Sledding at Rock Canyon

Erika, Riley, Rachel, Sarah and Sara all went sledding today from 4:30 till the sun went down at 6 pm. It was great, because there was nobody at Rock Canyon Bowl on Friday during that time. It was fresh snow from Monday and a little bit of ice undernear. Great for sledding. It was so fast that when Riley hit one of the bumps at the bottom, his sled broke. (see picture above) They have been begging and begging to go sledding at Rock Canyon, and we finally took them. Enjoy the videos of Riley going down and crashing, and Erika going down half way without her sled. Good Times with friends!!!

Erika's Solo & Ensemble at PHS

This is Erika & her friend, Caitie, playing a duet for the PHS Solo & Ensemble. They played a piece called "Caprice" by Mozart. As always they played great. They were judged and given points in different areas to improve on and what they played great. If they win, they will go to Regionals in the next month or so. Great job girls. You were awesome!!!

Riley - Ear Infections again

Riley has been complaining about his ear hurting after he started coming down with a cold on Thursday. We were a little bit concerned, because he was going skiing at Sundance for his lessons on Friday for 5 hours, and then we was going camping with the Scouts on Friday evening and Saturday morning. If you read the last post about him camping, he slept in a ice cold puddle of water in the tent. Sunday evening, he was complaining that both of his ears were hurting really bad. Riley has had many Ear Infections before he was 3 years old and we finally had tubes put in his ears when he was 3 years old. Later, he had then take out after a great couple of years with no ear infections, and that he was getting older. He takes after his mother, who still has ear infections when she gets a cold, so she decided that it wasn't going to get better. We called the after hours doctor at 6 pm and they told us to come at 9 pm and have his ears checked. So, Riley and his mom went to the doctor and sure enough, he had double ear infections and possibly strep. Riley told the doctor that he wanted the white liquid stuff and tasted good. They faxed a prescription of Penicillan to Rite Aid Pharmacy, who is open 24 hours. We left the doctors office at 9:25 and left the Pharmacy at 10:30. Yes, that's right 1 whole hour at the Pharmacy. They are so slow and really don't care about it. Riley and his mom were getting so tired of waiting they almost feel asleep. Riley has to take the medicine for 10 days twice a day. We hope that we will remember to do it all 10 days.

Erika's Patriarchal Blessing

Erika received her Patriarchal Blessing this evening. Patriarch Dennis is the Patriarch in our stake. He was a very kind and spiritual man. Erika and her parents went to his home at 5 pm. Patriarch Dennis asked her some questions about herself, and then invited her parents in. Patriarch Dennis asked her parents about her and some great things about her as a daughter. Then he preceeded to give her a Patriarchal Blessing. What a great blessing he gave her. He told her that his wife would type it up and then deliver it to her in a couple of weeks. She has had a great desire to get this blessing and we are so proud of her. She is becoming such a spiritual giant in our family.

Cameron's Interesting Day

Cameron told his parents that he had an interesting day today. As parents, we asked him, what made it interesting? He said, "Well, first I had to get up and do my chores. Then I remembered that Sister Dupaix (Primary President) asked me to do a PAF presentation on the computer for the primary activity. I had forgotten, so I had to hurry and put it together, get in the shower, get dressed and get to the church by 11 am. Before I left for the church, the full time missionaries called on the phone and asked me to do exchanges with them at 5:50 pm. Then, after I came home I had to finish my chores. Later I had to go and get Dinner for me, Erika and Riley at Wendy's. Then I had to get dressed in my suit, go pick up the missionaries from their dinner appointment and go with them for 3 hours to 3 different homes. I came home at 9 pm and the day was over." And again, we asked him, Why was this a interesting day? And he replied, "BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE TIME FOR ANYTHING ELSE!" Guess what Cam, that is what being Adult is all about. Just wait until he goes on his mission, then he will think he has had some INTERESTING DAYS.....

Riley Yukon Scout Overnight

Riley and Brian went to Camp Jeremiah Johnson for the Yukon Scout Winter Overnight Campout. Riley went to his Ski lessons at Sundance and then Brian picked him up right after and they headed out. It was a rainy day already, but it had cleared up. We had everything that we could think of for them to be warm and dry to sleep overnight. Apparently, we were not all prepared. The tent leaked water during the night and Riley slept in a puddle of ice cold water. His sleeping bag, snow pants, coat, gloves and backpack were all soaking wet. Good thing we packed extra clothes and gloves for him. To say the least, Riley was not all excited to stay and do the activites with the new scouts, but Brian was able to get his snow pants and coat dry by the campfire so he could stay. There were 3 new scouts and 2 scouts. The 5 of them raced a Klondike sled and also shot sling shots with paint balls. Riley seemed to have a good time after he was dry and warm. Next time we will buy and new tent to make sure they are kept dry and warm.

