Whats hot right now?

 You know how you can't go online without seeing "whats hot/trending right now"? 

So this is it for our family. 

Number one is the kindles the boys got for Christmas. If it was up to them they would be on them 24/7.

 It did not take us long to realize strict time limits had to be set. Luke woke up a couple morning at 5 to play his. They actually have a pretty cool setup for kids. They each have age appropriate books, apps and videos automatically loaded every month. Since they are 5 & 8 their books are different and each at their reading level. There is also a setting for us to set time limits for each activity. Like unlimited for reading and much shorter times for apps (games) and videos)

 This one cracked me up, Kolby holding a cat with one hand and playing with the other.

 In the car using Skip as a Kindle rest. Skip didn't mind since he was using Kolby's lap as a pillow.

 Next BIG HUGE news is that the 49ers are going to the SUPERBOWL!!! WOOT WOOT!! 

I have been a fan forever and believe you me it has not been easy the past oh 20 something years. But that's all over because they are going to the Superbowl this year. You better believe I have a Frank Gore jersey. (can you tell I get a little smack talkie about football)

 Next is Beyblade and Legos. 

Beyblades are battle machines (old fashioned tops spruced up). I can not tell you the times I have heard "3-2-1 Let em RIP" which is what they say before pulling the thingie on their top to get it going.

Legos are pretty much tied in popularity, there is much time spent building and playing with their creations. Star Wars being their current favorite.

 Beyblade tops spinning. Pretty amazing I was able to get the picture during the split second they looked away from "the battle"

 Zoey is also a hit with the boys, but definitely for them far below the other things listed :)

Recent Luke quotes,

There was an action movie on TV, I said "wow that would suck to have an F15 after you". Luke "um yea but it would really suck to have a Raptor after you...which is what that plane is" 

Luke was explaining that in Gym class they were teaching them how to dance to Gangnam style. Which I don't mind since I happen to know it is a good workout having recently read a story warning people of a certain age (MY AGE) to be careful doing it as we can drop dead. (true story look it up) So that got Dew and I to talking about dances we learned at his age, lets just say the BEE GEE's and ABBA were watched on Utube to the boys horror. Somehow this got Dew thinking we should show them how we can swing dance. After watching for a few minutes with a straight face Luke says " hum... maybe you guys were a lot younger the last time you tried to do that" 

I came in from feeding the animals and told the boys "something terrible happened, I lifted up the chickens feed dish and stuck my finger in chicken poo". I was clearly disgusted. Luke again straight faced "mom you have to admit that if it had happened to someone else it would be a really funny story.

Grandmas Race

 Last Saturday we drove down to St. George for the yearly half marathon. Dewey's family runs in it every year. This year Winnie (Grandma) ran in it. It is her second half marathon in the last couple of months. Which is exactly two half marathons more then I have done in my LIFE.
While the runners were doing their thing we went for a hike (ok more like a walk) with grandpa and the dogs.
The boys found rocks to climb.

I firmly believe that god make rocks for boys. They see one and need to climb it and are happy as can be doing it.

Zoey went for her first family hike (walk). We took the dogs with us since they have not walked on anything but snow in a month.

She did really well for her first time on a leash. Skip and Gus were good examples for her on how a dog is supposed to act on and off leash.

If rocks to climb wasn't enough how about rocks to throw in a river....icing on the cake people.

There is no age limit for boys :)

It was so nice to be in above freezing temps soaking up the sun.

My last post talked about living in the coldest place in the state, the reason we love it is because St. George is only 45 minutes away. They are generally 30 degrees warmer then us. So we are less then an hour away from warm (50 degrees is a heat wave to us at the moment) sun.

We got back to the race just in time to get a picture of Uncle Mark crossing the finish line.

A short time later Winnie crossed.

How amazing is she, after 13 miles she has a smile on her face.

She is already planning her next marathon in July. Dew and I are always invited to run. To which we say "oh yea definitely that seems like something we may do at some point" Nobody needs to point out that my mother in law and Dews Aunt and Uncle are running and we are not...... nope nobody needs to point that out.

After stopping for lunch Grandpa wanted to take the boys to this trampoline place.

Of course the boys were all for it.

I keep hearing about these places that are HUGE rooms filled with trampolines but this is the first one we had ever been to.

The boys LOVED IT.

In no time at all they were doing tricks and flipping around.

Dew and I jumped too and I can tell you it is a WORK OUT.

I love stuff like this the kids are having so much fun they don't even realize they are getting a ton of exercise.

Very fun day cheering on family, soaking up the rays and moving our bodies.

Snow & Cold

Being that its January 16 it should not come as a shock to me that its winter. Not to mention the fact that I have lived in Utah for the past 100 years or so, I should know the drill, winter means cold and snow. But people it has been WEEKS since the temps have been above freezing.....WEEKS.

Here's the thing with a farm, even when the temps drop to the double digit negative you still have to go outside. Even the cats who normally follow me around when I'm outside have been staying in.

 The chickens find whatever "warm" spot they can to hang out during the day, then hurry back to their heated chicken coop as soon as the sun goes down. When I go out to feed at night its like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock "The Birds". I think every bird in a mile radius hangs out trying to warm up and sneak the chickens feed. When I walk in there is a mass exodus. You will know if/when one hits me in the head because I will freak out. The only reason it hasn't happened so far is that I have been quick on the ducking of my person.

