Alanna's 6th grade state report...

We made pound cake for Alanna to share at her report station, and it was a hit! She is so cute! She asked me if James had to come... because he is "so embarrassing". So I went alone!

Winter fun...

The kids learned a new game called Blow Pong, and they play for hours and hours and laugh and laugh. I'm not very good at it because I just start laughing when I'm supposed to blow the ball away! 

We have enjoyed a few Tim Tam slams and remembered Uncle Paul!

Blaze can spend a long time outside playing in the snow all by himself! He has always had such an active and entertaining imagination! 

Annual 62 mile Bike Race!

Paul chose to compete in the indoor 62 mile kid bike race again this year! Blaze has been doing spin classes, so I asked if he wanted to compete also. At first, he said no way. But then he heard Paul talking about how they give you fruit snacks and Gatorade, so then he said "sign me up"! But on the day of the race, he got busy playing with Oscar and decided not to compete. 

Paul did an awesome job, and a couple of coaches from the Mountain Ridge biking team were there and invited Paul to join the team! He says he would like to, so I'm excited for him to have an active hobby! 

Snowshoeing

I finally got to use my snowshoes on our hike through Yellowfork Canyon! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and with my new heated gloves, my hands were comfortable for once! 

I walked off of the trail to stand by a buried trail marker to take a picture of how deep the snow was. It was deep, and I fell over being unprepared for all of the powder! It was pretty comical, and Michelle got it on video. Getting back up on my feet was not a graceful process! I think snowshoeing will be a new way to beat the winter blues and get outside for some fresh air! 

Universal Studios Day #2...

This guitar is amazing!!

We got to hang out with the Scooby Doo gang who were totally in character and hilarious! Fred was playing with this beanie and put it on Blaze and was making him laugh!

At one point, Dracula snuck out of one of the buildings and was so creepy hanging out with the gang1 Some of the onlooking kids were scared, understandably! He stole this guy's coffee and asked him if it was garlic flavored!

Universal Studios Day 1...

We were pretty tired from our 15 hour + day at Disneyland, so we were happy to sleep in and arrive at Universal around noon. Lucky for us, others slept in longer than we did, and we didn't have to wait in line for most of the rides!

This is the Millinium Falcon at Disneyland that snuck in here somehow!

It was really fun meeting some of our favorite characters at Universal. Hello Kitty was so sweet and gave us hugs! I miss the days when Alanna was obsessed with her. She's the only cat I like!

Ah...George Monkey! He's been a favorite for each of our kids at one point or another!

There were beautiful views from the top of Universal. It was a pretty nice day for January, and the sunshine felt so good!

The kids have a goal to watch all 30 some seasons of the Simpsons. They're not my favorite, but at least the Simpson's ride didn't make me sick this time! It's a virtual ride that makes you feel like you're on a rollercoaster.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was amazing, just like at Universal Orlando! There weren't very many people there, so the kids got to take their time at the spell casting stations. There was an amazing light and fireworks show projected on Hogwarts that went of every half hour for a couple of hours. That was probably my favorite amusement attractions on this trip. 

We couldn't pass up Honeydukes where we tried an official pumpkin pastie (it didn't taste very good), and butterbeer fudge which was delicious! The kids each picked out special treats like Bertie Bots every flavor beans and chocolate frogs.

Nightime in the Wizarding World was completely magical! I felt like I was in one of the movies!

We had to try the famed Voo Doo donuts. They have crazy toppings and pretty big donuts, but we decided they're still nothing to different or special. I love this picture of my Blazer though!