Winter Break

Between my having surgery and the weather being COLD, we haven't gotten out of the house much over the last couple of weeks. Building a new track and playing with trains has become a daily ritual. It seems Gavin has a different favorite train each day. Today Henry (Engine #3) gets top billing. Make way, Thomas!


The air in Cache Valley can get pretty yucky in the wintertime. When the weather gets stagnant and the cold sets in, "red air days" are not uncommon. In the week before Christmas our local paper reported both that Logan had the worst air quality in the nation, and that Logan is the 4th most secure small town in the nation. So, we take the bad with the good. Today we are finally getting a break from the bitter cold and getting some snow. The air will be clearer, the temperatures will be tolerable, and the snowman manufacturing will commence shortly.

Meet Tyler

Tyler is the newest addition to our herd. We took him in as a foster kitty a few days before Christmas and we like him so much that we're going to adopt him.

Merry Christmas!

Santa was so good to Gavin this year that he couldn't help but do a little dance in celebration...

He unwrapped trains, tracks, books, DVDs, clothes (boring!), candy (candy!), a TV tray, new life jacket, snow goggles, a potty seat, and lots and lots of smiles from his mommy and daddy.

On Christmas Eve we went to the Wolfe family Christmas party where we got to see lots of aunts and uncles and cousins and most importantly, Brandon's Grandma Wolfe (we hadn't seen her in a loooong time). Gavin and Grandpa shared lots of giggles and kisses.

The Roses

Gavin has the most wonderful babysitters - Marie and David Rose. Can you believe they actually give these kids glue and paint and frosting and glitter?! I love all of the homemade things Gavin brings home each week. For Christmas we got lots of fun little crafts, plus a CD with dozens of pictures of Gavin on it. Here are a few of my favorites...

Gavin and Josie

Nan stopped by the other day with her niece Josie. Josie is so sweet with Gavin. She has twin older brothers, an older sister, and a little brother who is ~4 months younger than Gavin so she's an expert at sharing. They hung out in Gavin's "fort" and they played games on my iPod and they played "stand on the table and toss toys into the basket". The highlight of Josie's visit, though, was the marching band performance...

Hyrum's Holiday at Hardware

Yesterday from 11 to 2 Hyrum residents could go up to Hardware Ranch and get a free sleigh ride through the elk, free hot chocolate and cookies, AND a visit with Santa! Afterward we tried to go sledding but there wasn't enough snow. I'll bet there's plenty up there today, though! I think it snowed a foot in our yard between yesterday afternoon and this morning.

This is my first creation with some free software called Smilebox. Thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm not impressed that the "e" was cut off the end of the stylishly paper-clipped title. Other than that it's kinda neat...

Make a Smilebox collage

The pen is mightier than the crayon

Once he finished the crossword puzzle Gavin decided it was high time he start drafting his letter to Santa.

Body Art

Kinda makes you wonder... Just what exactly do they mean when they say, "non-toxic"?

Thanksliving 2009

Friends and family from UT, CO, and AZ converged at Pete's house over the weekend in celebration of Thanksliving ("It's not a holiday, it's a lifestyle"). Emily won the cribbage tournament. Brandon and Tony successfully defended their title in the horseshoe tournament, and we found out that having a Sequence tournament the same weekend as a cribbage tournament and a horseshoe tournament was a bit too much to attempt. Oh, and as the sole participant, I, Julie, won the Turkey Trot 5K. OK, technically Brody won since she got to the finish line before I did and since she probably ran the equivalent of a 5K while I only managed to go ~4K. Pete was a gracious host, as always, and the weather in Apple Valley was crisply divine. So much revelry, so much friendliness, and so much thankfulness. Except when the Bears lost to the Vikes. Dangit.