Holy snow pile batman!

They just got done using a tractor to plow our parking lot. The pile of snow at the end of our parking lot is HUGE!

More Jr. jazz

Isaac's 4th game was on Saturday. It was a great game. Isaac was more aggressive in going after the ball, especially for rebounds. He was able to get a few rebounds. He also had a couple of steals. He is a defensive specialist. He went after a rebound and was knocked on his butt by one of his teammates. We were quite excited to see how aggressively he was going after rebounds. Now he just needs to work on his shooting skills. He made his 2nd basket in that game. Of course I missed videoing that basket, just like the first one! Maybe if we want him to score more i should just not video his games ;). They lost the game. The score was 41-37. They fought hard. They ended the 4th quarter with only 4 players because 2 players had fouled out. They played hard with playing 4 against 5. Once I am able to upload video again I will put together a highlight reel.

Let it snow, AGAIN!

This morning I heard Isaac yell out that it was snowing. I didn't think anything of it. When we went to church I was surprised. It was snowing pretty hard. In the three hours that we were at church, it dumped about 5-6 inches of snow! Yeah! Clean air for a couple of days! We need the moisture for this summer and the storms to clean out the nasty air that gets trapped in the valley during the winter. The snow is so beautiful. It reminds me of purity. Have you ever noticed when you go outside during a snow storm how quiet and peaceful it is. I love it.

Something I read

A man was walking down the street and fell into a really deep hole. A Doctor walked by and the man yelled up for help. The Doctor wrote out a prescription, threw it down and walked away. A Priest walked by and the man again yelled for help. The Priest wrote out a prayer, threw it down and walked away. A Friend walked by and again the man yelled for help. The Friend jumped down into the hole. The man asked the Friend, why did you do that, now we are both down here. The Friend said I know, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.

Jr. Jazz

Isaac's basketball team won by 15 today. They are now 2 and 1.

Family fun at Jazz game!

We decided that it would be fun to take the kids to a Jazz game since Isaac is now playing in jr. Jazz. The first home game that I had off was tonight. They were playing the Miami Heat. It was an awesome game. We got there pretty early and they were giving away fleece Jazz blankets! We each got one. They are pretty nice. It was my 2nd NBA game, Cordell's 5th and the kids' 1st. We had tons of fun. During one of the time outs they threw down some Harley Davidson tee-shirts with parachutes. Isaac snagged one. So we came away with 5 fleece Jazz blankets and a tee-shirt. The kids thought that was pretty cool. As the game went on, the kids had more fun cheering and yelling for the Jazz. It made it even more fun that the Jazz beat the Heat! Can you believe it! The Jazz were up by at least 20 points at one point in the game. Cordell said he would be comfortable with that lead against any other team, but against the Heat it wasn't a big enough lead. They did come back in the 4th quarter, but we were able to hold them off. The final score was 104-97. The kids were pretty excited to see the Jazz score over 100 points. It was fun watching the kids watch their first NBA game. We had nosebleed seats, but it was still fun. I'm glad that we were able to do this. Hopefully we will be able to go again some time.

Jr. Jazz and Irish Dance

Isaac started playing Jr. Jazz basketball last week.  After one practice they had their first game.  He plays on the Lakers team.  It was a hard fought game.  The boys did a great job for only have one practice before their first game.  They lost their game by only 3 points, 26-23.  Isaac made one basket.  He had a great rebound also.  He is loving basketball.  Kiley and Connor loved watching him play.

Kiley advanced in Irish dance.  She is in the intermediate class.  The girls in that class are all her age and older.  I think she will like it better.  She is excited to perform and compete.  She keeps asking when she is going to learn the hard shoe dances.  We need to start saving money for the hard shoes.  She will probably start learning it pretty soon.  Connor was asked to be in an Irish 8 hand dance.  The dance instructor picked out 8 kids that are 8 years old and under to do this dance.  She wants to have them perform it for different competitions and for the schools.  It looks like fun.  Connor is very excited about doing that dance.  He has a long day on Tuesday.  He has is regular dance class for 1 hour, then the 8 hand class for 30 min after.  He said he was exhausted after last Tuesday, but he loved it.  It will be fun when they start going to competitions. 

