Happy Birthday Zeke

For his birthday Zeke wanted a pair of running stilts, but his dad surprised him with his first 22. Jake was 12 before he got his first gun, but was supportive of Zeke getting one at 11! We are blessed with such great children! And next year, we will have another priesthood holder in the family, wow!!! How time is zipping by!!

Thanks to Tom.... Sami is wearing Zeke's cake! Everyone except Matthew was laughing and though it was funny. Matthew was so upset that his dad had destroyed Zeke's birthday cake! Matthew is always the first one to defend any of his brothers or sisters!

Happy Birthday Sami!!

All Sami wanted for her birthday was a guitar. Mom had told her no, it was not in the "birthday budget" and that her dad had already bought her a present. One that I had no control over. . . . the children had convinced her he had bought her a 22 like he did Zeke.
Over Sami's birthday we were in Casper for state basketball games. So her dad took her and Jake to the mall so she could find a jacket for her birthday. Well, she couldn't find the jacket she wanted so she ended up with only a skirt for her birthday. However, Jake found a jacket he wanted, so for Sami's birthday Jake got a new jacket and sami got Jake's old jacket. In the video below she is wearing her new old jacket and her new skirt. Sami was a great sport, even though she was not getting much for her birthday. When we got home Sunday the kids gave Sami her present from her dad, and much to her surprise it was not a 22.

Jake's first Prom!

In Lovell you can only go to prom if you are in 11th or 12th grade, or if you are asked to go by someone who is. Jake was asked by Kim Robertson. Although he is in 10th grade and she is in 12th grade, there is only 14 months between them. They spent the day four wheeling, hiking, and exploring with another couple. They had packed a picnic, so instead of going for dinner that night they went and had frozen yogurt. Kim was crowned Prom Queen. After the dance the bowling alley had free bowling and pizza for the students. Jake and Kim both had a track meet the following day, so they ended their night earlier than most (which was just fine with mom and dad).

 I am pretty sure Jake and Kim are exact opposites! Jake loves to be silly and draw attention where Kim does not every want to draw attention, and I am pretty sure Jake does all the talking!!!!

We do love the snow!!!!

I can honestly say that we have missed the ease of playing in the snow that surrounded us in Star Valley. Tom and I did however finally take the kids skiing. There is a small resort just past Cody. Zeke spent the day snowboarding with some friends and Sami, Amee, and I spent a good part of the day  skiing together, waiting for Tom and Matthew to find us.

Below is a picture of Matthew being lowered down off the ski lift. Just after Sami, Amee and I got off the chair life, it stopped and they could not get it started again. So, they had to manually lower them down with a type of a chair pulley system. They were about 30 feet in the air. Tom thought it was awesome, as he always wondered how they handled such a situation!

It was a great day!!!! I am just not sure why we don't go more often. . . probably because we are usually at a sporting event for one of the other kids on Saturday :)

Below are some video clips of Matthew and his first wrestling meet. He did great!!! There was one kid, who was a year older, that gave him a beating. . . but it was early in the day and he was a little unsure of himself. It would have been fun if they could have wrestled a second time. . . but he did great anyway!!!!