We Had Snow . . .

  It was so exciting to get the little skiff of snow we had. I found myself waking up multiple times that night checking to see if it was snowing yet. I felt like a little kid. And then finally getting woke up to the alerts that school was cancelled was AWESOME!! The kids had fun playing with their cousins and pulling each other around in the sled. There wasn't much to even play in but it didn't matter to them.
  Last month we were invited to go to Eagle Crest with my brother and his girlfriend. It was so much fun. The house was amazing that we stayed in and it had a hot tub and bunk beds for the kids. So fun to go and do nothing.
  We also got to go for a quick day trip to the coast last month. We lucked out on the weather and had the best time ever. The kids enjoy playing at the beach so much and are so good at riding quads. We took Andi for her first trip to the sand and she actually acted like a puppy for the first time ever. She ran around and jumped and rolled around. It was so fun to watch.
  Austyn has been such a little trooper with her braces. She's been in two more times where they continue to slowly add more contraptions in her mouth. She never complains and she brushes them exactly like they say. She's always been so easy to adapt to new things. She just finished being in a play. This year it was The Little Mermaid. She got the part of a sea pony. It is such a cute play they put on every year and she loves it. She also will be starting to practice a little group dance for her schools talent show coming up in April. And baseball is right around the corner.
  Quade continues to love school and he is very very excited to be the Bat Boy for Austyn's team again this year. We all had a wonderful time celebrating his Birthday at the Great Wolf Lodge this year. I can't believe he is 5 years old. It went by so fast.
  Jordan is about two weeks away from his stair climb in Seattle. As usual he has been so dedicated to training and dieting for this event. It also helps that he is doing the Fitness Challenge at the same time. He was able to get in on a pretty big fire the other day. His picture was on the front page of the newspaper, above and below the fold. He was very excited. And he has been working like crazy on finishing our update to the stairs in the garage. It looks so nice. The cool part is, is that we had all the materials we needed to do 90% of the project.
  I have continued to do really well in the Fitness Challenge. I actually am surprising myself with my results this time. I'm super excited for baseball. I will probably be coaching again. Also I'm ready for spring!!!!!!!!
  Hope everyone is well and Thank You for continuing to keep up with our little family.

 Our snow adventure

 Bike ride at Eagle Crest

 Coast Trip!!!

 My little Sea Pony

 Birthday Fun at the Great Wolf Lodge

 We got to visit our friends and they were lambing.

So we got to play with the lambs.

Quade helping Papa with their bathroom remodel.

Quade is 5 ....

  It was a very long and painful year waiting for this 5th Birthday to roll around. Quade is so looking forward to Kindergarten and loosing teeth and he knows those things happen when you're 5. This year Quade still wanted a Birthday trip instead of a party. We had been wanting to go back to the Great Wolf Lodge with Jordan this time so we decided to make that into his Birthday trip. It was so much fun. And as an added bonus they over booked our room and upgraded us to a themed suite and it was amazing. It was such a great surprise for the kids. They had the door and hotel room all decorated for Quade's Birthday and a cake was delivered before we got there. It was so much fun to just relax and wonder in and out and each time eating some cake right out of the box. As always I wanted one more day up there (I'm wondering if there will ever be a vacation that I don't want one more day at). Quade had an amazing time. He was tall enough this time to ride the big slides. But his favorite part was the wave pool. My parents were suppose to go with us, but some unexpected things came up and they weren't able to make it. So when we got home they had a family Birthday party for him and it was so perfect. Quade is one LOVED (spoiled in my book) little boy.

  Quade has become a master builder at LEGOS and most everything else. He will sit and put together an entire box all by himself. It is so impressive to watch. He still loves to work with Jordan, or whoever will have enough patients to let him "help". He is a huge collector of rocks and most anything else. He loves his treasures! My parents gave him a small safe for his Birthday to keep all this prized possessions in and it was by far the best gift he had ever gotten. He is still one of the funniest little boys I've ever known. His sense of humor is so beyond his years. As I looked through the pictures from the last year I realized how lucky of a boy he is to have all the fun toys and trips he gets to have. Reminds me of my childhood. My parents just bought the kids a small side by side and he is already a pro at driving it. I love his determination and his attention span. He is so bright and always interested in learning new things. Reminds me so much of Jordan. My hopes and dreams for Quade is to be just like his Daddy. Quade and I have our battles, but there is nothing like the bond between a mother and her son. He holds a special place in my heart and I hope one day he will appreciate the happiness he has given me. We love you little buddy. Keep being you!!

Although he can ride his motorcycle like a mad man. He

prefers the safety that four wheels provide.

His happy place. This little dude could spend all day

on the sand playing.

Professional Mutton Buster right there!!!! It 

was a quick season. He decided to retire from the

rodeo scene while still keeping all his teeth.

Camping

Also camping. He's holding something slimy

I just can't remember what it is.

How adorable and precious is this. First Day

of Preschool.

He loves his "Man Dates". Jordan and ChaCha

are so good about taking him out hunting. And

sharing man secretes. 

First blood. 

My little Danish Dancer

Arg Matey

Speed skater

When we were getting my parents Christmas

tree he found a stump and cut through the 

entire thing with a hand saw. 

FYI- This is what it looks like when he isn't

tired. He claims he wasn't sleeping. Just 

closing his eyes. Jordan was working in the

garage and I came home to find him like this. 