N.O.V.A. Graduation

Isaac had his N.O.V.A. graduation today.  N.O.V.A. stands for Nurturing, Opportunities, Values and Accountability.  It teaches the kids how to handle different situations and to make good choices even if they are hard choices.  It is kind of like D.A.R.E., but they go into more than "drugs are bad."  Isaac loved the class.  The detective that taught the kids did a great job with them.  He had some powerful videos he presented to the kids with his final remarks.  He told them that they can do anything they put their minds to, even if people tell them that it is too hard or that they can't do it.  I hope what he learned in that class will stay with him. They all received a certificate for completing the class and a tee-shirt with a wolf on it to remind them to think about "which wolf are you feeding?"  Isaac was pretty excited that the detective, principle, chief of police and the mayor of Logan were there at their graduation.   

Isaac getting his certificate.

Isaac shaking hands with Mayor Randy Watts.

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Bananas

It's a Christmas miracle!!!! Well maybe not, but it is a huge leap forward for Connor. He has been begging me every time we go to the store to buy bananas. I tell him he has to eat them if I buy them and he says he promises that he will. Do you think it has ever happened? Of course not! He will ask for a snack and I tell him there are bananas or apples or oranges. He goes for the oranges, never the bananas. Well it finally happened tonight! We went to the store earlier today and he, of course, wanted to buy bananas. So I did, and he promised that he would eat them. Well, tonight he asked for a snack and I said that we had the bananas. He was excited and said OK, I'll eat a banana. I made him eat it in front of me so I could verify he was actually eating it. He was saying that it was delicious, but his face said otherwise. But, he didn't gag, throw up, or go spit it out in the garbage. I think he is doing better on the texture thing, or at least learning how to tolerate it enough to eat certain things. I have noticed that the older he gets the more he is willing to try.

McCracken Christmas

It took a couple days, but we finally made it to grandma and grandpa's house for Christmas.  We got a lot of snow on Christmas Eve and it kept snowing.  We were supposed to leave for Green River on the 26th after I got off in the morning, but it was snowing, so we delayed our trip for 2 days.  We had a great "Christmas Eve".  The family home evening that grandma did was great.  The kids had a lot of fun.

Then of course there was the traditional Christmas Eve dinner of roasting hot dogs in the fire place and grandpa grilling hamburgers outside.  Can't forget all of the awesome salads and deserts that grandma makes.

After we all had our fill came the Christmas tree ornament making time.  The kids had fun filling their ornaments with the glow-in-the-dark sand.

Then they got their pj's that grandma made.

All the grandkids got to open one present then it was time for bed.  Santa had to come and drop off the presents of course.  And like all kids, about ever 30 minutes one would come downstairs with some excuse.  All of us adults had a ton of fun playing the game Apples to Apples.  It is a really fun game.  The kids kept telling us that we needed to got to bed so Santa would come.  After awhile we finally gave in and went to bed so Santa could pay us a visit.  8 am came very fast.  The kids had to wait in the front room for all the adults to gather down in the family room and take up their positions.  Then the fun began.  The kids all came downstairs and found their overflowing bins with their names on them.  They all loved what they got (thanks Miranda, Grandma and Grandpa!).

After the first round of present opening is a few hours to play with those toys.  Lunch time brings some wonderfully delicious soups of white chili and clam chowder in bread bowls.  After lunch is all over and we are done torturing the kids about when they get to do round 2, they got to open their presents from family.  Thank you to everyone for the gifts you got us.  We are enjoying them a lot.

Then comes a few more hours of playing with cousins and their new toys.  Then comes the best meal of all.  The Christmas dinner of Prime Rib!!!!  It was so delicious!  Loye did a great job once again this year of cooking the prime rib.  Maybe some day I will learn how to cook it :).  After we have our fill of the wonderful dinner we need to sit around and recover.  The kids get to play a little more and then the begging starts of when do they get to get their stockings!  Of course we have to torture them some more about begging.  After awhile of this teasing we finally give in and they got to get their stockings.

It was a great Christmas.  The kids had tons of fun playing with their cousins.  We had fun visiting with family.  Thanks to everyone for a great Christmas!