Arrow of Light

Parker received his Arrow of Light award on Tuesday January 26th.  His leader Beau Gordon said some really great things about Parker. He talked about how Parker has had a "stellar" scouting career so far.  He talked about the many awards Parker received by placing first in the Pinewood Derby's and Raingutter Regatta's.  He also talked about how Parker was a leader among the other boys.  He said he was impressed when Parker taught the boys knife safety at scouts one night.

The boys in the Webelos den helped lay down the words to make the scout bridge.  The bridge is symbolic of crossing from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.  Parker walked across first and then we followed.

I made Parker his own arrow and presented it to him that night.  

Parker giving me my Arrow of Light mother's pin.

We were happy that some of the family was able to come for his big night.  We took a family picture with everyone and the Scout bridge.  We are so proud of Parker and how hard he has worked in the Cub Scout program.  We are excited to see all the great things he will accomplish as a Boy Scout!

Cabin day with friends

We spent a Saturday at the cabin with our good friends the Eggertz family.  Kevin and Cam have been friends since they were teenagers.  It is always fun when our families get together.  

Halle had fun running around with Ella.  They are both close to the same age.

All the kids had fun hanging out with their son Josh.  Mckenna was showing him how the player piano works.

They brought up two snowmobiles of their own.  Kev had fun cruising around with Cam.  It was nice having six machines to play with.

There are huge mounds of snow in the parking lot from the snow plow.  Addy and Hayden had fun playing in them.

I enjoyed pulling Cindy and some of the kids around the field on the big tube.

Josh giving Hayden a high five.

Ella riding with Addy on the back of the sleigh.

Hayden kept busy building a snow cave.  He played in there most of the afternoon and was as happy as can be.

Halle and Mckenna were entertained jumping off the corral posts into the huge snow banks.  Halle looked like she was flying through the air like a bird.

Parker's EPIC party!

We had a friends birthday party for Parker on Saturday January 9th.  We drove up to the cabin for the day.  The boys kept us entertained in the car with singing at the top of their lungs, 99 bottles of milk on the wall.  Kev and I just smiled at each other and pretended we loved their singing.

The boys had a lot of fun tubing, sledding, and snowmobiling all day.

We came in and had Parker's favorite food of  pizza and pop.  The boys ate until they were stuffed and tried all different combinations of pop.

Parker opening some presents.  This is the first time we have thrown a party for one of our kids at the cabin.  We were glad Kev's parents took our kids so we could focus on just Parker and his friends.

I am glad Parker has such good friends. Ty's face in this picture is cracking me up.

We took the boys tubing at the end of the day.  They were so tired that when they fell out of the tube they could barely crawl back in.  It really made us laugh!

Parker blowing out the candles on his birthday donut.  On the way home we put in a DVD for them to watch so it was a lot quieter.  I told Kev it was the longest party we have ever had.  It had been about ten hours when we dropped them off at home.  It was all worth it to see how happy Parker was.

Bedroom makeover

We were given these two chairs about 14 years ago when we got married.  I never loved the peach color but we were grateful for them.  They have taken a beating since then and are now threadbare.  The inside foam was even coming out.  Recently, the chair legs would give way and you would be launched out.  It was more than time to get some new chairs.

Before Christmas we received a generous check from my Grandpa.  He told us it was also from Grandma too.  It was some of the inheritance that she had. It helped us be able to buy our new chairs.  We looked all over and found these chairs at Ashley furniture.  We liked that they were a neutral color and would go with what we already had in our room.

I love having the new chairs!  They make me happy every time I look at them.  They will also remind me of my grandparents.

New years day

We spent New Years Day with family.  Heather and her family were here visiting from Washington.  It was so good to see them.  None of us could get enough of our cute niece Bailey!

We saw the Peanuts movie and went to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe.  We also exchanged some more gifts.  Mckenna loved her pearl necklace from her Aunt Heather.

It was the first time the cousins had all been together since July so we decided to get some pictures of them.

The cute girl cousins on the Foster side.  It is too bad that Addy wasn't in the picture.

Addy loves her new Disney book from cousin Austin.  She was so happy that Dad was reading it to her.

I took some pictures of Kev with his parents and siblings.  It is a big deal when everyone is all together.

I enjoyed all the time I spent holding this sweet niece of mine.  I can't believe she is already nine months old.  We had a fun time hanging out with all the family.  The year 2016 is off to a great start!

Winter Fun at the Cabin

We drove up to the cabin to spend a few days after Christmas.  The drive up was beautiful.  There was steam rising up off Deer Creek.  We even saw some deer.

We were all happy to get out and enjoy the snow!  Addy wanted an icicle off the cabin just like the other kids.

They had a lot of fun on the tubing hill this year.  Mckenna and Tucker wiped out at one point.  They both flew out of his sled.  Mckenna didn't even realize that she had a bloody nose and a scraped chin.

Addy went down the hill by herself for the first time.

Mckenna had fun sledding with her siblings and cousins.

Parker and Tucker had a great time cruising around on the snowmobiles together.

We also had fun just hanging out in the cabin together.  We watched movies, played games, and even sang Bohemian Rhapsody one night

Aunt Deanne decorated the cabin for Christmas.  I enjoyed seeing the small tree and lights while we were there.

We drove across the road to the to the other side of the ranch.  I liked this view of the cabin and barn.

There was lots of powder to be played in.  Spence wanted me to take some snowmobiling pics of him.  This was my favorite one.

Hayden also came snowmobiling with us.  At one point all three of us fell off the machine.  Hayden was laughing his head off.  He loved falling off into the snow!

Halle and Addy had so much fun with cousin Aubrey.  They had fun playing with their dolls and getting their hair done in braids.

I spent hours pulling the kids around in the big tube.  This was a common scene.  Hayden fell off the tube and Cole running to get back on.

Spence took some pics of our family.  It is crazy that we need three snowmobiles to fit our whole family now.