Swimming in January!

The pools at our friend's hotel.

Mr. W and Mr. J chatting at the pool

The girls, ages 3,4,4,2.. they have been having a blast playing together.

My handsome little man... who recently fell for a real life mermaid...the one who lives in the aquarium at Bass Pro... stay tuned for pics and a video of him kissing the tank. It is priceless!

A cold day at the park

Earlier this week, Deanna and I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the park. So we left around 8:30, grabbed a starbucks and headed to Aliante's "dino" park. We were surpised to find the parking lot EMPTY. It wasn't until we unloaded the kids out of the car that we found out the reason why... it was soo cold! Although the temperature was 48, it was very windy and so it felt colder. We stayed there for about 10 minutes and all made the decision to come back on another day.
Notice the triceratops in the background..

Deanna was trying to get him to look at the camera in the picture. I also posted this on my facebook and Deanna's friend Jamie had a good idea for a caption: "Mr. T, I told you to get off the swing. NOW GET INSIDE!" :) Mr. J and I laughed so hard when we read that.

Miss O's cute tights.

Miss M "freezing"

Spokane House Update #2

Our house has been rented! Praise God! After 5 months of waiting, tenants will be moving in to our house on 15 January and we are so excited! Thank you all for your prayers regarding this. Below is a picture of our house after they back hoed/shoveled/blew all the snow away. This was taken last week and I think they have gotten 8 more inches since then (which according to some news reports makes the Spokane total 6 1/2 feet!!). Also, the pipe issues were fixed today by "Sam the plumber" (this is what he called himself when he called on the phone today) and everything should be in good working order. Thanks again for praying for us. God is good! Also, if you are in need of a rental manager or realtor in the Spokane area, I can recommend some great ones!

Sledding fun

On Saturday, we decided to go spend the day in the snow. We have been hearing from all our Washington friends about all the snow they have been receiving, and we didn't want to miss out on all the fun! So, we drove about an hour away to Mt. Charleston to do some sledding and snowboarding. It was about 29 degrees out up there and Mr. J built us a nice little fire. The guys built a sweet jump for Tom's snowboard and had fun doing tricks. Mr. J brought a one man life raft from work and he pulled the kiddos around in it. Here are some pictures of our adventure for you all to enjoy...

Tom

Mr. J

Notice the desert off in the distance

A happy Mr. T. The first half of the trip, he was not so excited about the cold... or being dressed in his sisters old magenta/purple or snowsuit. Note to self: by future snowsuits in neutral colors.

Hiking with Daddy

Mr. J took the kids hiking on Monday while I worked. They went to Red Rock, west of Las Vegas and hiked in Ice Box Canyon. Yes, I think if they had a daddy of the year award, he should win it. He dressed the kids, packed food and a diaper bag and off they went. They had to stop at Costco first (to get an external hard drive to copy files from our desk top.. we are having virus issues). That alone would be enough for me with the three kids, but from there he took them to Red Rock where they hiked about 3/4 miles up the trail and then back. Miss M told me that part of the way back, daddy carried them all and she said the other hikers were there thought that was really cool. He puts one in the front pack, one in the back pack and one on his shoulders. The kids said they had a great time and wanted to go again today. Below are some pics Mr. J took with the new camera. We have really learned to enjoy the beauty of the southwest. If you click on the pictures, they will get bigger and are quite beautiful.

Aren't the red rocks beautiful with the snow on them?

At the trail head

Sweet girls

Silly girls Mr. T ready to go, notice the Gonzaga hat. Like father, like son.

Going along the trail Lunch time!

Always a favorite part of the hike
Mr. J says these are juniper berries

Another pretty view of the rocks

Gingerbread close-ups

I got my Christmas present in the mail today and am very excited. It is a new camera! It arrived only 48 hours after we ordered it from Costco (even though it was supposed to take 7-10 business days). So after the battery was fully charged, I started taking pictures. Since the kids were already in bed, I used the gingerbread house as my subject (and Mr. J too!). Enjoy

The door that swung open to the ribbon candy trail

The snow covered sprinkle tree

A view from the top

All of these little men are one of the kids, I just can't remember who's who...

The skating pond
I like the color on this one, and how I can zoom in on the cookie in the back and the front one is kind of blurry.
Mr. J after about the 10th picture I took of him, isn't he hot?Me reading the manual, it was kind of confusing so I am so glad I have some great picture taking friends to call (like Leslie). As I was uploading these pictures, I realized Mr. J and I had matching sweatshirts on. I guess that's what happens after being married for 6 years (and being too pregnant to fit into my own sweatshirts...)

Gingerbread fun with Aunt Nanny

Yesterday and today, while I was at work, Aunt Nanny and the kids worked on a very fun holiday project! On Monday I made gingerbread men and panels and we went to the store and purchased a lot of candy and sprinkles. On Tuesday, Deanna made royal icing with the kids and started constructing the house. We used a whopper container (leftover from the sweet turkey treats) and it worked very well. Today, they worked on decorating the house and all the gingerbread men. Here are some pictures of the kids working on their project.. stay tuned for more pictures of the finished product.
All ready with their aprons and sprinklesAunt Nanny coolest aunt/nanny around!
Deanna said Miss O had to go wash her hands a lot, she couldn't seem to keep them out of her mouth..... The sugar cookies they decorated, Deanna said these were before she made the 5 pieces of candy per cookie rule
So Mr. T had one job, to decorate the wreath... as you can see he was quite excited about this
Although he thought the sprinkles should go in his mouth instead of on the wreath...
The sugar is starting to get to her...
Miss O working hard to get the sprinkles just right

The house from the top, complete with trees (sugar coness), a walking path and a pond!