My youngest brother is getting married.
Chad + Carissa 

3-15-12

SLC Temple

Can't wait!

Raider Ball

When we get a day off of school, we try to get as many cousins to meet at the track. 

 The moms and girls walk/run,

the boys play Raider Ball.

Raider ball is a mix of rugby and touch tackle football.

I don't know exact rules, but if you get

 touched by 2 hands you have to stop and throw or pass the ball to a teammate.

It helps lower the chances of breaking or bruising something.

I love that tenacious Meg.

I also appreciate the boys that are happy to have her join in the ruckus.

Good diving form, Ike.

Polar Dip

We held our annual polar bear dip on January 2nd this year.

After the event....our little cousins, from out of town, came over to just sit in the jacuzzi. 

You see, they had just gotten back from getting their 

hair cut and styled and were pretty proud of how it turned out. 

 "We cannot ruin our hair styles."

Well, Isaac did not care about the hair styles.

  He pushed Adlee in the pool and boy was she not happy.

  So, she enlisted Meg and Ava to help exact her revenge.

Isaac's friend, Peyton tried to help but he was no match for the girls.

Wait....pause....how do you put on a swimsuit inside-out and not notice?  

The pockets are flapping in the wind for heavens sake.

As you can tell, Isaac was really upset by it all. 

This chain of events sparked a huge 2 hour long water fight, including the teenagers.

Only in Arizona.

Celebrating 2012

Now that our kids are old enough, we bring in the New Year with them.

No more babysitters and turning the clocks forward to trick them that it is midnight.

The last few years we have made it a big multi-family party/activity.

This year we played frisbee dodgeball, courtesy of the Cowley family.

Rules:

Line up opposing teams, facing each other across a large room, field, or gym.

Place the frisbees in the center of play.

When the green light is given, both teams run to the center to grab frisbees

If you are hit, you are side-lined

(hitting in the head does not count and you could be booed) 

If you catch a frisbee, you free a team mate from the sideline.

Play it out until one team is all side-lined.

*Important to note that we were using foam frisbees

 Waiting to get out of jail

Christmas Morning

Here is a brief rundown of Christmas morning.

This little wizard was quite concerned that we would not have enough time to

unwrap gifts and get to church at 9:00 a.m. 

We assured him that it doesn't take that much time to unwrap one gift, so he would have 

plenty of time...hee hee.

 Pure joy:
when you forget that you don't like to show off your teeth and smile unabashedly.

2 things she was this excited for

Bookshelf

and

 the long awaited, requested for over a year...

 genuine Asian hand fan...

don't ask me why---she just really really has wanted one.

With this keyboard, I am hoping to spark a fire.

A teenage girl + shoes = happy

 Isaac gave me a gift certificate for my favorite thing lately, Gelato.

If you are a fan of the real deal 

(owners from Italy and a bit like the soup nazi)

go to Dolce Vita

by the Palm Theater at Higley and Brown.

If you don't say the Gelato names correctly, he will let you know.

Oh, and don't question any of his flavors, he will give you the stink eye.

A Freedom t-shirt for Dad.

My favorite part of Christmas morning-- 

watching my kids unwrap gifts from each other.

Isaac always provides the reaction you are hoping for.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday.

I could have organized Christmas a lot better so I wrote down

a list of things that I would do differently for next year.  

Numero uno on that list is to get a family picture taken and send out Christmas cards every year.

One of the best parts of Christmas is finding cards in the mailbox from loved ones and I felt

a pang of guilt over each one that we did not reciprocate to.

Keep us on your list.