Stud muffin Silas

I am sad writing this because it means Silas and Leah have left and we don't know when we will see them again. Over 3 days we saw them and what a blast we had. Silas and Leah have this wonderful ability to make everything fun and the children and I couldn't get enough.

When Silas arrived he came full of goodies from the siblings and mum and dad. Isaac is stuffing his face with the goodies and instantly adores Uncle Si. The crazy man.

Yeah baby!!! Just some of the goodies.

Pity there weren't 2 Aunty Leahs and 2 Uncle Silas's. The children just stuck to them like magnets. I had forgotten what it was like to hang out with extended family. My children obviously miss all the attention that comes from having family around and I have under estimated the importance of all the extra love family provides. You forget quickly.

Isaac was saying...."cheese". Very smooth with the ladies.

Silas was only 12 when I got married. Living away from Brisbane now for 9 years, I feel like I haven't spent much time with my little bro. As time was getting close for Unlce Silas to come I told the children lots of mischievous stories Silas did as a little boy. Probably not a good idea. Hyrum listened to all these stories and re-told them to Uncle Silas very amused and impressed!!

Our newest addition to our family is Aunty Leah. But it is like she has been part of the family forever.

Just can't get enough cuddles from Uncle Si.

When we were in Salt Lake at the visitor's centre on the Easter weekend all the children were asked to pick there favorite picture of Jesus and we took a photo with them and Uncle Si and Aunty Leah.

Mmmmmmmmm. Aunty Leah just happened to have aussie easter egg's for us to enjoy from her handbag.

We love the Joseph Smith building.

Dave, Hyrum, Savannah and I got to go to our first general conference session. Aunty Margaret and Uncle Karl were in Salt Lake and were able to babysit Beth and Isaac and it was an experience we will never forget. I asked Hyrum who his favorite speaker was and he said Elder Bednar. For 2 reasons, because he came to Perth and because he is the youngest apostle.

We got to stay in Salt Lake over night with Aunty Margaret and Uncle Karl Saturday night and had lots of fun with them as well. (That is another blog though!!) So we got to see them Easter morning and get spoilt with more yummy treats. Above are the easter bunny

chocolates and we miss our aussie choc eggs!!!

Saying our goodbyes which I just hate!!!!! Big group hug.

BYU Basketball

I pick the photos that will help our family laugh and remember the little details in years to come. Well, the Disney Barbies were what helped Beth & Madeleine get through the "boring" basketball and entertain themselves whilst everyone else got to enjoy the game.

We have BYU allsport passes and enjoyed pizza and basketball with the Harts. Dave always comes home from school telling me something funny about TIm Hart.

Esther and Katie Hart.

One freezing night's walk back to the car which was parked only about a block away from our actual apartment. We actually ended up getting seats where a whole bunch of MBA friends were sitting. That is what is so good about BYU. Friends everywhere.

Trip to Logan

Logan tabernacle.

Logan temple.

On the way to Logan, Dave spotted this sign. (We did think of leaving Hyrum in the cold for teasing his younger sister.....)

Walking around the temple. Love the natural photo's. They tell so much!! Savannah always fusses over Isaac. Fixing his shoe lace.

Capturing a father son moment.

One winter Sunday, 5 out of the 6 of us had the flu. So instead of going to church we thought we would take the 2 hour drive to Logan temple and check it out. We listened to a John Bytheway CD and really had a fun and spiritual day. We had some great discussions as a family from the talk. We also had some yummy Cadbury chocolate that we shared (or possibly fought over!!) It is always a special event when we bring that out. The scenery was beautiful because the mountains and landscape had fresh snow. I love our family trips.

Beth's snow family

After receiving about 4 inches of snow one day, Beth wanted to make some SNOW WOMEN. Since Beth wanted a feminine touch, we had Alex's wig whipped out from the cupboard, got some potatoe head pieces, scarves, food dye, (we had ran out of carrots for noses) and tried to be creative.

Lot's of neighbours walked past as we "attempted" to roll the snowball bodies up. They all shook their heads and mentioned that it wasn't good 'snow powder' for making snowmen. Humpf! Never realised there was particular type of snow for this art, but it was true. The balls kept crumbling and I was thinking....whose idea was it to make a snow family! One snow woman would have been more than enough. So if you had looked at them close enough, you would have seen deformed snowballs. Snow kept crumbling off and Beth was starting to lose interest.

For Beth, the best part was the food dye and decorating the faces. Pity it got on her snow pants! (I was kicking myself for that idea!)

Our very interesting snow family. The one on the very left is supposed to be a snow woman, but it has a classy mustache???

Isaac not wanting a bar of this snowman making. I had to keep finding him and bringing him back up the hill.

One time I found him nearly to the road. That is right, he is the little dot heading straight to it!

Mischief.

This is the squashed snow woman. Isaac had the most satisfaction when it came time to destroy them. After all my snow women effort, Beth informed me she had more fun making snow angels. (Little stinker) I was just trying to have a bonding moment with my kids! We had to wait for the snow to melt to find some of the lost potatoe pieces.

Sledding, skiing & snowboarding

~On top of the world~

This week Dave had 3 days off school and so on Friday morning of that week, Katie Hart & I went up to Sundance ski resort to have a bit of girl time. Dave kind of pushed for me to do it because this week he is off to North Carolina for a case competition. I don't think we will ever live 15 minutes from a ski resort again so we made the most of it! (Never say never, but I am pretty sure.) It was a great day, the sun was shining, there was fresh powder and no waiting in lines for the ski lift. Brilliant. I snow boarded and Katie was my professional ski buddy. She put me to shame. As a child, she would spend every weekend in the winter skiing with her family. On the chair lifts up she had some great stories to share! Scenery was incredible. Being without children for a moment, was even more sensational. (I do love my children, but it is always great to have a break!)

Perfect day to be snowboarding. Katie was hard core, helemet and all.

I look like a dork, which makes this a great photo. I kept trying to stand with my snowboard, but I would slide down the hill each time. (Doesn't look slanted, but it is!!) If you made a wrong turn, you just fall off the cliff behind me.

Savannah and Hyrum's Christmas present was a half day at Sundance skiing. The photo below we are on the shuttle bus, ready and eager to ski.

It wasn't perfect weather, snowing and damp but we had a blast. Savannah was a natural and once Hyrum got used to falling all the time, he became fearless and became a real pro!

Yeeeeehaaaa!

Falling with style!

Love this photo. You can't see clearly here, but he was just dripping with snow and dampness from all the falls he had taken.

Sundance ski resort.

Sledding with the Billings.

This was a minute up the road from sundance. We found a fun spot to sled over the Christmas break and the children had a blast. Later on that day we all went to the dollar theatre together as well. Some of the Wymount gang.