A Great Day!

We have discovered a new fun, family outing. We went to Soldier Hollow to go tubing on the longest sledding hill in Utah. They have a tow rope up the hill and then you can link your tubes together and barrel down the hill. It was sooo much fun! (Cooper did get a bonk on his head as Chris and Allie plowed into him, but that didn't slow him down any.) We are already planning to go next year.

Here is a funny of the trip. I had packed all of the snow gear in the back of the van. I was very thorough and did not forget anything. As we were getting dressed in the parking lot by the lodge, Maggie asked if I had brought her coat. She had worn her coat to school and had gone in the house to go potty right before we left. She had it on and I was supposed to remember it. Whoops! Maggie wore Chris's coat and he wore a sweatshirt. It was actually quite warm, so he was fine in that.

After our 4-6 pm session of tubing, we were all a bit hungry, so we headed into Heber and stopped at Tommy's Texas BBQ. It was a fun ending to a fun day. All three of the kids had bbq sauce all over their faces and there was also an adult at our table that had bbq sauce all over his face as well. (I won't mention who it was, but it wasn't me.) These are the types of outings that make a family!

(I forgot my camera, so took this picture from their website and Chris took the top picture with his phone.)

March Madness FHE

For FHE this week, we filled out our NCAA brackets. We also did this last year (also with our nephew Jared that was living with us at the time). Maggie won last year and she was very excited in filling them out again this year. Allie and Cooper were quite excited to fill theirs out also. Maggie went with some extreme choices, while Allie stayed with the conservative choices. Cooper, Chris and I went with some dangerous choices, but not as out there as Maggie. We'll see how we do!

Primary Annual Talent Show

This year Cooper made a robot for his talent. Maggie played "In Dreams" from Lord of the Rings on the piano. Allie sang "Good Morning" from Singing in the Rain with Aunt Lucy playing the accompaniment. They all did well and it was an enjoyable morning. (I still don't like my camera. I think I will take it back.)

Hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa and "The Cake"

Today after school, Maggie and I had the following conversation:

Maggie: "Can we go to Grandma and Grandpa Hislop's house to hang out?"
Me: "Let's call Dad and see if we have anything going on."
Maggie: "I bet there is a ball game on for Dad and Grandpa to watch" (When is there not a ball game on to watch?!)
Maggie: "Can I make a cake for them?"
Me: "Sure."

Later, I heard Maggie and Cooper happily making a cake together for Grandma and Grandpa. (I love happy children sounds working together!)

After the cake was finished, I heard Maggie say, "Whoops!" She had tried to get it out of the bundt pan, but it didn't cooperate with her. Maggie also proclaimed, "well, it tastes great though."

Happy Valentine's Day

Cooper's class (I can't figure out how to turn the picture.)

Maggie with a sucker stick in her mouth.

Allie is back row on right wearing a Lovebug hat.

We gave the kids new shirts for Valentine's Day today. They all look quite cute in them. I also helped in all of their classes today. It was a fun day.

Yee Haw!!

We went to the stake square dance tonight. The girls really wanted to go, but the boys were very reluctant. I told Chris that it would be a fun family activity. We all really enjoyed ourselves "swinging our partners" and "do-si-do-ing." Cooper pouted for the first hour, but then ended up having fun break dancing during the line dances. The Virginia Reel was a lot of fun too.

Ice Skating with Dad

Maggie and Kaydree

Today, Maggie had a fieldtrip to the Ice Sheet to go ice skating. Maggie asked Dad to take her and they had a great time. (Chris sent me these pictures he took on his phone.)

Cooper-Mania

Jeff and Lucy brought back a mask for Cooper from Mexico of some wrestling guy. Cooper even sleeps with it on his bed post.

Jude's 1st Birthday

Jeff and Lucy went on a cruise and we were able to have their 3 boys for 4 days with us. As it happened, we were also able to celebrate Jude's 1st birthday with him. They were such good boys. It was fun having them. Maggie, Cooper and Allie were all such GREAT helpers.

Sprained Ankles HURT!

My foot and ankle--this is looking pretty good.

I was coming down into a dark family room on Monday, January 3rd, and didn't see a toy an the landing. Well, my foot got it just right and I turned my foot both ways. I thought I broke it or tore ligaments with how much pain I was in. Allie was up 2 floors and couldn't hear me, so I crawled across the floor to the phone and called Chris crying. He came right home and took me to the doctor. The diagnosis--just sprained. Whew! I couldn't even put any weight on it for the first couple days. My family are soooo good to me. I have big ankles anyway or cankles, but now this one is a tree trunk! It is soo ugly!! Another funny part of the whole fiasco is, as I was coming down the stairs, I had a few M & M's in my hand and they went flying all over the family room. Allie found them all and ate them for me.

Birthday Pictures

I have ususally been pretty good about getting the kids' pictures taken around their birthdays. This year, Maggie's 10th birthday picture was taken a few months late. I promised her I would get them taken before the end of the year. I fulfilled my promise. December 31, 2010 the above picture was taken. Cooper's was taken only a few weeks late; on January 1, 2011 he had his 7 year old picture taken.

Reflections--Again

Cooper and Maggie made it to the second round of Reflections. Cooper received 1st place for his photograph and Maggie received participant for a play she wrote. She was a little disappointed, but was happy for Cooper. Allie was happy for both of them--whew! (Her pictures didn't go on to this level, so I was happy that she didn't get upset.)

Fun with the Meikles on Christmas Break

Allie the Alien

Drew, Allie, and Wakely on the moon. ( I can't get the picture turned.)

Kim, Wakely, Drew, Henry, Maggie, Cooper, Allie and I all ventured out on a snowy day to Salt Lake on the FrontRunner. I had great intentions of taking all sorts of pictures, but alas, I did not. We went to the Clarke Planetarium and watched a movie and learned all about the planets. The kids all played, we had lunch and headed back home. It was a fun day.

Christmas 2010

San Antonio, Texas Dec. 14-16

Cooper's Real Birthday

Morning birthday party of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and o.j., opening presents of Heelys, Kung Zhu hamster, desk and chair, sword/gun combo-- all making his morning enjoyable. He then gave a talk on Christ in Primary and ended the day at Aunt Jill and Uncle Kurt's house for a turkey dinner with a triple layer chocolate cake for him. We love our Coop!!!

Our Christmas Tree 2010

This year, our entryway Christmas tree was over 2 stories tall. Our entryway is a 2 story vault and it bent over when it touched the ceiling. We got it up in Park City again (thanks Brad and Jen.) We had fun finding our tree. It took us (me) about 3 days to finish our 3 trees. They sure were beautiful and everyone that saw it, thought it was quite the tree. I loved it--I think the rest of the family did too.

Birthday Sleepover Party

Cooper decided he wanted a cousin sleepover for a party this year, so he had Miles and Tyson stay over. We had pizza, watched Santa Clause I, II, and III. We went bowling today, had pizza yet again, and made a shark cake.

Cooper's 7th Birthday Party

Cooper enjoying his crab at Red Lobster...he also had some lobster.

A boy cousin sleepover, shark cake, bowling and pizza at Fat Cats, presents, dinner at Red Lobster with his family and grandparents all added up to Cooper's Birthday Extravaganza...and it still isn't his real birthday!