Make a wish!!

Cameron turned 6 last week. Wow...6. Where has the time gone I say!! Cameron is something else. There's never a dull moment with him. He's a boy filled with so much energy and zest for the fun things in life. Turning six is I think a time when things change a lot in a child's life. More is expected out of them, they're learning so much at school and getting a taste as to how the world works, trying new activities, being able to read; just one of the early turning points in a child's life. Cameron seems to like school and once his teacher called us just to say that she really enjoyed having Cameron in her class. He had his first soccer game last Saturday and just dominated out on the field, scoring 4 goals. I've never seen Cameron work so hard in a game before. I guess you could say he had "the eye of the tiger." I could tell that he was exhausted, but knew he was pushing himself to work hard. Something has clicked out on the field...his competitive nature; actually, he's always been competitive, it was just amplified. :) Well, I obviously can't say enough good things about the boy. He's a joy to have in our home. We love him so much.

We were able to spend his birthday again in Ruidoso at a Condo. The first day we hung out with Abe & Cody and went sledding. The snow was abundant and the weather pleasant. The next day we took the boys and tried their legs at Snowboarding. Poor Cameron threw up twice coming up the mountain. Then again driving home from the ski resort (Connie knows how car sick Cameron can get). :) We decided to sign them up for lessons. Jesse spent the morning snowboarding elsewhere on the mountain, but I stayed with the girls in the car and we watched the boys biff it over and over. They were exhausted by the end of the day. They did really well for it being their first time and all. Jesse was done snowboarding a little bit before closing time and so I put on his snowboard and jacket and went down the bunny slop a few times. (Don't tell anyone). :) I was reminded that I'm definitely a skier and not a snowboarder, but I'm bound and determined to keep trying.

The rest of the trip was spent swimming, playing and going to the movies. We had a swell time and Cameron at one time ran through the door and yelled, "THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!" Always makes a parent happy to hear that.

Mud fight!

Yeeesss, mud fight both inside and outside our house almost everyday. I haven't seen this much snow or rain in Cruces in a long time. Normally I like all this weather because in New Mexico it doesn't last very long. But lately it's been rather wet and since we don't have grass yet I just dread when I see rain in the forecast. Thank goodness we do have tile or else we wouldn't have a dog! Bandit brings a trail of mud from his doggie door and the kids slip on their boots to play in the little pond we have in front of our house. The other day I walked out and was nearly hammered with a mud ball.

Bella making her own little mess and enjoying every minute of it.

Here's Jesse and Greg clearing out some heavy rock from the rock wall. Look at that strength! :)

Mr. Cool

I've been needing to update the boys pics and so we took off to the hills the other day. Bryce is all about looking "cool." Here's just a few snapshots. I wanted to do more in different locations, but Bella wasn't cooperating. I'll need to go without the girls next time so that I can get more creative shots. I just love my boys.

For memories sake...

I know it's been a whole month since Christmas, but I was having internet problems that wouldn't allow me to post at the time so now I'm going to quickly post about Christmas happenings for memories sake! Let's see....Christmas was great because this year my whole family including myself were all healthy!! It's seems like every year since I've been married I've either had some serious sore throat or flu which puts a damper on my mood and eagerness to bake or do all of the other things that put you into the Christmas spirit. I'd like to attribute my healthiness to focusing hard about not stressing on having everything perfect (thus, that is why you didn't receive a Christmas card from us this year or a gift for that matter! ha ha) and also anytime I got that tickle in my throat I would sip on hot water with honey or pure maple syrup with lemon juice several times a day along with a zinc losenge. The zinc pretty much ruined my taste buds, but I'd rather not be sick plus, it helped me not eat so much of the "goodies." :)

Here's just a sampling of some of the fun stuff we did...
Our little Gingerbread Family; you can guess who's who.

ummm, pickles and Gingerbread. Notice the moving boxes in the background. Sometimes you just have to keep on with the traditions regardless of what's happening in your life...like moving.

These are just some pictures I took of the girls. Claire insisted on wearing her favorite pj's because she wanted to be like Wendy in Peter Pan. She's such a cutie.

Kids playing with counsin Drew at Grandma's house.

I love these things. The kids needed some padding since our house is all tile except for the bedrooms. They get pretty creative with them.

There were some other service projects we did this year which sprouted from talks we were asked to give at church from the talk given by President Thomas S. Monson (he's the prophet of our church). I just so happen to have come across the video link of his talk so I thought I'd share it with you. The words which has stayed with me the most are when he talks about being "in the thick of thin things." I hope to keep that in my mind during this life.

Here's the link to his talk...

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?