Fun with Cousins

Lindsee, Anna and Kimber came and slept over at our house last night. We decided to give Grandma Bette a break and since it was a holiday today, it worked out for them to come. They all slept downstairs in the theater room with Riley and then woke up to French Toast for Breakfast. At 11:30 am we decided to take them to a movie of their choice. They wanted to see HOTEL FOR DOGS. After the movie we took them to get some lunch at the Provo Towne Mall food court. Anna and Riley had Little Toyko & Lindsee and Kimber had McDonalds. (are we surprised!!!) We hope that they enjoyed their visit & hope to be able to have them come again. We love you Lindsee, Anna & Kimber!!

Draper Temple Open House

We went to the Draper Temple Open House tonight. Our schedule time was 7:20 pm. Grandma Holly & Grandpa Gary got tickets for the whole family. (Uncle Doug & Aunt Jenn's family too.)
We started the evening with Dinner at the Traning Table at 10600 South in Sandy. Then we headed towards the chapel at 6:45 to park our cars. We watched a 12 mintue movie presentation about the temple and why the LDS Church has temples. Then we waited in the cultural hall for our bus shuttle ride up to the temple.
There was 16 of us, so we had to wait to make sure we all could get on the same bus. Once at the temple, we walked in some long covered heated walkways into the temple. We started with the Baptismal Font, then to the Ordinances rooms, into the Celestial Room and last to one of the Sealing Rooms. It was really hot in the temple, probably from all the people that were in it at one time.
Then we walked again in a covered heated walkway to the LDS Church close by, where they served us Water and Cookies. We were all very thirsty too.

Then it was back to the line to catch the shuttle bus back to our cars at the church. We were told at the beginning that we were on the GREEN bus, so when we were done, we needed to get back on the GREEN bus. We really didn't know how long this would be. It was 3 hours from the time we got to the church where we parked our cars, to back to the church, so around 9:30 pm. What a great experience for our family.

Riley ski lessons at Sundance

Riley is taking Ski lessons at Sundance Ski Resort for 5 weeks. He is doing it with our neighbor, Sara, who attends Wasatch Elementary. Wasatch offers ski lessons every other friday for 5 times. They ride the school bus up to the resort @12:30 pm and get to Sundance at 1 pm. They have lessons by levels for a couple of hours and then they get free time for 1 hour. They ride the school bus home at 5 pm and get back to Wasatch to be picked up at 5:30 pm. We had to rent some skis and boots for Riley from BYU Outdoors Unlimited. They have a good deal setup with the school to rent them for $45 for 5 times. Riley has to get checked out of school early around 11:30 am and then change into his snow ski gear and eat his lunch on the way to Wasatch Elementary. (about 20 minutes) He was placed in the Level 1 class, because he has not done the ski lift before. He was a little bit bummed about that, but we wouldn't want him to get hurt either. He had a great time, but his feet were a little bit tight in his ski boots, so they got cold. He gets to go again, on January 23rd and two times in February and once in March.

Cameron wisdom teeth

Cameron had his Wisdom teeth pulled out today. Yep, all 4 of them. His appointment was at 9:45 am, but when Cam and his dad arrived, the oral surgeon's office said that the doctor had an emergency jaw operation and to come back in an hour. So, Cam and his dad went home and sat around for an hour and then went back to the oral surgeon's office. Again, they were sent home because the doctor was not back yet. They were told to come back around 1 pm. At this point, Cam was getting pretty hungry, since he couldn't eat anything since midnight and he was getting more and more nervous about the surgery. Finally, the doctor's office called and said to come at 2 pm. The surgery only took about an hour and then they rush Cameron and his dad out of the office to go home. Cam was pretty out of it that night, but was back to his normal self the next day. He took the whole week off work to recover. Cameron wouldn't let his mom take a picture of him the day of surgery, so the picture on the right is the best we get. (I don't think it was that bad)

New Years Eve

We started out the day with the Evans family pictures at 11 am at the Sandy Inkley's studio. Here are a few to sample of our family.

Then at 1 pm we went to lunch with the Atkinsons (Mike, Jackie, Cole and Jackson) at Olive Garden which Cameron paid for.

At 7 pm the Autrey's and McGriff's came over to our house for the annual games and alot of food. We played Apples to Apples and some other games with the kids. Then at 12 am our neighbor, Rob Autrey lit a bunch of firecrackers and the kids did horns and confetti. It was a cold night, including fog, but we had alot of fun.

Merry Christmas!!!

These pictures are of the kids christmas the night before. Riley & Erika decided to sleep in the 4 man tent downstairs. (and were awake until 11:30 pm and the next morning at 6:30 am) We told the kids that they could come upstairs to see their presents at 8 am, or until they could wake up their brother, Cameron. Christmas was good to all of us. We then traveled to Grandma Bette and Grandpa Doug's home in Sandy at 3 pm to exchange presents with them and their cousins. We all had a great time together, even though Brian's sister wasn't with us at the time. On our way home, the weather was not good. It was blowing really hard and raining vertically. We made it home safely at around 8 pm. We will be spending friday with Sharri's family for christmas exchange. Merry Christmas!!!!

