Snow

Tim's family always comes out in February for there annual ski trip. They have always wanted to take Ian but I have always said "no way." After talking with a few of my students that are big skiers and getting some of their input as well, I decided this year he would be ok to go with mom supervision. Grandpa and Grandma MacNair got him his first pair of skies and of course he thought they were awesome!

No don't think that just because it is winter does not mean that you can enjoy a good bowl of ice cream. If Tim's dad is here we know that there need to be Aggie French Vanilla ice cream in stock. Ian doesn't seem to mind it to much either.

First thing was to just do a little practicing in getting used to the skies. So we rented some ski boots for Ian and everyone got in there snow gear (except Aaron and I) and headed out front.


After a half hour of skiing Ian decided it would be much more fun to just play in the snow. The Jeppesen's came outside as well and everyone worked together to build a new snowman.

Aaron slept majority of the time Ian was skiing and playing. Just like with Ian, Pike loves sleeping by Aaron (or nearly ontop of him).
When he woke up we bundled up and headed outside as well.Then he slept a little more.

The next day we took Aaron to my parents house and the rest of us including Hunter headed up to Beaver. You have to click on this picture. Ian has the biggest grin on his face. He loved it!
While Hunter and I were watching Hunter decided to climb up what I would consider a mountain.

Tim and his mom stayed at Beaver the rest of the afternoon and got in a few more runs.

Hunter and I brought Ian home and picked up Aaron from my parents. Then headed home got in our pj's and had some hot chocolate.
Ian has been begging to go skiing ever since. Looks like at some point I may need to pick up snow skiing again. Burrrrrrrr!

Ian and Aaron

I wanted to give an update on the boys and how they have been. We have mostly been hanging out inside due to the cold weather. As you can tell we still have plenty of fun inside!

Ian -2 1/2 years old

This boy absolutely loves to read books. When checking on him during his naptime I came in to find this!!! Yes he had read through a good chunk of his collection. No nap or bedtime can proceed without reading books first. I hope he will always have a love of reading!

Putting on daddy's glasses pretending that he is a nurse. He is getting extremely smart and will say, "daddy is a nurse, he make people feel better. Mommy is a teacher, she helps kids count." It has amazed Tim and I the vast vocabulary he has as well as how quickly he picks up on emotions and things being sad.

Love the face! It says it all!When I get ready for work in the morning Ian tends to want to "get ready" too. If you look closely you will notice the white shimmer eye shadow all over his face.

My full of adventure 2 1/2 year old. This is how we usually find him after his naps. Pajamas undone and only on his arms. He definitely keeps us on our toes but we would not have it any other way!
Aaron -4 months old
Aaron is currently in the phase that all you have to do is look at him and he thinks it is hilarious! We are all absolutely loving it. He is quite the chubby little tank and still has some pretty good size chub rolls.

Love this picture, I think it says, "Are you lookin at me?"
We have to watch him closely because he will try and sneak his thumb in his mouth. More recently it is his toes.
He has started on Oatmeal and tends to just tolerate it. I would not say that he loves it, but he does not hate it.

He does love playing with the spoon. Notice: No Spoon = Sad. Spoon = Happy.

Super smiley and so cute!

He is a very content boy and works like a clock. If it is his naptime and he is not in his crib no worries -he will fall asleep anyway.

We are so blessed to have two beautiful and healthy boys. They bring so much joy to our lives!

Swim Trip

In January we decided we were getting a little tired of the cold and snowy weather. We headed down to Salt Lake to enjoy some fun at the Grins and Fins indoor water park. Tim was stuck working but that did not stop us! We headed down and meet my family as well.
Ian loved playing in the water and going down the slide a few million times. It was perfect for him because he could do everything all by himself.
Hunter, Ian, and grandpa.
The water park is connected to the Holiday Inn hotel just off of I-215. For those of you who feel stuck in a rut I would suggest heading on down. I could see this being something we continue to do every winter. This is a video of Ian going down the slide that I need to attach (Video Link MVI 0308).

