Vernon

We went to Vernon this weekend for Ethan's hockey tournament. Although the trip was pretty fun, the team didn't do as well as we hoped. We are now short 3 players, one broke his collar bone for the second time and is out for another 5 weeks, another has a possible fracture on his wrist, and the third is moving to Finland. Lots of change happening in a short time! I hope the team can pull through and finish the season on a winning streak.

Go Chiefs!

Chris Turns 33....finally

It is funny to think that Chris is 6 months younger than I am, but it is true..( although he acts much younger at times) We finally celebrated his 33 birthday on the 12th of January, a day late. We still haven't had time to go out to dinner, but that is what happens during busy season. 

At least we were able to sing him Happy Birthday with an ice cream cake. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

Hockey

2 weeks ago Ethan, Ella and I went to McCall for a hockey tournament, and Eli and Chris went to Nelson for a hockey tournament. I took a few pictures of McCall, which was a ghost town without any snow, and a photographer at the tournament snapped some great shots of Elijah. (He is number 14 in the red helmet.)

Ethan is number 87, with the colorful gloves

This was a cute bear statue in front of the Lake...it was too bright and they couldn't see me :)

The hockey rink

Ethan ran out on the frozen lake

Disney on Ice

Just now posting this picture from Toy Story Disney on Ice Elijah and I went to. This was lots of fun for Eli, although he was a little scared when we got there, not knowing what to expect. I remember taking Ethan to the first Toy Story Disney on Ice, so this was a special event for me!

Christmas

Ella wanted to pose today with her babies and new stroller she got for Christmas from her Grandma Florko. I am working on getting the rest of the pictures put on today.

Dee turns 90

Picture with Papa

singing happy birthday

all 90 candles lit 

We celebrated Dee's birthday a day early last weekend when they came down to visit. 90 candles on a cake is hot and hard to light fast enough so that all the wax doesn't cover the cake. It was pretty funny, but when all said and done we lit all 90 and sang happy birthday

Hockey

Eli scored his first goal today during his Jr. Mite hockey game!! He is too funny to watch out on the ice, for starters he is the smallest kid out there, and he is usually trailing behind the puck trying to catch it. Today they played three games and he did great! Here are his team pictures along with his individual picture with Ethan.

Elijah and Ethan 2011

Jr. Mite Raptors

(Can you see how happy Eli is to get his first team picture..usually there are no smiles in hockey pictures, the boys try to look tough)

Christmas Picture Attempts

My good friend Erin came over today to help us try and capture the perfect christmas picture. After many, many attempts we managed to capture a few good ones. Here are some out takes for you to enjoy.

Video of Eli Skating

Watch for the red helmet skating fast

Elijah playing hockey

Elijah is now playing hockey on the Jr. Mites Team "Raptors." Here are some pictures from their first game. He is number 14 in the red helmet.

Boise Getaway

I had the chance to make a quick weekend trip down to Boise to visit my family and my best friend from high school. I was able to come by myself, which rarely happens. Here are some pictures from my trip.

Ella turns 2

 opening presents with her two helpers

 baby!

 so excited she got a baby (notice the face in the background, I found about 5 more looking at the pictures)

 another little baby

This is her new smile we get every time we ask for a picture

Happy 2nd Birthday Ella

The many faces of Ella

Chris has been working on different facial expressions with Ella so I though I would capture and share some of them with you.

Back to School

We are back to school once again and things are sure different this year. Ethan is now a 7th grader, if you can believe that! He gets to get up early and ride the bus to school everyday, (not sure how long the excitement will last)  and he gets to go to 6 different periods each day with all different teachers. Today went smoothly and he didn't have any complaints, so far so good. I am going to try to snap a picture of him tomorrow getting on the bus...he he he :)

Elijah did not want to go back to school today, but once we arrived he didn't throw a fit and went right into his preschool class!!

Ella is always ready for school until we get there and then she grabs onto my leg and doesn't let go....why does this always happen to me. I want to be the dad sometimes and just wave goodbye like they do with him.

Well I didn't win the mom of the year award today and post back to school pictures like all my friends, but I had a good excuse..our carpet arrived today!!! I have been waiting for this day for the past three years. Pictures to follow

Ethan Wakeboarding for the first time

sorry this is sideways

Fun on the Lake

Yesterday we had a chance to go boating out on lake CDA with a good friend of mine from college and the kids and I had such a good time. Ella surprised me the most, I thought she would be scared, but it was just the opposite she was yelling and laughing and dancing the whole time. Elijah and Ella wouldn't get in the water, but the rest of us did and we had a blast, Ethan and I even tried wakeboarding for the first time...we need more practice!

Here are some pictures from our fun filled adventure :)

getting ready to head out on the water

 Ella wanted to drive most of the time so we let her try it out for a little bit

 This is as close to the water as Elijah got

 they wanted to sit at the front of the boat and Elijah was cheering the whole time

 we took a break to stop in at Eddie's and eat

 Ethan getting the wake board on his feet

in the water ready to go...I will post the video of him