Utah Day 4, Christmas Morning

The kids woke up at O'dark:30 this morning so they could run upstairs and see their presents! They were told the night before that they had to wait till 8am to open presents with the parents. They just barely had enough will power to not open presents...

Stetson, Bryce, Ashley, Calin, Auston, & Kaylee with their presents from Santa

Merry Christmas!

Aunt Star gave CJ a haircut and he looks so handsome!

Ashley talked her mom and Aunt Star into "painting" her hair red. She was so excited!

My beautimus girl!

Utah Day 3, Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve! We finished grabbing last minute presents... and sledded behind Uncle Jared's quad! Aunt Star made candy cane shaped pancakes with strawberry syrup. CJ liked to make stripes with the syrup.
Uncle Jared took the kids to a local middle school and took them sledding behind his quad. The kids had a blast!
I think he is having fun... ya think...

faster... faster... faster...

t'was the night before Christmas and all through the house...

Cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer's...

Check out those presents! This is what a tree looks like with 4 families worth of presents. There was a ton!

After a long day of play and work the girls sat down for a few games of farkle and B.S. We had a blast (...and the stupid sillies!)

Utah Day 2

On our second day of our Utah trip we went to my Grandma Stone's funeral and then out to a family lunch at Mimi's Cafe.

Cheese !!!

Ashley attached all of Stetson's Velcro fruit to her thermals and came in and told me that she was a fruit salad.

Merry Christmas!

So cute!

Handsome boy!

Ashley loves her new black boots.

Good looking cousins!

White Christmas in Utah Day One

This morning when we woke up it was snowing! The "Utah cousins" weren't impressed, but the Tunqusits and the Buells grabbed their snow clothes and went straight outside! I don't think i have ever seen such big snowflakes. They were awesome.

The kids were told they couldn't eat the snow off the ground (ewwww... germs) but if they could catch snowflakes in their mouths it was okay. Both kids looked like baby birds waiting for their mommy...

Ash learned the hard way that you should close your eyes while trying to eat falling snowflakes... it can get in your eyes.

They were determined to make a snowman even though there wasn't much snow on the ground. They said it was a "baby snowman".

That whole "no eating snow on the ground" apparently didn't apply to CJ if the snow was stuck to his gloves. It's like the "5 second rule" for snow ...

And eating snow off the fence now.....

This way takes too long...

Notice that she has taken off her wet gloves and is using her jacket sleeves to warm up her freezing nose.

CJ found a way to watch the snow fall and play with his Nintendo DS at the same time... smart boy!

I couldn't resist this pic of CJ and Stetson Berry playing matching blue DS's (CJ got his for Christmas- he got to open it early for the 12 hour drive, and Stetson is playing cousin Bryce's) They were sitting on the couch totally quiet and content. It was perfect after a long day of playing in the snow...

Reflections Contest

On Wednesday night we went to the awards ceremony for the school district level. Ashley was so excited! Her art was photocopied and displayed (her original has already been moved to the next level). They had the honorable mentions on the side walls, she was so happy that hers was in the front.

Ashley is standing under her painting.

Ashley kept reading her award certificate over and over again.

Ashley Tunquist, Cousin Lexi Henry, and Cousin Addy Stone all got certificates. (Grandma Stone's art lessons definitely paid off!)

The "Stone" family took up half the seating! It was great! Having all the support was awesome! The Stones, Henrys, Buells and Tunquists were there to cheer for our great winners.

more basketball pics of CJ...

You can totally tell he is freezing..

CJ striking a pose

CJ is the one with the ball...

CJ waiting on "the bench" between the coach & asst coach for his turn to play.

he played the full 1st half (that's how the YMCA does it) and now has to wait for someone to come out. He wanted to play again so bad.

more basketball pics of Ash...

I promise to take some better pictures soon, Im still working out the logistics of the indoor sport games photoshoot.

You cant really tell but its only 38 degrees outside and she is freeszing! She is so sweet to put up with her mom's need to take pictures!

A kid standing on a ball guess what is going to happen next.... if you said fall down you are right!

So she talked her daddy (it wasnt hard) into holding her till she felt better.

Ash is always able to answer all the questions the coach asks. Me on the other hand is still trying to figure out what a fast break is. (they get to start doing those this week... whatever they are)

During CJ's game Ash sat in the stands and covered her ears whenever the Ref blew his whistle.

my daughter the smarty pants...

Ashley got a letter from the school district saying that she has been accepted into the GATE program for next year (Gifted And Talented Education)! We are so excited... well i'm nervous about the extra hard homework... i mean seriously i already have trouble doing her regular 3rd grade math... 4th grade smarty pants math i think is going to be way past my ability...

Mike and I are so proud of Ashley!

Art Contest Award

Yesterday at school Ashley and other art contest winners (Cousin Lexi Henry & Cousin Addison Stone included) got ribbons and an invitation to a "gallery party" where they can see their art displayed with the other winners. Aunt Crystal was in charge of giving out the ribbons to the kids (no she didn't judge the contest... the Stones are just that good!)thank you grandma for all your help!

how did u know i drank your hot chocolate???

CJ had some incriminating evidence that he drank my hot chocolate...

Ashley's Valley Days Diorama

Ashley and her Grandma Stone made a "Valley Days Diorama" for a school assignment. They did such a great job! Grandma's are the best!

Her diorama is a Valley Days Schoolhouse. There is a real wood (sticks from the yard) fireplace with "fire", a blackboard, coat rack (with tiny material coats and scarves), and her teacher "Master Delgado" and students. If i were to grade it she would definitely get an "A".