Burgers, Bowling and Baby!!

No mutual, no soccer, no play practice. The whole family was free tonight to do something together. We decided on Dinner and Bowling. Aunt Jill graciously agreed to watch Eli so we could all go have fun (he is such a handful whenever we go out.) When I told the kids we were leaving him home, all 4 begged to bring him along. The best part was that they all helped chase him the whole night. They love their little brother so much. This made my "Mother Heart" so happy!

Weekend in Happy Valley

We just finished a fantastic weekend of fun and culture. It started Friday night March 4th when we all went to opening night of the DHS play "To Kill a Mockingbird." Tricia Webb played the lead role of Scout. She did such a great job playing a tough little girl trying to understand the awful injustice and racism of the South in the 1950's. Tricia was so believable, there wasn't one moment in the play that she wasn't truly in character. It is a difficult story and you wish the out come was different, but it tells the unfortunate reality so well. Great job Tricia... we were so proud of you.Saturday morning after 2 early soccer games we piled in the van and hurried off to Provo to go see the highly anticipated art exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. The Carl Bloch "Touch of the Master's Hand" Exhibit. We had heard rave reviews of the exhibit and were thrilled to be able to take the kids and see it ourselves. We recruited Janice, Abbey and Katie to be a part of our family for the weekend. TJ declined the trip thinking that if he even set foot in Provo, let alone to go to the BYU campus, he might be considered a BYU Fan... which he assures us he is not!

The exhibit was so wonderful. They had 5 of the large alter pieces and about 45 smaller works.

Carl Bloch was not really appreciated until many years after his death, but we have all seen his works in the LDS collection of pictures (FHE Manuals, Magazine covers, gospel pictures etc.) The picture above is of the King's Oratory in Denmark where he created 23 painting of the life of Christ and it took him 15 years to complete (I think ...)

"Christ healing the beggar at the Pool of Bethesda" is owned by the Church and is a huge painting that is so realistic you feel like you could walk up the steps and be there in person.

"Christ and doubting Thomas"

"Christ and the Young Child"

This was such a great experience. We only could stay for about an hour because Eli had reached the max on his "goodness meter" and we didn't want his shrill screams to ruin the experience for others. But, as in all things in this life, we take what we get!

THEN...

on to the next adventure in our fun Utah County weekend. "The Jimmer Show"

After the art exhibit, we ate lunch at the "Cougar Eat" and then hit the bookstore for some matching Jimmer T's. Yes, we got lots of looks, I think we were even a bit strange for "Happy Valley."

Coming through the tunnel towards the Marriott Center. It looks like we were glowing. We were pretty happy to be there.

Let the Show begin!

Eli took it all in, there was so much to see. He did pretty good during the first half , but after that... not so much. I walked the concourse with him and he enjoyed flirting with all of the other baby girls that were out wondering the concourse too. He did no,t however, enjoy a picture with Cosmo. He was crying and squirming out of my arms when we posed for a quick picture with Cosmo. It was the Santa Photo all over again.

All's well that ends well... the Cougars beat Wyoming 102 to 77 and proved to themselves and to others that they could play well with out Brandon Davis (who was just suspended for Honor Code Violations) The Jimmer Show was awesome! Shawn's life was complete (well almost... we do have a few other life goals, but this was big!)

THE END

Actually, the weekend adventures were still in full swing.
Our next stop was to the Legacy Center to look at all of the Cougar Sports Memorabilia. It was a lot of fun. Here were some of our favorite pictures.

The one picture that is missing from our Legacy Center experience was the one of Brooke pointing to the Ty Detmer Heisman trophy. She was just a small baby when Detmer won and one of her first words was, "Ty." We would say "Who won the Heisman Brookie" and she would put up her # 1 finger and say "Ty" so cute. I'm sorry I couldn't get the picture of 20 years later posted here.

Cougar Fans!

THE BEST BURGER IN PROVO

The kids think we are a little crazy when we stop at Tommy Burger. We ohh and ahh all the way through our yummy chili burger. The carrot based chili is so delish... we are true fans. Usually the kids request a stop for them at Wendy's but this trip they were willing to branch out and give it a try and I think for the most part, they liked it too. Shawn and I, well, we enjoyed every bite.

We stayed the night at the Provo Marriott aka know as

"The Excelsior" circa 1990.

It was a bit surreal coming back to the place that Shawn worked 20 years ago but this time as a paying customer with 7 kids (of course not all of them were ours, but no one there knew that.) We must have been quite the site parading in... all nine of us in our Jimmer shirts.

The kids were thrilled to swim and Eli liked sitting on the top step of the hot tub.
For the most part, Eli wasn't a big fan of the water and just think we get to do another series of swimming lessons again someday.

After the pool we went back to the rooms, enjoyed a little Les Miserable on PBS, read, played games and snoozed.

We had a nice relaxing Sunday morning before we headed south to Spanish Fork to be there for Dean Kelly Webb's blessing. We had such a nice time visiting and celebrating baby Dean. I can't believe we don't have any pics of the party.

