Ice Skating...

The boys had a couple days off school a couple weeks ago (for what I can't remember now), and Lars had to work so I took them ice skating one of the days. Gunnar had never really been and it had been a long time since any of us had, so it was mostly fun. After Ashton finally found some skates that would work for him after trading his in 4 or 5 times! Luckily a boy from his class happened to be there, so he was finally happy to skate with him for awhile. Gunnar used a little walker for about 5 minutes, then wanted to go without it and within 10 minutes or so, he was flying around the rink...no problem! I love how this stuff comes so easily to him. He was having so much fun!

Till the very end when he crashed hard. Up until that point he was loving it and was talking about even having a birthday party there, but now he says he doesn't want to go back! Kids!

 Oh and then we went to Chili's for lunch...fun date day with these guys :) 



Ice Fishing...

I'm glad we were able to go out ice fishing the couple times we did, because it is over now with all of this nice weather we're having!

We talked the boys into going one Saturday a few weeks ago and bribed them with McDonald's food (not proud of that) and bringing a friend along.

So we all had a lot of fun. There was no snow at all on the ice, so it was super slick. But we all caught some fish and it was a beautiful day! No need at all for our tent and heater. Can't beat days like that, oh and it was finally a fresh air day after awhile of our Cache Valley winter bad air days. It really affected me this year for some reason. Lots of days I just felt like I couldn't breathe!

Anyway...fun pictures from that day...

 Goodbye ice till next year!

Ashton's birthday celebration with family...

I wondered if this would be the year that Ashton no longer wanted to have a big birthday party with friends and sure enough when I asked him what he wanted to do, he said he just wanted to invite one friend and go to the Jumpzone. So we planned to do that on the Saturday after his birthday. We did also invite Grandma and Aunt Kelli and Boo and the kids. So they all came down in time for lunch (Ashton chose Chinese), then we went to the Jumpzone for a couple hours. The kids all had a blast. Ashton invited his little friend Jake from his class. And I forgot to take any pictures...we got busy watching all of their tricks!

Then when we got home opened presents and had cake...His only request was that it be marble with chocolate frosting. I think this is the simplest cake I have ever made :)

But it was yummy!

 Ashton and his fun gifts he got...

 Minecraft Lego set from Grandma & Grandpa Harry...

 Metal detector from Grandma and Grandpa in Texas...

 Cool remote control car from Kelli and Boo and the kids...

I love Birthdays!

 

Double Digits...Ashton's 10th Birthday!

Even though I couldn't believe that Ashton was turning 10 years old, I will forever remember that day...January 6, 2015 as one of the best days ever!

It is hard to have a birthday right after Christmas, in the winter and on a school day. But we made the best of it. I wanted to do breakfast in bed for him, but he got up too early...so I just made crepes for everyone. Always a favorite. Then he opened the few gifts we'd gotten for him.

I love how excited he was about this round sled and under armour shirt I picked out for him :)

Oh and these fingerless glove/mittens :)

And he was so excited about this jetboil cooker thing Lars got for him. He's had so much fun making hot chocolate, ramen & oatmeal in it :)

 I told him I'd bring him lunch at school and he requested a cheeseburger of course, so I got him one at Rumbi and dropped it off to him.

It was such a beautiful day that day!
So after I got him off to school I had the idea to surprise him and tell him I'd check him out early after lunch and recess and he and I would go sledding. Poor Lars was home really sick that day, so he was able to go pick Gunnar up from school.

Ashton was SO excited when I told him my plan.

You only turn 10 once and these days are going by so fast. I didn't mind him missing a couple hours of school at all.

We had so, so much fun that day!

I loved having him all to myself. We talked and laughed the whole way up the canyon to the sledding hills at the sinks. Oh and before we headed up we stopped off at the gas station on the way and he chose salt and vinegar chips and some little candy things. We never do that, so it was a big treat to him. 

We were pretty much the only ones there besides a couple people snowmobiling the whole time we were there. It was about 42 degrees, sunny and beautiful! 

It is a huge sledding hill and that little sled went FAST! 

Cute kid...how can you already be 10 Ashton? 

I just felt so happy all day :) 

Did I mention it was beautiful up there?

The exact moment he turned 10...4:17 pm! 

 We stayed a couple hours then right as the sun was going behind the mountain we went down one last time and hiked back up to the top and it got cold!
So we left.

I asked him where he wanted to go to dinner and he actually said he just wanted me to make chicken pot pie. That made my day!

Then he wanted to go get Molten Chocolate Cake at Chili's... 

 I hope he also has great memories of that day!

10 years flew by....Love this boy.