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.

Christmas all month long.

Christmas Cruise with the Funks and Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson

This Christmas has been extra special this year. It seems like we have been celebrating the whole month of December. Since Alex was leaving on her mission early and we were going on our cruise for Christmas we all decided to celebrate Christmas early. So on Friday night Dec 10, we had our Christmas eve traditions. We first went to our super fun ward party that celebrated Christmas around the world. Then we came home and watched our annual Mr. Kruger's Christmas, opened up our Christmas jammies and went to bed and waited for Santa. And lucky for us he came!! Brooke, TJ, Madi and Steve all got a new memory foam topper and new sheets for their bed. We also opened up our exchange gifts from our siblings and cousins. The kids gave mom 2 fantastic picture bracelets. One with all 5 kids and one with just pictures of the "Golden Boy." They gave Dad some golf balls and socks. Brooke got awesome dishes from Eli, TJ got some soccer and jean shorts from Madi, Madi got some spending money from Steve and Steve got some spending money from TJ. We then had our Christmas morning omelets. And since we live with the Hartvigsen's we were bound to Uncle Greg's rule of Egg Nog. They all agreed it wasn't too bad when diluted with a lot of milk.

The next day we went to Alex's missionary farewell, said a tearful goodbye to her and then jumped in the van for our road trip to CA. We drove as far as Primm NV, just past Las Vegas. Then Monday morning we drove 4 more hours to Long Beach CA and hopped on our Carnival Cruise ship.

The cruise was so much fun. Of course there was tons of food. We had fun with kareoke, bingo, comedy nights, card games, book reading, swimming pool and more food!

At Catalina Island, we rented golf carts and drove around the beautiful island. Our day at Ensenada was spent shopping and watching "La Bufadora." We spent an hour at our own private beach.

Unfortunately, our two days at Disneyland turned into one wet and rainy day. We hit most of our favorite attractions but decided to skip a second soggy day at the park. The highlight of Disney was the new show called World of Color. It was an amazing show of water and lights. We saw it from the back and it was still wonderful, but someday we will have to see it from the front. Grandma and Grandpa were so great to help us with Eli both on the ship and taking him back to the hotel so he could get out of the rain. It was fun to have them on this trip with us.

Since we left for home a little early, we had time to see a movie in Las Vegas. The boys saw TRON and the girls saw Tangled. The next morning we left early, hoping to miss the storm. It was a little scary. We felt so blessed to make it home safe. There were were too many accidents.

We had the best Christmas ever making and sharing memories with eachother. We have the best family and the best times together.

Then, only a week later we celebrated the "real" Christmas. The Hartvigsen's were gone on their Christmas Vacation ( we both spent our trips in Rainy Southern California and their record breaking rainfall!!!) But Santa found us again!! This time the kids had one more gift to open from Mom and Dad. Brooke got a Clearplay DVD player for College, TJ got combat boots for ROTC, Madi got some indoor soccer cleats and Steve got a kinect game for the X box and Santa left one more gift for the family an X box with the Kinect. The kids were surprised and had fun all day with the new amazing technology.

Hartvigsen's returned later that day and we started a new tradition... family football game in the backyard. It was tons of fun. Hartvigsens beat Fergusons 6 to 5. Carol got a bloody lip from a tackle with Janice and we were ALL sore the next day!!

Eli's tricks and talents

Here is a listing of all that Eli can do at 13 months and 3 weeks old!! (I have already edited this post 3 times adding to the list... so really it is only as complete as my memory, which is really not very good.)

He can say:
Mama
Dada
Brookie Brooke
TJ (it sounds like cheesecake)
Dama (Grandma)
Jill
E... la (Eli)

baba
more
mine
no
Amen
Ho Ho Ho
Cho Cho
La La La
Jesus
Hi Dad (with a cell phone to his ear.)
Wow!!

