Happy Number 9

We love Naomi!!  She's always got some sort of plan in the works and keeps busy.  I'm a little late getting pictures of her birthday up, but it was still a fun time and I still want to share.  We had a family party, just the four of us.  I loved it, enjoyed the night together and didn't have to worry about sticking to a schedule.  We started by going rollerblading.

After skating we went to Angie's for dinner, a restaurant known as the place "where the locals eat".

It turned out perfect because our oven was broken (no homemade cake) and Naomi has always wanted to "clean the sink" at Angie's.  The sink is a behemoth of a banana split served in a dish that looks like a kitchen sink. 

We did our best, but I don't think we got more than 1/3 of it eaten but it sure was good.

We love this young lady!  She is a girl who loves to write stories, put together puzzles, do art projects, swing on the monkey bars, play with her cats, cook, play the piano and race scooters with her brother.  Naomi is tough and brave, she is determined and plans to succeed in anything she tries.

Spring Break

 The kids recently had spring break.  We didn't travel anywhere, mostly just tried to keep warm.   We went to a few movies, played games and spent time together.  Gray introduced Naomi to a few nerf games that he plays with his friends.  One was a nerf monopoly game where I (the banker) hid monopoly money all over  in a room then Gray and Naomi see who can collect the most amount of money with the least number of hits.

 There was a lot of laughing/screaming on Gray's part as he discovered what a good shot Naomi was.  He had no chance!  They had a great time.

Another key part of spring break this year was Top Gear.  We love this show at our house and there's usually a tv marathon whenever a new season is released on Netflix.  I have no idea how many episodes the kids watched, but they were quoting the show and speaking with British accents all week.  We also have to keep reminding Gray that his high school car will not be a Lambo! 

Celtic Night

Naomi has been doing Irish dance for the past two years and absolutely loves it!  She performed for the first time at Celtic Night this past Friday and Saturday nights.  It was so much fun to watch her.  
On our way to the theater Saturday night Naomi said she wished she could do this every night!

Snow, Bears and Daylight Savings

 

This winter Kory discovered the joy of backcountry split boarding.  He has a snowboard that is split lengthwise so he can x-country ski up to untouched snowy peaks then the board snaps (I use the term snap loosely) back together to snowboard down.  

 

 Looking back, splitboarding is not for the faint of heart.

  

Benny is a trooper, he loves to be outside exploring and keeps up pretty well both climbing and descending.  And no, he doesn't get to ride down.

  

This is Kory's friend, James, reaping the reward.  Wish I could have put up a pic of Kory, but ya, he was the one with the camera.

 

We spent a few days with Grandma Olsen, Grandma Bronson and Dan and Rachel's family.  Gray and Naomi were so excited to meet their new cousin Isla and play with James.   Isla is such a cutie, can't believe I didn't get a picture of her.  I loved spending this time with family, especially my mom.  It had been far too long since I'd seen her.

 

James' version of a bear attack!

 

Naomi discovered the joy of Old Maid which repeatedly left her in fits of giggles.  She played and played and played.

This weekend we went on Daylight Savings.  While I absolutely love Daylight Savings (once I've adjusted to losing an hour) it made Monday morning at our house a little rough.  I skipped the gym, Gray missed the bus, and Naomi ... well she didn't make it very far after waking up.  I went out of the kitchen for a few minutes and when I came back she was snoozing on the counter.

Christmas 2010, Better Late Than Never

I haven't had the time to put together a proper Christmas post, so this assortment of pictures will have to do. Christmas seemed to fly by this year but we were able to have lots of fun and see lots of family! 

Naomi was so excited to be a Shepherd with James.  I think they spend most of the family party sitting together, and loved it!

Gray and Jaren are reading the Christmas memory books that Grandma Bronson wrote.  What an amazing treasure, to learn about the Christmas's of Grandma's childhood.  Speaking of childhood, Corey sure looks young. 

Aah, the wise man.

A very serious Mary, at this point she is "great with child".

See how happy she is now with her cute baby?

Christmas morning was fun, Gray loved his Vans from Aunt Steph.

Guess who has made waffles every morning for the past month?  In case you're interested, this is the best Belgian waffle mix out there.

Naomi barely made it through opening gifts.  She was so sick all day, she spent most of Christmas day asleep in bed.  It was kind of funny cause the next day she started looking through her presents and it was like Christmas morning all over again.  I think she was pretty out of it the first time she opened them.

Isn't this how Christmas afternoon looks for most of us?  I think this year was a record for us, we didn't get up until 7:30am!

The Last Day of 2010

The last day of the year was a busy one.  We spend most of the day at Beaver Mtn.  Kory and the kids braved the cold (it was below zero much of the day) while I spectated.  After getting home and cleaning up, we went to a USU mens basketball games with the Hills.  Great time hanging out with friends!  The kids were determined to stay up till midnight so we fixed some treats and played a new wii game.  At the stroke of midnight we toasted in the new year with sparkling cider.  Here's to an awesome 2011!

 

Naomi with Kory getting ready for her first fun of the season.

Kory and Naomi finishing up their first run.  Naomi chose to skip a warm up on Little Beaver and went right for The Face.

Gray and Kory went down the backside.  This was Gray's first time and he loved it.  I need to add that at the point where I say "Gray ate it" he made it clear that he did not crash, just kind of got stuck in the powder.

Autumn Saturdays

I have very distinct memories of autumn Saturdays as a child. Maybe it's because fall seems to be full of scents, crisp and clear. Raking leaves, apples, burning fields, the air in the morning ... I could go on. Something else I always associate with fall is the sound of a cannon. For a number of years we lived close to a university football stadium and the sound of the cannon with each point scored is directly tied to my memories of working and playing in the back yard during autumn. Last Saturday was one of those perfect autumn days. We skipped out on bike racing and just stayed home.

The kids caught leaves as they fell from the trees. I realize that from this picture it doesn't look like we have that many leaves, but don't worry just out of sight is a field of orange.

I'd been hoping to get up into the canyons for some family pictures before all the leaves were gone but this picture on the back porch might be as close as I get this year.

Naomi, our little monkey loves to climb and be in the trees. Gray has been a great teacher. As soon as the snow hits, they'll take to the pine trees. I have no idea why, but they only seem to climb them in the winter.

The kids and Benny.

When Kory got home from work, he and the kids headed up to the jumps and rode bikes. It's so much fun to have this stuff in our back yard. And even better, it's a common area for bikers to not only ride, but build anything and everything they want. We never know what fun new trails or jumps we'll find, but we always go check it out after we've heard lots of hammering.