Skiing

Now that we live 8 miles from the nearest ski resort we've decided to teach the kids how to ski this year. Whitney has picked it up quickly and is already skiing some blue runs. Maren is content to ski a few hours on the beginner runs and then is done for the day. We even got little Jonas up there this last week. He started skiing between our legs and then we took him to the gentle magic carpet slope and he skied it by himself. When he'd get to the bottom he would sign "more, more, more" wanting to hop on the conveyor belt and go again. We were quite amazed as he's only 22 months old.

Slave labor

We start them working young around here! Actually he just climbed up on the stool one day and started scrubbing the dishes. I thought it was pretty cute! His daddy wishes he would do them everyday.

BYU Alumni hockey game

Jim has been busy this fall and winter setting up a BYU Alumni hockey group. The culmination of his efforts for this year was organizing a alumni banquet and hockey game where a team of alumni took on the current hockey team. It's been a lot of work tracking down contacts for many previous players but those that attended the festivities had a great time and hope to make it a yearly tradition. It was especially fun for Jim as the years he played they weren't recognized by the university so were called the Provo Icecats. This was the first opportunity that Jim had to wear an actual BYU hockey jersey and the #8 one which he wore during his college days. He even got to play with the same line of guys that he played with during his college days.

Puddle jumping

One thing that is great about the winter's here is that it will snow quite a bit meaning great skiing in the mountains but warms up after the storms enough to melt most of it around our homes. This leads to many puddles of water left in the gutters. Jonas usually heads straight for those puddles when he sneaks outside and jumps in them whether he has socks or shoes on. We finally bought him some rain boots so he could jump to his hearts content. Whitney enjoyed the warm winter day playing with him in the puddles.

Cousins come to visit

My brother Kyle and his family were moving from OR to GA so they made a stop here to stay the night. The kids were so excited to have their cousins come visit. We got a picture of Jim with the two nephews he shares a birthday with. One day we'll have to get one with him, the twins, and Lorelai who also shares the same birthday with them.

Junior Jazz

Whitney did ice skating lessons (no pics) this winter along with playing Junior Jazz Basketball.  She had a fun time playing and improved significantly.  However at this age they still play co-ed and the boys were not too willing to pass the ball during the games.  She did get a few shots but not many. 

Preschool

We started a co-op preschool with some friends in our new neighborhood. We have 5 kids and meet once a week. Maren has been missing going to preschool with her friends in VA so was very excited to get started. I taught the first week and our theme was snow so we made these snowmen for our snack.