Alpine Wyoming!

Last year our friends from dental school Andy and Brooklyn invited us up to his parent's cabin up in Alpine Wyoming with our friends Ryan and Brinley. We were happy when they invited us again this year because we were hoping this would turn into an annual tradition! Andy happens to be a long lost cousin of mine. His mom is an Astle (I'm an Astle). This is probably why he is so like-able. Hee hee. Andy's parents co-own a ski resort in Idaho, not too far from the cabin, so he was able to get tickets for everyone to go skiing for free. I didn't get many pictures of all of us at the cabin but I got a couple of the boys and their first time skiing. They LOVED it!! Jared had fun too seeing the boys enjoy themselves but apparently teaching two kids how to ski isn't so easy.



This is mostly why it isn't so easy. I HATE the tow rope!!!! Glad I was cozy up in a cabin with Annie.



I'm so mad at myself because somehow I missed taking pictures of Jackson. Back at the cabin he spent an entire day outside sledding down the road. He had so much fun.


I thought Annie would cry being all squished up like this but she thought it was really funny. She also went sledding for the first time here.


Jared and the big boys also spent a lot of time snow mobiling and I also did a little snow mobiling by myself for the first time. We all loved the whole trip.

Seattle

One of Jared's dental suppliers (Patterson) had a convention up in Seattle and told Jared they'd fly us up there for it. We had such a great time!! It was sooo relaxing to be without any kids and just hang out around the city and eat lots of yummy food.

We didn't have a ton of time up there so we didn't do a lot but here are some of the highlights...

We headed to the Space Needle and had dinner at the top. It takes an hour to make a full rotation so we could see an ariel view of the city and the sound while we ate. It was really fun.


I don't even remember what kind of a car this is but Jared was totally jealous of the owner. I made him stand by it like he owned it but he got all nervous and didn't want to touch it or look weird. I thought that was funny that he cared so much.


This picture's kind of lame but we went on the underground tour. My dad said it's the dumbest thing ever but we actually really liked it. It gave a history of how Seattle was built and it's interesting to know that the streets and sidewalks you're walking on are on top of old streets. My grandpa said "it's nice if you like walking around in basements." I think he might not have like the tour much either.


Ohhhh, yumm yumm yummmmm!! This alone makes me want to live on the West Coast!


It's hard to see but there is a flying salmon in this picture. This is the famous fish market that we see on movies a lot. We stood around waiting for someone to buy a fish just for this picture.


Here's Jared debating whether it's worth $200 to pack some fresh fish home. We didn't come home with any :(


The famous sign. They were doing construction so we didn't get to touch the lucky pig.


This was really the highlight of our trip. Jared and I LOVE trying new foods and when a restaurant has great atmosphere along with yummy food we feel like we are the luckiest people in the world. This was a Moroccan restaurant we found in a newspaper we picked up off the ferry. They had 5 courses and they were all delicious.


They first washed our hand at the table then gave us a huge towel we kept throughout our meal (I suppose because a lot of the food was eaten by hand). There was a belly dancer, we sat on the floor, and this is our 3rd course. It was some crazy ground chicken filled filo dough piled high with powdered sugar and cinnamon. It was unique and delicious!


You can see it was not an easy thing to eat. This is why we had huge towels instead of normal sized napkins.


We also took a ferry across puget sound and got a couples massage. We ate some sushi, watched a movie, read some books, and hung out in a lot of coffee shops using their wifi and sipping herbal tea. Well, maybe I did those things while Jared was in conferences for a couple days.

Our trip was wrapped up in the airport watching the superbowl at Sbarros eating leftover cheesecake.

Tanner is 5!!

Like I've said before (not that long ago) the kids just keep growing up sooo fast!! Tanner had a great birthday planned. We were supposed to get cupcakes and take them to preschool and have a special poster board with pictures of him to show his class, Have a couple of neighbor friends over for a party, then have Grandma and Grandpa Astle over for some Pizza and cake and ice cream. Instead he woke up with sick.

Instead we went to Sam's club to pick up some food, Walmart to pick up his cake, then the doctors office to get some prescriptions. Grandma and Grandpa did end up coming anyway and Tanner decided he wanted "Crab, shrimp, and all the seafood" instead of pizza. Besides Jackson, we were all happy with his decision.

All he asked for was an easy bake oven. So he was happy when that's what he got. I also got him some roller skates and he absolutely loves them.


Before he went to bed I told him sorry that he had to miss all of his special birthday activities and he said "Mom, I'm still happy because I had a nice birthday." He has a great attitude! Jackson hurt his feelings while they were getting to bed and I told Jackson he needed to tell Tanner 3 things he loves about him before they fell asleep. The next morning Tanner got up and said "Jackson made my heart happy. He told me so many nice things about me."

Tanner really is one unique little kid. He always has something nice to say and finds the positive in most situations. He certainly can drive teachers and parents crazy with his lack of sitting still skills but it's also one of his more endearing characteristics.

Later the next week he did finally get to do his special birthday at school and had a small neighborhood friend party. I was a little worried how it would go since Jared wasn't going to be home but it turned out great and kids this age just love running around and playing together. No need for over planned activities!

