April Fools!

I am not really much of an April Fools person. This year Tyler was really into April Fools. He hid play spiders by his sisters toothbrushes and kept trying to think of other things to do. I decided I had to do something. The kids were not expecting any thing, because I had never really done an April Fools joke to them.

I came up with the idea of "ice cream sundaes". They were made with mashed potatoes, gravy, and I topped them off with real whipped cream. They looked so real. Brittany got home first. She started eating hers, made a funny face, and then kept eating. She paused and said, "I've never had whipped cream on top of mashed potatoes before." After she realized it was an April Fools joke she said that at first she thought I had made the ice cream and forgot the sugar, but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to make me feel bad. Tyler came in next. He was so excited. He took one bite and was so shocked that he spit it out! He was almost in tears because he thought it was so yucky. I felt so bad, but I still took Emilys with me to the school. I was picking her up for dance. She saw the sundae and said thanks with excitement. Emily put the spoon in and could tell something was different. She said, "what is in this", still thinking it was ice cream. I said April fools and she laughed so hard. I still felt bad that Tyler was so excited to have ice cream sundaes after school that I stopped by the store and bought stuff to make real ice cream sundaes. By the time I got home Tyler thought it was funny and said, "that's ok, you don't need to give us real ice cream." I did anyway and they all loved it!

Tyler, after spitting it out, trying to figure out what is in the sundae glass!

Brittany's Surgery

Brittany has always had huge tonsils. They were sometimes making it hard for her to breath at night and we decided to have them removed last week. She has been a good sport, but it has been a tough painful week!

all ready for surgery

Bobcat

Tyler earned his bobcat at Pack Meeting tonight. He really enjoyed painting my face after he got his painted by the Cub Master!

Tyler's baptism day

Brittany, Ashlee, Amber, Emily

Tyler

Tyler and his cousin Jarom got baptized on the same day. Jarom got baptized in the morning in Ogden and then Tyler was baptized in the afternoon in Highland.

Mike's birthday

Yesterday was Michaels birthday. He took Tyler, James, and Jarom (who were visiting) to a train show at Thanksgiving Point. They met Papa Jones, Uncle Brian and Matt, and Uncle Corey and Jack. The boys, big and small, loved all the cool train displays!

James, Jarom, Tyler

Matt, Jack, Tyler

Tyler's first pack meeting

Tonight was the blue and gold banquet, Tyler's first pack meeting. He was so excited to make his cake. Emily helped him bake and shape the cake last night and then after school today, I helped him decorate it.Tyler, shaping the rice crispy treat pinewood derby cars.

Frosting the cars

The finished cake and the boy ready to go to the blue and gold banquet!

Happy Birthday, Tyler

Tyler turned 8 today and had a fun birthday party. We played "Minute to Win it"! Tyler is looking forward to being baptized. I realized when I put him in bed tonight that he didn't know he had to wait until February to be baptized. He thought he was going to get baptized right after he turned 8. He was a little disappointed when he learned that he has to wait for 2 1/2 weeks!

Family Home Evening with Grandma Nancy and Papa

Papa and Grandma Nancy came over for Family Home Evening tonight. We always love it when they come to our home. We had a lesson and then played "Minute to Win it" games. We are planning to play the games at Tyler's birthday party later this week and wanted to try them out.

Brittany, trying to keep both balloons in the air. This was a lot harder than it looks.

Grandma Nancy picking up keys with a paper clip.

Papa, bouncing ping pong balls into buckets.

Venturing Biathalon

Yesterday was our venturing biathalon. Emily, cousin Katie and I went. We went cross country skiing and shot guns. The girls did great. I didn't even hit a target at all.

Emily and Katie pretending to be bears in a snow cave.

Sabrina Brunsdale Forbes and I getting ready to start the course.

Christmas 2010

Christmas morning

Enjoying our stockings

Tyler gave daddy a soccer play board

A lot of new boots for Christmas for the girls! Tyler got legos. I found boots for about $10 on line at Kmart.com and they were so cute! From bottom middle going clock wise: Mom, Brittany, Emily (3), Amber, Ashlee

We got a double shot from Grandma Nancy and Papa!

Our most exciting gift was the VIP Universal Studios Orlando Ticket that we each got from Santa. We are going to go in April for spring break. The VIP tickets will allow us to go into the express line for the rides and shows, instead of having to wait in the regular line. This means we will pretty much be able to walk onto all the rides!

Jones Family Annual Christmas Sleepover

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is the Jones' family sleepover. Near December 23rd, we all go over the Nanny and Papa Jones home right after dinner. We gather to visit, have a talent show, the children put on a nativity play, play games, and we all spend the night. The following morning we have a nice breakfast together and the kids exchange gifts.

Hailey, Chloe, Tyler, Jayne, and Avery

We are always excited to see what creative costume Emily and Katie come up with every year! This year it was Kangaroos! They are so funny and creative!

Michael reading to Chloe. He loves the little ones!

