Beautiful Idaho

I forget how beautiful Idaho can be. Dad and Mom took us on a 20 miler(round trip) in the back country of Idaho, on the ATV's. I just loved the blue sky and open land. I don't think I ever appreciated the beauty of this area before....not that I want to move back....but it was just really fun.

The trail that we were on took us to the City of Rocks, which is north of Gooding. We had lots of fun climbing over and in between all the rock formations. We made dad lead the way and search for Rattle snakes for us. Thankfully there were not any out.

Gopher!?!

I went out to water yesterday and when I went to grab the hose, something moved. I totally jumped(I'm not going to lie). I yelled to the boys and told them I found a snake. They came running, they were so excited. After looking to make sure it wasn't a baby rattler, we decided the boys could pick it up. They Loved It! We happen to have some friends ride by on their bikes and told us it's a gopher snake. So the boys made a little home in the box above, but as you can see the snake had no problem getting out.......so the boys added some more barriers in hopes of keeping it for awhile. Well.....we left to go to the movie and when we came back, it was gone. JT was quit sad, he really liked it. So the last 2 days all I've heard is, "when are we going to get a snake?" Let's just say, it won't be anytime soon!:)

Small Tribute to Grandma Minick

We already miss Grandma Minick. One of the greatest blessings that has come to our family since we have moved to California, is that we got to spend so much time with Grandpa and Grandma Minick. Grandma has done so much for our boys since we have lived here. I can't count how may times we dropped our boys off so that we could go to the temple. Every time we came to visit there was food stock piled ready for the boys to eat and a never ending supply of vitamins(M&M's). I'm grateful for the last big get together with Grandma right before Christmas. She seemed so happy and we had such a nice visit with her. I remember how excited she was to have carolers show up that night. She fed us a great meal and had such a great time visiting with her. I'm also grateful for the last few visits I had with her at the hospital. She was in ICU so the boys couldn't come, but it was so nice to have 1 on 1 with her and share in some quiet moments. What an amazing wife, mother, and grandmother she has been. We Celebrate all she did and was. We love you and miss you!

We are going to miss our annal Easter Egg Hunt that we always have with Grandma. This was last years Easter Egg Hunt! What Fun! The Great Grand-kids are really going miss Grandma Minick. She has always spoiled them, not matter what the occasion.

Jeret turns 8!

Turning 8 is such an exciting time. Jeret turned 8 on the 26th and so the cub scouts invited him to join in on their pinewood derby which was the day before his birthday. He was so excited(that's actually an understatement). He and Clint worked on the car together and had so much fun making the car I didn't think it could get any better, until he comes home and shows me his trophy. I wish I could have a picture of his face, it was the best. He ended up getting 2nd place overall. Not bad for your first Derby. By the way, doesn't he look so cute in his new uniform?

On his birthday, he had his friend Daneil over and the watch a movie and played wii and ate tones of pizza, ice cream, and brownies. It was even more special because Grandpa Rog and Grandma Sue showed up. It's not very ofter we get to have Grandparents around for Birthdays. What a great day!

Since Clint had to work on Jeret's birthday, we had a family party on Saturday. We went mini golf and San Jose and Grandpa Rog got to join us. Way fun and we even got in 36 holes before it rained! It was Great even if I average 4 strokes a hole :)

Winter Break

This winter break we were invited to our friends family cabin.
It was so beautiful and tons of fun.

Brevin and his friends climbed up and made their own bobsled run. It was great, with good speed and lots of turns. They did a great job.

I thought this was a cute picture of Jeret. If you notice he doesn't have gloves on. This kid worked so are he was hot all the time. If fact most of the time he didn't even have his coat on.

Being at the cabin usually means late nights and not much sleep. Poor Zack was tired and that meant he was a little moody :). He finally started having fun and when he used the sled as a snowboard. He could make it almost the whole way down, it was very fun!
Thanks for invited us!!!

Happy New Year

I think this picture is so cute of all the cousins together. The balloons were from Brittany's birthday party the day before. The best part of going on these trips is being with family, we always have the best of times.

For Brittany's birthday, which is Dec 30th, they had a "Walk Off". They all went down stairs and dressed up then did a run way for us. So funny! Uncle Brett of course is always the most talented at these things. Thanks Brett for always making us laugh!

They had tons of snow in Logan, it was so beautiful! I have to say though, I love visiting it, but grateful I don't have to live with it!

Here's the boys with cousin John. John's family lives next door to Grandpa and Grandmas house so he was always there to entertain the boys. Thanks John!
We had so much fun with the Zollinger's, it's always hard to leave. We miss everyone so much and look forward to March!

Christmas Day! and Eve

It was so exciting to see Santa show up on Christmas Eve. Zack was so cute, his eyes were so big and he was so happy. It could not believe that Santa would come and see him, he just went right up to him and gave him the biggest hug. That is a memory I will not forget.

Grandma Sue made pj's very everyone and for the kids she made shirts. The cool thing was on the shirts she embroidered their names on them with glow-in-the-dark thread. So Fun! My boys just lay in bed looking at their shirts. Thanks Mom, they love them still.

Christmas morning was very early, of course not early enough for my boys. They patiently(yeah right) waited while their cousins woke up. Poor Jack had been up all night sick so it wasn't easy getting him up. We finally were all ready and made it out to open presents. Jack also joined us and the poor thing was so sick, Clint even got a picture of him throwing up in a bucket by the Christmas tree. I decided not to share that photo. All went well besides though and all the cousins seemed pleased with their gifts.

After opening presents and eating some food, Grandpa Rog loaded us up on the school bus and took us snowboarding. This was the first time for our boys and Clint so they all signed up for lessons. By the end of their lessons all of them were boarding by themselves. It was so fun. Zack loved it the most. he was not happy when they turned off the Magic Carpet(that's what towed them to the top of the hill). We hope to be able to go again before winter is over.

To say the least Christmas was very fun! Thanks Mom and Dad!