Sledding With Cousins

Bruce and Grandpa Savage got out the four wheelers and we went sledding at Sage Brush Hill in Cache Valley. Some of the girls were content to play at Grandmas. Benjamin was so excited to try out the sled Santa had brought!

Trent went solo

Chantel and Brilee

When Benjamin went down with Bruce he got a face full, and a back full of snow. Bruce couldn't fit his feet on the sled so all the snow they kicked up came right toward them. Brrr...

Chantel and Brilee try it backwards.

Ben and I climbing back up the hill.

Brilee made a snow angel.

Raquel and Brilee

Brilee's 7th Birthday

Brilee's birthday is the day after Christmas. Every year we head south to celebrate with cousins. (It's not exactly the best time to have a friend party and she's never had one). I think next summer we will have a half birthday celebration with friends. This year we brought a cake down with us and Grandma Savage had made her a pink cake so she had two! Below are Benjamin, Trent, Chantel, Raquel, & Brilee.

Brilee, Cherakie, Hailey, Teagan

Putting on her giant purple lipstick piggy bank filled with stationary.

Happy 7th Birthday Brilee Su Mykellykell!

Christmas '09

Trent did a lot of babysitting the week before Christmas while I was trying to finish things up. I found these pictures on my camera. I don't know who had more fun the babysitter or the babysitted (Benjamin).

Santa found us this year. He wrapped everything!

He even ate all the goodies Brilee had layed out for him. It cracked me up that she even filled a water bottle for him...

The girls found these black headband bows in their stocking.

Grandma Wimmer gave Benjamin the cutest little cat that rolled around on the floor and laughed and laughed. Ben got such a kick out of it! Teagan picked it up and the tail just kept rotating around and around as he laughed...

Trent got some Wii and DSi games he was excited about.

Benjamin spent an hour playing with this Play-Doh set.

Trent used a new tool set to help Bruce put together a Barbie mansion for the girls.

Ben gravitated back to the Play-Doh set...

He and Teagan made Bruce a steak, potatoes and gravy, and green beans. Yum!

We played lots of games...

Each of the kids found a toy air gun by their stocking and that led to several battles throughout the day. Here Benjamin hides in the pantry from Brilee who is chasing him on her roller blades.

Brilee got this little Appletters game that's like Scrabble but you don't keep score. I thought it was neat that on one of my turns I had enough of the right letters to spell out 'Christ' on Christmas day (above). Hope yours was a merry one!

Brrrrrrr...

Today while driving my girls to school the temperature gauge in the car said it was minus 16 degrees outside! Brrrrrr! Some schools around got canceled but not our district. Trent is home sick with the flu. Oooohhhhh how I'm longing for those Southern winters today..... Andrea, Lisa, Lynetta, Martina, or Melinda if you go Christmas shopping today in shorts I don't want to hear about it.

She's Double Digits!

Yesterday Teagan turned 10! She chose to have a family party (after some bribing from her father). Teagan Malia was my only baby that came right on her due date.
I told her to give me a happy smile so she did this...
Teagan loves those Andes' chocolate mints so I made her a cake with them. It turned out fabulous! The frosting is just creme cheese, cool whip, and Andes' mint pieces. Then we decorated the top with mint curls.

Some things to know about 10 year old Teagan include: favorite kind of ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough, fav color is purple, primary song is "Stars Were Gleeming", fav food would definitely be brownies. She loves to make brownies and cake and has gotten good enough that when she comes to me and asks if she can make a cake, I can say yes and know that she can do the whole thing from start to finish and I never have to go into the kitchen. (Still working on the clean up part without reminders though ;) Teagan loves to play with friends, ride bikes, and read as she's currently diving into the Harry Potter series. She's going through book 3 like a mouse through a block of cheese. She watches the movies after she finishes each book and says she wants to be a writer when she grows up.

She came home with a cerebrum in a ziplock bag from school a couple weeks ago. They dissected the brain of a sheep in her gifted class. I might have to secretly dispose of that thing. Hope she's not planning to keep it forever but with her you never know, lol! She also placed first in the visual arts category in her school's Reflections contest this year. Way to go Teagan, we love you!
Happy Double Digit Birthday!!!

Thanksgiving '09

For Thanksgiving this year my mom and both sisters and their families came up. Some hadn't even seen our home yet so it was great to have everyone here. They all ran the turkey trot in Salt Lake and arrived early afternoon. My nieces have all but grown up and they are beautiful! Here my sister, Karra, and nieces Erica and Ashley are putting together dip for the veggies.Morgan, Karra, and Erica
Below is my sister, Denette, and the boys Trent, Jordan, Derek, and Benjamin who were either running around or hangin' out in the living room...
Finishing up the food prep and carving the turkey...
Steve, Ashely, Denette, Mom, Trent, me, Krista, Jordan
Krista, Jordan, Karra, Steve, Erica, Steve, Ashley
Later on we planned to break out the games but ended up just visiting and laughing and eating leftovers, which we had TONS of...
The next day we hit a few stores but the kids were dying to go to Outer Limits for some laser tag. That's pretty much become a tradition since that's where we go every time they come up. The kids weren't gonna let us out of it this time for sure. Then we hit the Christmas parade and Gingerbread house display. We played a mean game of Taboo and by then, the little kids were beyond exhausted. Saturday everyone had to head back home. It was fun, glad you came up!