Valentines Fun!

Cannon and Jane helped me make sugar cookies.  The warmth of their hands and the butter in the dough made for quite a fun mess.

 One of our favorite things to do with our Pass of all passes is the rock climging wall at the Lehi trafalaga.  The kids are experts at it now and love to race each other.  Even Jane can hold her own.

 This is the frog hopper ride at the same place.  It isn't Disneyland but is good for a few seconds of thrills!

 Hunter and Jacob have mastered going up the wall frontwards so now like to climb up backwards, Crazy!

 We had our annual valentines breakfast and birthday celebration.  I made personalized cookies this year instead of notes, funny because Aly noticed and asked where their notes were.  I guess I better not change traditions.

 The boys are official teenagers!  They took some friends to planet play for their birthday last week and then we had a great family birthday for valentines day.  Uncle Don took us all to Red Robin for dinner and then we came home for cake and ice cream and a movie in our theatre.  Love that they don't have glasses to glare in their pictures this year.

 Aly made a cute valentine's box for her class party and got way to many treats.

 I am Emily's room mom and the little ones had fun coming with me to put on her class party, although Janey's face would say other wise.  They both ate way too much sugar that day.

 The boys both wanted candybar cake for their birthday this year.  Hunter had a snickers cake and Jacob had a kit kat cake.  We froze one of them because we had so much cake and Emily's birthday is in 5 days.  Way too much cake for one household.

 Emily was super creative and made her valentine's box into the BYU stadium.  It was all her own idea and making and we all thought it turned out great!

December 2012

 Merry Christmas.  The month started out with a couple of needed haircuts.  The girls love their new shorter hair and Mom  loves less tangles and tears.  Aly also had her first piano recital.  She played jingle bells and Rudolph and did great!

 We had our anual Santa Lucia program on the 23.  We greatly missed Grandma and Grandpa Brinley,  it just isn't the same without them.  Aly was our Santa Lucia even though she was fighting a high temp.

 We did homemade sibling gifts again this year and the kids did a GREAT job.  Girls got magnet boards made by Katy and Cannon (OK, mom), Jake made a personalized hook board for Katy, Aly and Emily sewed BYU hats for the boys, Jane made and fun cover for Emily's babybook,  and Hunter made a personalized puzzle for Cannon.  Everyone loved making and receiving their gifts.

We had a great Christmas despite half of us fighting a severe cold flu bug.  Cannon was in seventh heaven on his new 4 wheeler from Uncle Don.  Can't wait for the sidewalks to be cleard from snow so he go ride it.

 Emily, Hunter and Jake all got sleds for Christmas and thankfully we had some great snow New Year's Eve to test them out. We had a great time sledding with cousins at Rock Canyon.

 Jacob got a broken hand from our fun sledding day but has been a great sport about it.  Both boys got contacts for Christmas and look so handsome.  They love seeing without glasses!

 We had the memorable blessing of helping with those who had been effected by the mud slides Labor Day weekend.  We were covered in mud from head to toe but thankful for the opportunity to help others and reminded to count our blessings!

Alyssa had a great 7th birthday.  Pres. Heaton (in Stake Pres. with Jonathan)  let her bring her friends to his ranch and ride horses.  What a dream birthday party for 8 horse loving little girls.

 Mom is loving pre-school time with Jane and Cannon.  Cannon finally wrote his name so we had to take a picture.  We love joining our neighbors for a field trip once a month.  Oct. was a trip to the Dinosaur museum.  It was both their first time and fun to watch them discover everything.

 He is already dreaming blue and white football.  Go Cougars!

 We had a great fall break with some cousins.  The weather was gorgeous so we headed up Provo canyon for a picnic and R&R.  So great to visit with my sisters.

                                                           Gotta love cousin time!

   Pumpkin patch was fun as usual.  We went a little earlier in the season this year so we got a much better pick and warmer weather.  We tried to try grow our own this year but squash bugs destroyed them.  I am hoping next year to go pumpkin picking in our own backyard.

 The boys had their second court of honor and earned 3 merit badges and two class  advancements.  They are now first class and on target to earn their star by their birthday.  They have been involved in Pow Wows every Sat. in Nov.  and hope to have 7 more merit badges by the end of the year.

 We had to take a picture of a momentous moment in our family, everyone eating an ice cream cone.  We got free Gluten Free cones at the GF expo so we bought some dairy free ice cream for the half that can't have milk and they were all able to eat a cone together.  We had a "contributor" wall in our house where the kids could earn stars for the different sports and lessons they were in if they contributed to a game or practice.  They earned their 50 stars and won their ice cream  party.

 Thanks to my sister MaryAnn's mad sewing skills( she made these last year for her and her husband) Jonathan and I actually had costumes to wear to an adult Halloween party we were invited to.  It was fun to dress up for a night and so fun to wear a petty coat.

Brinley family reunions!

We were blessed to spend almost 2 full weeks with the Brinley clan this summer.  We spent 4 days in West Yellowstone with Becky and Mandy's family along with mom and dad.  Dad had a friend with a cabin that we got to stay in.  It was great for the little kids to have some good cousin time with Mandy's kids.  We spent a day in Yellowstone seeing the hot springs, bison, and old faithful.  We spent another day in the wild life reserve feeding the bears and watching real wolf pack fights.  Crazy.  

 Jacob and Hunter were a hit with Mandy's kids.  Fun for them to play the role of big cousin

 This was the hotel mom and Dad Brinley stayed at on their honeymoon 50 years ago!

 There was  a great lake the kids loved swimming at one afternoon just minutes from the cabin

 everyone 5 and older had a chance to hide food on the reserve for the bears to come find and eat