He got BrAcEs!

Blue and White for BYU!

He DID NOT want me to take a picture, so this is the best I could get!

My trip to Utah

My mom turned 60 this year and my sisters through a surprise party for her....so what better surprise than me showing up......  I got there the morning of the party even though there was a huge snow storm!  We spent the day getting everything ready and when all the people started to show up I hid in my sisters bedroom.

My mom walked in and was so surprised by all the people that were there!  After a few minutes I called my sister, Katie on her phone to talk to my mom.  I told her how sad I was I couldn't be there and my mom was talking to me when I walked into the room!  I have never heard my mom scream so loud and we hugged and cried!  There was not a dry eye in the room, even the guys!

She was SO surprised and it was such great night!

 My whole family!

We celebrated the next day by all the girls going to lunch at La Jolla, and then shopping!

I had so much fun playing with all the nieces and nephews.....

We got more snow in Utah then we had in Alaska, it was so beautiful!

I also bought a ton of fruit, it tasted SO good, better than I have had in Alaska for a long time.  I ate alot of it while I was there and then flew the rest home with me in a fish box!

And last but not least, I got to go to two BYU games.  It was so fun and made me wish we lived closer so my boys could experience the fun!

My dad told me I had to have a "Cougar Tail" while I was there....it was so big, that even my mom, dad, and I couldn't finish it!

Thanks Jared for letting me go for 10 days, it was so much fun!

and the WINNER is......

Jared entered his Caribou in the state contest at Sportsman Warehouse, archery caribou contest.  He took it up and they displayed it all month...and he WON, 1st place and $300!  He was extatic! 

Target practice

Josh and Nate took advantage of the warmer temps and lack of snow and got outside to do some target practice....still a little too cold for me though!

Tubing

While Sid and Nancy were her, we took them tubing out to Hillberg, on base.  They have the best set up....a rope tow, pulls you up on your tub and then you sled down.  Now work climbing up the hill!  We had a lot of fun, and even managed to stay warm!

Can I just say "I LOVE you two!"

Jared's Birthday

Jared had a monumental birthday this year...he turned 40!  We celebrated with the family by going to Moose's Tooth for the best pizza in town, the movie "Parental Guidance" and then home to play cards. Of course, he chose German Chocolate for his birthday cake (the same every year!).  He had a great day!

Ringing in the New Year!

This New Years Eve was a first for our family in quite some time....we actually stayed up and didn't get to bed until 1:30!  We spent the evening at the Cocklin's (our family here in Alaska) with a lot of our military friends.  We ate Mexican food and played lots of fun games!  It was funny to see everyone's colors come out late at night!  We truly had an amazing time!

Jared's Surprise on video

SURPRISE

For three week now I have been planning this Birthday Surprise for Jared.  NOBODY knew about this!  I flew his parents up for his big "40!"  Jim and Kathie Cocklin picked them up at the airport and taxied them to our house.  They arrived and Jared was totally surprised, as you can tell by his face!  It was a struggle to pull this off, but well worth it!

SNOW much fun!

Josh and Spencer spent one afternoon out in the snow.  They had so much fun.  With the lack of snow this year and warmer temps., the snow isn't that great....but they didn't care.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas.  The boys were spoiled...as usual!  Jared actually did most of the shopping this year, because both boys wanted new fly rods and reels.  I splurged and got new stockings this year.   We had a relaxed morning, which didn't start until 9:30 (this is the plus of having older kids!)  After hanging out in our jammies all day, we showered and went to Les Miserables.  It was a great movie, but Josh described it as the "most boring 3 hours of his life!"  We feel very blessed!

Our good friend, Narda Townsend, made us homemade tamale's....the were delicious, and Jared was in Spanish Heaven!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was so fun this year, full of friends and activities!  When we live so far away from family, it is great to have friends to fill the void!  To start the day off we had some good friends over for brunch.  Yummy food, sledding for the kids, and lots of great conversation.

 After that, Jared took Joshua (Nathan wasn't feeling well) cross country skiing.  The only problem was Josh took 2 left handed gloves, so since he couldn't hold the poles, they skied pole-less!

We had some other families over for appetizers and fun!  We also did a White-elephant gift exchange, which was the hit of the party.  We had decided before hand, that for the men's gift, we would wrap something they really liked, hoping for good reactions.  We were literally laughing so hard when those were opened...Brian's ski hat, Jared and Todd's ties, and Marriner's hat collection.  Then men were shocked and somewhat disappointed that their wives would give away their prized possessions.  But no worries, we gave it all back at the end!

We ended the night with Christmas Jammies, from Grandma Swenson, as is tradition!

Our Piano Player