First Time This Year!

One of Nathan’s Christmas presents was a day of skiing with his Dad. He wasted no time using the coupon; I must admit I was not disappointed he wanted to go so soon after receiving the gift, I was getting the itch to go ever since the last two big snow storms. This was Nathan’s third time going in his life (first time this year) and he did so great! He can now turn and stop very consistently. He keeps wanting to go to the “highest lift”, go off jumps and go down Black diamonds. He is so funny, some things scare him to death and other things he does not have even a “healthy” fear of. We both had a blast up at Solitude today and he was already begging to go again on the way down the canyon. I think I found a new skiing partner!

Caught in the act!

Nathan is really into spying and detective work and so he was thrilled with the idea of trying to catch Santa in the act! So we had the idea of setting up the camera on a tripod in the living room and hooking it to a motion sensor to see what we could capture in the still of the night Christmas Eve. When we woke up Christmas morning we couldn’t believe what we found (with the help of photoshop)! The kids were dumb founded; Nathan just kept saying, “Wow, his bag is red? I always thought it would be brown.” It is always so amusing to hear Nathan’s Christmas list each year. He has such an imagination and comes up with some good ones that Julie and I are always saying to ourselves, “I don’t think they sell that at Target.” Last year the two things he wanted were a “Flying Squirrel Suit” and a “Snow Leopard Suit.” This year it was “Invisible Stuff”, a “Real Spy” (I guess to have at his disposal whenever he needs help with his espionage side business he runs.), and “$1,000”. Anyway, the kids got a real kick out of it and it was fun to see their reactions to the presents and also the captured photos. We hope every ones Christmas was as enjoyable as ours. Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays From Our Family To Yours!

We hope this newsletter finds you all doing well. Our family has been fortunate this year and we are all in good health and don’t have much to complain about.

As usual life is always busy and keeps us all hopping.

Brennan is now 2 going on 12. He thinks he is just one of the boys now and is becoming more mature and independent every day. He is such a character and provides plenty of entertainment on a daily basis. We went to Yellowstone National Park in Sept. and Brennan decided he is destined to become a “Mountain Man”. It has been months now and we still hear about “bears” and “mountains” and “four wheeler ride” multiple times every day. We have decided that if Brennan has those three things in his life he will never want for anything. To give you an idea of how obsessed he is . . . When we went down to Holden, UT for Thanksgiving we went up in the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree for the season. Brennan calls it a “Bear” tree instead of a Christmas Tree. He is such a fun little guy to be around though.

Natalie, on the other hand isn’t the outdoor guru that Brenan and Nathan are. Her favorite part of the Yellowstone vacation was the hotel we stayed at on the way up to Yellowstone. It had an indoor swimming pool and she had a blast. She wants to be a mom so bad and doesn’t have a problem telling you exactly how she feels. She is 100% girl and has such a fun personality.

Nathan loves the outdoors as much as Brennan but is not quite as obsessed with “Bears”. He loves to camp, hunt and his favorite thing in the world is to hike. He always wants to see what is around the corner and has such an adventurous attitude. He loves to ski and is looking forward to going again this year.

Julie keeps plenty busy getting the Kids to school every day and obtains plenty of exercise chasing Brennan around and keeping up with Nathans projects and experiments. She enjoys finding new recipes on the internet and has become quite the “Betty Crocker”. Everyone would choose her home cooked meals to going out any day; unless “McDonalds” is mentioned. All of our kids are in love with that place.

Jared is still working as a salesman for Vita-Mix and really enjoys interacting with people in sales. He has too many hobbies and never enough time. He is doing some cabinet jobs in his spare time and has started doing more photography as well. He always has to be busy doing something or else he goes crazy. He has a hard time sitting still for too long.

We are happy to report that life is good and despite the ups and downs that may come our way the ups far outnumber the downs. Every year we look at our lives and count ourselves extremely fortunate with the life that God has given us, the children that He has entrusted to us, the knowledge of our Savior, and the friendships that we share with each of you! If you ever find yourselves out this way, please stop by and keep in touch; we love to hear from you. May this next year be blessed for all of us and we hope you each have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season!

Quick Picture of Brennan

Even though everyone that reads our Blog may think that it has an un-proportionate amount of photos of Brennan it is not because we love him the most. The reason is simply because he is the only one that doesn’t run away when they see the camera and actually likes to have his picture taken.

Christmas Visitors at the Star Mill

A place close by us called the Star Mill does a little Christmas Parade every year and Santa and Mrs. Clause always visit and give the children a free book and hot chocolate. We went down there and the kids had a really good time. They also were able to ride on an antique Fire Truck and even got to ring the bell (Natalie calls it a "Ring Dong"). They all thought that was pretty neat. Brennan was very eager to sit on Santa’s Lap again and Natalie was excited to sit on Mrs. Clause’s Lap but did not want to talk or look at Santa. Nathan was afraid to sit on Santa’s Lap this time and I couldn’t figure out why because that is not like him at all. I finally was able to get the reason out of him and it was because he hadn’t been on his best behavior the day before and was afraid Santa new about it and didn’t want to hear what he would have to say to him.

Living Nativity

This year Julie made a list of fun Christmas time activities and is trying to do a few of them each week and tonight we decided to go to the living Nativity at the Provo Tabernacle (I highly recommend this activity). Julie and I had gone a long time ago when we were engaged (like 9 years ago) and it was fun then, and it has dramatically improved in that time. We took our kids and a couple of their friends as well and as you can see from the pictures they all had a great time! Since I am sure that many of you will not make it down there to see it yourself, I gladly took enough pictures to walk you through the whole program: ). I will narrate as you scroll down the pics. When the Wise Men walked by our bench, I heard Corbin tell Nathan "I think that is Obi-Won-Kanobe" and Nathan just said "Cool".


I hate the look of Camera Flash photography so I took these with a very high ISO film speed because it is so dark which gives it a much more natural light than camera flash would but gives the pictures a bit of a grainy look but I prefer this to using a flash (just my disclaimer).

These pictures are of the actual Nativity (very impressed with the short 20 min program).

Mary being informed by the Angel that she would give birth to our Savior.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.



15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

11 ¶ And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

And that was it. . . Short and sweet. It kept even Brennan's attention the whole 20 minutes.

After the program we went outside and they had all kinds of animals that the kids could pet with Shepard's and all! It was really neat. Brennan was determined that they all loved to eat leaves and didn't stop feeding them the whole time.

"Look, I am not even scaaaaarrred!"

"If you want to go out and play you need to eat just one more bite!"

"Hello Donkey, Do you want to eat some Leaves to?"

"OK, here you go Donkey, eat up."

"NO MORE LEAVES!!! I AM FULL"

"All I want for Christmas is a Train set"

The trip would not be complete without a quick stop at Krispy Kream! YUM YUM!
Wait for it. . . . Wait for it. . .

Just a little bit longer. . .

There they are!!!

Finally!!

And you know you had a good trip when this happens on the way home! Ahh. . . Success!