February

 We started February out with a visit from COUSINS!  My niece, Kailan, had a swimmeet here in Tucson, so Stacie brought Hallie and Taige with her to come visit.  Hallie and Ashlyn are best cousins and it was so exciting for them to get to play and spend some time together. 



It's so fun to get matching jammies at Christmas!



All dressed up for Church!  So beautiful and handsome!

Kailan did awesome at her swimmeet and Isaac and Taige had a fabulous time as well.  We LOVE when family comes to visit!

Carter also had his first Karate tournament in February.  He was one excited and anxious boy!  The day finally came and he did FABULOUS!  

For the first part of the tournament they had to perform a Kata (skill set) to be judged on.  Carter did a sixteen count block and won first place in his division!   

 Next was Carter's favorite - Sparring!  He beat his first couple of competitors pretty easily and made it to the final round.  For the championship, he went up against his best friend, Daniel Chang.  Winnie has all of the good pictures of that - I need to get them!  It was a pretty fierce competition.  They were both going at it as hard as they could.  When time was up, they were tied and had to go into sudden death!  Daniel scored the first point and won.  So close!  It was really fun to watch.

Carter left the tournament with a gold and silver medal. Not bad for his first time! Way to go Carter!

Waiting for his medal to be awarded!

 



Carter and Daniel!

 









Carter and his instructors, Marianne Morrill (left) and Emily Morrill



Valentine's Day is definitely a favorite holiday in our house.  I tell my family I love them everyday, but it's fun to have a special day to go a little above and beyond.

 I made some new decorations for this year. 

 A sucker holder and....

 a love banner made out of all my red fabric scraps.

We spent the day basking in the joy of having each other. :)  It was GREAT!

February in Tucson means rodeo days!  Since we've lived here, we have only enjoyed the days off of

school, without taking advantage of anything else.  This year we got wild and went to a little mini community rodeo in Marana.  The very best part is that the boys got to MUTTON BUST for the first time!  A dream come true! :)  I was SOOO sad that we didn't get any decent pictures, but Isaac and Carter both did it and it was hilarious!  Nothing like riding a sheep around a pen!  Carter lasted longer than Isaac, but Isaac claims it was only because his sheep was really wild and bucking all over the place.  Since I'm not going to post the video, I'll just let ya'll believe that's true! ;)

Who can resist a handsome cowboy at a fence?

Or a boy in green googles?

January

January is a pretty exciting month for us. Besides the fun of New Year's and a new beginning, we have THREE birthdays!

Eric starts us off with a bang on the second. We had to celebrate early this year because he was on call his whole birthday weekend. I'm sure we did something fun, but if not, we at least opened presents! He sure is a great guy and we are lucky to have him as our own.



Isaac had a post season soccer tournament. Just when you think things are wrapping up....they hit you with something else! It was a private tournament with several club teams. We'll just say it was a good learning experience. We love his coaches and team, so win or lose, we all had a good time.

Ian learned an impressive new magic trick.

"Now you see my hand..."

"...Now you don't!"

He has also been working on perfecting his "knock knock" jokes. He's pretty much a crack up all around!

Isaac's birthday was the next to roll around. A WHOLE DECADE OLD! He enjoys a good time celebrating himself!

He scored all kinds of things, but his favorite was a globe from Nana and Papa.

I really need to check my lens for Ian smudges before taking pictures. But this is all we have for the next several, so this is what we get!

One of his gifts was a hike to the top of Picacho Peak with Mom. When we pulled up to the pay station, the man at the window thought the two of us could never make it and wasn't shy about telling us so. I don't think he realized what kind of fire he just lit! The sign says, "Not recommended for children under 10", but Isaac turned 10 yesterday, so by golly, we were going to hike it!

There were a few strenuous spots, but nothing we couldn't handle. At this same spot on the way down, I was in front of Isaac to catch him if he fell, when he yelled for me. I turned around to see him hanging from the cables and he very calmly said, "This is when it's bad to be so short." We got a pretty good laugh out of that one.

Isaac at the top!

We weren't very successful at getting our own picture with the sign!

On the way home he amended his favorite gift list and hiking made it to the very top. I'm glad. I had a great time, too. We may have to make it a tradition. That night he had a few close friends over for homeade pizza and all-you-can-play xbox. What a great birthday!

We tore down Isaac's streamers and put up new ones for Ian's birthday two days later. He is a very big TWO now!

Being King of the Day wasn't all that impressive to him, since that's the norm, but I still think he had a pretty good day. He was willing to throw his arms in the air and yell "Happy Birthday" and "Surprise!" at anyone's request.

I put a lot of thought into what I get my kids for their birthday, but his very favorite was the truck and trailor that Isaac got for him browsing the aisles the night before. I'm glad he loved it.

He's a funny kid and keeps our lives interesting. We love him!

Isaac had his third pinewood derby. After a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and internet searching, we came up with another bummer car. I'm sure he'll be able to laugh about it someday... As for me, I'm going back to the "throw it together at the last minute" method. It seemed to work the best for us. I'm not so sure Carter will go for that, though. He came straight home and starting drawing up plans for his first super awesome car next pinewood derby. Maybe he'll have a little more success!

And that was our January - at least what I can remember of it!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had such a great day and hope everyone else did as well. We started the morning with quite the load from Santa!

Bulldozer is nice, but did you see this toothbrush?!? Dad?

Mom?

Isaac scored with a much desired mountain bike.

Carter asked us, "Are you going to get me my electric spark scooter or do I need to ask Santa for it?" There was no thought that he may not get it. He just needed to know how to go about it. Lucky Santa had compassion on him!

Ashlyn was a bit easier. She just wanted a hula hoop!

The morning was so nice and relaxing. Everyone enjoyed their stockings and Santa gifts, we ate a quick breakfast, and then it was on to church.

We didn't have time to set up for a family picture, so we divided into guys with guys and gals with gals.

Pretty handsome, if I do say so myself!

After a really nice Sacrament Meeting we rushed back home for presents. We told the kids they'd have to wait until after Ian's nap to open them. How well do you think that went? Luckily we were kidding and opening presents by 10.

I waited in line for this Jeep at 2am at Walmart on Black Friday when I was pregnant with Ian. Glad I finally got my "must have" out of the box! :)

We had another spoiled Christmas with lots of fun stuff. The kids loved the day, Eric and I loved the day - everyone was happy and we had a house full of love. Thank goodness Santa got my letter. It was exactly what I asked for!