Idaho Activities

When we're up in Pocatello there's always something going on.  I worked for a week while we were up there so the boys played a lot with their cousins or watched movies during the day while I worked. Here is a quick photo snapshot of some of the other activities that took place.

 Ricky and I got to visit Micah and Rory the day before her 1st birthday.  It's always fun to stop by their house when we're in Pocatello and see their updates to the house and play with our adorable little niece.

 We took the boys to Outter Limits. Lincoln picked a whoopee cushion because apparently we don't laugh enough already about farting.

 Uncle Spencer helped Logan fly his fancy remote control airplane. 

 Ricky took family pictures and while we were waiting for everyone to get ready, Kristin, Troy and Ryan played some great music for us. 

Ricky and I ran into Micah and his friend on our way out of seeing Saving Mr. Banks.  It was a fun surprise to see him but I guess that's the joys of being in a small town.

 One of Ricky's favorite things about going to Idaho is being able to get fry sauce. We made a trip to Arctic Circle just because he was craving fry sauce.  I don't like it so I stick with ketchup!

 Logan looks so adorable in his little snow suit.  He doesn't like to wear beanies, hats or hoods so I had to tell him he couldn't ride his tractor without it and he actually left them on. 

 The green machine is much easier to ride when the driveway is dry. 

 Kolissa brought Aurora up to the house so Ricky could take some pictures of her with the Baby Banana brush.  She was a super cute little model. 

 Daddy got some cuddles/love from Logan

 Grandma Tutu helped Logan build a gingerbread train. Unfortuately, it didn't last long but he had a fun time making it. 

Merry Christmas!

One of my favorite things to do as a parent is play Santa. I think it's fun and exciting and I love to see the smiles and excitement the boys have as they come into the room and see all their loot. To me it's a priceless moment. This year we actually had to wake the boys up at 8:00 am to go into the main house to join the rest of the family that was waiting for us to open presents.

We tried to go around and have the kids all take turns and open presents one at a time but that didn't last long before they just starting opening everything in their piles. I love just hanging out in our PJ's for the morning while the boys play with all their new toys.  This time it was nice because we had a lot of family to share the morning with.

The rest of the day was spent cooking, watching movies in the theater room and playing with cousins.  It was a very nice, cold, white Christmas for us.

The piles of goodies.

 Logan's presents included Thomas trains, Ninja Turtle mask & sword, new clothes, a letter game, some slime and floam, a couple Blu-Rays, Legos and a remote control tank.

 Lincoln's presents included some games, a Shredder mask & sword, Minecraft beanie and Legos, art kit, giant Pop Rocks, slime, some Blue-Rays and a matching remote control tank. 

 The set up in Tutu's living room for Christmas morning.

 The boys are getting along better and starting to roughhouse more often.  This is how I found them Christmas afternoon, playing in the entryway. First they were having a snowball fight (with the fake little white snowballs) and then that turned into them tackling each other. 

Ricky made several different pies, from scratch, with his mom.

Logan loved watching movies on the fun chairs with the cozy blankets in the movie room. 

 Logan played Twister with daddy. 

Lincoln played his new Battleship game with mommy. 

The boys battled against each other with their new tanks.

Christmas Eve Night

Christmas Eve night is a special night. This year we re-enacted (thanks to Aunt Nat for organizing) the story of the birth of Christ. The five grandkids that were at Tutu's all participated.  Logan was a wise-man and Lincoln was a Shepherd and Joseph. It lasted all of about 5 minutes while Papa Tutu read the story from the scriptures and the kids acted out their parts. It was cute.

 After the play, all the grandkids opened a present which was a new pair of PJ's. Above is Logan's reaction...he was mad.  He really thought it was going to be a train that he's been really wanting so there was some severe dissappointment when it was just clothes. 

 Lincoln liked his PJ's and wore them to bed that night.

Christmas Eve was Elfie's last night with us before he went back to the North Pole. Lincoln wrote him a letter and shared a dollar and $.10 with him that he wanted Elfie to take with him...and he did!  I think the boys were actually concerned and sad to see him go.  They asked about him for several days after Christmas. I think they will be excited when he joins us again next year.

Day of Sledding

Ricky was a good sport and took the boys out to sled in front of Tutu's house. I was happy to let him take the boys down the hill and I took pictures.  Papa Tutu was a good sport and picked them up in the truck at the bottom of the hill and would bring them back to the top so that they didn't have to climb back up the hill. The boys had such a fun time.  It was priceless to hear them laugh and scream with joy as they sled down the mountain.  Their little voices echoed through the valley. It was so sweet. It was a blast for them and surprisingly, they stayed out for quite sometime and made quite a few trips down the hill. Sledding is one good thing about being in the snow...I'm not sure what the other good things are but I'm sure there is at least one other benefit of snow.

Museum of Clean

Where else to do you spend Christmas Eve in Pocatello, ID?  Of course, you spend it at the Museum of Clean. The boys love going and running around there and it was a good way to get out of the house yet be inside. It's a little extra special for our family because we are up on a billboard in Utah advertising the museum along with being on a huge banner outside the museum.  The boys like to see themselves on it when we visit there. Uncle Don was there so he gave us the personal tour, as he loves to do, of all of the exhibits he thought the boys would like. After that, we let them play and then called it a day.

 Pretending they got an old fashion bath.

 Inside the clock tour.

 On the unfinished 4th floor where he took us so Logan could look down to see the train depot outside.

 Logan playing trash can percussion.

 The boys played plunger hockey.

 Dressed in cleaning battle gear. 

 Lincoln earned a dollar for doing a little skit with Uncle Don in the theater room.

They got their noses painted with ash as they pretended to be chimney sweeps.