Dallin asleep in his room in this box of dress up clothes yesterday afternoon. He was plumb tuckered out, but how he fell asleep in there I do not know. We look forward to the new year and all that it may bring.