12 days of Christmas fun

Erika and Riley decided to do the 12 days of Christmas to one of their friends. Erika decided to do Caitie and Riley decided to do Landon. These are some of their best friends. So on December the 12th is when we start and each night we leave a different gift that goes along with the song. Below are all the poems for each day and the little gift we put with them. We did it at night when the kids couldn't been seen as well. A couple of nights they almost were caught and one night we got stuck in our van with all the snow we had that day. For the 1st time, Erika & Riley received treats back on the 11th & 12th day. The items were waiting at the door when they went to leave the gifts for that night.









(Most of the ideas came from a website. It is http://pie.midco.net/grammalowe/12days.html)

"The Twelve Days of Christmas is the song that we sing,
But it won’t get so boring with treats that we bring.
December 13th is when we will start,
Each one will come with love from our heart.
Each night we’ll bring something
Please don’t watch for us coming.
If you catch us too soon, it’ll spoil the fun, this is true.
It’s our way of wishing Merry Christmas to you!!"

1st Day - A can of pears with this saying.

"Now in the song, it’s partridge and pear-
When we looked, our trees were all bare!
So we ran to the store at a hurried pace.
PEARS they had plenty, but no birds in the place!"

2nd Day - Turtle & Dove Chocolate Candy Bars

Did you know Two Turtledoves
Are extremely hard to find?
So here are "Turtle 'n Dove" --

The chocolate candy kind."

3rd Day - 3 pens, Red, White & Blue (for French flag)

"We did get French hens,
But then hungry we got.
So we ended up cooking them in a great big pot
So three fine pens will have to do,
In France’s colors of RED, WHITE and BLUE."

4th Day - Chapstick

When four calling birds cackle
Their mouths get all dry
Their lips start to crackle
So give this a try!

5th Day - Can of Sliced Pineapple Rings

Only Five Golden Rings?
There really are more
Of golden pineapple rings
We got from the store!

6th Day - 1/2 dozen Real eggs in Carton
"Six geese a laying
*Sigh* We’re back to those birds!
We tried stealing their eggs
But their cries could be heard
So we gave up and went to the store
These eggs won’t hatch
But don’t drop them on the floor!"

7th Day - Sparkling Water or Bottled Water
"The swans were still swimming in water so clear
It sparkled and shimmered, we shed not a tear
Instead we felt thirsty, a drink would be nice
We sent sparkling water, now you add the ice!"

8th Day - Milk Duds Candy in a Box
"The Maids were all milking

Milk foaming like suds

And then they all vanished--

Just leaving "Milk Duds."

9th Day - Foot Bath Salts
"Nine ladies dancing,
They danced all night long,
But when they looked down
Something was wrong,
From dancing all night
They had aching feet,
So here’s some bath salts
To give your toes a treat."

10th Day - Toy Frogs in a Jar with lid
"Ten lords a leaping,
Wonder if they could reach the stars
They jumped higher than these frogs
That we caught in some jars
Some people think frogs
Are princes in disquise,
So maybe the lords were protecting them
As they leapt for the skies"

11th Day - Bubbles with Pipe
"Eleven pipers were piping
What a wonderful sight,
‘Cause they blew bubbles
And watched them take flight.
So here are some bubbles and a pipe just for you.
So you can join in and have lots of fun, too."

12th Day - Ice Cream Drumsticks - 4 in a box

"Twelve drummers drumming
Each on their own drum
That’s the end of the song – Wasn’t it fun?
Here are the drumsticks, there are more than two
It’s for wishing Merry Christmas from us to you."

Gift Exchange with McGriff Family

Our family and the McGriff family have exchanged gifts for the past 5 years. Last night they invited us over for Dinner (Chicken Noodle Soup, Rolls & Cheesecake). After dinner they gave a short but sweet Family Home Evening lesson and then we exchanged gifts.

First, Brian. Two Beaker T-shirts. You have to be there when Brian does his Beaker impersonation. The McGriff's found a picture and then transferred it to T-shirts. We all had a good laugh. Next, was Sharri. A Headband, Bath & Body socks and twisted peppermint hand soap.

Then it was Cameron's Turn. A fluffy steering wheel cover, just in time for Winter. Next, was Erika. Earrings, Bath & Body Socks & a flower for her hair. And Last, was Riley. A tie-dyed T-shirt and a big roll of Duct Tape. If you didn't see the blog about Riley making Duct tape things, just look back a couple of months.

In return, we gave them the following items.

Dave McGriff (Dad) - Thermometer Hide a key

Nancy McGriff (Mom) - Pedegg (for her feet)

Nathan McGriff (Cam's buddy) - $10 Blackjack Pizza Gift Certificate (Nate loves PIZZA)

Heather McGriff (Erika's buddy) - Microwave French Fry maker

Sara McGriff - (Riley's buddy) - The card game "Blink"

We hope to carry on this tradition in the years to come. Thanks McGriff's.