Kiddos

In Montana we went on a hike with my sister in law, Mindy and cousins Tate and Dillon. Along the way Saige, who was riding in the sled holding Canyon, layed down and fell asleep and Canyon fell asleep on top of her. They rode like this for almost an hour. Quite funny. Speaking of funny, here are some pics of our very crazy, funny boys below!

20 months old! Hayden then Canyon

A Long Awaited Day

Here are a few more pics of our time outside, and one of the highlights of Jeff and my time. My mom, bless her heart, was brave enough to watch all the kids for the day so Jeff and I could go skiing at one of our favorite places, Harriman State Park in Idaho. We had such a wonderful time just skiing and enjoying the beauty and peace (in more ways then one). It was so refreshing to be able to just go and ski, and ski as long and as fast as we wanted. We have squeezed in a few good skis behind our house since being back, so this wasn't the last, but it was a wonderful time and so fun to be together doing what we love.

My Hubba Hubby on Skis

It was a cloudy day but still beautiful

My favorite ski partner and I

When we got down to the river it was amazing! There were HUNDREDS of swans and geese in this short section of the river. They were beautiful to watch and a fun way to end the ski.

A Very Special Day

Probably the biggest highlight of our time outside was the opportunity for Ali to be baptized with so many of our family present. It was a very special day for Ali and for our family. We are so proud of Ali and the choices she has made in her life so far and for her desire to try and be the best example and person she can be. In our church children can be baptized when they turn eight years old. The age our Heavenly Father feels children are old enough to begin to understand right and wrong and can begin to be accountable for their choices. Our church also encourages them to decide for themselves if it is something they should do by praying and asking their Heavenly Father. Ali came back and after praying for several days told us she felt good inside when she prayed about being baptized and felt it was what her Heavenly Father wanted her to do. We are so thankful to have this very special girl in our family .

Our beautiful Ali in her baptism dress before getting baptized.

Ali and her dad, right before the actual baptism and program. It was so special to wait and do it with our family present. She had her uncles give prayers, her Grandma Fleming gave the talk on baptism, her dad performed the baptism, Aunt Kristy sang a beautiful musical number, Grandma May gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and all of her uncles and grandpas and great grandpa stood in the circle when she was confirmed. It was a wonderful day for our family that was possible because a very sweet eight year old has such a strong desire to do what's right and follow her Savior's example.

A family picture after the baptism.

Our Holiday Outside

We had a wonderful time outside visiting all our fam and enjoying some beautiful sunshine and warmer, part of the time, temps. We spent two weeks with both our families and it was hard to come home, at least for 5 out of the 6 of us! We spent Christmas with Jeff's brother Bret and his family and had some fun times sledding, riding horses, playing at the gym, and goofing off with cousins. We spent new year's at my fam's and it was great because my brother Chad came down with their four kids and Jeff's sister Danette came with her two kids. We had one crazy house full but it was a blast. So fun to spend such great quality time with our families we don't get to see very often. We love you all very much and are grateful for those who traveled to come and be with us! So here are a few pictures recapping some of our great times.
These first ones are from my family in Idaho Ali enjoying ice cream with cousin Jason.

Proud Grandma and Grandpa with most of their grand kids

Baby Tyler, the cutest kid and biggest eyes you will ever see!

Just about as many people as you can fit into one hot tub

Hayden, baby Tyler, and Canyon. They'll be the fearsome threesome in another year when Tyler really gets moving. I apologize now Chad and Kristy for all the trouble I'm sure Canyon and Hayden will get sweet Tyler into.

Sledding at below zero temps! What!!! I thought we were suppose to be getting away from this! I think we all went down the hill twice and as soon as our new sister in law Steph got hurt we figured that was as good excuse as any to call it quits and put us all out of our misery!

My sister in law Angel, her mom crocheted all the girls these adorable dresses and hat and scarves for the boys. What a sweet, wonderful lady!

This is a very special picture for us, which I pray there will be many more, but here is our kids and Nate's kids with their Great (and they truly are GREAT) Grandma and Grandpa Holman and their Great Uncle Brad! Brad who has down syndrome, will turn 50 next month. What a wonderful, special person who has been an absolute blessing to all of our family. Oh the funny stories and experiences we could all share with Brad. We love you big guy!!!

Now these pictures are from our time at Jeff's family

The boys playing with their new toys from Grandma and Grandpa May for Christmas. Their favorite part of Christmas morning was the candy canes. We finally had to give them their plugs in order to get the candy canes away!

