HaPpY BiRthDaY ElliE !!

Ellie turned 2 years old last Friday. My baby is growing up. :( We got her a play kitchen set that she loves. On Saturday we had a birthday party for her. Grandma and Grandpa Clark came from Boise. Some of Ellie's aunts and uncles were there too along with some cousins. My Aunt Janet and Uncle Hans came and so did my cousin Steph and two of her kids Abby and Cody. Bryce's Aunt Suzanne and his cousin Teresa came from Smithfield. Ellie had fun opening her presents. She was a little shy though with everyone watching her. Then we had cake and ice cream which everyone enjoyed.


Ellie's Princess Cake



Ellie's new dress from Aunt Darcy and Uncle Tom



Blowing out the candles

Ellie enjoying her cake and ice cream (especially the frosting)

Pinewood Derby

The Pinewood Derby took place a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't be there because Ellie was sick. Bryce was able to get some video of Tyler and Brayden's cars. Tyler's car didn't do so well. It didn't even make it across the finish line one time. Brayden's car did a bit better. Bryce wasn't really into all the excitement of the derby this year. However, they all had a good time that night. Tyler's car got the sportiest award! He had painted a baseball on the top, go figure.
The first clip shows Tyler's car. It is the silver one and the one in last place. :(
The second clip shows Brayden's car. His is the gold car that takes first and flips off the track at the end. Way to go!!

Basketball

It is almost the end of the season and I am finally getting some video clips of the boys playing basketball. They have had a fun time and enjoyed playing this year. It was Brayden's first year and he has done really well. Tyler has had a good season also. They have only lost 1 game so far. However, you can tell that basketball isn't their best sport, thanks to their dad. Bryce doesn't enjoy the sport so much. Baseball is his love of course. The boys actually have started practicing baseball. They will both be on comp teams this year. What a busy summer it will be!! Well, enjoy the video clips.
Tyler is #33 (white jerseys) and Brayden is #2 (dark jerseys)

Christmas

I am finally posting some pictures from Christmas. We had a wonderful holiday! The kids enjoyed their break from school as did mom (18 days!!). They received a Wii from Grandma and Grandpa Garfield which all of us have enjoyed so far. Bryce and I are getting pretty good at Guitar Hero. Both sets of grandparents were here for the holidays and Megan and Jim even visited from California with their kids. It was a lot of fun to have a house full.

We definitely ate too much over the holidays but oh well. We had a fun Christmas Eve brunch at our house with my side of the family. Christmas dinner was at my house too with Bryce's side of the family. We had lots of snow too! The boys enjoyed it though with the new sleds they got from Santa. Bryce didn't enjoy the shoveling so much, but he had my dad to help out. Overall our Christmas was wonderful!


Brayden checking out a new toy.

Christmas morning

Ty's new heelys

Ellie and her new doll and accessories

Last week of Wrestling

This weekend was the last tournament for wrestling, for now. Bryce wants them to continue on this spring in freestyle wrestling. They both did really well and had a great season. This last tourney was at Weber High. Brayden had 3 good matches and took 1st place. He actually took 1st at every tournament this season. Way to go Brayden!! Tyler had some tough matches also. He tied for 1st place. Below are some more video clips of some of their matches.

Horse Riding at Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Gregg's

The day after Thanksgiving, Bryce's whole family went up to his aunt and uncles in Richmond. Richmond is north of Logan. We had a great time. Jennette took some yummy soups to make for the herd and Aunt Suzanne made some breadsticks that were unbelieveable. We all enjoyed the lunch. After lunch Uncle Gregg and his son Richard saddled up five of their horses for the kids and everyone to ride. The kids were excited, me not so much. I have only ridden a horse once in my life, and it wasn't the best experience. But Brandi, that is Jim's wife, made me get on and take a ride. It turned out alright, but Uncle Gregg led me the whole time. Call me chicken, but at least I got on it.

The kids had a good time riding also. It was Tyler's first time riding a horse and he loved it. Brayden and Ellie wanted nothing to do with it. They just played on the hay stacks with the two kittens. After the horse riding, the kids had a BB gun contest with Uncle Gregg's "BB gun on steroids" as he calls it. You should see this thing. You should see his gun collection. WOW!! Anyways it turned out that out of about 9 people Tyler ended up facing off with Uncle Gregg who beat him by one shot. The kids had a great time. Thanks again Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Gregg!!



Jim and Tom

Bryce and Matt

Bonnie and Brandi

Jennette's boys lookin' good!



Sweet Ellie Girl


Go Brandi Go!!

Ian (a bit nervous)

Seth (calm and relaxed)

Jessie and Brady

Tyler and Richard

Thanksgiving Weekend

I know Thanksgiving was last weekend, but I haven't had time to do a post yet. We stayed home and Bryce's mom and dad and brother Matt came from Boise. Jennette and I fixed dinner and it turned out pretty well. I was glad to have her there to help because I don't think I could fix Thanksgiving dinner by myself. I did however, for the first time, make homemade pies. I did an apple, pumpkin, and banana cream. They turned out really well. But we just didn't have enough people to eat them so the majority went to waste. Oh well!!

Thanksgiving night, Bryce's other two brothers and their families came to do gingerbread houses. Jennette and I had made the gingerbread the night before. That is a lot of work! We made enough for each family; Jim's, Tom's, and ours to make one. Jennette made the royal frosting and had bought a ton of candy for the kids to use. Well, some of the gingerbread had not set up enough or hardened enough and so ours and Jim's families fell apart. You will notice in the pictures we had the hair dryer out trying to get it to work. Jennette felt bad and on Saturday before she left to go back to Boise she made 2 more batches of gingerbread. So we were able to complete our gingerbread as a family last Sunday. The kids enjoyed doing it, but I'm not sure I will make it from scratch again. I will probably buy the $10 kit next year. Sorry Jennette!!

YEA!! It worked

Ellie enjoyed eating the candy

Brady creating his masterpiece! His turned out great.

Hairdryer Remedy!

FUN, FUN, FUN!!