The lesser of two evils.

This year our circumstances left us with two less than ideal choices for a Christmas tree.  1- We could go get our own tree as tradition would have it, but it would have to be a juniper (gasp) or 2- We could go and BUY a tree (double gasp)!

We decided the memories of cutting down the tree would make it worth having a juniper and I think we chose the right idea.  Besides as Daniel put it " a juniper tree is no worse than a pinyon (the kind I grew up with)." And I felt the same about the Charlie Brown tree (or Blue Spruce as he calls them :) that he grew up with.  (Love you babe :)

We forgot Chase's gloves and he just couldn't resist playing in the snow, so we had to make do.

 It was an incredibly muddy road out the the area.  There were huge puddles of water to drive through and we slid off to the side of the road more times than I can count, but this ole' truck just gets us wherever we need to go.

 In front of the tree we picked.

Yep, we definitely made the right choice.

Snow Day

 After 5 years of living in the snow during the winter you might think I would be used to it by now, but every year I'm still surprised how long the snow can just sit there without melting away immediately like it did when I was younger.

I guess if the snow won't go away, we have no choice but to take advantage of it.

 And there just happens to be one perfect hill in Stansbury Park for sledding.

Uh oh...

Here comes trouble.  This kid is even more busy than Chase was at this age.  Anyone who knows Chase knows we are in for some fun :)

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's

 The Christmas tree that Porter found.

Grandpa's baby bunnies.

and playing on the horse swing

San Juan Hill

Thanksgiving weekend


I finally read Undaunted, all 802 pages in half a week, and now I have to do it all over again.  I have to go back the craziest 4-wheeling trail to the Hole in the Rock.  I have to see it all again now that I know a little better what really happened there.  I need to go back to the top of Slick Rock hill and look down at amazement that they were able to follow a mountain sheep to the one spot that could lead them down.  I want to see San Juan hill again and just stare and marvel at the miracle they went through.  I plan on reading this book to my kids and taking them to all these amazing places that so few get to see.  This book immediately made it's way to my favorite books list.

                                                     (Just a part of San Juan Hill)
Over Thanksgiving weekend we made our way down just past Bluff to San Juan Hill.  This was the final push the Hole in the Rock pioneers made before finally reaching their destination.

We love adventures like this.  It creates many picture taking opportunities for me, and lots of outdoor adventure for each of my boys.

 A little cave along the path.

Plenty of dirt to keep a 3 year old boy happy.

 

 

 If you look really hard in this picture you can see the words, "WE THANK THEE OH GOD"  It isn't known for sure who carved these words, but is believed that the pioneers did it as they reached the top of the hill.

Family picture under "WE THANK THEE OH GOD"  Can you see it?

Grandma has these boys wrapped around her finger.

 Porter and Chase finding the perfect rocks the throw.  This is the best picture I got before rocks came flying my way.

 A group shot (minus my dad who headed off to find the highway).

 Once again, hard to tell, but we believe these are markings where the wagon wheels dug into the rock.   One things for sure.  This place definitely had a neat spirit there.

Happy birthday Chase!

 Can it really be possible that I have a 3 year old?!?!

I think that means he has fully exited toddler stage and is now a big boy and I can't stand it :(

He kept telling me on the days leading up to his birthday that he was going to "Make a wish and blow out the candles so that he could eat some cake!"  He had it all figured out.

This was his face while we all sang to him.  (There really are three candles.  One is white and hard to see.)

Eating the cake.

He was pretty excited about what a birthday meant and that he was going to have one so we tried to make it special for him.  We got some balloons and a pinata and had a little party with his cousins.

 I continually play catch up and fall behind on this blog.  I wish it wasn't so, but I guess I will just have to admit defeat on this one because there never seems to be more time.

 Daniel went hunting with his brothers in October.   Chase was really excited to go, even though he didn't actually go out with them, he thought he was hunting.  I gotta admit he made a pretty cute hunter driving around looking for deer.

 

We had the amazing opportunity this last weekend of watching this sweet little thing be blessed and sealed to her momma, daddy, and big brother.

 

These boys were fun to watch chasing each other around.  There's a little bit of fighting, but they along with Aiden play together pretty well.

The temple was gorgeous with the fall colors.

And the ride home was one of the worst I have seen.  I took some pictures of the worst of what we saw.  There wasn't time or enough room on my memory card for pictures of all the people who had just slipped off the road, or where turned around backwards on the freeway.

We passed this truck and wondered how they got into that position... until we noticed the tracks off to the left.  They came from the other side of the freeway, slipped off the road, went through the median, and slid clear across our side of the freeway. 

This truck is sitting in the median and the trailer is completely jack-knifed.  It was bashed into the side of the truck.

It took us an extra 2.5 hours to get home and we got through that mess just in time.

"

Chase has taken spotlight on the blog.  I have so many things I need to catch up on but no time.  However, I need to write down these things he says so I always have them.

---See those cute pants he's wearing in that picture?  They are Gap pants that I found for $7.  I couldn't help but buy them and Chase has been wearing them for 6 months.  The other day he finally noticed that they have holes in them and tells me, " Mom, my pants have holes in them."
"I know buddy, aren't they cool?"
"They are OLD! and DIRTY! and you better buy me some new ones."
Since Daniel told me pretty much the same thing when I brought those pants home, It's pretty apparent where he gets his style.


---Brody grabbed Chases foot and Chase replies, "NO!  Broads, don't play with me.  I'm not a good toy for you"!

---Last night at 3:00 a.m. Chase woke up starving and refused to go back to bed.  He saw a pair of socks sitting on our dressing and suddenly became very fascinated with them.  He continually asked us over and over again if we could "shew the socks for him".  When I finally got up to get him some breakfast he saw the George Foreman grill and told me that's just what he needed to "shew the socks so they will grow BIG!"  I was crying from laughing and he was crying because I wouldn't let him plug the grill in to shew the socks.


---This morning Chase found my hot glue gun. "Mom what is this?
"It's a hot glue gun"
"Oh, it's winex."
"No it's a hot glue gun."
"OK, it's a hot glue gun winex."


--  This represents a daily conversation Chase and I have usually numerous times a day.
"What are we gonna do mom?"
"We're going to go for a drive."
"What are we AND gonna do?"
"We are going to go for a drive and find daddy."
"What are and we AND gonna do?"
"We are going to get in the car, drive to South Jordan, find Daddy, AND go to the store."
".... but what are we AANNDD gonna do?"
"Nothing Chase".

Chase says.....

While eating pizza for dinner tonight, Chase puts a piece of crust in his mouth, gets a funny look on his face, spits the bite back out and says, "that one doesn't work!".

Brody

This little guy has brought so much personality and laughter into our  family.  He's full of smiles and laughs and gives them freely to anyone willing to talk to him or play with him.  Chase is his all-time favorite person in the whole world.  His face lights up when Chase comes into view and no one can make him smile like Chase can, (believe me we try).

He loves eating his solids.  And rolls around and scootches to get where he wants to be.  He is getting up on hands and knees and rocking,  I'm definitely not ready for him to start crawling.  I'm still trying to figure out where the time went because it doesn't seem like it has been 5.5 months.

His vitals at 5.5months  are:
    2'3" (82%) and 16 lb 12 oz (49%)