Perfect Snow Day

December 1st we got our first big snow! What a way to start the season. Friday night we had told the boys that there was going to be some snow in the morning. When we all woke up there was about 2-3 inches and lots of snow still falling. We all got geared up and went out to shovel walks. Someone had already come and done our drive way so we started walking down the street doing the sidewalks and driveways along the way. The boys had two smaller snow shovels that they would follow blake with and clear things that he missed. After doing 5 driveways the boys were really anxious to play in the snow so we headed back to our backyard. They started with a small snowball fight and then decided they needed to build a snow fort to hide behind if they were going to have a snowball fight. They played out in the snow for hours. When they finally came in they all had rosy cheeks and noses. We had hot chocolate and some lunch. Blake built a fire in the fireplace while we all thawed out. The boys then sat and played gameboy together. It was so fun playing in the snow and then relaxing together after. It was just one of those most perfect days ever!

So much to be thankful for

For Thanksgiving we drove down to St. George to spend it with Grandma and Grandpa Murdock (my mom's mom and dad), and my brother Mike and his family that live down there. My two other brothers that live here in Orem area and my aunt Pat and cousin Casey came down too. My Uncle Brian and Aunt Jodie and their kids Tate, Hannah and Gus came from Idaho. For us it was a rush trip. We went down Wednesday afternoon and got there in time to have some dinner and go to a movie. All the boys (blake, and the boys, cousins and uncles) went to "the Bee movie" while the girls (Lori, Pat, Jodi and Hannah) went to "Enchanted." The boys said that the bee movie wasn't as good as they had hoped, but the girls loved "enchanted". Thursday morning all the older boys and Hannah went golfing. There was a chill in the air more than we had anticipated for st. george, but it was still nice to go golfing. You can't ask the boys who won cause they are all still a little embarassed that they were beaten by a little girl. We took the boys legos and scooters down and they had an absolute blast riding them in grandma and grandpa's hanger that was cleared out so that we could all fit in the hanger for thanksgiving dinner. The boys love being able to hang out with their cousins and they just played and played and played. We had to head out Thursday after dinner and some visiting since Blake had to work Friday morning. I have decided their is some conspericy against us spending more than 24 hours in St. George. This was our third trip down this past year and all of our trips down have been like that. Oh well, we'll take what time we can spend with our family down there. There is so much to be thankful for. Here are a few pictures of things that i am thankful for and of our thanksgiving wirlwind gathering.

Scrub a dub dub.....

Sam and Ryan were showering one night and i pulled their hair up to the mohawk and they both wanted it to stay that way. I couldn't resist taking a picture, and then i couldn't reisist posting it since it is just so dang cute. If you aint smiling at this picture you really need to get out and get some fresh air.

Happy Birthday to Us!

We did a family birthday dinner celebrating November birthday's (Sam, Casey, and mine). It's always nice to have the family get together. Of course we had pumpkin pie instead of cake. When Pat asked Sam what kind of pie he wanted he was so sure about wanting apple pie (kinda made me proud, since Blake's not a fan of pie). He tried it but decided he liked the razzle berry pie and pumpkin pie better, either way he's a pie guy.When we asked Sam who he wanted to invite to his birthday party he kept saying Uncle Ford. I told him Uncle Ford is pretty busy and i don't know if he would have as much fun with his friends as if we just had him come over later for pie. Sam understood and was fine with it until his actual party with his friends and he asked is Uncle Ford coming?

Finally Sam got to have a birthday party. It was his first official party. He had a few friends over for pizza, games, and a movie (sort of). They didn't actually watch the movie, they just ran around the house playing with each other and having a grand time. I think Sam is sold on having birthday parties.

The Doctor will see you now.....

One of the nicer days in November the boys were in the back yard playing with some of the toys we had pulled out of the storage unit. Ryan instantly became Dr. Ryan and kept checking Ethan's heart and ears. Ethan was really good to let him do it over and over and over again. Ryan was just telling me as i was pulling up these pictures that he didn't want to be a doctor anymore that Ethan could be one. Ryan said "mom i want to be a turtle, but i want to be a inja"(teen age mutant ninja turtles are some of his most favorite toys). Funny guy.

Dinosaur Museum

Ryan and I are part of a group of mothers that do fieldtrip friday's. We all have preschool aged kids and younger that we try and go and do activities with. Sometimes it's something like the discovery park in Pleasant Grove, or the park down the street. Sometimes it's the Bean Museum at BYU and the Farm at Thanksgiving point. We've done lots of fun things that are not always expensive. One Friday in November we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, which was a first for Ryan and I. We've talked about going as a family but just haven't done it yet. Ethan ended up going with his school class the next week. Anyway, it's a fun place. First picture is Ryan standing between the t-rex's toes. At one point he was tickling the toes. Kinda funny. The next picture Ryan is opening his mouth as big as he can like the shark. And the third picture Ryan is looking for bones with his brush. We had a blast. We will for sure be going back as a family.

Ethan's Piano Duet Festival

Ethan back in November had a piano festival that he had been practicing for months for. Towards the end there it was all i could do to get him to play the pieces 2 or 3 times each day. He was ready to move on to something else. He and his duet partner William did a great job. They got 34 out of 36 points. Ethan decided to look over to watch us watching him and got messed up for a measure, but other than that they did perfect. I'm going to try this posting video thing for one of the two songs they played. Plus it's fitting to have this posted to the blog for this time of year.