Then, as all good things must come to an end, we dropped our Brookie off at her apartment and headed home, all the while thinking and planning when we could do it all over again.

BEIBER FEVER

So for months and months my girls have been mocking Justin Beiber. "Oh he's so dumb... He is so cheesy...I don't really like him." I heard it all and then, the power of peer pressure took over. "Mom, can I go to the Justin Beiber Concert with my friends... I don't really like him, I just think it will be fun to go to the movie with my friends." So Madi and her sister and cousins and friends went to the movie on Friday afternoon. That's all it took. Beiber Fever hit! (Actually, everyone I have talked to about the movie really liked it!) I think it would really be great if one child star that is sky rocketed into fame, could hold it togehter, stay in reality and not totally blow their life by making stupid decisions. Just a hope!

Eli (as usual) is the star of the video. He quite enjoyed dancing with all the girls. He picked up the lyrics "Mine, Mine, Mine" no problem. Hmmmm?!?!?!

****ALL THAT GLITTERS****

Just knowing that the next day was a holiday (President's Day) was reason enough to start the celebration. We decided there were 70 toes that needed "Bedazzling" Something a some funky nail colors and shiny glittler could fix.

BEFORE:

Add a little delicous, scrumptious, tempting chocolate oat bars to the mix and you have a REAL PARTY!!

Steve and Shawn had to validate their Man Card buy using tools and building something while all of the sparkles were being applied. Steve built his awesome Bird House for Webelos.

Poor Eli had to be contained behind the gate... too big of a risk to have him at large with all of that glitter and fingernail polish accessible. He was a good sport being banned from the festivities.

AFTER:

Voila!! The finished product!! Oh Oops... it looks like a tiny foot crashed the party!

More Tricks....

I tried to get another video of Eli showing his new tricks. He was moderately cooperative. But we get what we get! Enjoy! We sure do!!

SURPRISE!!!

SURPRISE!! Oh how we love surprises as our house. Our latest surprise was last Thursday February 3 when Brooke, Eli and I checked Madi and Stevie out of school to go to lunch. I had been promising them for weeks we would go. So when Brooke, "unexpectedly" came home because her school had the equivalent to "teacher prep" days, we told the kids to expect us to pick them up for lunch.

Since Brooke was home, I told her she could pick where to eat. We had pre arranged for her to choose "Panera Bread." So when the kids were in the car (and the bags were secretly packed in the back, she said, "lets go to Panera Bread for lunch." I said, "OK but I the only Panera Bread that I know of is in Kansas City." Madi said, "I knew it!!!" She had picked up on our clues and little slips up and was on to our great surprise. Steve, didn't have a clue. He kept saying "I don't get it!" "Wait, what??" "Oh my brain hurts, what is going on?" So it was half a surprise. We drove to the airport, parked the car and hopped on a plane to takes us to snowy Kansas City. That was no small feat since it Grandma and Grandpa 2 days to get to Kansas City because of the massive snow storm..."the storm of the century."

Grandpa Ike and Uncle Marc left the Ritterb's house to "run to Home Depot" But instead of a new wax ring for the toilet, they brought home 5 excited Fergie cousins instead. (BTW, I think we are way more cool than a wax ring for a toilet!!)

Eli loved all of Noah and Zion's cool new toys. Little Z did not quite think it was so nice to share all of the cool toys. Anything Eli picked up, she promptly took from him. Most of the time, he didn't mind, he would just move to the next toy. But every once in a while, he held his ground and a battle ensued.

Friday Morning, the McAtees's came over to practice the song for the baptism. How cute are 3 babies at a piano?

Friday night had one more surprise in store. Just in time for family prayer, the doorbell rang and it was Daddy who came to join in our fun weekend. Once again, Madi figured it out (thanks to Aunt Kiera blowing the surprise:) She didn't know that was our last surprise.) I think even Steven was guessing, if not hoping Dad would show up. We were all sad that we would miss watching the Packer's SuperBowl with him. TJ opted to stay home this weekend and we missed him, but we know he loves to be with his buddies.

Ammon's baptism was a sweet experience and we were so happy to be a part of it. He was just glowing after he was baptized. Thanks Ritterb's and Grandma and Grandpa for making this fun trip possible.

Sunday after Church we made a stop at the new Kansas City temple site. It was freezing cold but we had to snap a pic of these cute cousins in front of the future temple. We are so happy that the Saints in that area will have a temple near by... what a blessing!

We had to show off Eli's signs to everyone and Aunt Kiera promptly taught Eli a sign for her name and he did not disappoint, he learned it right away.

AUNT KIERA

On Friday we went with Kiera to Build A Bear Workshop so she could get her special baptism bear for Ammon. "I will Bear the name of Jesus Christ." They had a Green Bay Packer bear. Well.... the Packers, our favorite team, were in the SuperBowl (that's a big deal at our house) and Eli is the Golden Boy.... so I couldn't resist. Shawn taught Eli to pump his fist and say Packers, Packers. Packers! (usually, it is just a fist pump and we say the words.)