Russell family Christmas gathering

Last night Cameron and Connie hosted a family Christmas party. Danica's family and our family came early and the boys had a ton of fun playing in their newly finished indoor basketball court and then we all went and played in the snow. Travis' family and Bailee's families were able to come for dinner. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner of taco soup, chicken noodle soup, and salad.
We missed all those who live out of town and Papa and Grandma Nancy who were out of town on a fun two week long cruise.

Jarom (Danica's), Ryan (Cameron's), Porter (Danica's), Tyler, and Andrew (Cameron's)

Jordan Price (Ashlee's boyfriend), Ashlee, Emily, Rebecca (Cameron's daughter), Brittany, Tyler, and Mike taking a break from sledding after Brittany got a badly bruised hip.

Jordan and Ashlee starting a snowball fight.

Tyler loading up for the snowball fight.

Porter (Danica's son) with his adorable snowman

Ashlee, Canyon (Bailee's and Zach's son), Zach, Jordan, Brittany, Bailee, and Amber playing a game of cards. I love these fun bonding times with extended family!

Some of Amber's and Ashlee's college adventures

Amber and Ashlee are blessed to have such great roommates. Amber's roommates are Emily Anderson (Mike's cousin), Jeacey Robinson, Katelyn Empey, Irene Howe, and starting tomorrow, her best friend since she was 3, Lauren Hughes. (Her former roommate Kat just got married.) Ashlee's roommates are named below. Ashlee will have three new roommates this week. Jessica, Aubrey and Emma are on the Fall Spring track.

Amber and Jeacey on Halloween
(Greek Goddess and Kathrine Hepburn)

Amber went to Temple Square with her ward. I am including this picture because I thought it was cute and it looks like she's singing Christmas songs on the drive to Temple Square. One of her friends called it her paparazzi picture.

Amber and friends enjoying the lights at Temple Square

At the beginning of Christmas break, Amber's former ballet teacher, Amy, planned a ballet reunion class for all the girls who had been on Senior Company. Amber was so excited and had so much fun.

Ashlee is with neighbors and roommates, having a sleepover. They moved their mattresses to the family room

Katie Michelson and Ashlee are standing in front of our Idaho Falls home.

Ashlee with her cute roommates
(Emma Parker, Ashlee, Jessica Ashby, Moriah Opper, Kayla Skinner, Aubrey Hiatt)

Ice cream for dinner?

Last night Mike came home from work with 5 different kinds of ice cream and chocolate syrup, put it all on the table with large bowls and spoons, and called everyone to dinner. Tyler was just excited, but Emily and Brittany kept asking if he was about to give them bad news. They were excited when they realized there was no bad news, just ice cream for dinner! (Mike had called me earlier and convinced me to let him do this. They had a motivational speaker at work who asked them to do something out of the ordinary to make a fun memory for their kids. He suggested serving ice cream for dinner and being the ice cream lover that Mike is, he did just that.)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I

Amber and Emily both went to the midnight showing last night with friends and had a lot of fun. We always go see Harry Potter on opening day, but this time we are going to see it tomorrow so Ashlee can come with us. She is coming home tonight from BYU Idaho. She and Amber both have the whole week of Thanksgiving off! BYU doesn't get it off, but the Elementary Ed program at BYU gave them the whole week. We are excited to have our girls with us for a week!

Siera, Emily, Sidney, Ali, and Heather posing with Hagrid

Emily flirting with Harry!

Amber and Katie Nilson

Soccer and basketball

Soccer ended last month for Tyler and Brittany. I didn't take any soccer pictures this year. They both had excellent soccer seasons and were both blessed to have their daddy as their coach. Brittany played AAA this year and they did so well. Tyler is still enjoying the recreation league. Brittany has been invited to be a guest for another AAA soccer team that is going to St George for a tournament Thanksgiving weekend. She is so excited to get to play soccer until the end of November this year! Because she loves soccer and because she loves St George.

Just as soccer ended, basketball started. Tyler was very excited to play basketball for the first time this year. Most of the kids on the team had never played before. They started their season with two losses and then had the greatest team improvement I've ever seen and won the rest, most of them blowouts! He loved it, but was sad that it only lasted for four weeks. They played a total of 8 games.

I love this picture of Tyler watching the video that Michael took of him doing a layup.

Happy Halloween!

Amber dressed up as a Greek Goddess on Friday at school. She is doing some student teaching at Jordan Ridge. She is so excited that she was assigned to that school because her Nanny Jones taught there before she retired and because her cousins, Hailey and Emma go there. She was so excited to see her cousins at the school and see their cute costumes and they were excited to see her. Saturday, she got really sick and her sweet roommate Jeacey brought her home so that she could be more comfortable. Saturday night while Mike was out trick or treating with the kids, Amber and I watched "Letters to Juliet" and answered the door for all the cute trick or treaters. we had a fun evening!

Emily, as Cruella De Vil, heading off to school!

Brittany, Tiger Lilly and Tyler, Mexican

The kids are ready to go trick or treating. Emily decided to be a candy kiss for trick or treating.