Christmas 2015

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays - even more so now with the boys.  They make everything so magical and fun.

This year, the boys got to get their own little trees for their rooms and pick out the decorations.

Cole went with traditional red, green, and gold.

Jack went with a very colorful blue, pink, and octopus.

We also hosted the annual Thomsen Graham Cracker House build at our house:

From left to right: Hayden, Andrea, Brock, Mitch, Cole, Jack, Haley, Lindsay

Cole won the coveted prize for tallest structure.

Jack was a little more focused on the candy-eating.

 We enjoyed the annual Barber party at Nana's.

Jack wanted to be a sheep in the nativity. I'd say he's a pretty cute one.

From left to right: Hallie, Evan R., Hannah, Cole, Evan C., Jack

We made cookies! (Not sure what happened to Jack's gingerbread man.  Looks like he waited to go too long...)

 

And sledding was a big hit.

 It's not Christmas without some lights.

 And of course, the main event:

 What a wonderful Christmas!

Just So

When playing with dinosaurs, it's very important to ensure they are facing west, nose-to-tail.  Otherwise, it just isn't right.

Halloween

Pumpkin carving, costumes, and trick-or-treating. Enough said.

That's not a knife....THIS is a knife

 

Suddenly Seven

Well, it happened.  I blinked and Cole is suddenly seven.  

He absolutely loves building and playing video games, with Minecraft being his favorite.  

For his birthday party this year, Cole asked to go to a trampoline park with some friends.  The place was super cool and made me want to break out my old trampoline skills.  It was so fun to see these boys (and 1 brave girl) wear themselves out and celebrate!

From left to right: Isak, Cole, Ben, Caitlyn, Jack, Asher & Adam

From left to right: Cole, Ben, Asher, Adam, and Caitlyn

That Fall Feeling

You know the drill - fall means Silver Lake. This year, we actually made the hike up to the top - the boys were awesome even up the steep hill.  Beautiful day!

Two-Wheeler...Kind Of

We finally got Jack off of the tricycle and onto a two-wheeler. Yes, it does have training wheels, but progress is progress. And this proud smile is totally worth it.

Back to School

Cole's start of 1st grade can really not be told without the context of his summer, so forgive me while I back up a little. As I've mentioned, Cole struggled a bit in Kindergarten. As we tried to decide what to do for the summer, we knew we wanted something amazing. We ended up signing Cole up for Club U at the University of Utah. Not only was it convenient, but it came highly recommended. At $300 a week (GULP!), it wasn't cheap, but we were willing to give it a try.

We are so very glad we did.

Cole absolutely loved it. Not once did he complain about getting up in the morning, or whine about being bored. They kept those kids so busy from early morning until the afternoon. Cole even loved after care, and came home with beads, boondoggle, key chains, and all other manner of crafts. Here are just a few of the things he did over the summer:

Canoeing

Archery

Boat Building

Hiking

Bee Keeping 

Astronomy

Physics

Solar-Powered Ovens

Cardboard Box Castles

Visits to: Natural History Museum, Museum of Natural Curiosity, Trampoline Park, Ogden Dinosaur Park, East Reservoir, Living Planet Aquarium, Great Salt Lake, Cherry Hill, and various water parks, including Cowabunga Bay. 

It was just incredible. Watching Cole gain confidence and excitement as he tried new things and made new friends was so wonderful as a mom. Not having to worry about where he was, or if he was having fun was so relieving.

The only thing I wished was that there were pictures of all of this. I was able to take this one in after care; he was so proud of his creation.

So, after a summer of non-stop fun, it was pretty difficult to think about going back to school and having to sit still all day. Luckily, by the time the first day rolled around, Cole was ready.

Now, while it may not be as fun as the summer was, I think we're ready for the new year in Mrs. Woolf's 1st grade class!

U-Kids Carnival

University Kids held their end of summer carnival, and the weather was gorgeous. The kids got to do a lot of fun things, play some good games, and even ride some ponies.

But you know the thing the kids wanted to do over...and over...and over again?

Sack races. Yep, sack races. It really is the simple things.

Just Once

I cannot believe that we have only been camping once this summer. It always seems like such a huge hassle, until we go and it is always amazing. We went up to Whitney Reservoir, which is a good 45 minutes outside of Kamas. But the ride was totally worth it. Once we turned up the dirt road, we were treated with the sight of a mama and baby moose. Amazing!

Kelly, Jeremy, and JC had located our camp, and it was gorgeous. The only drawback was that we had picked the opening weekend of the bow hunt, so there were some interesting folks up camping. (There was an interesting moment when we walked by a campsite and were greeted by a dead deer hanging off the back of a 4 wheeler.) 

Cole, Jack, and JC had a blast hanging out together - climbing trees:

 Doing crafts:

 Keeping food away from the pups:

 Making DELICIOUS dutch oven dinners:

 Playing "Ring Around the Rosies:"

 S'mores:

 And taking in the beauty around us!

 Let's never leave!