Hunters Safety

 Rhett needed to take Hunters Safety this year and since Dallin hadn't done the Bow & Arrow course Ryan signed them both up.  We decided to invite the cousins Kaylyn and Haylee (my cousin Kyle's girls that go to school with the boys) to do it with us! What a great idea!!

 

 I love these 4 kiddos!! Dallin, Kaylyn, Rhett and Haylee

 

After the kids got to shoot, the dads did too.  hahaha! Ryan is in the blue sweatshirt/red hat next to Kyle.

 And they ALL PASSED!! 

 Yay for hunter orange hats! And to Jessica for all the pictures!

 Dallin receiving his hat!

Rhett receiving his hat!

Stan's 60th

Ryan's dad, Stan had his 60th birthday on February 1st this year.  We decided as a family to take him bowling.  What a blast! We bowled til we were all sore the next day!

 Dallin, Ciara, Ryan, Laiklie, Tara and Paityn in the back ground.

 Stan and Linn....what an lucky girl I am to have these two as my in-laws!

 Rhett

 The big girls sucked at bowling so they walked next door to Artic Circle for ice cream.:)

 Chase and Memory

Tara and Yvonne's turns happened to fall at the same time each round and they would fight over who got "the best ball" to bowl with.  Silly girls! I am the one who picked that ball out in the first place! hahaha!

What a fun night celebrating Stan's birthday! The kids loved seeing grandpa bowl!

Rhett's Pinewood Derby 2015

Pinewood derby time again!! This year Dallin is too old so it was just Rhett participating from our family.  He painted his car orange and called it the Cheez It! His main goal was to get through the loops....he didn't care win or lose....he just wanted his car to make it through the loops at the end of the night! Funny boy!

 We have an amazing guy that brings this whole set-up of the track, speedometer and big screen. He had 25+ boys each race 8 times against each other plus go through the loops twice each all in under an hour.  That is my kind of pinewood derby!

 This is Rhett (camo jacket at the end of the track) watching his car go down for the first time.

 One of the things I LOVE is that he posts on the big screen whose car was the fastest each round! Rhett's won one of rounds and so he got his name on the big screen! 180.7 MPH! That is fast! Yay buddy! He got 8th overall. 

 Rhett back row with the orange Cheez It!

and one picture with big brother Dallin who helped with the design hoping it would go through THE LOOPS! :)

And we finished the night WITH THE LOOPS! It worked! If you look close you can see the orange Cheez It shooting out of the loop....you can also see a green car crashing in it's loop.  That car was the one that got 1st place for speed that night....but it sure couldn't go through those loops like Rhett's could.  You couldn't wipe the smile off his face!! haha! Love it!

Car Accident

On January 8th Oakley woke-up sick to her stomach from high blood sugar levels.  We hate diabetes, by the way! We did a ton of insulin and a shot in her thigh (nothing I HATE more than having to give my girl shots!!) and then waited it out hoping she wouldn't start throwing up. :( About noon she started feeling well enough she decided she was good to go to school.  So after dropping her off I headed to Rexburg to pick-up my neice Leslie that had just started school up there that week.  Leslie and I had planned to go to lunch and I was so glad Oakley felt better so we could still go. 

After lunch we hit a few stores and then headed back to Leslie's apartment.  We were stopped at a red light just visiting when all of the sudden we were HIT HARD from behind.  It scared us both and  whipped us around pretty bad.  We all jumped out and it was a cute little college girl that was so shaken up from hitting us.  She just wasn't paying attention.  I felt SO BAD! It scared her to death.  We couldn't see any initial damage so I took her number and we both headed off.  Once I got home I noticed that the back bumper from the back was fine, but on the sides of my car it was pushed up next to my back doors.  So there was some minor damage.  Leslie and I were so sore we could hardly move all weekend.  I had NO IDEA whiplash could hurt so bad!

Luckily my back and neck are almost feeling back to normal and we have an appointment to get the car fixed next week! Yay! So scary! It helped me to remember to not take things for granted and enjoy every minute of life!

Grandpa's Are Great

Saturday, January 10th, JD came flying into my kitchen, yelled across the house, "Dallin, are you going?" Dallin immediately starts begging "to go" when I have to tell them both to S.L.O.W. D.O.W.N. and give me a few details.  Dallin was interested in the details too seeing how he had no idea where he was even begging to go. (TWELVE YEAR OLD BOYS WEAR ME OUT!)

JD and Grandpa Hawkins were headed with snow machines to the ranch and he wanted Dallin to go.  As soon as I say yes I hear this little, "can I go" from the corner where he had been watching this all go down.  Rhett wanted to go to.  After a little drama and getting permission from grandpa they all loaded up and headed out.

 They had A BLAST!! I heard all about it all weekend.  I heard about grandpa racing the snowmachines (GRANDPA'S WEAR ME OUT TOO! haha) and about getting stuck in the snow and about their achy bodies afterwards.  They had a great time and I am SO VERY GRATEFUL for a grandpa that takes his boys with him and teaches them how to have a little fun!

Dallin, Rhett and JD

Skiing

 We have gone skiing a couple times with the school on their discount nights these past 2 weeks.  Dallin, Rhett and Laiklie LOVE to ski!! Once we get there I sit in the lodge and they disappear up over the mountain and if I am lucky every once in a while they will come down the hill called Face just infront of the lodge so I can catch a glimpse of them before they disappear again.  My main job is to feed them all as they come into the lodge starving.  I am totally fine with that job! Every once in a while if my sister-in-law goes I get to babysit the baby, Memory, while she ski's with the kids.  What a fun winter activity!

Rhett and some of his good friends Sophie and Mark

 Rhett headed back up the hill

 Laiklie (in pink) and Cousin Violet just coming off the hill

 My little Rhett man again

I know this picture is dark.....but it is the ONLY picture I got of Dallin both times we've gone.  He was trying to help Laiklie get her ski's off.  What a good brother.  He is a great skier and FLYS down the hill.  My camera isn't fast enough to catch any pictures of him. :) I love watching my kids learn and develop their talents. 

Hawkins Sledding

The weekend before the kids all went back to school we decided to take them sledding to the Ranch at Ozone.  The hills weren't steep enough for them to fly down them like they wanted to....but we all still had a lot of fun together anyway.

 Laiklie & Paityn

 JD on back & Dallin drivng.  I am so glad last minute we decided to take the 4-wheeler.  It saved us all walking up the hill a million times.

 Ryan & Laiklie in the KAYAK! Ryan insisted on taking one of the kayaks.  They are heavy and bulky and such a pain to take, but the few that went down on it loved it. 

 Rhett....eating the snow, of course! We can't get this kid to eat food, but he will eat snow non-stop!

Tara & I....we even tried the tube.  You had to do this criss-crossy leg thing that was kinda interesting to stay on, but with both of us on it we got some pretty good speed! We aren't talking about the hole in the tube that we may or may not be responsible for! :) hahaha!