Swarte Pete??

So, as a family we celebrate Dutch Christmas. That includes a visit from Sinta Claus on Dec. 6th and putting out our shoes to get a treat. Well, Sinta Claus has a helper named Swarte Pete. The story is that if a kid is bad Swarte Pete will put them in a big sack and take them back with him to Spain to work as slaves. Well, Ammon has had a lot of questions about exactly how bad you need to be, where is Spain, how did he get his name, ect. I finally got tired of all his Swarte Pete questions and told him to ask Oma. (my mom) He quickly replied, "Why did he take HER away in his bag?"

vacation

We just got back from playing! In the past week and a half we have been horseback riding, hiking in the Tetons, white water rafting, tubing in Lava, water skiing, fireworks, and the 4th of July in Kaysville! I love vacation! 100% of our time was spent together as a family having fun! We even got to spend some time with the extended family!The best part of the kaysville parade is the water fight at the end...
Our hike to Hidden Falls. We went the long way...5.9 miles. It was worth it!
This moose decided he wanted to take the easy way down the mountain. He was right on the trail, We decided to wait for him to leave before continuing on the hike.

So cute!

Too close!

I took the kids to seven peaks today. It is so crazy there! They let WAY too many people in there! Lucky for me the kids like the pool and lazy river as much as the slides, so we didn't have to stand in lines for hours. The one thing Ammon wanted to do the most was the "George of the Jungle" rope swing. I figured he was big enough and could swim well enough that he would be ok. (it ends up in 9ft water) Well... I was wrong, He grabbed the rope, but never had a great hold on it so he wasn't quite ready when he swung out. He went under and came up, but when I told him to swim to me he ended up going back under. I jumped in to grab him, brought him up and swam him to the side. As I turned around the life guard was right behind me. I am glad I was that close, and I am glad that the lifeguard was paying attention and was right there also. It was scary!

Emergency???

So. Sunday night Trae and I were downstairs looking through the myriad of boxes for something. Ammon was upstairs playing. (or so I thought.) I got back upstairs after only about 5 minutes or so and the phone rang. The caller ID said unavailable, so I didn't pick it up. I was surprised that they left a message. I called to get the message and hear the dreaded words... This is the 911 operator, we just received a call from this phone... AMMON!!! Did you just call 911??? yeah WHY??? I couldn't find you. I started rechecking the voicemail to get the number to call back when the phone rang again. This time it was the police officer that was dispatched to our house. He was very nice and understanding...luckily. The boys and I had a long talk about what is really an emergency...

I am now two for two, but when Trae did it he was only about 13 months and had randomly pushed the buttons.

Tonight was our first Blue and Gold Banquet. All the cub-scouts who are wolves came up and the cub master told the parents how to paint their faces. The colors stood for different values the boys are learning. We had pizza and birthday cake. (It's the 100th birthday of Scouting.) Trae earned his music belt loop and his Religious Knot. Being new to the whole scouting thing, I didn't really know what a big deal the Religious knot was. Bishop Raff presented the award and talked to the boys (there were three of them) about how they are a light to the world and that they are examples of our Savior to the people they come in contact with. He then told the boys that this is the only award they can put on their Scouting uniform when they become scouts. It was one of those great parent moments! It was a lot of work and a great testimony building activity for the whole family! Thanks Trae for helping us and sharing your testimony.

Giving up.

So... Ammon has had a plan for quite awhile to make sure everyone he knows will be taken care of in their old age. He is planning on having a lot of kids when he gets married so they will be able to do all the work of taking care of all these old people (me, george, and both sets of grandparents) Well, he called off the whole plan tonight. Let's just say that Ammon is quite stubborn. Tonight he needed a lesson in respect after slamming the door on my face after I asked him to do something. As I told him that this wasn't ok and he now had to go to bed, he let me know that the whole plan was OFF! "I'm not going to have kids and no one is going to take care of you and that is what I am going to tell Heavenly Father!"
Good night little man. Hope that tomorrow things are a little brighter.....

Midway!

We spent the day in Midway today. I had seen an article on KSL about this guy that was building ice "castles" at the Zermatt resort about a month ago and we decided it was about time to go and check it out. First we went to the homestead and we were going to climb up to the top of what we used to call the bottomless pit, but the stairs were blocked off because of all the snow. We were able to walk around to the back, which they have now dug a passageway so people can swim and scuba dive in the water. It was cool to be able to go into the "cave" and see the people swimming. The price was a little rich for our blood. ($16/per person) Next we went to the Zermatt resort to check out the ice sculptures. They were so cool!! This picture was of the biggest one, which we figured is about 40 feet. The kids loved walking through it and then penguin sliding down the hill.

Ammon called this one his pirate ship.

The boys going through the tunnel.

Trae found a little bench to take a break.

The day ended with a trip to Granny's for a milkshake. The boys totally enjoyed their huge Oreo shake. I was disappointed to find out that the ownership had changed and they no longer had my favorite shake, Chocolate Lovers.

We had a great day!