January

January! I'm catching right up! Here's what we did in January-

We were lucky enough to have a snocross race close to home in Sandy, UT. I met up with my sister Julie to shop an amazing sale at Old Navy. Here is Palmer (far left) with his cousins, Kate, Scott and Austin. I'm taking a guess at which one is which. I can't tell them apart yet. I need to spend more time with them! They were all so well behaved. We were able to get some awesome deals!
Here is Garth, snuggling with the boys in the hotel room in Sandy. He's probably one of the only pro racers who does this the night before a race. He balances being a devoted dad and a serious, focused racer very well.Dexter has really picked up crawling and climbing. He climbs to the top of the stairs now in a blink of an eye. I really have to watch him closely!

We went to Aspen, Colorado for the Winter X-Games. Garth and his teammates left 2 days before me. I took on the two boys for a full day of airline travel husband-less. I, of course, was chosen for the full search/pat down because of my baby food (it was sealed, I didn't want them to open them all to test them. They would have gone bad...). It was quite invasive. They even patted down Dexter and a man tried to pat down Palmer but he was not having it. I didn't blame him. Random stranger with blue latex gloves on? I'm glad Palmer was stand offish. I guess it was 'good enough' since there wasn't any bomb residue on myself or Dex. I guess I'll take it for the security of our country...

The weather in Aspen was amazing. Sunny and mid 40's. It was a blast.Here is the living room of the house we stayed in. It was amazing. When we first got there, everyone had to check out all the rooms. The kids were all squealing with delight! It kept going on and on. I never did figure out how many rooms there were. We stayed with one of the team owners and his family, his brother and family, a couple of the mechanics, and a few others. We had such a fun time. I felt like part of the family. We cooked meals together, the kids all played...it was great.

The view from the back patio. Way in the background, up on the mountainside is where the X-Games took place. I also got to go shopping in downtown Aspen, but didn't take any pictures.The starting line. Garth is down on the end.

Panoramic of the snocross track.

Thanks Garth for working so hard for the life we have. We say all the time that right now is what we'll refer to later as "the good ole' days".

December

December was a super busy, time flying when you're having fun, month.

Dexter won't stop growing, despite my repeated requests. But gosh he's cute. Palmer finds ways to entertain himself with just about anything. Here he is w/two empty cereal boxes. One for his head and one for his toy's head.

We went home to Wyoming to visit our family and even got a visit from Aunt Darcie!

Here is Dexter, Palmer and their cousin Zoie riding the car together.

Here's Grandpa showing Palmer how to sneak around the house and shoot things with the Nerf gun. Lot's of giggling from both parties.

We left Dexter with my mom and went for a short snowmobile ride to find a Christmas tree. Garth spotted this one.Garth carried the tree out on the running board. This picture doesn't do the awkward trip home justice.

Every year we exchange ornaments. This year, we picked out a Cars ornament for Palmer. To him, every semi is Mack, every sporty red car is McQueen. Here he and Garth are putting it on the tree. Palmer makes the best faces!Dexter got the "1" ornament since it was his first Christmas.

Garth got me an awesome jacket to wear while cycling. I can't wait for cycling weather!Christmas eve jammies! Another Christmas tradition.

Dexter is wearing one of Garth's sweaters from his baby days.

Our wonderful friend, Shirley and I made a Christmas Eve's Eve dinner for my parent's and little sister, Rachel. She has been a long time family friend and was so much fun to cook with. She makes everything a party!

Garth and Palmer using Grant's loader to clear out the driveway. We had plenty of snow during December.

Grant pulled the cousins (plus my sisters Rachel and Whitney) around behind the snow machine.

Palmer got a nerf gun from his Aunt Rachel. We taught him how to use the scope to aim. I'm pretty sure he got the target!

After we did Christmas morning festivities at our home, we went over to my parents' for the afternoon. Palmer got this hot wheels set-he was so excited about it-I couldn't get a picture of him looking at me.

November...finally

In November, Garth turned 27. He has a little more salt sprinkled in with his pepper and I love it. I have seen him grow from a young 16 year old punk into an amazing man, father, and husband.

We got to catch up with life long friends Shirley and her son Shannon. They have been great family friends since I was a little girl in California. We are so lucky to have Shirley living in Driggs now so we get to see her all the time. Everything is a party with Shirley. I have wonderful childhood memories of Shirley and her family. I'm thrilled to have her around and my boys love love love her!

While we were packing to move to Minnesota for the snocross season, Palmer needed to use/wear whatever he could get his hands on as it went into the box.

We've moved ourselves to Minnesota in the first part of November for the past 6 years. We come back at the end of March. Garth races snocross professionally. He races for an awesome generous family that always makes sure to have a spot for me and the boys to join Garth. Here's the team's website: www.christianbrosracing.com
This is the darling house we get to live in this winter. This picture was taken when we first moved here. It was snowy and cold when we left Idaho and arrived here with beautiful fall weather.

Palmer enjoying the last days of nice weather on his trike.

Dex on our walk. He is such a beautiful little boy. Inside and out.
Here's what they do when mother nature doesn't provide. This is one of the snow guns that throws inches upon inches down in no time. This is at the team's personal practice track. Man made snow is what most of the race tracks are made out of on the circuit.

October

October went like this-
We had a visit from Garth's sister Darcie. We went over to Garth's dad's neighbors and rode their horse.
Here's Palmer feeding the Kaufman's big old draft horse. He was a little intimidated at first but enjoyed it.
Darcie, Zoie, and Mindy.
How fun is Great Grandma Marian? This is in her yard, just up the road from our house. It's a teeter totter and a helicopter. Zoie and Palmer are riding inside while Marian and her daughter-in-law teeter the kids.

Here is Darcie holding Dexter who is growing up soooo fast! It was such beautiful weather!

We couldn't get enough of Darcie so the next weekend, I took the boys along w/Garth's mom, Tina and sister, Mindy down to Logan for more Q.T. We went to see some amazing bright red salmon that were spawning. It was incredible to see them swimming upstream to lay their eggs. I wish I could have captured their color on camera but couldn't. Something you will have to see for yourself.
Here is Zoie, Cooper, Andrew, Dexter, Mindy, Palmer and Tina. Darcie and I were behind the camera, not pictured.

Grandma Tina made sure Palmer didn't fall in and made sure he had a constant supply of sticks to throw in the water and watch run downstream.

Logan had the best farmer's market. There was a great little playground that the kids played at while we took turns looking shopping around.

Andrew, Darcie, Dexter and Zoie.

I put Dexter down on his blanket to play and Zoie put her baby next to him and then herself. I had to share the picture. She loves Dexter and took such good care of him.

October 24th we got a bunch of snow. Palmer woke up and said: "Build a snowman!" So we couldn't resist taking him out to play in it and building a snowman.

Halloween:
Palmer was a monkey, Dex was a shark. We went to Boo at the Zoo w/my best friend Beth and her 3 adorable kids. It was a blast. I love Halloween and dressing up the boys.

We of course took the boys trick or treating to their grandparents. Here is Palmer and his Grandma Tini having a whisk sword fight.
Dex with his Grandma Beth.

Palmer hugging and kissing his brother. They are becoming such good friends.

We carved pumpkins as well-here is Garth's. It turned out the best so it deserves a solo photo to really show it off. Garth is so artistic. He just free handed this!

Here are all of our pumpkins on our porch. Garth's on top, then Dexter's, mine, and Palmer's Mater pumpkin.