McCall Winter Carnival

We were so excited to head up to the McCall Winter Carnival this year! We have not received much snow and were looking forward to some of the white stuff. As usual, prepare for picture overload on this post. In the picture above from left to right: Brendon, Tiffany, Me, Conner, Zack, Victor, Mason, and Kristen.

The snow sculptures are scattered across the town at businesses. It is about a 1 mile strip, 2 miles round trip, and Zack could not keep his hands out of the snow as we walked! Needless to say, it took us a long time to get from point A to point B.

The sculptures were awesome. They didn't seem as big and as elaborate as last year, but still amazing. There were actually quite a few kid friendly ones with slides that they boys (especially Zack!) loved. We kept our little group tradition with our same best buds and it always promises a good time!

Chris & Paula got into town a little later and joined us.

Kristen and me- laughing hysterically!

Mason just loves animals- he is getting ready to smooch this bear.

BIG smiles on the slides!

The picture above of Zack is a little deceiving. It looks like he is going nice and slow but the slide is actually covered in ice and he was haulin' butt!

After making the rounds around town we headed over to the little sled hill. My amazing little hubby and spectacular father made a million trips chasing the boys down the hill and pulling them back up. It was rounds of smiles on every one's faces!

Following Dad to the sled hill.

Kristen even got in the sledding fun!

Mason fell backwards when they started and went halfway down the hill like this until they hit a bump that popped him back up. It was so funny!

Back at the cabin our boys were sure missing wrestling around with Chris & Paula's boys, so naturaly Chris would be the next best thing! :)

The fireworks over the beautiful frozen lake were spectacular. We just love the McCall Winter Carnival and are already looking forward to next year!

I will leave you with a few more sculptures for your viewing pleasure. Sorry for so many pictures, but they are my favorite part!

Funnies

Mason at Christmas.

I am in the office working, Zack is playing on the floor and Mason walks in and says, "Ready go Mommy?"

Me: "Where are we going?"

Mason: "Store."

Me: "We don't need anything at the store."

Mason: "Chocolate milk."

Me: "We have chocolate milk."

Mason: "Sprite?"

Me: "No, we don't need Sprite. It has too much sugar and isn't good for us."

Zack chimes in and says, "We could just get him some with Splenda."

Zack is OBSESSED with clone troopers. Every five minutes he will ask me something about clones. I got a kick out of a conversation we had the other day that went like this:

Zack: "Which you like better Mom, clones or droids?"

Me: "Clones."

Zack: "Me too!"

5 minutes later.

Zack: "Which you like better Mom, clones or jet packers?"

Me: "Clones."

Zack: "Me too!"

This goes on for at least a half hour with different scenarios.

Zack: "Which you like better Mom, clones or battle droids?"

Me: "Seriously Zack? You have asked me a million questions about clones!"

Zack: "Yes seriously Mom! I am VERY serious when it comes to clones!"

They keep us on our toes and laughing. Mason is currently in love with elephants and runs around making elephant noises all day. Mason also counts to ten and he and Zack are learning to count in Spanish now. And everything Mason does he wants us to see. He is always telling me, "Mommy mere! (come here) Look!"

Zack is 3!

How did my little one go from this:

to being 3 years old?!?!

Little Zackie is my sunshine. He is definitely a Momma's Boy through and through. A few things that we just love about him and crack us up:

• He ALWAYS tells me I am pretty! He must not know any better, but he always says to me, "Mommy look so pretty" or "Ohhh pretty hair today Mommy!"
  
• He wants everyone to know that HE is the BIG BOY and Mason is the baby. This "Big Boy" pictured below is tuckered out!
  
• His favorite song is In the Ayer by Flo Rider. He can sing it word for word and we have to listen to it almost every night when he gets ready for bed so he can dance to it.
  
• He has conversations with Mason that the rest of us can't understand.
  
• He absolutely LOVES his brothers.



• Zack doesn't like it when we sing to him (I don't blame him!). A few weeks ago he sang his ABCs to me perfectly. I was a little in shock because he never lets me get passed A-B-C before stopping me. I asked Victor how he got Zack to let him sing to him and Victor told me Zack doesn't let him sing at all. Zack learned from a little Learning Frog thing that we have on the fridge!
  
