{Hike}

I hope everyone had a nice holiday on Monday! We were excited that Cody was only working until 3 so we made plans for a hike. Cody found a trail that is more challenging and longer than the Waterfall trail, he has taken the boys on his own a few times. I was excited to tag along, as long as Cody does the hard job of carrying Kade on his back!

We had a great time, went up two miles and had a picnic dinner on the top. Then on our way back we saw three deer, so fun! The boys were sad we didn't see any coyotes, they had big plans to throw rocks at them to show them who's boss :o).

{Wii}

Santa brought the boys a Wii for Christmas, and they love to play Wii Sports! It's so funny to watch them get into it, they have so much fun.




Ethan cracks me up when he bowl, he jumps and twists his body all funky. It works though, he always wins!
Ethan also started basketball a couple of weeks ago. He just barely made the cut-off since he turns 5 at the end of the season, and he was beyond thrilled to begin city sports! His first game was last Saturday and we loved cheering him on! Watching little 5 and 6 year olds play basketball is so cute and very entertaining!!

Here are some other random pictures...... Kade with Grandma Flake's bunny Coconut:

Kade squishing Ethan:

On Monday morning Rhett, Ethan, and Kade were very excited to be invited to a Valentine's Day party at Grandma's house. When I told Rhett about the party the night before he told me in his serious voice "I think tomorrow might be the best day of my life. If it is, I'll let you know." Well it was, they had so much fun! They made valentines, jigglers, decorated cupcakes, played games, and even dressed up and made a hip hop video (picture below). West side!





They are very lucky to have their sweet aunts so close by....they spoil them for sure! :o)

{Utah}

Ethan and Ashton

Danny & Bella

We were so excited to see all The Ashton's....we hadn't seen some of Cody's family since Thanksgiving in 07! All the kids had grown so big, we couldn't believe it. Danny and Lesli let us stay at their beautiful home, and our boys had so much fun with Ashton and Lucy. The best part for them was their new puppy, Bella!

We were going to get a family picture taken, but unfortunately Boyd's family was sick so they didn't make it up until after Kael and Monica's family went back home. We did get a picture or two of most of the grandkids, there are a lot!!

The adults had fun going out to dinner and playing games at night. It was sad to leave everyone behind, we had a great time.

{Gingerbread Houses}

One of the boy's favorite traditions is making Gingerbread Houses at Grandma Flake's house!

{Snow}

We drove up to Logan the day after Christmas. We left at 3am, hoping that the kids would sleep the first 4 or so hours in the car. At 5am, Cody tells me he has to stop at a gas station to use the restroom. I begged him to wait, told him it would wake the kids, but the man has the bladder of an infant so we stopped and the children woke up at 5am!!

It was a LONG trip, through snowy and icy roads, so when we pulled into Grandma's driveway at 5pm we were happy to finally be there!! The boys wanted to play in the snow right then and there, but it was so cold and the snow was not sticking together so they were happy with the promises of playing the next day.

That night I ran to a few stores with Lesli to go buy snow boots and pants, we are from AZ you know :o). The next day their Dad's took them out and they built snow forts, tunnels, and snowmen. It's doesn't get any funner than that!

{The Nutcracker}

I've been looking forward for Melissa and Sam's visit for so long!! I love it when all of my sisters are together, we have so much fun! On Christmas Eve, Brittany's birthday, we went to the Nutcracker. Fun, fun!

Happy 18th Birthday Brittany!!

Some things I love about Brittany: *she has the prettiest, thick hair *she's an amazing dancer, and hasn't even been dancing that long *she has always been the most compassionate of the sisters *she can't say no to my boys, even when I tell her to! *she is really good about putting cute outfits together *she has a very strong testimony, and reads her scriptures every night no matter how late it is *knock on clog *she is good at make-up and hair, I love it when she curls my hair *she makes really good brownies and cookies *she is a really good babysitter *she loves to read *she loves David Archuleta and got to be close to him at the AI concert

Love you Brittany!

{WE WERE ON A BREAK!!}

Can you name that show? :o)

It's been a long time since I posted so I am staying up late tonight to get some posts done! We had a great December, full of family, traditions, great food, snow, and lots of fun! I hope you all had a great Christmas season as well.

To start things out we had our annual Eddington/Flake White Elephant party. We had a Mexican Fiesta and then the gift opening began. I think the best gifts were the edible bikini top and the complete bowling set belonging to Juanita. It was complete with shoes, certificates, personal letters, a ball, etc! Honorable mention is Dad's do-rag, a book on Menopause for Mark, and the GIANT stuffed bunny Rhett got. Of course he loves it but as soon as our garbage can has enough room that baby is gone.

This year was especially fun because Rachel, Damon, Zoey, and Liam were in town from Colorado as well as Melissa and Sam from Utah.