The gangs all back-bowlin'

My siblings got back from their missions in  the last 6 months or so, so we thought it was time to renew our tradition of going to the bowl game.  It is Bryan and I, my little sister Kimber, little brother Mark, and Bryan's grandma Kaye.  We have a lot of fun and a lot of spicy chili!

On the field after we won.

Took a little detour to Arches.

Can't remember what this Arch is called but it's one of my favorites

Dicken's Festival

Bryan's Family has great memories of going to the Dicken's Festival.  For his mom's b-day we went and got pictures with what they refer to as the Real Santa Claus.  I have to admit he was the most charming Santa Claus I have ever met. 

When Bryan was starting to doubt Santa they went to see him and gave him all sorts of inside info to convince Bryan that he was real.   So this year Bryan's Dad palled up with Santa again with out us seeing.  When we finally got through the line Santa says... "Bryan welcome back it's been so long.  O my Luke come up here sit on my lap."  It was so funny.

Tis the season

We went to temple square this weekend.  We had such a fun time doing a little family Christmas activity.  The lights were beautiful.  Luke LOVED temple square,  everywhere he looked there was a waterfall.   We could have gone in the middle of July and it would have been the same for him, he thought we were just on a scavenger hunt for waterfalls, rivers, and ponds and was in heaven.

 These two pictures make me feel super short and Bryan look super tall, they are taken at the same spot.  I look as tall as Luke and Bryan looks as tall as the temple.


We also got our tree up.  Luke is convinced it is not just a Christmas Tree, but an "O Christmas Tree"  He insists we sing about it daily.   We had a blast putting up the tree together, but the funniest part was when Luke was on Bryan's shoulders adding the top piece and said "ooo so comfy"  So random it had us really laughing.

Utah...It's not a blizzard unless you need a backhoe and a rescue party

We had a really fun family retreat this weekend, to celebrate my little brother Mark's return from the Philippines.  We stayed at a cabin in the Uintahs, we didn't however pay very close attention to the weather report, and before we knew it we were in the middle of a blizzard the highway was closed, and we had to get a back hoe and a rescue team of two trucks to get us out.   We were stranded there for an extra night...but frankly if you could see this place stranded hardly seems like the right word.  It was gorgeous.  Then we get home and hear about the storm of the centery they close schools etc.  and we only get two inches of snow.   :) 

Some fun pics of our trip.

Luke had a blast...I think this is one of the many new dance moves he broke out.

Livin' it up

Doing our best to dig ourselves out

My dad and brother learning the ropes.

Making trips back through the tundra to the car for necessities like food, medicine...

and of course the xbox...while they were there.

 

Owen always with the grand entrance.

I raided the dollar store and we have had a blast playing Go Fish nightly as a family.  Luke loves to say "I Got a Match"  Sometimes it is hard to coax him to say "Go Fish"  If he doesn't have the card I'll say "What do you say, he promptly responds, "please" 

Looks like he is going to be a pretty intense card player :)

Whenever we go shopping Luke loves to say "Hi" to strangers, then he turns to me super proud and says, "I'm makin friends"


We had to get some leaky tires fixed the other morning so Luke and I made a date out of it and walked over to Burger King.  We ordered cinnamon rolls and a sausage biscuit.  I have a soft spot for sausage biscuits and figured I would eat it.  He asked for a bite.  He bit into it and said, "I LIKE this burger"   and finished it right off.   And we just sat there for almost an hour drinking water out of coffee straws, playing with a happy meal toy Luke charmed out of them.  And over and over Luke said, "This fun, right now"