• He loves to type his name over and over again on the computer.
  
• His absolute favorite things in the world right now are: The Wii, clone troopers, Gram & Poppa, football, Mickey Mouse, and his DS.


Zack & Mason celebrating a BSU touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl!

Zack playing Wii Resort. His favorite is the sword fighting and bike riding. He also loves his Mario Kart that Gram & Poppa gave him for his birthday.

• He has a memory like no other. He is soooooo shy and extremely selective with whom he chooses to associate with. However, if you are lucky enough to get close to Zack, you will be his bud forever.
  
• He has a contagious giggle.
  
• I love it when he tells me, "Zay is soooooo happy today Mommy!"

Zack wanted a clone trooper cake for his birthday. I was a little worried because I have never done a cake with fondant before. And I didn't have to! I think Victor was doubting my cake making skills and came into the kitchen when I was cutting out cake pieces and he entirely took over! It was just fine with me, this cake took some artistic ability that I most certainly don't have. Good job on the cake hun!

New Year

This year was one of the most fun New Year's Eve we have had in a while. Or at least that I can remember. Zack and Mason obviously have no clue what New Year's really is, they just knew we were having a little party and were very excited about it!

I decided to start a new tradition with the kids and have a fun fondue dinner on New Year's Eve. They loved it! Especially the cheese fondue.

The good part about Zack and Mason not really knowing exactly what we were celebrating is that we could celebrate it at any time in the evening with them! We rung in 2010 with the kids at 8 pm that night. They shot off streamers and toasted their sparkling cider (well Mason CHUGGED his cider and Victor told me I better not post any pictures of it for fear someone would get the wrong idea as to what exactly is going on ha ha) and had a great time.

Outside shooting off streamers. Can you tell Zack is a little cold? And the alien eyes in the background belong our beloved black lab, Bear.

We got the kids off to bed and Conner settled in for the sitter. We were able to convince Conner to agree to an early celebration with the deal that his cousin could come over when we left. Victor and I headed off to a friend's to play some games and enjoy some adult time. We definitely had a blast and experienced the best of both worlds, partying with kids and on our own!

All of the girls ready to welcome 2010!

May 2010 be your best year yet!

A Very Merry Christmas

Yet another year that Christmas has come and gone in what seemed like the blink of an eye. The boys were so much fun this year and so excited! Family on Christmas Eve 2009.

Victor's family came over Christmas Eve and got their Rock Band on while we were waiting for dinner. The prime rib turned out spectacular and I think we have found our new Christmas Eve dinner tradition. I found a Gingerbread Lazatone recipe from Martha Stewart for desert. Although it looked pretty it wasn't very good. I think I will do a red velvet cake next year.

Gingerbread Lazatone

My cute little Santa cleaned the entire kitchen after our big dinner and handwashed all of my china!

The boys opened their one Christmas Eve present and I have never seen anyone so excited to get new PJs as Zack was. He was so cute the moment he opened it he was trying to pull the PJ top on. He said, "Oh new jamas! I love them!"

They threw out their reindeer dust to make sure Santa came to our house first then Conner read The Night Before Christmas to his brothers. It was so fun. Zack was totally into it.

Throwing Reindeer dust.

Christmas morning was a blast! The reactions to some of the gifts made my whole year! Zack and Mason received a Cadillac Escalade. Zack kept going over and patting the hood of the car and saying. "Ohhhhhh that myyyyyyy car!!!!!" And Mason wouldn't get out of it. It was so funny he sat in the car and opened all of his gifts, we couldn't get him out of there.
Victor was pretty cute this year too. He always gets just as excited as the boys but I think he usually has some sort of clue as to what gifts I got him except this year. I got him a .22 gun and kept it hidden in the garage until we were all done opening presents (Christmas Story style!) then I went out and got it. Victor was totally surprised and his expression was priceless! I also got him a Garmin 405 watch. If you are a runner this thing is awesome! Victor has been really funny about it too. He talks nonstop about the cool stuff it does and despite some good snow storms and lots of slush he is still out running just because he wants to use his new watch. Funny boy.
I hope every one's Christmas was as Merry as ours!