Pinewood Derby

Today was Grayson's first Pinewood Derby. What an exciting day for a boy & his father. Grayson wanted to make his car look like a dragon. He found this picture in a book.
Luckily, Derek is great at drawing & sketching. (This Derek Crowther original might sell for big bucks one day!!)
Grayson concentrating on his job of painting the "Shen Lung".
The finished product.
Moments before the big race
Crossing his fingers, arms & legs.
This year Gray went for looks over speed. He has declared next year he feels the need for speed.

It's haircut time

Grayson hates getting his haircut, so I thought I would do a little reverse psychology on him. Since he is such a stinker about getting his haircut I told him fine I will just stop cutting your hair. See, I thought this would work because although he hates getting his haircut, he likes it a very specific way. Well it totally backfired on me. He has had shaggy hair (although very in style) for about 4 months. I just couldn't take it any more. His hair was getting out of control so today I asked if he wanted it cut & he said yes!! HURRAY, I was very excited.
BEFORE
AFTER
P.S. I am so mad, because I took all of these great before shots & then when I was taking the after shots I discovered that the photo card was not in the camera!! UGH!
Abby on the other hand has always wanted her haircut, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to cut it. Well a couple of days ago (apparently I get crazy when Derek has been out of town for a while)I took her for a haircut. Initially I was thinking 2 maybe 3 inches. Well as it turns out we ended up cutting about 5 inches. Derek is so going to kill me! Abby was so thrilled. As soon as the hairstylist was done Abby said thank you like a million times. Abby loves it, I love not having to get all the knots out of her long hair every morning, it is a WIN...WIN. I hope Derek thinks so, he hasn't seen either of the kids haircuts yet.
BEFORE
AFTER

Wisconsin

Everyone keeps telling us that we need to go to the Wisconsin Dells. So this weekend we decided to go check it out for ourselves.
This is a ski slope here in Wisconsin. I am not sure if you call this a mountain or a hill?
This is an Ice & Snow sculpting competition that happens every year.

Marshmallow eating contest

Only in Wisconsin can you enjoy a snow sculpting competition one minute & the next minute be going down water slides. (Notice all of the ice on the door!!)

Hearty Mid-Westerners

How do we know it's cold outside:
1. You get a phone call from your kids school at 5:30 in the morning saying school has been cancelled due to the extreme cold conditions!!
2. After you take a shower you notice the inch of ice on the Inside of your bathroom window!!

3. As you drive to the grocery store to buy eggs your car thermostat reads -7 degrees. And yes that is before the wind chill!!
4. To take the trash out you bundle up like you are going to race in the Iditarod!! Unfortunately for me the garbage can ended up being frozen shut & I wasn't strong enough to open it.
Yep it's cold outside.

Extreme Snow Sports

After the games on Saturday we decided to play out in the snow. Who doesn't love getting pulled behing the 4-wheeler on a sled? And what better place to do it than your yard. Derek was our driver for this fun day in the snow!! Thanks Der.

Unfortunately I don't have any snow pants, those would of come in handy. And unless your thirsty, always sled behind a 4-wheeler with your mouth closed, no matter how bad you want to scream.

Grayson being dragged by the sled
Abby could do this all day long

A few minutes after I came in (mainly to get the snow out of my pants)I looked out the back door & saw Lindsey getting ready to sled down the slide.

Anybody up for a little B-ball?

Grayson & Abby had there first basketball game last Saturday. It was so fun to watch & cheer them on. Abby was so funny, she would run/skip down the court & then when she got to where ever she was going she would hop. It was so cute. There were a few experienced girls on her team but at least 1/2 of them were a little confused. There was alot of clustering, the girls would run as a group & then stop whenever somebody else did. It will be fun to see them get better & know what they are doing. Grayson's team is older, so they know more about the sport. They were competetive & knew what they were suppose to be doing. Both kids had alot of fun. After each game the team goes back to a room for the "Star Ceremony" were each kid earns a different colored star depending on there strength for that game. Grayson's star was for best defender & Abby's star was for most Christ like.

Time to Catch Up

I know I haven't blogged FOREVER, but talk about being busy. I can't seem to get caught up on anything. Here is a catch up on what we have been up to...we surprised the kids with a trip to Utah for Christmas. We had a great trip, once we were able to actually reach SLC. Here are pictures of the kids walking off the back of the plane to the UVU "airport". Don't even get me started on the flight to Utah.


I will have to finish later, Lindsey needs help.