Family Love

As Valentine's Day approached, one heard lots of commercials about love and how much do you love your husband, family, children, and friends.  This Hallmark holiday made me think about how important family is to me and that I may not always let my family and friends know how much they mean to me.  This Valentine's Day, I wanted to acknowledge my special family.

Every night, we have the boys say their nightly prayers (Garrett is better about this than Tyler, but we are working on it). The boys ask God to please "bless my family near and far".  This is what Tyler will say, but Garrett will then name everyone in his family.  Even though we are not always near our family, we think of everyone often.  I have realized as I was working on this entry, I don't take as many pictures of the family we see often.  It seems that I make a point to take pictures of the boys with family who are visiting or when we go places, but I do not have many pictures of the family we see the most (including me and the boys).

I am thankful for all of Justin's and my family members.  Each and every one of our family members are unique and special.  They touch our lives and make differences for us without sometimes realizing they are doing it.  No matter what life may bring, we always have family we know we can count on.

I am thankful for my family and I love everyone.  Tyler and Garrett love their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents, their aunts and uncles, their cousins and all of the other family members I did not mention.  We hope all of our family knows how much you mean to us and that we love everyone, even if we are not close together physically.  We hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Ice Fishing

On January 2, 2010, we went ice fishing with our friends Robie and Kurt on Canyon Ferry Lake.  Their nieces were there along with some of their other friends and Kurt's dad.  We invited a friend of mine from work and her two kids to come along too.  Mike also went out with us.  The ice was 15-16 inches thick that day.  We all had lots of fun.

There were six fish caught while we were out on the lake.  Everyone had caught at least one fish except for Kurt's dad.  He caught two fish while we were there.  Garrett loves to help dig the holes in the ice.  He also loves to hold the fishing poles and jig them.  I am always truly amazed that he sits still for that considering Garrett usually does not sit still unless a movie is playing that he likes.  Garrett seems to like fishing more than Tyler.  Tyler likes to be on the move.  Trish's little girl loved to help catch the fish along with Garrett. 

Besides fishing, people were playing hocky, ice skating, four wheeling, and sledding.  Kurt brought out his tiny grill and we grilled hotdogs and drank hot chocolate.  Tyler was playing hockey and he fell on the ice and hit his head.  We had him put on his bike helmet to protect his head.  It seemed like a good idea until he fell and hit his cheek.  After that, Tyler had to wear his four wheeler helmet when he was playing on the ice.  Even though Tyler had a few little mishaps, he had lots of fun!  He enjoyed playing with the other kids and getting out.  We all had fun out playing on the ice.  This was one of the first times when the wind has not been blowing when we have been out on the ice.  It was a beautiful, fun filled day spent with good friends.