Grandpa

Grandpa visited in January.  We enjoyed some skiing with Ruby and Owen, the adults got away for a handful of Sundance movies, and we even visited the ice castles in Midway.  Check it out.

This is a picture one of the photo guys on the mountain got of us.  Better than anything our iphones captured. :)

It was fun to walk around on Main St, get a coffee, look for famous people, and meet up with friends who were also in town.

Movies, movies, movies!

The ice castles.  Ruby and Owen fell asleep on the way, which is a bummer.  They are typically in a rough mood for quite a while after waking if they fall asleep.  We have had to adjust our daily schedule to be out in the morning and early afternoon so that we avoid falling asleep in the car later in the day. Oh well, it was still really cool to see and the kids had moments of fun too. 

Thanks for visiting, Grandpa!  Good times!

Catch up

Oh man, with getting the 2013 book organized and printed along with general business...it has been a while!  I will post a bunch of pictures with captions here just to get us all caught up.

Ruby and Graham.  They are such a pair.  Ruby saves some of her biggest smiles and giggliest giggles for this little man as seen in these pictures. I am so grateful he lives right next door and that they get to hang out a lot.  Ruby said in our "thankful circle" during dinner the other night, "I am thank you that my friends come over all the time."  Me too, Ruby, me too.

One of my new years resolutions was to be more active in having dinners with other mom's and their kids.  It is such a unique set up here that many families work odd schedules and have dinners without dads.  I grew up eating "family dinner" most nights.  This has been a routine and ritual that, despite all the extra time Chip's odd schedule affords us, I have missed.  I needed to make it something special and meaningful in a new way, and it has been great so far.  So easy to make dinner for a few more people when it is at our house, and SO nice to have nights where I don't have to think about "what is for dinner" when we go to their houses.  

Kids in Summit Park can't go to the park, but sometimes we can snow swing in the back yard or....

Snow bike or...

 go to the art museum with our cousins and make really fun Valentines's gifts for our dad!

Sometimes we put the backpacks that Aunt Mindy got us on and walk around the driveway and yard.

Good times were had at the local Home Depot who hosts "kid activities" all the time.  I just love how they get to wear a work apron, sit at a little bench and create something in the middle of the lumber isle.  They built (with some help of course) and painted some cars that they then got to race down a track. yahoo!

Yumm....my new favorite- spiralized sweet potato fries.  Kids don't eat them much, but I can not get enough.  Plus, let's be honest, eating is not our forte these days.  Ruby and Owen are decent eaters for three year olds, but man, I just look forward to the day that we all eat normal amounts and combinations of food, together, at the same time, without six million interruptions and corralling, and requests, and negotiations....ugh.

Owen LOVES to paint and color in black.  If you have been the recipient of a thank you note or something like that from us, you know.  I struggle to find artwork to share that is not just a page of all black.  Sometimes he will paint something incredibly colorful and just when I think "he is past the black stage"  he says, "mom, I need black"...and he covers all the color and work...in black.  

We have been doing swim lessons the last few months.  We started with group, which Owen cried for most of, but by the end it wasn't horrible.  So, we decided to pursue this en devour through private lessons with one of their teachers, Ms Jamie.  She is AMAZING and the kids LOVE swimming.  They can back float on their own, swim under water by themselves for a certain distance, jump with enthusiasm off the edge, and just can not get enough of it all.  A lot of mornings Ruby wakes up and the first thing she asks is, "are we going swimming today?"  I don't love getting wet and full of chlorine all the time, but it is worth it to see the joy in their faces and the progress they are making.

We are really into rain gear lately.  I left them downstairs for 10 minutes one afternoon only to find that they had gone into the storage room,dug out their rain boots, climbed up to get their rain jackets and were parading around as seen below and above.  We haven't had a huge winter here, so I guess wearing rain gear vs winter gear is not a battle I am choosing right now.

Ruby and her buttons.  She says things like, "mom, aren't they beautiful?, they make me smile."  She loves small, colorful, interesting and intricate things.

We went through a rough stage where they could not be left unsupervised for 5 minutes before the hitting, biting, and crying started.  SO much fighting.  But lately, we are friends again...not ALL the time, but definitely more often than not I can trust them to play well, adorably well, together.  This makes mom SO much happier and more sane.  Let's hope it lasts. :)

Ruby and Owen turn 3!...and Christmas!

I already documented a handful of the things they are saying at three.  They also can now go potty independently...sometimes, they can mostly get themselves dressed and undressed, and participate in a lot of joint play with each other and others.  They hate to be told "no", and love to get their way.  They are very three, I guess. :)  

We had a party for them at Black Diamond Gym, where we have been taking classes for the past few months.  They LOVE it, so we thought it appropriate to capitalize on that for now.  We played with  a small group of our friends in the foam pit, on the tramps, and all the other fun equipment and options they have for romping and then did cupcakes and a recycled book exchange/white elephant game.  It was perfect and fun was had by all....until I got struck with the stomach flu later that night, only to precede many family members to later be taken down as well...not the best way to spend this crazy and fun time, but we were mostly better by Christmas Eve so, all is well that ends well!  

Mindy showed up just in time for the party and joined us through to Christmas Day.  Yahoo!

She got them a bunch of science experiments for their birthday.  SO fun!  They learned how to make observations, write them in their journals, take measurements, and look for changes over time.  Learning is a blast when Aunt Mindy is in charge.

Those rascally elves continued to find fun places to show up in the morning.  Dad was usually responsible for their clever shenanigans. 

Mindy and I took the kids to ski at Deer Valley one morning.  Crowded but fun to ski with Mindy finally!

The Tree on Christmas Eve. 

The elves bid their goodbye.  They will be back next year!  And, you can see "Santa's gifts" wrapped in brown under the tree.  I guess Ruby and Owen did alright this year.

Christmas morning started with stockings.  They almost could not wait for dad to get home from working a 24-hour shift on Christmas Eve...but they did. :)

Santa's gifts....

Lala Loopsy and a sound machine. 

Seriously...you have to see this special gift from Aunt Mindy to believe it.  He has been named "Fire, Water DuRoss".  Needless to say, he is a hit!

Merry Christmas!

Few more observations being taken before Mindy hits the road to get home.

The day after Christmas we made our way to Victor, ID to see Nana and Papa and the SLC DuRoss' for a few days.  Of course, I hardly have any pictures of this time, but we had a GREAT time relaxing, doing Christmas part Du (get it!)  Here is Ruby with her "triplets" .  Lots of babies in ID. :)

Sledding!  A highlight again this year.  Here, a rare picture of Kess riding along with us as we made laps up and down the 2 mile streatch on Sorensen Creek Drive.

Three anxiously happy riders shuttling up the hill.

Get ready, get set...

I think we clocked somewhere between 15-20 miles per hour. 

The motley crew. :)

Ruby and Owen's first dotty dotty/ white elephant game.  I was worried that they weren't going to get it and throw fits about not getting to keep what they wanted, but they totally got it, played well, and were good sports in the end.  A relief and a blast, as usual.  Thanks to DuRoss' for an excellent get away and second Christmas celebration.  

We are so blessed with abundant love, relationships, resources, opportunity, and peace.  We do not take these things for granted.  Thanks to everyone who was part of our holidays- in person, over face time and phone calls, through Christmas cards, and randomly throughout our comings and goings.  It was a beautiful accumulation of moments and experiences this season, despite the stomach flu. ;) We love you all.