McCall Winter Carnival 10'

We headed up to the cabin for yet another year to celebrate the McCall Winter Carnival.  We had a wonderful time filled with family, friends, a late night, Rock Band party, a Parade, snow fun and much more

Allie setting up camp in her sun-shade

The parents deep in a game of Settlers.  It has been such a long time since I have played this game I forgot how much I love it

Allie and Cam having an indoor picnic on the sled while we were in the midst of our game.  I think it was around 11:00 p.m. at this point.  The kids had busted out food, measuring utensils, etc. and were staying busy while we played away

And they continued hauling out bowls, cups, spatulas.  Oh what fun!  Distracted parents, food, late night= LUCKY KIDS

We woke up and got our groove going with a little Rock Band

Here is the band:  Katie and Kelly on guitar, Aaron on drums, and me on the microphone.  The Histand's drove up on Saturday and joined us for the day.  We were so glad to have them join us for all of our adventures on Saturday.  

The kids waiting for the parade to begin and the Mardi Grass beads to begin flying

One of my favorite floats of the event was the dinosaur; a.k.a. a backhoe in disguise.  I thought it was pretty clever

The 3 three year olds on their way down the slide.  The slides were all pretty pathetic if you ask me. The slides didn't even compare to what they were like when we were kids.  I don't think you can tell, but they had to push their way in order to get down

Allie was really not impressed with these slides.  She decided to walk down the next one because she wasn't going to use a slide that didn't work

1st Place Ice Sculpture and one of my favorites:  Idaho Spuds tubing down a river :)

After we toured a small portion of the Ice Carnival we headed back to the cabin for a little fun in the snow.  The kids enjoyed being pulled on the sleds.

But most of all they loved riding and "driving" the snowmobile.  One adult would drive and all three kids would sandwich in between as they would pull the others around on sleds. What a fun weekend had by all!

Project with Papa

It all started with an RC Willey Gift Card that I needed to use before it expired.  I had been watching these climbing domes all summer hoping they would go on sale; no such luck.  Well when I realized I had only days left to use my gift card in January, I headed off to the store to see what I could find.  With no such luck in the store and no need for anything at home I headed off to see where the dome went.  No such luck again.  In talking with a sales associate they informed me they could check the Salt Lake store to see if they had any left in their inventory.  

Well a week later we brought home a box and a bunch of bars.  I knew between Blake and I this project would take us a long time, so we called up Papa to help us expedite the completion of our project.  

Allie was working right beside us the whole time. She would bring over bars, ,screws, the hammer; anything we needed her for she was there to assist. It brought back childhood memories having Allie out in the garage with my dad and I.  I always remember being out in the garage working on a project with my dad, whether it was fixing flat tires on a bike or creating some science experiment.  

Allie was pretty happy when she could finally climb on the dome.  I love working on projects and finishing them because great satisfaction comes from all the hard work and hours of time that get put in

The final hurdle was not just finishing the dome.  It was moving it from inside our garage into the backyard.  My dad and I managed to life the dome over our head and lift it over my fence to move it into the backyard.  Home at last!

Martin Luther King Family Day

We celebrated Martin Luther King Day by heading up to the cabin.  Now that Blake is self-employed we are enjoying all of the holidays that he used to not have off.  Don't get me wrong, he's not being a slacker.  He works his butt off now, probably more than he did working at Eide Bailly, but we can be a little more flexible with life at times.  We had a great family day together.  We ventured out after breakfast on our cross country skiis.  We initially started out by just wanting to see how far it was across the lake to Tamerack.  Once we got over there we ventured up onto the golf course and all around the resort.  

Out in front of the unfinished lodge.  It's really sad that this all is just sitting around.  

Maybe one day we can find ourselves relaxing in the lodge getting a nice massage

Once we got back from our ski trip we decided to go and take a dip in the hot springs.  We enjoyed a two hour swim.  We had underwater somersault races, we jumped into the freezing snow and back into the warm pool, we made sand castles, and we just relaxed.    

