16 years.

My favorite time of year has come again.

The school board convention. 

I love it and I am going to be sad when either; we move or my dad retires. 

My dad received his 16 year plaque on Friday night. 

Crazy that's only one year younger than Sage.

That is a looong time to be volunteering for the school board. 

I'm glad he does it. 

He has made a lot of GOOD changes to Kane County Schools as well as, the 1A and 2A regions as a whole.

Way to go dad!

We love spending the weekend at the pool.

This was Siri's first time in the pool.

She loved it... as long as grandma was there. 

She wouldn't even sit up in the floaty. She just laid back, kicked her feet and talked and talked to Grandma. 

This guy thinks he can swim without his life jacket. 

He is almost there. 

Maybe I should enroll him in swim lessons, I'll put that on my to-do list...

This is not posed. 

I promise.

I was taking so many pictures of Siri and he wanted some as well.

I said; "flash me a smile."

This is what I got.

He's got so much character.

orange elephants

Grandma taught Chamberlain how to make an elephant out of an orange.

Now EVERY time he eats one he wants ME to open it like so.

I struggle somewhat with orange elephants.  Mine end up more like owl eyes, if I'm lucky.

After I have made one for him, he gladly tells me; "Grandma makes better ones mom!"

Here's to better orange elephants in the future.

I hate to brag...but

I have THE cutest little Ballerina.

No, I really do. 

See for yourself!

 Every girl has to have a tutu, especially when you go swimming.

 I love this one (above). Its my fave. I wonder if she can get her pinky a little higher.

Thanks Grandma Chamberlain for the swimming suit.

We love it. 

I love it so much that I am going to hang it on display in her room. 

Its too cute to go in a drawer. 

No, I really am.

should have worn ice skates

First family walk ice hike, of 2011. 

We walked I mean slid with Josh to campus to help pick up his books.

We should have worn our ice skates the sidewalks had about 2 or 3 inches of ice. 

Of course when we got to campus, the sidewalks were pristine and we could take off our ice skates.

Chamberlain was in heaven he LOVES, loves, Loves going to campus, especially the bookstore. 

It was packed with students, which taking a good look at them, they made me feel like I was old...like super old!

Chamberlain got to pick out a book.

We headed over to the kids section and he directed me to another area where the book he wanted was.

The book he picked out ...

The Book of Mormon

and he has been carring it around everywhere he goes.

We ate lunch at the Wilk and he reserved a table for us and read his scriptures, out loud might I add. He cant read, so he would say things like this; and the spirit of Jesus opened their hearts, and something about Santa and baby Jesus. 

At least he gets the gist of it...I think.

He even has to sleep with his Book of Mormon at night and then plays with it all day, takes it on his camp-outs and everything. 

On our walk home he requested that we visit the ducks.

I wish we would have brought bread or something for them to eat... maybe next time.

As you can see, they were hungry.

Siri stayed warm in the 14 degree weather in this awesome snow suit. 

I can't thank my sister Lesa enough for letting us borrow it for the winter.

Seriously, when she gave it to us I thought; "This will never get used."  We have used this several times and every time I think; "gosh, I love Lesa."

So thanks Les for making our winter more enjoyable. 

It took us a good chunk of the morning and into the afternoon to finish our walk.

It was well worth it since about 4 PM both Siri and Chamberlain fell fast asleep.

CTR-4

 Chamberlin was so excited to go to church last Sunday. He was excited to meet his new teachers. He was even more excited to bring home his new ring. Which he likes to hold more than he actually likes to wear. No more sunbeams for him!

Look at his name behind him, to your left.  At least they just forgot the "a" in his name where our last ward they kept calling him Chandler.  He would bring home papers and his name would be printed Chandler. At least its getting closer Chandler, Chamberlin...

It kind of blows me away because I still have my CTR ring from when I was his age. Which by the way is much more sturdier than the new ones. They were made so much stronger back then. Chamberlin wanted me to put it on and so we did.  Here is to a brand new CTR 4.

favorites from Christmas Eve

We were lucky to have Karly Ruby grace us with her presence.

That Santa, he is so good, he even left Karlys gifts under our Tree. 

We had Grandma and Grandpa Laycook, and their nephew Rocky over for dinner and a short program of singing Christmas Songs and reading Christmas stories.

The boys got to go see Santa one last time Christmas Eve day.

Hudson is such a cheesier for the Camera and he insisted on wearing his hood. 

Chamberlain, is so shy and bashful when it comes to things like this. He must get it from Josh.

 Getting ready to read a few Christmas Stories. I had to have a least one picture of Siri on here. She soon went to bed after this shot.

 One thing that I absolutely love about my mother is that every year we have a completely different tree. This year we had three trees decked out in red and white. So elegant. I love what she comes up with.  That for sure is a tradition that I want to keep up. Sorry Sandi I know you love the "all Red tree" and so does Josh but I just can't do that year after year.  Now you know why. 

 Seriously these boys have SO much energy.

Isn't she pretty. LOVE those earrings Karly.

 Opening our Christmas PJ's . Again, my mother does and awesome job in this department as well. 

All the little boys got Cowboy PJ's which they loved. The girls all got coordinating red and grey. I think that my dad picked out the adult boys since they all got BYU sweats and shirts. Even Karly, the Laycooks and Rocky matched us as well.

 ROcky, now the boys think he is super cool. He built a skate park in the basement of the barn at the Laycooks.  We all got to go see it. The best part for Shelbie and I was that Sage got to have a turn and of course ate it. We had a good laugh. She is so coordinated.

 Cute babies!

 Coordinating grays and reds.

s

Sugar cookie decorating. . . More like pile as much sprinkles as possible on to a cookie covered with frosting. 

 The cookie making team.

When Shelbie and I were little this is where we set the cookies milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. 

 Looking for Santa. We never saw Santa but we sure heard his sleigh bells. Which got them so excited they sprinted to their rooms and went straight to sleep.

This looks like a boy who is dreaming of Sugar plums dancing in his head. 

Happy New Year

Bring on 2011!

We hope it brings a lot of SpArK!