Happy Father's Day, Josh! #7 :)

Well, a lot has happened since my last post and we have been busy.  Let's see: we moved across town, took a month-long vacation, came back to this new-to-us house, have been playing with neighbors non-stop, had family pictures taken (hope to show those soon), celebrated Shelby's golden birthday (she turned 7 on June 7th ~ thanks for all the love you showed her with cards and letters!!!), went to birthday parties, Shelby's doing tennis lessons, and so much more!  Swim lessons are up next week followed by VBSs and then in August a visit from Grandma Mary.  This weekend we are excited to see the Bonus family!

Today for Father's Day we went to church, had a yummy brat lunch followed by a short nap (for Jared and Sharon), then we took the canoe to the river and played around in it.  The kids had a blast and so did we.  We met the Johnston's and also played on their new paddle board.  Then we ate a scrumptious pork taco dinner with ice cream for dessert.  It was a great day and the kids are wiped out.

I promise I'll post pictures some time...we have taken lots!  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Love these kiddos!

So, I feel like a million things have happened since I posted last, and I cannot even begin to catch up.  But I will show you our kiddos as of last week:

Thanks to Molly for the great pictures!  (They were taken for the homeschool co-op we are a part of, for the yearbook.)

And we've moved! Here's our house:


We are doing great!  We finished up Shelby's 1st grade year on March 17th.  The more relaxed days have been really nice.  The kids are loving our new neighborhood ~ a cul de sac with lots of kids!  It's a fun change for us.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying Spring Break!

Snow fort fun!

It just keeps snowing here!  We have enjoyed this snowy winter and all the fun that snow brings.  Josh is actually out snow blowing and shoveling right now ~ that part isn't as enjoyable as the skiing and sledding and snow fort building.  Yes, today Josh and the kiddos built a snow fort in the back yard!

Badger Mtn Ski Hill ~ sledding and skiing!

We had a blast on Saturday hanging out at Badger Mountain Ski Hill.  This lovely little place is just 30 mins from our house.  We almost missed it and here's why...

 Here's the parking lot.  No sign, just a small lot for ~20 cars or less.  You hike up over the hill (along the telephone poles you see) and there's the sledding hill and then the lodge and ski hill.  

It's a great little hill with a rope tow for the bunny hill, a rope tow for the big hill and a t-bar lift for the biggest hill.  $10/person and only open if there's enough snow.  Luckily there has been a lot of snow this year.  It's such a great place for our family!  

Strong Daddy pulled Jared and Vivian in the sleds up from the van to the sledding hill.  

It was a foggy day and actually started snowing around 2:30 or 3:00.  We got there around 10:45 and went sledding until lunch, then Josh and I girls skied until 3:30.   

This is the lodge.  Not too big, but warm and cozy.  Great hamburgers!  

Jared and Ellie and Vivian ~ watching the beginner skiers on the bunny hill.

Lindsay and I figuring out my new phone.  :)  

Jared kept fussing at me and wanting my hat off.  I finally figured out he wanted my hair and his thumb.  :)  While Josh and the girls skied I took Jared inside the lodge to chill for a while.

This friendly dog hung around the ski hill all day!  He loved playing fetch.  We wanted to bring him home with us!  Good thing our landlord doesn't allow pets.  

Here's Shelby skiing by the end of the day (about 2 hours of skiing).  Josh would help her a bit up the rope tow, then after they started he would let her go...


SO fun to watch!  And I didn't get a good video of Vivian going for a long stretch, but she did really well, too!


It was an awesome day!!!  We were all tuckered out and slept great last night.  I was in bed and asleep by 8:15! Excited to go again sometime soon.

Sledding awesomeness!

We have had so much fun sledding!!!

Lincoln Park sledding - had a great time with the Johnstons and the Clarks!

Eastmont Junior High sledding hill ~ my favorite place to sled!

Shelby and Vivian sledding


Vivian sledding (slo-mo)

Christmas 2015

We have had such a wonderful time celebrating Christmas this year!  Decorating cookies with friends, sledding, watching movies, playing in the snow and just enjoying being together.  It is fun to watch our kids as they get older (I know, they are still young...but I'm comparing it to last year).  ;)  Here are some pictures of the last few days ~

 Loving our Winter Wonder Land!

 Sleeping under the tree on Christmas Eve ~ Josh is about to fall asleep!

 The girls reading their new books from Uncle I, Aunt T and Emily.

The girls got several craft gifts and they are LOVING it!

Jared wanted to go on a little walk.

Josh using his new hot-meat-handling gloves.  They worked great!

Jared and the girls love this basketball/soccer toy.

Doing a little painting.

We hope you had a great Christmas and that you finish out this year with love in your heart for our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord!

Stockings can be hung!

Last year we used a "Baby's First Christmas" stocking for Jared, but this year I made his stocking and now we are set!  We haven't figured out where to hang the stockings...but we will get there.  It had been a few years since I made them, but it came back quite quickly.  Josh helped again with drawing the lines for the stitching on top.  I realized (again) that I really enjoy sewing!

Merry Christmas!!!