Our first SuperBowl in KC was tons of fun. Lots of YUMMY treats and food and of course our traditional points game.

Madi and Jordie did an excellent job administering the game and the GREEN BAY PACKERS did an excellent job of winning the game (Although we were sweating bullets for a few minutes at the end of the game.)

I don't have a picture of the final product, but Grandpa, Shawn and Marc had a work party and tiled the kids bathroom while we were there. It looked great, but there were a lot of moaning and groaning the next day from the "old" workmen.

Monday Grandma and Grandpa took the whole clan to "Godfather's Pizza" to celebrate Sharmayn's birthday later this month. That was her favorite place to eat. We always try to remember her by eating pizza on February 16, but this was the first time we were ever able to eat together at Godfather's in her honor.

We had a few hours before our flight left to play "Just Dance" and "Rock Band." Who knew our family had so much talent. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and we had pack our bags and come home. There were lots of tears and sad hugs when left. The sadness when we left was a result of all the good times that we had. Until next time RitterB's ...


Our sad ride to the airport was even harder, because we had to keep Eli awake so that he would sleep on the plane ride home. We timed it just right. He was so sleepy by take off and we were home free... almost. Just before we were to take off, there was a small mechanical problem with the cargo door sensor. So we taxied back to the gate for maintenance to work on it. Eli, just like we planned, fell asleep and slept the entire 2 1/2 hours that we sat on the plane and just when we should have been landing, he woke up. He was done being in that plane! And for the next 2 hours and 45 min he cried and coughed and thrashed around. It was an absolutely miserable experience for him and for us. I was so glad Shawn was on our return flight to help me out. But all's well that ends well and we all made it home safely.

Because we got home so much later than we had planned,Uncle Greg and Aunt Jill met us at the airport with Brooke's car so she could drive straight to Provo. We got home about midnight. But we had a fun surprise to welcome us home. TJ and Bronte upgraded their aquarium to a pretty new 20 gallon tank. It is a pretty sweet setup. Those two love their fish!!

Winter Wonderland

We made the cold, snowy trip northward to Grandpa Jay's beautiful Aspen Hollow. On the agenda... HAVE FUN!!! and have fun we did. We love going to the farm in the winter time. It has the best sledding and snowmobiling around. Everyone also loves to target shoot at our own private shooting range. Grandpa Jay's has passed his down his hobby and love of fire arms to all the grandchildren. Janice and all the girls love to shoot the 22. That is a fun gun to learn about shooting.

Steve at age 10 is already an expert marksman. He hit the target 13 of 15 shots two times in a row.

Daniel came with us. He is lots of fun to be around. He was our resident fire man and kept us warm the whole time. He knows the farm inside and out and took good care of us. He coached TJ's friend Bronte to a win in the Farming Game. He may have a future in farm advisory. It was all of the girls greatest desire to get our hands on his luscious curls. A little hair product, a pick and a diffuser... oh the things we could do with those locks. But of course, he denied us that pleasure.

THE SMOKING GUN

TJ loves shooting all of Grandpa's guns. He didn't even need hearing protection with the Russian hat that Grandpa Ike brought back so many years ago.

Uncle Greg... the professional soldier taking a little target practice. I think he is used to a little bigger guns and ammo.

The highlight of target practice is always blowing up things. This time, with the help of an explosive called tannerite, mom's old laptop got it's just reward! (I only wish, I could have been the one to pull the trigger on that one, that laptop cause me so much grief!!!) It was an awesome explosion. There must be a little bit of pyromania in all of us.

Madi took a little tumble on the sledding hill and she wasn't in any mood to smile for the camera.

TJ and Bronte had a great time sledding and tubing. They made a great 4 person train with Tyler and Liz ( a few wipe outs made it really fun to watch.)

Steve and Janice were fearless on the tubing hill.

Grandpa Jay's Polaris Ranger is a beast in the snow. It has lots of power and is a great snow taxi. Sledding at the farm is so fun because there are lots of snow vehicles that can shuttle the kids and their rides to the very top of the hills. Soo0000 Spoiled! When I was young we had to walk up hill in the snow...

Brooke loves the farm so much. She always tells me that all of the effort to get up there is soooo worth it. She is right!! Eli didn't really love his time in the snow. Although, he was toasty warm, he was very nervous when someone would get on something that would slip and slide in the snow. After a while (and when with his binky) he was content to be a spectator to all of the fun.

You would think that at 14 months old, this was Eli's first snowmobile ride. But it wasn't. He actually had his first experience playing in the snow when he was just 2 months old. We knew he was going to be a spoiled baby.....

Well, as always we had such a fun time. We played lots of games, watched movies, (of course yummy food is always involved) blew things up, SNOW boarded, SNOW mobiled, SNOW sledded and SNOW tubed. We love Aspen Hollow in the winter. Thanks Grandpa Jay for sharing your little piece of Paradise.