Camel

After tubing on Dec. 26th, we drove by to see the camel that is on the way to/from Diamond field Jack. This house also has a huge Christmas light display that most of our family has seen at night.

Justin was scared to even be near the camel.

Check out the video:

Tubing fun!

On Saturday, December 26th, we went tubing to Diamond Field Jack. We enjoyed tubing and being together as a family. Brianna even enjoyed going tubing!
Everyone getting ready to tube

Josh, Lindsey, Tiffany

Lon & Brianna

Melanie, Brianna, Lon

Tyler, Lindsey, Tiffany, Josh

Tubing video......watch for the "brotherly" love

Tubing without a hill to climb!

Yeah, we finally received some good snow last night. Here are 2 of my "angels"!

Justin, Lindsey, Tiffany

Our children love to be pulled behind our van on snowy days. We received about 4-6" snow last night, so today was the perfect day! Lon didn't have to go to work until noon, so Tiffany & Lindsey took advantage of him pulling them behind the van. Fast & Fun!
Check out the video:

3rd place!

Tyler participated with 7 other wrestling teammates in the Bear Cat Tournament in Twin Falls. There were 18 teams that were at the varsity wrestling tournament. On Friday (Dec. 18) Tyler (130 lbs) had a BYE and in the next round, he pinned the guy. On Saturday (Dec. 19) he lost 10-15 his first match. He pinned the next 2 guys to take 3rd place. He was very excited! He was the only one on his team to place at this tournament. Great job, Tyler!

Gift tower

Justin has enjoyed using the gifts to build towers. He likes to see how tall he can make the tower before it falls.

Chapstick

Brianna was playing and I went to check on her. She had found Lindsey's chapstick and this is what I found:

Christmas candy

Every year at Christmas time, some of my friends & I get together and make Christmas candy. This year, there were 7 of us who joined in the fun. We coordinate who is making what so that we don't duplicate items we are making. This year we made caramels, dipped pretzels, chocolate & peanut butter fudge, peanut butter balls, english toffee, chex/golden grahams/cranberry treat, peppermint balls, almond toffee. When we are all finished making our items, we divide them up and take home way too many yummy things to give to neighbors, friends, etc. Fun day and great memories!

One (out of 3) of the pans of stuff

Wrestling

This is a short clip of Tyler (130 lbs) wrestling a guy from Gooding on Dec. 15th. This clip is from the 3rd round.

Nativity & Santa

The Primary was in charge of the Nativity this year for our ward Christmas party. So, I delegated this assignment to one of my very capable counselors (so blessed to have 2 great counselors, 1 great secretary). Anyway, Justin was assigned to be a sheep, so we made him a costume using cotton balls. He was NOT happy to wear this costume because when he put it on at home, we all started chuckling because he looked so cute. When we put it on him at the church, he was even less thrilled, but was a good sport. He left a trail of cotton balls everywhere he went, which was quite funny. He was more than happy to take off his costume when the Primary was done with their part.

Lindsey was an angel

Santa also came! Justin was excited to tell Santa that he wants a train set.

LindseyFor some reason, Lon thought he should sit on his lap, also. My silly man!

Happy Birthday, Tiffany!

HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY, TIFFANY! It is hard to believe that you are now out of Primary and in Young Women's. You are such a great daughter. We appreciate you being willing to help with Brianna or whatever we need you to. We like that you enjoy making your hair look nice and help Lindsey do her hair. We are so proud of you & we love you!

Sports

Tyler & Josh are both excited to be participating in sports. Tyler's (11th grade) 1st wrestling meet was tonight against Declo. This year, Tyler is wrestling at 130 lbs. He pinned the guy he wrestled in the 3rd round.

Josh (9th grade) was thrilled to make the basketball C team (mainly freshmen, some sophomores). Their team has had 2 games and so far they are 1-1. In the 4th quarter of the 2nd game (Monday), Josh came down on someone's foot and hurt his ankle/leg. We are hoping that he only sprained it, but it hurts him higher on his leg than it should for a sprained ankle. He practiced tonight and is hoping to be able to play in the game tomorrow night.

Christmas tree

Normally, we get to search in the forest for our Christmas tree while we are at the cabin in Star Valley, WY during Thanksgiving time. Since we didn't get to go there this year, we ended up buying our tree from a lot, taking maybe 10 minutes to pick out our tree. For Family Home Evening, we set up our tree. It smells so good! Brianna loves to hold the lights in her hand and Justin loves to hide the decorations in the branches and watch them fall. Children are so much fun!

Thanksgiving fun!

This year, instead of going to Lon's families cabin in Star Valley, WY, we stayed here in ID to enjoy the holiday with my sister, Ashley, and brother, Ryan, and his family. We had a lot of fun baking, watching movies (especially Planet Earth), playing games, making hair bows (thank you Heather), playing games, staying up late and just had fun being together. Here are a lot of pictures of some of our fun!

Brianna & cousin Makenzie

Our children with their Aunt Ashley

Ashley always had a helper to help her cook. Yummy pumpkin cookies!

Hair bows that we made

Turkey treats that Heather & Ryan made

Thanksgiving football team. We had Thanksgiving with our friends (Nebeker's), Ryan, Heather, Makenzie & Ashley.

The crew had a lot of fun playing flag football!

Justin enjoyed playing with the turkey bones!

Schuyler's cup stack

Peek-a-boo!

Shirley was in ID to help her parents, and we are so thankful that she took the time to come and visit us. Thanks for coming, Shirley! You're great!

We also made 3 gingerbread houses with help from Makayla & Scott (cousins).

Apple Juice

Every fall, when the apples are ready, we pick them and then, using Lon's parents apple press, we make apple juice. Fresh apple juice is one of our families favorite drinks. We usually freeze most of the juice we make, drink some fresh and then share the rest with friends. Yum!

First we have to pick the apples

Pick-up trucks full of apples

everyone gets to help

Red, yellow, green and any variety of apple we can find to pick

Of course, you have to eat apples, also!

Then, you have to wash, cut out the bad spots and then press the apples

The process takes a lot of people working together......building memories

Jen, Clara & Brianna washing the apples

Pressing the apples takes teamwork