We took these pics a few weeks ago when we were still able to step outside without turning into a people-cicle.

Luke just couldn't let fresh untouched snow go without leaving his mark

Silly, happy kid.

 Both boys love the snow and have been asking when we can build another igloo.

Notice anything wrong with this picture??

That's right -22 degrees is very very wrong. Let me do the math for you, the temperature has to go UP 54 degrees to get to FREEZING. 

Every morning when the weather comes on the news I check to see if we are the coldest place in the state. 3 out of 4 times we are. To which I then jump around saying woop-eeeee we win. I'm sure that Dew never tires of this and appreciates me reminding him that we have made our home in the coldest place in the state of Utah.

The satellite guy is coming out today to fix our dish which apparently froze and snapped its "hold together on the roof" parts. (pretty sure that's its official name)  The water is slowly running in our faucets to try to avoid the big pipe freeze of 2007 which involved a backhoe digging up most of our yard and us not having water for a week. The heater runs constantly to keep the house at 68 also to avoid the pipes freezing.

Good times people good times.

Zoey!!

I'm sure it will come as a huge surprise to um.... NOBODY that we got a new dog. 

On Dec 30th I decided it was time, I needed another dog in my life. So I logged onto KSL classified (a local Utah news/classified website) and checked for dogs in a 100 mile radius. I made a bunch of calls (nobody answered) I then put it in fates hands and waited for the right dog for us. I received a few calls back and set up meeting times all of which were in St. George. 

Zoey was the first dog we saw. She is a 3 month old Parti Pomeranian. I had to google Parti Pom as I had no idea what that meant. Apparently Parti doesn't mean woo-whoo lets go to Vegas, but does mean a Pomeranian with two colors.  

As we were driving home it occurred to me that the chances of me not taking the first dog that was placed in my arms was slim to none. Just to be sure I asked Dewey

 Me"were you worried we would be looking a dogs all day"

Dew "No, not at all". 

Me "What, why not I had set up a few appointments?" 

Dew "I knew we were taking the first dog you saw".

 Bust just as I thought..... But I still say fate had a hand in making sure Zoey was the first dog we saw.

And can I just say how stinking cute is she?

She is a very sweet dog who the boys are thrilled with because she is "nice". Bailey was and Skip is in the grumpy grandma/grandpa stage. They always asked why we couldn't have a nice dog. Added bonus, being that she is a puppy she has almost as much energy as they do.

She has done really well considering there has been nothing but snow on the ground since we have had her. And the temps have been below zero more then they have been above freezing. 

 She weighs a whopping 6 pounds and is 90% fur ball, with these teeny tiny little paws. She is also the perfect snuggler, one of my top priorities :)

 And again just so stinking cute.

The perfect addition to our wild little farm in the country.

Luke turns 8!

  January in a small town with below zero temps doesn't lead to a lot of options for birthday parties. Luke decided on the bowling alley for his. I may or may not have not put the dates together in my head until the kids were already on Christmas break that his birthday came before they went back to school. So it was a little tense in us not knowing if there would be 1 kid or 20 at the party. (poor kid having a birthday so close to Christmas and a mom who apparently struggles with walking and chewing gum at the same time :)

 As it turned out we had a pretty good turn out with 12 kids and a few parents. And who doesn't love bowling? The kids all had a blast.

 Who knew taking pictures of constantly moving kids would be so hard. I finally handed over my camera as I was on "I'm thirsty, hungry, need to use the bathroom" duty.

 Being the local bowling alley it wasn't deluxe accommodations but we did have a little semi-room and table.

 Much like the lack of Christmas cookies baked (shush I'm sure the neighbors liked their generic box of chocolates) I admitted defeat and ordered a cake from a local grocery store. Nobody complained so it must not have been to bad. Luke is so funny when the spotlight is on him he gets so serious. This was his face as everyone sang Happy Birthday.

 Kids are so stinkin cute, they got so excited watching Luke open his presents.

 Luke showing off his glasses from the little goodie bags. So all in all the party was a success, he had fun and that's all that matters.

 His actual birthday was Sunday so he woke up to streamers and balloons on his bed.

We went to Applebees for lunch and had them sing for him. His face during the singing was exactly the same as the above picture. This was him as soon as the servers walked away. We are not desert ordering people so a hot fudge Sunday was a huge treat.  (which he very kindly shared with his brother)

 Said brother photo bombing Luke's picture.

I did make cupcakes for him on Sunday.... why pink you might ask, let me explain. Me.. ok I need to bake something, box of cupcakes check. Frick no frosting, that's ok I'll make my own. Frick no powdered sugar, that's ok I'll make my own out of sugar. check add vanilla....gross brown frosting, hum add red food coloring...keep adding... frick pink cupcakes it is. (A little peak into my brain, its a struggle people)

 But Luke declared them to be good so all turned out well.

More opening of presents from family...

One very happy 8 year old. 

Happy birthday Luke! We are so proud of the amazing boy you are, you make us laugh every day and bring endless joy to our lives.