Party #2

The Sweet Sixteen party continued with a giant joint birthday party for Kori and her friends Alysha, Sierra and Kassidy who all turned 16 the same weekend.  Sierra and Kassidy's parents invited the kids up to their cabin at Bear Lake.  The parents all drove and provided food.  It was Kori's favorite birthday party ever!

Coming out of the canyon.

This is the cabin.

This is the group!

The twins.

These are the 4 birthday girls. (from left: Sierra, Alysha, Kori, Kassidy)
As Kori would say, she has the best taste in men, as shown by this picture.

Charlie's Anglels

Birthday Girls.

Then Kori got a picture with every single person at the party.  Here are just a few:

Sweet Sixteen!

Happy Sweet Sixteen Kori!!

We had so wanted to surprise Kori on her birthday, and since she and 3 other friends planned a huge joint b-day party on the weekend, it worked out perfectly to surprise her on her big day.  She wasn't expecting a party that day, and she didn't suspect a thing.  We enlisted the help of her friends, and surprised her after school:

It was a cold day, so the kids bundled up in the back of the "Luau Mobile" and I drove them to our house:

We had prepared a full on Luau party complete with decor, this is what our front window looked like:

Lots of food:

Kori was truly surprised and it made her day to be able to celebrate with her best friends.  Later, the Luau continued when we took her out to dinner at Rumbi Island Grill, and then back home for presents!!

She got a few Hawaii related gifts including a Hawaii book, and a Love Your Ocean pillow:

She was way surprised that her Dad found her this new ukelele:

And not much of a surprise, but a long awaited gift of a cell phone:

We finished up the night with some cake and a Hawaiian movie "North Shore!"

While we can't believe you are 16, we are so proud of the young woman you have become.  You are so very talented, smart, funny, thoughtful, and kind.  We are proud of the good choices you have made so far, and we feel so lucky to have you!  Happy Sweet Sixteen!!!  We love you, Kori!

Cabin Weekend

We have spent President's Day weekend with these friends for the past few years.  Scott and Sandra Anderson have a cabin at Island Park, and we go with some other couples, Marty and Kathi Blair, Curtis and Susan Wall, and Kent and Kathy Roper.  We always have a great time eating, playing games, eating some more, cross country skiing, hot tubbing, eating again, doing puzzles, watching movies and just hanging out.  Did I mention how much we eat?!?  It's always a great time!  Thanks Scott and Sandra, I hope we can keep this tradition going!!
Here are the women ready to ski:

Kent and Kathy are the Energizer bunny kind of skiers.  She only fell because she was holding still:

The boys made a snow cave right outside the cabin.  As soon as they made it, a squatter mouse moved in.  I really didn't want to see that mouse, but it charged me just as we were leaving!  Ick!!

A couple more ski pics, it sure is gorgeous up there!  We always talk about going in the summer time, but we haven't done that yet!

And a toast to the traveling teddy bear award winners for 2011, Kent and Kathy!

Happy Valentine's Day To My Sweetie!

In honor of my Valentine, here are some things that Wes ALWAYS does:

When he goes to the store, he ALWAYS asks if I need anything too.

When it's laundry day, he ALWAYS says "thanks for doing the laundry."

When we go for walks, he ALWAYS takes my hand.

When he leaves in the morning, he ALWAYS kisses me goodbye, even if it's really early and I'm still asleep.

When I'm stressed or sad, he ALWAYS holds my hand and tells me it's going to be okay.

When something goes wrong with one of the cars, he ALWAYS takes care of it.

When there's a special occasion, he ALWAYS remembers, (and he gives the greatest gifts.)

Gee, there's no wonder I ALWAYS love this guy so much!!!  Happy Valentine's Day!

The Frozen Four

A couple of weeks ago, Kori got invited to participate in the POLAR PLUNGE with some friends; Kathryn, Karlee, and Hannah.  It was a fundraiser for Special Olympics.  Yeah, you actually PAID MONEY to jump in a frozen lake!  These are the crazy things you do when you're a teenager!  It was held out at Hyrum Dam, and they had cut a large chunk of ice out of the lake, large like swimming pool sized!  The participants had to walk out on the ice to the farthest point from the shore, jump in, and swim to shore!  Our girls had painted their faces and wore crazy outfits.  Kori wore her tutu.  When she was coming up out of the water, she felt something around her ankles and she was worried she'd lost her shorts.  But when she got out she quickly realized that it was her tutu, which is now on the bottom of the lake!  Oh well.  She could not even describe how cold the water was!  But the girls had a great time.  They got T-shirts and there were a lot of other people out there plunging and spectating.  Afterward, they all came over to our house to warm up in the hot tub and drink mexican hot chocolate.  It was a fun day, so fun that Kori is already planning next year's Polar Plunge!  INSANE!!
Here are Kathryn, Karlee, Kori and Hannah before the plunge:

Walking out on to the ice:

And after, BRRRRRR!!!:

Until next year...

The Lego Lair

I used to love Legos as a kid.  I remember my mom had ours in a big bag that she'd put out on the living room floor and when we were done, the pieces would all go back in the bag and get put away.  My boys have loved Legos.  Always.  Still.  And I've done the same thing.  The living room becomes the Lego room.  That way I can avoid lost Legos throughout the house and vacuuming up little pieces everywhere.  Somehow though our Lego collection has grown much larger than what I had as a kid, and getting out Legos and putting them away is a much bigger deal!  Sometimes I wish I had a separate Lego room lined with Lego grids where Clint could build and build and never have to put anything away!  He wishes that too, he's even designed the whole room in his mind exactly how we would build it.  But until that miracle happens, this is what my Lego living room looks like!!