What a Wonderful Weekend!

 The Baptism

Andy was looking at the 2013 calendar during December and came to me asking, "My birthday is on a Saturday, can I be baptized on my birthday?"  That's our Andy for you.  He's very aware of everything

that's going on and we were more than happy to see if it could happen. 

It all worked out, so on January 26th, Andy turned 8 and was baptized!  Nathan baptized him,

Grandpa Bice was a witness, Grandma Bice gave a talk on baptism, I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost,

Nate and Haley gave the prayers. We had quite the group of friends and family show up, we kept running out of chairs!  It was such a neat experience to have the room be so filled with loving faces. 

Thanks to all those who made an effort to come support our family on Andy's special day!

 OOPS!  This picture needs some cropping - sorry!

 

 The Birthday

Andy's birthday was a little overshadowed because of his baptism, but we still tried to make it great.  Our good friends the Henstroms drove all the way from Coralville, IA to be with us for Andy's special day.  They joined us for cake and ice cream.

 "WOW! Lego Batman 2 for Nintendo DS!!"



 Presents galore! The teddy bear was from Grandma Bice.  She used it for her talk on Baptism ("The Three Bears": Bear His Name, Bear Testimony, Bear One Another's Burdens).

 

 The cake. Because I was trying so hard to make Andy's Baptism perfect, I ran out of time and was not able to make his birthday cake.  I was convinced to buy one from Sam's Club.  Andy wanted the Marvel Superhero, Iron Fist on his cake (ever heard of him? Yeah me either).  When I asked Nathan to take a picture of the cake he said, "Why?  You didn't make it."

 

 Andy and Luke Henstrom.  Luke is a month older than Andy.  Luke's mom, Nicky, and I met when we were both pregnant with Luke and Andy.  Luke was baptized on the 12th of January.

 

 

The Birthday Dinner

The night before Andy's birthday we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner at Andy's request. Skeeball is always one of our favorite games.  Andy was doing well and Haley was trying to play but was blocked by a stubborn 2 year old!

 

 

Andy is a very energetic kid, which can sometimes get him in trouble (he LOVES to "bug" his siblings)!  But, he mostly uses his energy for good instead of evil.  Andy's school teacher, Ms. Johnson, is always singing his praises.  Academically he excels and she is always trying to find new ways to expand his knowledge.  We've always known that Andy is a genius (but we're a little biased) but our favorite comments are when Ms. Johnson thanks us for raising such a polite and kind little boy.  She says that he's always willing to help her in class, help his fellow students, and is always polite to adults.  When the Bishop was interviewing Andy for his baptism, he remarked that he truly felt that Andy is a special spirit of our Heavenly Father's and that He loves Andy very much.  The Bishop also was impressed with Andy and said he could tell that Andy has a great love for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Andy is indeed a special person and we are so grateful

that he is a part of our family.  We love you Andy!

She's 2!!

Alina turned 2 on January 5th!  I so wish I could stop time and freeze her as a baby - she's growing too fast!  Alina is totally an Elmo fan and so that was the theme for her birthday cake and attire.  We went out to eat at Hu Hot and of course the birthday girl didn't eat a thing (meals are not her thing lately).  A few of my favorite things about Alina is her "cheese" smile, the way she dances whenever she hears any music (even church hymns), the way she loves to sing, especially at church (even during piano solos), and the way she gives kisses (on the lips).  She is a joy to have around our home and we all love her to pieces!

 

 Haley made Alina a birthday card.  Isn't it lovely?

 

 

The cake.  Elmo's nose turned out a little funny, but otherwise, I was pleased with how it turned out.  Haley helped me with the border.  I think the hardest part was getting the frosting to be the right Elmo red!

Ok, Time to Catch Up!

Michael's Award

Michael earned the "Academic Achievement" award for his class in December.  We were so happy for him!  He has been working really hard learning to read and write.  Way to go Michael!

The same day that Michael earned his award, his Kindergarten class made Gingerbread houses.  Here is his house.  Yummy!

 

Christmas Eve

Nathan and the kids played outside in the snow for quite awhile.  It was fun to play in the snow without your nose hairs freezing!  Michael was the only one interested in building a snowman with Daddy.  Unfortunately we never got a picture of the finished product.

 Alina and Grandma cuddling

 



 Christmas Eve Bingo.  We played the Disney version of Bingo and the kids got a quarter for every bingo!

 

 Alina and the newest member of our family, Aunt Shanelle.

 

Odds or Evens Dice game.  If the kids rolled an odd number or doubles they got to pick a prize from the "prize chair".  Uncle and Brigham and Aunt Shanelle were so great to take over distrubuting the prizes!

Christmas Morning

 

 Alina got a baby from Grandpa and Grandma Bice that makes fussy noises so you put her binkie (or "deetee" as Alina calls it) in her mouth and she makes these contented baby noises until she falls asleep.  The doll makes breathing noises and her tummy moves up and down.  Alina loved it

 



 Santa brought Nate and Michael remote control Transformers that they can battle against each other with.  Nate got Bumblebee and Michael got Optimus Prime.

 



 Andy only had books on his Christmas list, so Santa surprised him by giving him a Bop-It Smash which was a hit with everyone!

 

 All Haley wanted was a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup shirt.  She got it with 2 HUGE Reese's PB cups with it!  She calls them "pies".

 

Grandpa got 3 headlamps in his stocking.

Family Pictures

We took family pictures at the Capitol Building.  Nathan took the pictures using our camera and tripod.  I think he did a good job.

 

After family pictures, Nathan, Grandpa, and Tyler took Holden, Nate, Haley, Andy, and Michael to a Utah Jazz game.  The Jazz played Golden State.  Unfortunately the Jazz lost, but the kids had fun!

 

There's a First Time for Everything

Uncle Tyler and Holden took us skiing at Brighton Ski Resort.  It was Nate, Haley, Andy, and Michael's first time ever!  They all took skiing classes in the morning and we met for lunch.  Haley really wanted to stay and ski longer.  We had to talk Nate into staying and he was glad that he did.  Andy and Michael, however, were done after their class.  We took the group picture after lunch, so you can see that Andy and Michael were done.

 

In case you are wondering who that man is with Andy and Michael on the lift, it's one of their ski class instructors.

 Andy

Nate

 Haley

Michael

NEW YEAR'S EVE

On our trek back home to Rochester, we stopped at a hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota that had a water park.  We didn't tell the kids until we got there.  We spent New Year's Eve morning swimming and riding some really cool waterslides!

 

After the water park, we headed over to see some huge heads at Mt.Rushmore.  It was really neat and the kids really enjoyed seeing the monument and watching a movie of how it was made (they used explosives to sculpt sections of the faces!).

Boy Scout Camp from Nate's View

If you noticed in the previous post that Nate was not with us at the Salt Flats, it is because he had flown back to San Francisco for Boy Scout Camp.  He flew by himself!  He tried to put on a brave front, but as he was about to board, both of us got a little teary eyed.  This picture is of him as he got off the plane in San Francisco.  Nathan texted it to me to assure me that Nate was safe.

Nathan got Nate all ready for camp and texted me this photo of Nate geared up and ready to go.

Nathan sent a camera with Nate.  We got some really interesting pictures as a result.  Nate said that he took a picture of every meal, though I spared the blog readers and didn't include all of those.  Nate was most proud of his first shot with a 22 (near the end of the post) and that he earned more merit badges during his first scout camp experience than his dad!  It was interesting for me to see what interests a 12 year old boy at scout camp.  Enjoy!