He has been asking to have a costume birthday party since his last birthday. He finally got what he's been begging for.

Annie girl turns 1

Annabelle and my brother John's little boy Wells turned 1 just a day apart from each other. They celebrated their birthdays together and my sister-in-law MiaLisa bought THE cutest cakes for these two. Sadly, I had the camera on black and white the whole time so I didn't get any good pictures of anything.

The two birthday pals with their cute cakes.

Annabelle just wanted to play with the cake.

I couldn't get enough of Wells. He was inhaling that cake and just laughing the whole time. Annie was pretty cautious at first but here she figured out she can stuff her mouth full of cake.

The boys with their cousins. Jackson was especially sad to know they had to move back to Texas. He said "I'm really sad we don't ever get to see them again." We're hoping John gets into residency here at the U despite what he and Misa want :)

Annie after Jared figured out I was taking pics in black and white the whole time.


I don't care how cliche it sounds, I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW FAST TIME FLIES!!! It's so much fun to watch Annabelle go through different stages but I already miss having a teensy weensy baby in the house (this does not mean we are ready to add another one to the mix, though!!). She is such a sweet little girl and it seems we still fight over who gets to hold her and play with her. Last Sunday after Sunday school she was snatched up by one of our friends and we didn't see her until after church. Apparently people in Relief Society were fighting over her the whole time. As far as her growing, she finally made it onto the chart. At her 1 year appointment she was 18 pounds!! She seems to be chunking up nicely :)

Christmas in a nutshell...

We had my parents over a few weeks before Christmas to make "gingerbread" houses because Jared and I found out neither of my parents had ever made one before!! Here are the results.

My uncle and aunt Paul and Cindy held a little Nativity performance (put together by my cousin Jennifer) and it was really nice. We got to sing some Christmas songs, read about the Birth of our Savior and the kids got to dress up and have fun.

Christmas Eve the boys slept in our room so they wouldn't sneak out and find Santa's loot before us. Here are the boys waiting to see what Old St. Nick brought them.

This little girl is one who LOVES her sleep. Christmas morning did not come as a pleasant surprise to her.

Excited about Santa's gifts!

Jackson kept telling about this guitar and drum set that other kids had and it took me until Christmas Eve to figure out what the heck he was talking about. It's super thin and light and luckily pretty inexpensive!

All Tanner wanted was a cape from the Quilted Bear he saw several months ago. He was excited to see his superman cape along with his Ironman stuff.

You can see how Annie's feels.

It seemed like all the kids and their friends wanted for Christmas were pillow pets. I thought they were kind of silly at first but the kids have loved them and sleep with them every night!


We all had a very nice Christmas!! It was sad to see it come to an end. I think this was the first year in a long time I wanted to do it all over again.

Christmas fun

We were up in Ogden last week for a wedding and we passed a really cute park full of fun Christmas things and Jared told me they used to go there every year as a family! We called Jared's sister Sharidee and planned a night to go and it was so cute. They had a little snack hut where the lady gave the kids marshmallows to roast over a fire and we bought some hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts too. Santa was also there and our boys were insistent we wait in the freezing cold to see him.

Annie was being a pretty big cheeser for all the pictures.





The kiddos


Jared and Sharidee with the chestnuts


The boys waiting patiently to get into Santa's warm house


Annie was not cheesing for this one!


Tanner was really excited. He did say that this isn't the real Santa. It was just one of Santa's many helpers.


Jackson loving the idea of getting whatever he wants just by asking this guy! (luckily all he asked for is a pillow pet!!)



Since Annie was born she's been the star of our family. I guess that's what happens whenever there's a baby around. It's been so much fun watching her grow and do a few new things on her own. She LOVES baths and I can't get her to stop drinking the water. Her new trick is to blow bubbles in the water. Every now and again she gets a mouthful of water too.

Thanksgiving

This year we went to my grandpa Astle's house for Thanksgiving day and had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures of it. It's always nice spending Thanksgiving there, though. It just feels like the holidays and we've gone there since I can remember.

The Weaver side usually does a big huge Thanksgiving dinner the day after Thanksgiving. It's Jared's mom's side of the family with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. They usually rent a cabin and have a big auction (they donate the money usually to whoever has a missionary out at the time), dinner, and a talent show. This year Jared participated in the talent show.

Jared apparently doesn't know how to suck helium very well. He should have taken some helium sucking lessons before the big show but it turned out pretty funny anyway.


A couple of weeks later I had Jared put up our fake Christmas tree (thinking it would be a good idea so the baby wouldn't eat pine needles all month) but he was not happy about having a fake tree (plus it was a tiny midget tree). The boys were excited about going tree shopping and getting it all decorated!

We didn't get great pictures of us decorating the tree.

Here's Annie and Jared,


Jackson doing his "fire power" move from Night at the Museum.


And no surprise Jackson's staring at the tv while Tanner decorates the tree.


We've forgotten our camera for a couple Christmas parties already! Guess we're having too much fun enjoying our time with our friends and family!!