Travis

Travis had had some exciting days in the last couple of weeks. On January, 9th, Travis was ordained the priesthood. We were able to do it in our home and have both of his grandpa's, dad and Mark Mayes (from the bishopbric) participate. The following Sunday, January 12th, he got to pass the sacrament for the first time. He did a great job and didn't mess up !

Travis was also recognized this month at the school's character assembly. In December, their character trait they focused on was Empathy. Travis's teacher nominated him for showing empathy in their classroom. Travis is a great kid with a huge heart! During parent/teacher conferences a couple months back, his teacher couldn't say enough nice things about him. She talked about how patient and understanding he was with the two boys in his class that he sat next to that require extra help and attention. She said he was always quick to help them out, be kind to them and help explain things they didn't understand in a way that they could understand. By the end of our meeting her and I were both in tears! We are proud of him and the young man he is! He truely is a great example.

Punching out a prize!

His prize ended up being a sparkly pink purse, which is why he has a funny smile on his face in this picture! The ladies in the office made sure that he got to pick something else out instead of a purse. He ended up picking out a basketball.

Travis with the other two boys that were nominated in the 5th grade.

Cabo 2020

Christian and I got back Friday from a week long trip to Cabo. Grandma Foulger came Sunday evening to stay with the boys while we were gone. We stayed the night in Billings Sunday night because our flight left at 6 a.m. Monday morning. We flew from Billings to Salt Lake and then down to Cabo. We arrived at the Hyat Ziva midafternoon. We found our room and then walked around the resort until it was time for the welcome dinner that evening.

We made it to the beach!

 

Tuesday, Christian had meetings all day, so I got to sit on the beach, enjoying the sunshine and endless tacos, gucamole and drinks!  That evening, we got to dine at any of the restaurants in the resort. We decided to eat at the Japanese place. It's always a fun place to eat and the food is delicious!

The tacos and guacamole were my favorite!

Our fried ice cream dessert.

Wednesday, we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted to do. Since we had been to this resort twice before and done the activities that we wanted, we decided to just to just stat at the resort and soak up the sunshine. We did walk up to the store in the morning and get some treats to take back to the boys.

A fun sign on our walk up to the store.

Hanging by the pool.

I love all the hibiscus flowers!

That evening, they had a farewell dinner with a live band and fireworks. The band was a fun cover band that sang some fun song and the fireworks show was amazing!

 

Thursday, we got up and ate breakfast and then went for a walk on the beach. We had to leave to catch our flight at 12:45. It ended up being a cool day, making it a little easier to have to go home.

A puffer fish we found on our walk on the beach.

 The waves here are amazing. They really get to crashing and are so loud. I love to sit and watch and listen to them!

We got into Billings around 12:30 Friday morning and decided to drive home to be there when the kids woke up. We had a great time enjoying the beach and sunshine and are so thankful that Grandma Foulger could come and take care of the kids while we were gone.

Christmas break

Christmas break is officially over today as the kids went back to school. They had a great break, but we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do while they were out of school! It just went by too fast. Here are some of the things we did do:

The boys ended up staying the night at grandpa and grandma Foulger's house Christmas night. They brought them over the next afternoon and we went out shooting with them and uncle Jason. We had fun shooting some of the new guns people got. We just wish the wind hadn't been blowing!

The boys building a log house with some wood they found at Grandma Foulger's.

After shooting, Grandpa, Jason and Christian put in the new microwave I got for Christmas. Now my microwave and stove match!

Christian took Friday off and spent Friday and Saturday hunting pheasants all day. Landon ended up puking Friday morning, so they brought him home and we hung out. 

Landon was feeling better Saturday, so he went out with them after lunch.

Sunday he puked again, so we cancelled our trip to Billings Monday and just stayed home and the boys put legos together and we watched movies.

Tuesday we went to Billings with Grandma Foulger to do some exchanges. They always goes too fast while we're in Billings, but we were able to get everything we had to get done, done.

Landon wanted his picture taken with the bear at Scheels.

We got home around 6 from Billings and rushed out to Grandma and Grandpa Asay's house for New Year's eve dinner. We were only there about 30 minutes when Landon got sick again, so I brought him home. Christian and the other two boys stayed for a while and hung out. I was able to get some oliebollen made while they were gone. They got back around 8 and the two older boys and I went to some friends house that we were invited to ring in the New Year. We ate and played games while the kids played on the Nintendo switch and hot tubbed. Sadly we didn't even take any pictures while we were partying.

Oliebollen all ready to sit over night.

 New Years/Christian's birthday, we pretty relaxed. We cooked up our New Year's oliebollen for breakfast and enjoyed that tradition of ours. We didn't know how Landon was going to feel, so we didn't plan to do anything. We ended up cleaning out the garage...which was much needed, but not much fun. We celebrated Christian's birthday with cherry danishes for dessert.

Travis enjoying some oliebollen.

Happy birthday, Christian!

We did manage to watch a movie just about every night and did lots of relaxing!

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!

For Christmas Eve, we headed over to Powell and had lunch at the store with Grandpa Foulger and uncle Jason. After lunch, we ran a couple of errands and then headed home. Christian showed up at home right before we did and so we made our way out to Grandpa and Grandma Asay's house for gnocchis. They started making them early this year, so we missed the making part, but they were sure yummy to eat! We stayed and visited for quite a while and then headed home for the evening. We watched tv, ate some  snacks and then opened the traditional Christmas pj's. At that point, Landon was ready to go to bed...even though it was only 7:30. We talked him into staying up a little while longer and everone was in bed around 9:30. Christian and I stayed up to watch the BYU football game and do a couple last minutes wrappings. I think we were in bed by 11, but I had a hard time falling asleep. I guess I was just as excited as the kids!

Opening their jammies

It's always a race to see who can get dressed in them the fastest. Carson was the winner this year!

It's all good and fun until someone gets their eye poked out!

Travis was the first one up. He then got Carson up and yelled up the stairs at us at 7, which is the time we said they could get up. Landon heard him yell and got up too and Christmas began!

Santa left some trail cams for Carson. He's excited to set them up and see what animals are lurking at Grandpa Asays.

Rollerblades for Landon!

Christian got a large suitcase for our trip to Europe this Summer.

My annual calendar!

Travis was super excited about his mittens that come off and make into gloves!

Carson checking stuff out!

Happy face for some chocolate covered almonds!

As a family, Santa left us a gift. This year, it was a hunting rifle! They boys were so excited!!

Checking stuff out!

Travis got a duck hunting game that you project on the wall. They boys have had fun trying to see who is the best shot.

Around 10:30, we headed out to grandma and grandpa Asay's house. We were the first ones there, but the boys got to open their gifts! They each got a sweatshirt and the two older ones got cross bows for fishing and Landon got some legos. Christian put the cross bows together and actually broke both of them when we fired them! Luckily, we are planning a trip to Billings and will try to get some new ones.

 We stuck around for a few hours and then headed to Powell around 2. Jason and Casssie showed up shortly after we did, and then we opened gifts.

New hockey sticks and balls.

Carson opened one gift to find a new bike seat. Later he found out that he actually got a bike to go with it! He's super excited about a new soft bike seat and bike!

A monpod for hunting.

I got a new microwave to match my new stove!

A new semi-auto air soft gun!

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A new semi-auto 17!

 When we were done opening gifts, we had a nice ham dinner, visited, and then played a new game we got (double ditto) and had dessert.

Dinner time.

We are always so grateful that we get to spend the holidays with all of our family! We are also thankful for the Christmas season, where we reflect on the birth of our Savior.