St. George-- Snow Canyon

St. George Hiking day...

We patiently waited for the day the weather was supposed to get above 30. These CA kids just couldn't handle much less. Unfortunately it was still only 24 when we headed out that day. We headed to Snow Canyon and went for some hikes. I will admit I was NOT excited about this hike. Its one thing to deal with me freezing but to deal with two freezing kids on top of being miserable myself did NOT sound like a treat. We just don't own a lot of warm clothing! But, of course, Papa Ross made sure we all had a blast and quickly forgot about our freezing noses and fingers.


The first hike was up on the red rocks where there were a bunch of little frozen ponds and lots of ice to break and throw that thankfully distracted Zach who was in full-blown meltdown mode within minutes of getting out of the car since it was so freezing!

Brady was bundled up and in the front pack (which kept mom warm too!) he was happy as a clam!

We sort of look homeless. I think I had like six layers on. I had on at least four pairs of pants. I had to borrow clothes from Clint and Papa Ross.

"ice skating" with Papa Ross. I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't totally paranoid that the ice was going to break and my kid would fall in the freezing water. It wasn't deep but seriously for a 3 year old it wouldn't take much, right!? Especially when Uncle Chris managed to make a huge crack in some of the ice.

ice-- so fun to eat, throw, break and it got him to finally wear some gloves or "globes"

keeping warm

The second hike we did was in some sand dunes. It reminded me of being in Yuma minus the freezing weather. The kids loved it. Its funny how they wanted to just sit and play in the sand even though it was weird red sand and freezing cold.

Zach and Summer running down the hill

The big boys decided to race

They were slowing down by the second hill

They were crawling on their way back

The last little hike we did was in a little slot canyon. It was cool and just the right length for the kids.

Papa Ross with Zach, Ali, Summer and holding Cadance who managed to escape all of my pictures from this trip! I promise Grandma Janice was there too but she also seemed to escape from pictures a lot

Aunt Jenny, Uncle Chris and baby Axelgard about half way through baking

The whole trip was about Uncle Bret coming home and this was the only picture I got with him! I'm bad at this!

More St. George

St. George Continues...

One of the days in St. George we headed to the Washington Rec center. It was weird to go there in the freezing cold since the last time we were there it was 105 outside. The water was NOT super warm but the kids still managed to have a blast. Brady loved that the water and the "beach" area where he could crawl around in the water. Zach loved doing the slide, especially the big slide and his fun uncles and dad who would take him down the slide over, and over, and over.

water baby!

I am in love with this picture, love this happy boy!

Cousins hanging out. Summer, Zach, Ali

Crawling

The rec center has a rock wall. Zach is really in to the rock wall at a local park so we had been talking about going on the rock wall in St. George for weeks. He was so excited. But there was one part we forgot to tell him about. The harness. When the guys put that thing on him he sort of got nervous but when they tightened the rope and it pulled him up a little he lost it. Add that to the whole Hansen clan standing around watching and he couldn't get out of there fast enough. Oh well, well try again next time!

St. George-- Christmas #2 and New Year's!

Dear Kate and Riley,
After we got back from Uncle Adam's we had a few days before we took off to meet up with the Hansens in St. George. Uncle Bret returned from his mission on Dec. 27th and we were all excited for our meet up. I refused to drive all the way to Salt Lake again (we've done that drive one too many times this year) so we decided to meet halfway-ish in St. George. I told everyone it would be great because St. George would be so much warmer than Salt Lake. Little did we know we'd be in for record breaking cold and snow! But in true Papa Ross fashion, we didn't let that stop us from hiking and other outdoor fun.

I'm going to have to break St. George into a few posts. These are from the first two days.

My favorite part of the trip-- Papa Ross reading Dr. Seuss to the kids. Really felt like it should be me on that bed, brought back so many memories for me!

Since Bret and Grandma and Papa had missed Christmas morning, we had our own little Christmas which of course the kids loved. Zach was starting to get a little greedy!

Brady got some hand made booties from Mexico. Too cute.

Zach got some train tunnels and the kids had so much fun playing with them. They are still the biggest hit in our house.

Love,
Mom

Christmas!

Dear Kate and Riley,
So it may be February and that only by a bit, but I'm determined to catch up. After the desk top bit the dust just like the lap top, we decided it was time to give in and get a new computer. We went for a Mac and I'm hoping that with a new, fast, fancy computer I can FINALLY get caught up on blogging!

Christmas was so much fun! I loved having just our little family last year but adding Brady to the mix made it even more fun. Surprisingly, although I don't think I slept at all, the boys slept great and even slept in a bit. Zach was beyond excited. Opening presents with him was the greatest. He was SO excited about every gift and exclaimed "Oh, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I LOVE it!" about every single thing, even when he opened the pink razors from my stocking. He wanted to open ALL the presents which for now was fine since Brady wasn't too interested and Dad and I didn't mind. He was very pleased to get his 3 requested items as well as way too much other stuff.

After we opened presents we went to breakfasts at the Hunts which was super yummy and fun and then we headed down to San Diego to Uncle Adam's house where the fun (and eating) continued. I am already looking forward to next Christmas when Aunt Tracy will make bread pudding again!

I need to take a mental note to take more pictures! We are busy taking video and never take enough pictures, especially since this was Brady's first Christmas!

Brady got a bunch of "Chuck" trucks

Zachary's "big" one, Tidmouth Sheds (where the Thomas trains live)

Brady loved Dad's golf club and thought it was for him

Hiro the train, another important request

The duplo legos were probably the biggest surprise hit, both of the boys LOVE them!

If I can figure out how, I'll try to post the video from Christmas morning, it was much more exciting.

Love,
Mom

Christmas Eve

Dear Kate and Riley,
(if you think I'm close to caught up, you're wrong!)
We decided to make it a little Christmas Eve tradition to head to Boomers for some mini golf. It was a pretty nice day and we had a lot of fun. Zach was very determined to golf all by himself (which sometimes took a LONG time!) he did, however usually lose patience eventually and just throw it in the hole. He is also very good at cheering everyone else along, yelling things like, "GO MOM!" or "WHOO HOO DAD!" Brady, as always, was a sport and just hung out in his stroller.

Since we had our fancy dinner out the night before, we just stayed in and had tacos. Later, we read some Christmas books, got dressed in matching pj's, opened one present (a puzzle) and after Brady went to bed we decorated a giant gingerbread man for Santa.

Zach was so excited that when Aaron went upstairs about an hour after we had put him to bed, he was just standing there in his room. Aaron reminded him that he had to go to bed in order for Santa to come and he finally did!



Mini Golf at Boomers

Christmas Pj's in front of the tree

I couldn't leave this one out because its what MOST of the pictures I try to take of the two of them look like-- poor Brady in a choke hold.

You also may notice that our tree had zero ornaments left within Brady reach and an obscene amount of ornaments on the top since they all eventually got moved.

I was really glad that we took these pictures since both boys wet through their diapers and onto these jammies during the night and we had to change them for Christmas morning! I was so bummed!

Zach was very insistent that we make our gingerbread man look just like the one on the box

Love,
mom