Birthday at the Great Wolf Lodge

Amazing Shark cake my Mom made Quade

Quade was very specific about what he wanted for his Birthday and who was going to get which present for him. He assigned Jordan and I to the bathroom bag. He wanted a camouflage bathroom bag with a razor, shaving cream, lotion, electric toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, and deodorant. So one exactly like Jordans that he takes to work and camping. He was blown away when he opened it. He has been shaving almost every day. 

  That's it folks. We made it another year. I hope this year is amazing for this little man.

Another Year Down . . .

  Holy smokes I can't believe it is 2018!!! We have just been chugging along as usual. I can say without a doubt we are all really enjoying our time with Jordan. Even though it has already been about two months since he took his test, it is still so refreshing to have him back. He has been knee deep in random projects that got put on the back burner while he was busy doing his promotional stuff. He just built a built-in dog house under the stairs in the garage for Andi. It turned out amazing. He says he's not good with wood working, but I will have to beg to differ. He also got our generator wired in and ready to go if the power is out in the house. We bought one big enough to run most of the important things in the house if we need to. With the wood stove, propane cook top, and the generator we will be ready for anything (hopefully).
  We had a great low key and relaxing Christmas. As usual the kids (and us) got completely spoiled. I had a check list about a mile long to do with the kids that month and we managed to get it all done. We did our traditional Christmas light scavenger hunt with hot coco, saw Santa, went to a really cool Christmas light display in Cottage Grove, Christmas cookies for Santa, Christmas books all month long, getting to open a few presents before Christmas, teaching and showing the kids about giving/donating, among many other things I can't remember right now. Then we brought in the New Year the best way I could possibly imagine, with family!!!!! My parents, brother and his girlfriend, and us all got together for dinner and laughs and just hung out. It made my heart so happy that the most important people in my life all got together on a really cool night just to be together.
  Austyn finished up her basketball season and enjoyed her first year. She improved so much it blew my mind. She is looking forward to softball next. We had our first parent teacher conferences in the beginning of December and she is doing amazing. She is a very quick learner and her teacher said her retention level is extremely good for her age. She loves to read and also her kindness continues to shine through in everything she does. She is such an amazing girl. And another big event for her is her new BRACES. She has a pretty extreme cross bite and is having that corrected for the next 8 months. She was and still is so excited to have braces.
  Quade did great in his basketball too. But as usual he was able to practice with Austyn and learned more practicing with her than at his actual team practices. He is going to be a super star when he gets older. Im still being amazed daily at his behavior in school. He apparently is the star student in his class. The one that the teacher points out as an example of how to act to other kids. Can you believe that? Quade of all kids?? Hey, I'll take it. I'd rather him be a crazy kid for me and act like that for everyone else. He is so into LEGOs and anything that requires thought and being built. He is such an amazing kid.
  Jordan has begun training for the Seattle Stairclimb that is in March. And along with that is participating in the Firefighter Fitness Challenge again. He is enjoying his "spare" time and filling it with projects. So really there is NEVER any "spare" time. He did hear that possibly in December of this year he will be up for promotion. I know that seems like a long time off, but his promotional list expires in two years. So as long as he promotes before two years, he doesn't care. And of course it could be sooner. People may randomly retire at anytime (cross our fingers for sooner).
  I am also participating in the fitness challenge. I'm on a team with 4 super cool gals. I've already lost 10 pounds and I'm on week two. I'm very shocked with how fast I lost those 10 pounds. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up a slower, but steady weight loss as the challenge continues. I was really glad I was able to co coach Austyn's basketball team this last season. And look forward to helping on her softball team this spring.

Our perfect little family 

We took the kids ice skating (another one of my

check list items for the month)

Christmas tree hunting. 

Now, how are we going to rearrange the furniture

to fit this tree in here?

Let the decorating begin! It was Quades turn this year to put the star

on. 

My Mom took us to see the Nutcracker. It was

 fantastic. Austyn absolutely loved it.

Austyn loved getting all fancy for the play

4 Generations!!!

The whole Nutcracker gang

Jordan had been saying for months that when

he was done with his testing he was going to 

shave his head. I kept telling him "NO". And reminding

him how retarded he looked last time he did it. But he

convinced poor little Quade to do it too. Ugh, they look

terrible.

I left to go pick Austyn up from school while Jordan was working

on the dog house and I came back to find Quade like this. Napping 

in the garage with music playing in the headphones, laying in front of the heater

Here is my beautiful girl before her braces

During... I couldn't pass up this opportunity

And after. 

And of course the best for last. My sweet LITTLE puppy. She is just now 6 months old and probably somewhere around 110 pounds. Still sweet as can be and has the misconception that she is still a tiny 

puppy. If she had it her way, she would be a full time lap dog. She is up to 7-9 cups of food a day now. Jordan was amazing and revamped our underground fence right after his test was done. But something is fouled up with the base unit. It still works fine, it just has a constant beep. So I haven't gotten her trained on it yet. We have been leaving her out every time we leave for about 3 weeks now and she hasn't wondered anywhere. She doesn't exactly have the get up and go, to go too far. I'm starting her in a class this weekend basically for the socialization part. Her size is so deceiving to me. I feel like she is a full grown dog, but I have to remember she is still just a puppy. My one issue with this dog is that she poops on the gravel under our back patio. If ya got any stellar ideas, send them my way! 

  I sure hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and New Years!!!! I know we did. And as usual my New Years Resolutions are the same as always:

1. Be the best wife, mom, and person I can be

2. Focus on being healthy for myself and my family

3. Continue to know how blessed I am in every aspect of my life

HAPPY 2018!!!!!!