Cure for a sore throat

Jack had a sore throat today and ended up going to school late and coming home early because of it.  The kids were supposed to take a nap since they came home from school early.  Jack was laying by me and then got up to come make himself something for his sore throat.

His friend, Angel, from his kindergarten class told him that you should drink milk with honey mixed in for 99 days and then you'll feel better.  Jack made himself some and I guess he drank it.  He told me later that if you drink too much it will make you sick.  

I'll have to give it a try.

Electric Train Videos

Jack and Ty could watch videos of trains on youtube for hours.  They especially love to watch videos of other people's electric trains.  Jack wanted to make his own train videos.

So, here are a few videos of Jack's Lionel Pennsylvania train.

Mike & Maggie's

We went to Mike & Maggie's house to celebrate New Year's with them. 

On Friday, December 30th, we all went to Kamas to their aquatic center and all the kids and their dads went swimming.  Melinda and Norm came with us too!  I wish we could hang out with all our cousins all year long. 

Then, Saturday (New Years' Eve) we made lots of yummy food and spent New Year's Eve together.  It was hard to stay awake until midnight.  The kids didn't have too hard a time.  Austin made Wii MarioKart and bowling tournaments.  Avery and Kate gave everyone invitations with specific times to come to Avery's room for a dance performance. 

Kate went to bed at 11:30.  Jack went to bed at 11:45.  And Ty was up until 12:30 when Dave and I finally went to bed. 

Ty loved playing Geotrax in the basement with anyone that would play with him.

 Their serious "Geotrax Team" faces.

We didn't see much of Kate while we were at Mike's house.  She and Avery spent hours dancing and playing barbies and American Girl dolls.  They went to one of Avery's friend's pajama birthday party together. 

After leaving Mike's house on New Years, we headed back to Castle Dale where we gathered the rest of our stuff and headed home the next day.  We had great driving weather to New Mexico and also from New Mexico.  There isn't much snow in Utah, so the driving was great.

Thanks to everyone that let us stay with them and fed us and gave us presents and let us play with their toys.  It was a great vacation!  When we got home Jack said, "I really like our house."  It was nice to be home. 

Bowling at the U!

On Thursday, December 29th, we went bowling at the University of Utah bowling alley.  Mike and Maggie and their family met us there (along with Norm & Melinda & Grandma and Grandpa).  The kids split up into two teams and the adults played a game. 

Jack loved bowling with the big boys (Quinton, Austin, and Ethan).  It took a lot of fruit snacks to make Ty happy.  He wasn't into bowling that day.

Avery, Maggie, Anders, Jack

 Kate loves bowling! 

What is so funny?

After bowling, we headed to Dave's favorite restaurant, Chuck-a-rama.

Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life

One of my favorite parts of our whole Utah trip is that Dave and I went running together most of the days that we were there.  We took advantage of the babysitters (thanks to all our family) and the lower elevation.  It was fun running with Melinda, Norm and Maggie during the week.  We loved the trails by Melinda's house.
Melinda and Norm were nice to let us stay at their house for three nights.  Our kids loved playing the cousins.  Jack said he never wanted to leave. 

We went to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point one afternoon.

Jack and Ben loved the balls and spinning wheel. 

 The kids trying to see how much power they could generate.

"Mom, look at this huge dinosaur!"

 The kids loved the water erosion table.

 We put together the giant dinosaur puzzles.  (We, meaning mostly the adults.)

 Scary shark faces!

 Counting the teeth!

 Who needs to go to the beach?

I think the kids could have stayed at the museum a lot longer, but it was time for dinner, so we made them leave.  They loved it!

BYU Game

Tuesday, December 27th, we went to the BYU vs. CSU San Marcos basketball game.  Norm and Melinda and their boys met us there.  It was fun!  The kids loved seeing Cosmo and all the excitement of being at the game.  They tried to get on the jumbotron, but they weren't quite crazy enough, I guess (or we were up too high).

San Rafael Swell

The day after Christmas we went out on the desert to take the kids to some of the San Rafael Swell's treasures.
We stopped at the dinoaur footprint.  Ty really thought there was a dinosaur and he was freaking out and trying to get out of my arms after we got out of the car.  We explained to him that the dinosaurs were dead and he calmed down a little bit.  He kept repeating, "It's dead.  It's dead."

We stopped at the Indian writings.  I took a lot more pictures than this one, but they are all missing from my camera card.  Strange...

Then we stopped at the Swinging Bridge.

 Then we went to the Wedge and had a picnic. 

 Kate with her buddy, Grandma.

 Ty and Jack threw many rocks off the edge.

 Jack discovered the climbing tree right before we left.

 Ty will do anything and everything that Jack does.

Christmas 2011

Santa found us in Castle Dale at Grandma and Grandpa Judi's house.
He brought Jack a basketball hoop and a mini basketball and a normal size basketball.

He brought Kate the Samantha American Girl book set with a mini doll and some doll clothes for her big doll.

He brought Ty a big dump truck, but Ty was convinced that Jack's little ball was for him.

 He's still not convinced that the ball is Jack's.

 Kate gave Ty his own hoop and ball (glow in the dark).

 Ty also got a Red the fire truck, a shirt, some geotrax cars, and books. 

Kate got this hat, sweater, and necklace, lots of books, doll clothes (I made some amazingly enough!), and art supplies.

Ty gave Jack this watch.  We all knew what time it was when Jack was around!  He's been asking for a watch for a long time!  Jack got this shirt (Ty has a matching one), art stuff, some books and a little transformer.

Dave and I ordered this train switch, two bumpers, and a few small tracks as Jack's Christmas gift from us, but it wasn't delivered until New Years.  We'd taken his train track in the van (under cover) to surprise him.  It was just a little late. 

Vaughn cleared out a spot in the basement and set up Jack's basketball hoop.  Jack played for hours after church on Christmas with whoever would play with him.  He asked me lots of time to "come watch on him" while he played.

Most of the action shots I took of Jack were blurry.  I tried every setting that I could think of on my camera, but they're all blurry.  Maybe I need an "action" lense.

Jack learned how to do layups and how to dunk it!

 Ty got to play with Jack too.  He made quite a few baskets!

  

Grandpa played with Jack for a long time.  They had quite the game going.

Dave bought me a couch and loveseat for Christmas. (this picture is obviously not my house)