Our Christmas

We had an awesome Christmas Day with the boys and ended up being snowed in! We had planned to drive to Pocatello after breakfast, but with the roads closed, we stayed home and just hung out and enjoyed each other. We were bummed not to be with extended family, but it was a great day!
Cooper on Christmas morning- I loved this moment! The joy on his face makes all of the preparation worth it. He just played and played all day long. His balloons were probably his favorite of everything!

Keaton and Taron going through thier stockings and stuff. This was before they opened their helmets and ran out to the garage to see the real present!

On the new go cart... woo hoo! They both braved the snow and wind to give it a whirl outside. They had a blast and no doubt there are lots more good times to come on this thing.

All four boys outside. I bundled him up and Stephen took Cooper for a spin too- he loved it! We were so glad the boys had fun and were grateful for their gifts. An awesome Christmas Day!

Pre-Christmas Cuteness

I intended to get these few cute pics posted before Christmas, but got otherwise caught up, so here they are after the fact!
Cooper on Christmas Sunday, in his new outfit from Grammie! (And reading his new Bird book, of course.)

In one of his favorite hiding places- between our tree and the wall. For some reason he likes throwing things into the tree, especially bows, balls and balloons. :)

Wearing Taron's hat and trying to hide in our closet. He puts hats on and then laughs out loud at himself. Funny boy.

Christmas Family Pics

On Sunday we went to a different sacrament meeting, so we had more time in the morning and decided to take a few pictures. Good thing we stood in front of the tree, eh? You can't even see it! I love this picture of the three boys- it's so rare that Cooper holds still long enough for me to get one of them all together, and they all look great at that! My Mom and Dad dropped off thier Christmas gifts for the boys and they were both so excited to finally have presents under the tree. Needless to say, I need to get some wrapping done! Thanks Mom and Dad, and thanks Taron and Keaton for a great weekend!

The Santa Claus Dilemma

So, truth be told, I rather struggle with the whole Santa Claus part of Christmas. I'm finding it really hard to describe Santa to Cooper. Not like he's asking about it or anything of course, but I see him getting so excited about Christmas things this year- the lights, music, bells, etc. All the while I'm thinking to myself that I don't want to have to feed him the lines about Santa. But I also realize, what would Christmas be for a child without the jolly guy? I don't want to be the crochety Mom that doesn't allow my kid to believe. I can see how Santa is a big part of the magic of Christmas for kids and, these days, we essentially revolve around them. At any rate, luckily I don't have to explain the Santa concept to Cooper yet this year, and I think that when I do, I'll reach for those good ole' classic Christmas movies to paint the picture for me... :)

Snow Goose Success

Saturday evening, when it was almost too dark to be flying, Cooper and I went along with Stephen to try and fly his birds on a duck pond not too far from our house. We parked just out of sight of the pond and I didn't see the flight as it happened, but he was sure a happy hunter when he came back and whipped a snow goose out of his falconry bag! This is the first goose he's ever killed/ hunted! I guess it took his peregrine two tries to get it down, and it showed! There was a huge gash across it's stomach and it's head area. Flights like this are what make him love it, as you can tell from the picture! Then again, I think he'd love it even without the successful flights... :)

Wonderful Thanksgiving and Weekend

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with Stephen's parents and extended family in Pocatello. Janie is a great hostess and we had a really nice time seeing our Grandparents. There were actually five generations in the room that day, with Grandma Fay there to join us! (I kick myself that I didn't get a picture.) Later that evening, we traveled to Moore so that Cooper and I could be with my family for the rest of the weekend while Stephen went steelhead fishing with his brothers. He had a good trip and we had a great weekend at home. Josh, Lundyn and Quincy were there also and it was so fun to have the babies together! They played so well- it was their best time together yet. I took picture after picture! Thanks to both sides of our family for a great holiday. We are so grateful for all of you!

Quincy and Cooper love playing outside! They always wanted to go see the horses, but were scared once we got there.

Stoic bathing buddies... They are both gonna love this picture when they grow up :)

Grandpa lifted them both up to touch the ceiling and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. This trip was great to get Cooper really warmed up to Grammie and Grandpa.