It's great to be 8!

My beautiful Hayley turned 8. She is such a special girl. She is always considerate. She does great in school. She is a great friend and sister, and is always willing to lend a hand. She loves art, dancing (if not too many people are watching), and is the strongest little girl we know. We are so blessed to have her in our family. This year Hayley had a very eventful birthday.



Hayley got her ears pierced.



She had a little birthday party with some friends.



Then Hayley was baptized. It was a wonderful baptism and we were so happy to have family with us.

Sledding!!

Shortly after Christmas some neighbors called and invited us sledding. I have never taken the kids sledding before and they had a blast. They thought it was so fun and if it snows enough again we will have to go. I even went down the hill once. I am so glad we went.

Christmas Celebrations

We had a fun December full of Christmas activities. It started off with our Ward Christmas Party. The highlight of the night was watching the primary sing a few songs.



The kids loved telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Even Brock was up to it (I doubt he will next year).



We also got to attend a couple concerts. First, Ethan's Holiday band concert (sorry no pictures, I was a bad mom and forgot my camera). Ethan is loving band this year and does a great job on the tuba.
Second, we attended Paige's concert. It was so fun to watch her sing (maybe this will be Paige's thing).



The kids enjoyed the concert too.




We love going to Temple Square as a family to look at the lights and feel of the spirit there.



Christmas Eve was wonderful and the kids loved acting out the nativity with their cousins.





I think one of Brock's favorite things was holding his baby cousins.



Here is the Ludlow traditional Christmas morning train down to their presents (youngest to oldest of course).





We are very grateful this Christmas. We have been blessed in many ways, but I think we are most thankful for our family and the love we share with them, and for our Savior, Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he made for us, so that we can always be together.

All I want for Christmas ........

A few weeks ago Paige lost one of her two front teeth.


Today she lost her other front tooth.

Snowman!

Brock, Hayley and Paige spent hours in the snow the other day. On their own they rolled some huge snowballs and then decided to build a snowman. Using all their muscles they got the snowman built. Hayley and Paige then artfully put on the chocolate chip face and carrot nose. I had the girls stand by their masterpiece so I could take a picture. I was inside taking the picture out the window and this was the result.
When I tried to take another one right after their snowman came tumbling down.

The first snow day of the year.

The kids had a blast playing in the snow for the first time. Believe it or not, that tall masked guy in the back is Ethan. Paige was the first one in. I think she just wanted some hot chocolate.

Hayley gets a haircut

Hayley has been asking for a while to cut her hair, so recently we took the plunge and did it. Since her haircut is very similar to mine the boys say that now I have a mini-me. I am just happy that Hayley likes her hair. Now Paige says she wants to cut hers short too, but I think it would be too much if we all had the same haircut.

Shotgun Merit Badge

Ethan got a chance to work on his shotgun merit badge on Saturday. It was a great experience for him. Ethan didn't hit a thing at first but by the end he got the hang of it and shot about 7 in a row. In the end they couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He had a blast, literally.

Halloween

I know I am way late posting this, but we had a great Halloween this year. The kids got loads of candy trick or treating and we were able to have a fun family party. We managed to get them to all sit down for a quick minute too.

Fall means Football time!!

At our house we love BYU Football. Grandpa bought season tickets and on Jeff's birthday we were lucky enough to be able to go to a game. We took the boys and they had a great time.

Gooooaaaalllll!!!

Brock and Paige had a great soccer season this fall. However, Paige is not going to be signing up for soccer again anytime soon. While she did great, she didn't have a real big interest in the game. She didn't care if her team won and after a few games didn't care to go to those anymore either. On the flip side, Brock loved soccer. His team never had a loss. He will play again this spring.

Paige turns 6!!

My baby is growing up!! I can't believe that Paige is 6 now. It seems like she was born yesterday. Now that all the kids are in school, our family is shifting to a new phase of life. No more little ones in our house with diapers. We all get to be big now, whether we like it or not. Paige is enjoying being older, but she still likes to be the baby of the house. We are thankful to have her in our family.



Paige had a fun little party with some cute friends.

LOTOJA

So, Jeff had this crazy idea. He decided that since he enjoyed biking he would ride 206 miles in one day!! After training all summer, Jeff had real doubts about whether or not he could complete this, especially after riding a killer hundred miles in August and barely making it home. His doubt, made me doubt, and worry about him on this race. And if you know me, then you know I can worry. Jeff did a fabulous job and was able to complete all 206 miles!! I was so proud of him. He finished in just 12 hours and 23 minutes. I was his support crew and at each stop he put on a smiling face so I wouldn't know how hard it was for him (I think that it was very considerate of him to do that). He is my superman!!


Here is Jeff at the end of the race trying to smile for me right after he finished.



As his support crew I was in the car a very long time following him from stop to stop. I would have been one huge stress case if it hadn't been for my good friend Monique, driving and helping me chill out. We were even able to meet up with some bball friends the next day.

Ramp it Up!!

We discovered in August (it was happening in June and July too) that Weber County has a ramp it up program in the summer. On Saturdays they give free admission to different locations in the County. So, during the month of August we made sure to participate as much as possible. We were able to do fun things like visit the Treehouse Museum, swim, go to the Ott Planetarium, visit the Union Station Museum (where Hayley got stung by a wasp), catch a movie at the Egyptian Theatre (they gave us free drinks and popcorn while we watched "Night at the Museum 2", and go to the Eccles Dinosaur Park. We will definately take more advantage of this program next year.

Brock is 10!!!!

My little boy is 10 now (so, I guess he's not so little any more). We celebrated by hitting the bowling alley and then a little game of laser tag.