Lots of time playing in the snow this week. Skiing, building a slide of snow, sledding, making a snowman, drinking hot chocolate etc... We had two really big snowstorms this week, so it brought a lot of snow.
Lizzie and her cute friends had fun playing in it. 

Meanwhile Danny was in Hawaii for a work trip. He was recruiting at BYU Hawaii! Lucky guy!

Taylor and Ryan had Danny take pictures of them off this cliff at Alta on the Catherine's run. They had a lot of fun, I was happy I wasn't there to see it. 

We all skied on Martin Luther King Day, it was a beautiful day and so much fun! Lizzie got taken out by another skier, and luckily she was ok. But it really scared me!

G & G Shields had their cousin sleepover from Christmas with the teens last weekend. They went to the temple, went out for dinner, saw Great Grandma Shields, and then they went Ax throwing. Super fun weekend! 

2020

We have been skiing a few days while the snow is awesome! The snow is great and the kids are all doing terrific on their skis. We love skiing at Alta and everyone has great time! It's fun to be outside all together while we ski. 

On Sunday 1/12/2020 Isaac was given the priesthood. He is 11 and he was ordained a deacon by his older brother Taylor. It was a wonderful, terrific day and we are so happy for him! He is all grown up and excited to be in Young Men's now. We LOVE Isaac and are so proud of him!
We took Salty to a doggy swimming place this weekend to get him to like the water. He really needs to be able to swim because we go boating a lot and he is a water dog!  He had fun with the other dogs but he had to wear a life jacket. 

New shoes for Taylor and a big snow storm in SLC. The kids played in the snow with Salty and he LOVES the snow!
January is cruising by and going so quick. 

Christmas 2019 in Santa Barbara, CA!We

We decided to have Christmas in CA again this year. Unlike last year it wasn't a surprise this time. So Sunday 12/22 we loaded up in the car and drive to CA after church. We stayed at the Pacifica Suites, our fav place in Goleta CA. We spent the whole week at Refugio Beach, we went to the beach every single day! 

We would sleep in, have a big breakfast the hotel, and then pack up for a big day at the beach. We had hours and hours at the beach boogie boarding, surfing, swimming, playing in the sand etc.. Everyone was so happy and loves spending the day at the beach.
On monday we saw Derek, Manisha & Richard. We went to dinner down town at Brophy's for a big fish dinner. The food was so delicious and it was super fun to see them all. It was really nice of them to drive north to see us. 

We had fun swimming and sitting in the hot tub every single day  it was so relaxing and fun for all of us. 

The sunshine felt so good in our faces and I love being out side all day long! The beach at Refugio is the best.  It's a great beach and so pretty with grass etc.. 

On Christmas day we woke up at 9:30 am it felt so good to sleep in! The kids opened their stockings and they got a few small things and money from G & G Wall. We went to the beach, came home and sat in the hot tub, then we headed downtown for a nice dinner at Moby Dick's. We had ice cream later and then headed back to the hotel. It was a different Christmas day but it was great!  Fun, relaxing and great for us. 

Christmas 2019 at the beach was a success! The beach is definitely our happy place as a family! 

The kids all stayed warm in the ocean in their great wet suits. They wore these all day long.  I only got in my wet suit one day, because the water is too cold! But it was fun once I got in the water. 

Saturday we went Whale Watching. The boar was super fun and the day was beautiful. Unfortunately Lizzie and I got sick on the ocean and we were really sick the whole day! The trip was awful for us, and we were so ready to get off the boat! Other than that it was a fabulous day! We saw couple of whales and over 2000 Dolphins! It was incredible!  

Golden hour photos are the BEST!!!

Big breakfasts are a wonderful part of this trip. This food comes with the hotel and we love it! Taylor got bags of oranges to sell for his humanitarian trip to raise money.  We got lots of surfing pics of the kids in the ocean. 

We spent the last night at the beach all the way until the sun went totally down. we stayed until it was pitch dark and Danny and Taylor would not get out of the ocean from surfing. Emily did a full photo shoot and loved the golden hour and the cool night. 

After our trip we had a fun day at Airborne with cousins. We reorganized the whole basement and had a calm New Year's eve at home. Welcome 2020!!

December stuff

We're getting ready for Christmas! Things are feeling festive and fun! Lizzie went the live nativity with her friends and saw the live camel etc... 

We had Danny's work party at our house and it was tons of fun! Danny work an ugly sweater to make it fun.  The kids had their cousin sleepover at G & G shields house and Salty likes going for walks in the cold weather. We also had our ward Christmas party it was a festive Breakfast about the Grinch theme! So much fun! 

We had Katie and Adam over for dinner one night. Taylor got the new car, and Mitsubishi, Montero from CA. It's a really nice car and its going to be great third car for our family. We spent a night at a friend's cabin for a fun time in the snow. it was so pretty up there! 

Our family had a night of service at the Utah Food Bank. We packed boxes of bread etc.. for a couple of hours. There's so much to do there, and it was great to go as a family and serve. We went to dinner and did a little shopping after. 

Emily had her Show Choir concert at the school. She sang awesome and it was a terrific concert! We had a friend breakfast and decorated gingerbread houses with the kids. 

Taylor had his Christmas Dance with his friend Savannah. They had a cool date planned and it turned out great! His group was tons of fun! 

In the middle of all the Christmas craziness Taylor decided to do his Eagle Scout project! He organized a coat drive for needy kids at East High! He had great success and got tons of coats turned in. He gathered with the help of the other YM, and his siblings over 100 really nice coats! I am so proud of him and all the hard work he did! When we delivered the coats to the school he had his picture taken with the Principal. He was super nice! 

Isaac had his holiday band concert. He plays the trumpet and does awesome! His concert was so fun! I love hearing all their festive songs. Emily had a fun christmas gift exchanged with her friends Azure and Laney. They are the cutest girls! 

We had the "Surprise Christmas Dinner" at G & G Shields house. We had a delicious dinner, gift exchange, the nativity with a real baby as Jesus, treats and tons of fun! The kids love this party and we all had a blast! It was great to have Great Grandma Shields here too. What a fun party! 

Salty Boy LOVES the snow! He goes crazy out in the snow and has SO much fun! 

November 2019

Here are some pics from November; Taylor's MTB team pictures, the kids adore Salty dog and we welcomed our new cousin Milo, He is so adorable! 

Here are the kids school pictures, They are all so grown up! Danny and the kids went fishing at Jordanelle one Saturday and they had a blast! Lots of fun with Salty on the boat. 

Taylor sold his Ford Explorer and bought a new car. Lizzie had a big dance concert at the Salt Palace. She did great! She loves dancing at CDT! I had fun November lunch date with friends for our bdays! Taylor had a CT scan for a lump in his throat, but it was all ok, gratefully. 

Thanksgiving Day we had with the Shields family.
We had a terrific day and lots of delicious, wonderful food! 

We had a fun day at Classic Skating with everyone. All the kids love plating there! 

We had a great Early Thanksgiving at Katie and Adam's house. the food was great and it was lots of fun! We are so happy to have them living in Utah.

We had big snow storm over Thanksgiving weekend too! The kids love playing in the snow! 

We celebrated my 42nd birthday at Chile Tepin, with a delicious dinner! Really like that restaurant. The kids were cute and got me a new hydro flask for my really cold water, and Danny got me air pods! They are so nice, I didn't even know how to use them. We had a fun night together.  We also saw Frozen 2 and it was great! 

November was a great month!