Ali has gotten back into a horse phase again and is really into horses. She was so excited to get this book on horses and showed it to everyone. For Ali the highlight of her vacation, other then getting baptized, was one of the days her Grandpa May took her and Jeff on a real horse ride in the mountains. She came back and said that was the best day of her entire life. I'm so thankful for Bruce, Jeff's dad, for taking the time to make his granddaughter's day and a memory I know she will never forget. Her first real horse ride in the mountains with her Grandpa May!

We had a hard time figuring out what to get Saige for Christmas this year. Ali was easy, books and more books, but Saiger hasn't really gotten into reading yet and we were trying to stay clear of the toys so she ended up with some books, games, clothes, and a stationary set. And of course, their box of lucky charms, a tradition handed down from when I was a girl and for Christmas by our stocking we would get our own box of our favorite cereal that mom would never buy for us otherwise.

Santa scored at the May house this year! The girls, with their cousins Marley and Griffin, left Santa two huge plate fulls of food. They first started off with the plate of cookies but then decided he might get a stomach ache with all the cookies so decided to leave him a hot dog, some fruit, and pumpkin bread to balance out his meal. Santa was good and polished it all right down, go Santa!

Pictures of the kids riding the horses around the corral. This was their favorite thing to do and would ask to do it everyday.

Grandpa May leading flashy with Saige and Griffin.

We had a fun family Christmas Eve party with all of Jeff's family that included some yummy food, gift exchanges, and failed slide show presentations on the Savior's Life and Alaska. We made them work the best we could, but not what we had envisioned. Despite, however, we all had a great time together. Here is Ali with Grandma May and cousin Tate.

Part of the clan watching Hunter open his gift and another part of the clan below.

Well, that concludes my brief run down on our wonderful time with family this holiday season. I am so thankful for all our families and the great times and memories we create with all. I am above all, most thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to live and find happiness and peace in this life and to be with our wonderful familes not just in this life, but forever.

Remodel

This is what we have had to resort to in order to save the few remaining dishes we have left in our house that have not been thrown off and shattered by unimaginably fast little hands and climbers. The rule in our house now is you CANNOT leave the table unless every one of the dishes is cleared and you have tipped over your chair. If you forget to tip your chair over, you clean up the mess that will 100% of the time follow (example...just last night we lost another cup and an almost full bottle of jam, dad had to clean up)!

All garbages are now on the table and below is the last remaining plant that I have not removed or taken downstairs. Notice the four poor remaining leaves left. I guess this plant will symbolize my dying attempts to try and keep something nice left in the house. Once the last leaf falls I will force myself to just accept my fate and quite trying for the time being.

So this is a small sampling of the makeover my home has been through the last couple of months since the boys have learned to walk, run, and climb. These changes do not show however, the constant disasters that are taking place. The most fun recently has been Hayden, who has found pure joy in first going to the toy box and throwing every toy, with great force, out of it. When he gets that completely cleared he usually starts laughing, thoroughly pleased with himself. He will then continue to the drawers of the two dressers we have in the living room and throw every book and game out of them. Next, he moves on to the kitchen and proceeds to throw all of the dish rags and cloths out of their drawer and all of the pans from under the stove. He will accomplish all of this in about a ten minutes time, usually while I am trying to make dinner or help the girls with their homework and am just too tired to try and stop him (for the 20th time that day). We've also had to remove the little kids chairs we had in the dinning room because they can now scoot those to where ever they want, usually the kitchen counters, and grab and throw anything they can get their hands on. My once nicely furnished house is depleting very quickly. Despite the insaneness of it all the boys are so much fun and a complete joy to have around (especially when sleeping)!

Desperation

So this is the start of Jeff trying to influence his boys into becoming wrestlers. It's a good thing he is starting early because it might take a lot of coercing. I think he might have more of a chance with Canyon but Hayden it's not looking so good. He LOVES balls and throwing. They both love balls but Hayden definitely seems to more. When we go to the gym they love to watch the guys playing basketball and the other day Canyon picked up a basketball and walked right under the hoop and looked up. He knew exactly where it should go. I guess only time will tell, but I think Jeff will have his work cut out for him if he wants wrestlers.

First and almost the Only

Here are some pics from our first family ski outing of the winter, and sadly it was almost the only. After this great snow fall in Nov we had some crazy 40 above weather and rain that proceeded to melt almost all our snow and then it turned freezing cold and we have not recieved any snow since. Out of desperation we went for a ski over Thanksgiving but there was barely enough snow to cover the rocks and since Thanksgiving we have had below feezing temps almost every day. Example, it is -36 now as I type so it has been impossible to get the kids out. So needless to say we are VERY anxious to go home for the holidays where we can finally get out and play!