Allie was to cute!  She came walking out of the room dressed in her swimsuit and her snow boots

Allie's Preschool Letter "O"

Allie came home from school with a few papers from an activity that I thought was so fun, cute, and hilarious to read through.  I will share with you the activity that they did.  The teacher presented an orange object (studying up on letter "O") and then had each child go through the five senses and use one word to describe the object.  Blake thought this it was so funny reading through Allie's responses that he quizzed Allie on a few objects around our house with her too.

Orange Food #1-Cheese Cracker

Looks Like:   Square and Rainy

Feels Like:  Cracker

Smells Like:  Salt

Tastes Like: Lemon, Fruit, Cheesey

Sounds Like:  Crunch

Orange Food #2-Peach Rings

Looks Like: Sparkly

Fells Like: Sparkly

Smells Like:  Sparkly

Tastes Like:  Fruity, Gummy

Sounds Like: Squishy

Orange Food #3-Carrot

Looks Like: A Finger

Feels Like: Cold

Smells Like: Watery

Tastes Like: Crunchy

Sounds Like: Crunch

Orange Food #4-Orange

Looks Like:  Yellowy-orange

Feels Like: Mushy and squooshy

Smelly Like: Yummy and Peachy

Tastes Like: Orangey

Sounds Like: Juicy

Day 3-Utah Trip and Fiesta Bowl Bound

We had a great time down in Utah.  Since the girls got their shopping fix in, it was only fair that the boys got to go on their trip-The Fiesta Bowl.  So all the girls and children pilled up and headed back to Boise to enjoy an extended "stay-cation" until the dad's returned home. 

Photos from dad at the bowl game

We decided to keep all the woman and children together when we got home so nobody had to sleep in father-less households alone.  The cousins got to have a sleepover and they loved it!

The proud and happy dad's returned home with a few souviner's for the kids; some potato hats and fiesta bowl necklaces.  Way to go BRONCOS!

Day 2-Utah Trip

Our second day down in Salt Lake was a busy one.  The wives all headed up to Park City to hit the outlet malls and we left the men and children back in Salt Lake City.  Despite us being gone for the day, they stayed pretty busy

The first stop was the Children's Museum.   The museum entertained everybody for a majority of the morning and early afternoon.

Allie dressed up as a cowgirl

Next a firefighter.  I'm sure that the dress up part of the museum was her favorite part

After a few hours at the museum the crew went to the Golden Arches for lunch

After lunch, they all returned to the museum.  Next, the girls all gathered for a craft....seriously we need one of these museums in Boise.  There seems like there is so much to do

The craft of the day was "Fireworks" for New Years

And finally the kids worked on a Science Experiment.  I don't quite know what was made, but sadly it ended up in the trash and didn't return to Boise with us

What a great day had by everyone in the family.  Although I wasn't able to find some items on my shopping list, I did find some some great bargains at the outlets for Allie.  Why is it always funner to shop for your kids over yourself?  After all afternoon at the Outlets and the Nordstrom Rack, I think my favorite purchases were from Payless.  Seriously, who needed a trip to Utah for shopping?  I really did!!!!  We finally met up with everyone for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory; all 22 of us.

After dinner we all took one more dip in the pool

And enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub for our last night

Day 1-Utah Trip

We headed down to Salt Lake City with Blake's family for a weekend of fun, shopping, swimming and a baby blessing.  We rolled into Salt Lake around 7pm and had a short Friday night to enjoy

We went to visit Temple Square thinking we were going to see the last night of the lights; but we had missed it by one night.  We still were able to enjoy a few of the nativity scenes that were still up

Allie and Daddy braving the cold

Allie with her cousin Jane.  Allie just adores her cousin Jane.  She talks about her all the time and just loves when she can get together with her

We quickly left the freezing cold outside and checked into our hotel.  We went and enjoyed a swim in the pool to warm us up.  It was surprisingly warm

We then quickly showered and got pajamas on so we could make to the hotel lobby for a 10 o'clock family meeting where we discussed the plan of events for Saturday.  Wow....we are growing.  I can't believe how many cousins there are in the family. We were so noisy down in the lobby we were told we needed to break up our meeting and head to our rooms

So....we all left the meeting and a group of us converged in the Given's room only to enjoy some late night talking, wrestling by Allie and Cam, and  a late night Little Caesars run by the boys.