Snow - Day 2 - No School

My kids decided that they wanted to make a snow house, fort, igloo or something like that. So they were trying to form a pile of snow into a house. Then Dad came up with a great idea...let's use Mom's bread pans!
They decided that was a much easier way to build - with snow bricks.



They did have to rebuild a few times, because Benjamin thought it was just as much fun to kick the wall down as it was to build it (must be a boy thing?)

Unfortunately it started raining before they finished it, but they had fun while it lasted.

A Tribute to President Hinckley

I received this video link in an email from the BYU Alumni center today. It is really nicely done, and reminds us of the President Hinckley we all knew and loved - his sense of humor, his smile, his great spirit, etc.

"This seven-minute video presentation celebrates President Hinckley’s decades of involvement with BYU. It was created for the groundbreaking ceremonies of the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center on June 23, 2006, the prophet’s 96th birthday."

http://mynews.byu.edu/more/HB_video_16x9_high.mov

Fun In the Snow

When it stopped snowing, the kids finished their snowmen with faces and then clothing.


Benjamin and Haylie had fun in the snow. Benjamin tasted snow and loved it.Then he tried to roll balls for snowmen.
Leilani convinced Benjamin that it would be a lot of fun to throw his ball like a snowball...
So they splattered Aunt Kim.
Then Leilani got her dad. She liked to throw the snowballs, but didn't want anyone to get her.
Emilyanne got rained on by snow when Alan knocked it out of the tree.
Later on we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for another snowball fight before dinner. Benjamin tried to join in. He was so funny. He took such a long time to make a snowball in his hand, and then it would stick to his mitten and drop right in front of him when he threw it.
Leilani splattered Elisabeth, so she quit and went inside.
Kim and Dad had quite the competition going on between them.

Emily kept switching teams. She nailed Grandpa, but then wanted to be on his team so he wouldn't hit her.
Leilani was the distraction. Kim waited until Dad threw at Leilani and then nailed Dad. Leilani would nail Kim while she was throwing at Dad.
Then they played some snowbaseball.



It was a fun day!

Still Snowing

It was still snowing when Alan got home from church.

The girls were trying to catch snowflakes with their tongues.
Then of course we made snow angels



After Alan changed his clothes, he helped the kids build snowmen. Probably not a great Sunday activity, but probably a once in a childhood event for us, so we let them have fun.





The girls hope that it never stops snowing. They are already planning on no school tomorrow!


Benjamin has been asleep all this time (he got up really early this morning), so he will have to experience the snow later.

We're In the Midst of a Storm!

When Alan's alarm went off for church today, I told him the light outside had a funny glow - it was either really foggy or snowy. He looked and sure enough there was snow outside. Then it started to really snow. We kept waiting to see if church would be canceled (we are snow wimps here), but no phone call came. I'm not sure the people in meetings at the church realized that the weather had changed outside. Finally at 8:30 we heard word that they really didn't want to cancel it because it was a missionary farewell today (the bishop's son), so they would have sacrament and Aaron's talk for anyone who made it to church. Then they would send everyone home. So, Alan, my mom and my brother Chris took her 4 wheel drive to church so they could support Aaron, and the rest of us stayed home. I took these pictures of our yard. If you look close you can tell that it is still snowing pretty good. This is the biggest snow storm we have had in years. I can't wait to take pictures when it is over and see how much snow we get. My kids are anxious to get out and play in it, but I am making them wait. They are each preparing a lesson to give the family so we can have our own church when Alan gets home. I wonder if they will have school tomorrow

I think I might be getting old.

I've been going along through life feeling fairly young until last night, when suddenly I realized that I am old. We were having family movie night, and suddenly here I am trying to explain to my kids what a typewriter is and what a record player is. Then I started thinking about how many things have changed in my lifetime. The first tv I remember was black and white with an antennae. The first video game my family owned was Pong... which doesn't even come from the same planet as the Wii. I can remember how huge our first video cassette player was. There are cell phones now. We started with a rotary phone with the receiver on a cord. Cameras shot 110 film and they printed out 3x5 prints. I'm beginning to feel like an antique.

Then I started thinking about how old I am and realized that it has been 20 years since I was a Freshman at BYU. Whoa! Where did the time go? It doesn't seem like 20 years since I met my friend Mara and she flipped jello on me at our first cafeteria meal together :) If you'd asked me the first day of school if Mara and I would be friends 20 years from then, I would have given you a "yeah, right" look. LOL But she's been one of my best friends through the years. Of course, if you'd asked me my Freshman year if I'd marry Alan Walker on down the road, I would have laughed you right out of the dorm room. Yet here he is, the love of my life. (yes, Alan and I were in our Freshman ward together. I dated his brother Russell's roommate David, whom I am sure would have a good laugh if he knew I married into Russell's family) It is probably a good thing we can't see the future. We would probably run from a lot of things that turn out to be great blessings in our lives :)

What a Dad!

It never fails that when Alan and I are trying to do our exercises, the kids start climbing on us. So, we do sit ups with Benjamin jumping on our stomachs, and Elisabeth climbing on our legs, etc. I tried to take a picture tonight of Benjamin riding Alan up and down as he did push ups, but by the time I got the camera Alan was playing horse to all four kids. What a Dad! You try being a horse to all four of our kids at one time...it is not easy. I wish I had had a video camera though, because right after I took this picture Alan turned around and Benjamin went sliding off one side, Leilani slid off the back and there was a great big pile of kids on the floor :)

A Winter Walk

Alan and I have been doing really good so far on our goal to walk and exercise. It has been harder to get motivated the last week though, because it is so cold outside. The high yesterday was 34, and it got into the teens at night. (okay, some of you probably do not think that is very cold, but for here it is cold) The sun is deceptive, so I have to fight my kids into their coats when we go outside. Although, Benjamin has actually started to ask for his snowsuit instead of his coat.
The kids were excited to get out and crunch around in the ice on top the frozen mud puddles today.

While we were on our walk, I took pictures of the fields around a farm house near us because they are going to build 72 houses in these fields if it gets approved. I can't believe anyone would want to live in housing that dense. The area behind our house was a big field when I was a kid, and now it is just a bunch of houses too. I'm kind of sad about all the change. I hope the new housing won't increase traffic in our neighborhood too much.