Maaaaan O Man

SIGNS
more-bring fingers together and tap fingers together.
please-rub hand on chest in circle
chocolate-Tap finger's to forehead
All done-- twist wrists in the air

Brookie -hit hands to chest
TJ- poke nose
Madi - tap head
Steve- put finger in ear
Remote--press fingers together
Thank You- Bring hand down from chin
Binky- Put finger's to mouth
Fishy- Open and close mouth

ACTIONS
Fold arms
Point to :
Head, eyes, nose, ears, toes (Piggies)
Fold Arms
Jump like frog
Roll your arms
Pat a cake
Peek a Boo
Blow Kisses

He is an awesome dancer, he loves to read books and play with Steve's DS and X box. He is quite brilliant!!

He is so, super duper smart. It helps that he has 12 teachers wanting him to learn new things!!

Hartvigsen Family Christmas Party Jan 1 2011

December is so busy that we couldn't celebrate Christmas until New Years Day. We had 38 people there. We missed Louise, Amber, Alicia, Alexis and Travis. Aaron, Josephine and Allegra, Karl, Ashley and Dean and Michael and of course Steven Webb and Grandma Janice who were watching from above I am sure. We had a delicious assortment of Soups (The Borschte sp? in honor of Anna's upcoming adventure to Kiev was surprisingly delicious.) We had rolls, desserts and a YUMMY chocolate fountain. The best part of the party (besides visiting with all of wonderful family) was our $5 gift card exchange. Grandpa Jay started the game and promptly choose the Pink Victoria Secret gift box. He was tricked though, it was a Khol's gift card. We had a great selection of cards from Barnes and Noble, YOGOTO, Subway, Little Ceasars, In and Out burger, Deseret Book, Seagul Book, Sams Club, Pepperbellys, Autozone, 7-11, and of course Victoria Secret.Grandpa Jay and Grandma Liz gave the best gift card. Grandpa offered up a the bearer a clip of ammunition for his new Colt 45. Grandma Liz offered 2 loaves of her famous homemade bread. We always have a good time with our family!!! We

Ho Ho --Oh No Not Santa

Eli could really do with out Santa this year. Although, he really liked him from afar, he DID NOT LIKE to sit on Santa's lap. He did master "What does Santa say?" "Ho Ho Ho!! The picture of Eli with Santa at the mall is no differerent. Santa is a really great guy as long you don't have to get to close to him. We had a Polar Express party on Dec. 22, 2010 with my daycare kids. They came in their PJ's and and got a ticket to ride the Polar Express. We play games, colored pictures, made cookies, made a necklace fore their mommies, wrote letters to Santa,read books and watched the movie. Just as the movie ended we heard bells jingling upstairs. We ran up to see who was making the noise and couldn't believe it!! Santa had come to our "Pretend Christmas Eve." He had recieved our letters and brought gifts and candy canes and a jingle bell for everyone who
BELIEVED! Our Santa was really special. As he talked to the kids, his accent kept changing. It was pretty funny! We had a great time and mom owed TJ big time!!

Mommy's Baby Bird has left the Nest

Today is the day that all Mommys dread. The day that we think really will never come. But it does come and your heart is happy and sad all at the same time. I was lucky, I got an extra year and a half at home with my baby. She wasn't ready to leave after graduation and I was glad. But even though she is scared to death and stepping way out of her comfort zone, she is ready now. I know she is ready because she has a strong grasp of who she is and what is truly important. Brooke has always had a mature spirit and she has been teaching me about obedience and goodness since she was just a baby. I know it's not fair that I got such an easy child. I definately won the parent lottery with her!! She has been my best friend and helper for 20 years and now it is time that I let go and share her with the world. I don't know what I will do without her to back me up. She has been my right hand for so long, I don't know how to get things done with only 2 hands. The good news for all of us is that Provo is only an hour away and long distant phone bills are a thing of the past. So we can have instant communication and still be a part of everything we might be missing. So my Brookie, we will be BRAVE and we will have FAITH. This will be such a fun, wonderful and growning experience for you and well... a growing experience for me. I love you Brooke!!