Dinosaur Museum

Ian absolutely loves dinosaurs! He is completely obsessed. Every morning we have to watch the new episode of dinosaur train. He can name around 20 different dinosaurs and tell you all about them. Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosaurs, Dimetron, Spinosaurus, Pteranodon, Velociraptor, Iquanodon, Corythosaurus, and Elasmosaurus, to name a few.

The Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus fossils.

We met Amy and Jimmer down in salt lake and took advantage of some extra time to visit the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Clockwise from Left to right: Ian playing with dinosaur puzzles, digging for dinosaurs, Aaron and I posing, Ian hiding in the cave (using tim's phone for a flashlight to see everything), digging for more dinosaurs, Tim and Ian in front of the raptors.

Amazing underwater dinosaur.Can't wait to return again!

Friends

Every Christmas I get together with my high school friends. Sadly each year our group has been getting smaller and smaller. We are all growing up, moving on, and experiencing new things. Usually we have get together at my home and eat lots of food, play games, and enjoy each others company. This year we headed to breakfast at the classic Cache Valley spot, "Village Inn." Hopefully this is a tradition we will be able to continue as the years go on. It was wonderful getting together with everyone!

Christmas take two

Jimmer and Amy spent Christmas with her family this year. However they were able to head up our direction for a couple of days and we had Christmas all over again. I don't think Ian was quite sure what to do with all of these new presents but he was happy to rip right into them.

Notice Ian did not want his picture taken. Do you see a theme for Christmas with Ian this year? BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ!

Jimmer, Aaron, and Amy

Tim got an ipad for Christmas...which we all love. Ian thinks that it is his and only his at times. He will ask "Where my ipad dad?" We have had to set a time limit on how long he is allowed to play games. His favorite was Monkey Preschool but he now thinks that is too easy. He prefers to play a game called Mirror's Edge. It is a running game where he runs this person across the top of buildings in a city and has to jump different obstacles etc. At first I was thinking that sounds fun. However when you get far enough in the levels then there are people chasing you and trying to kill you to be exact. Still sound like a good game? Well Ian is really good at it that he literally never gets caught plus we don't let him play certain levels. He absolutely loves it. So while I am not a big fan of the game for now it will have to do.

Ian always loves when Jimmer plays the guitar. He even sings along.

Aaron's usual place to chill.

Where he is most happy.Thanks for coming down to visit us Jimmer and Amy. We are sad that you now live so far away.

Christmas

Christmas morning we all woke up at a decent hour. Ian did not get out of bed until nearly 9:00 am. We had laid out the stockings the night before so Ian was quite excited to see what santa had left. His stocking was full of exactly what he had asked for... coloring books, markers, and paints.
Ian wanted to open his paints right then. Me getting the goobers out of Aaron's eyes.
I think Ian would have been happy all day just coloring. In his mind I believe he thought Christmas was over. After pulling him away from his coloring book we had our usual Christmas breakfast of juicy rolls.

My brothers, parents, and grandparents arrived. Then we headed downstairs to the christmas tree. Ian was very surprised and excited to see all of the presents. Insert Video clip -
Ian and Aaron were absolutely spoiled. I think Ian's absolutely favorite toy that he still plays with (now that I am writing this in April) is his Buzz lightyear set from his Uncle Andrew. It has a utility belt, disk shooter, and special binoculars. Although he also loves his duplo legos, camera, various games, car sets and carriers, and movies. He also loves his new piggy bank grandpa MacNair brought him. Ian would always ask why I have to go to work. Tim and I would explain so that we can have money. Now everyday I work he asks me for some money to put in his piggy bank.
Ian got a giraffe to lay for Christmas as well. However Aaron loved it so much that after Christmas we went and got one for him too.

Aaron was quite content and happy all day. If someone is holding him then he is loving life.

He also loves the attention -which he gets a lot of!At the end of the day we made various smoothies and ice cream with my new BlendTec I got for Christmas. Everything was delicious.

After Christmas the kids had a great time lounging around and playing with all of there new toys.

Ian loves reading with his new reader.
We also had a little too much fun with all of the new remote control helicopters.
It was a wonderful day! We are so grateful to have such wonderful families and be so blessed.