January started with sledding and more sledding. First we went with the Jewkes' Family and Kanani and Maile to a small park close to home. It was the little ones, Maile and Olivia's, first time out. They are so darn cute. This trip was extra enjoyable. Why? Both boys can carry their own sleds back up the hill. One of the first transitions from babies to boys that I did NOT cry about. It was awesome. I certainly burned fewer calories, but enjoyed myself much more.

We headed up to Gorgoza Park for Josie's 4th Birthday. A tradition that we have come to eagerly anticipate. If you have not been there, do yourself the favor. It's great. There is a tow rope that pulls you up the hill and then various sizes of hills to go down. Seems a little safer, have never seen anyone crash and again, it is the lazy man or women's sledding. The Jewkes' rent a warming yurt for the birthday festivities which is pretty cool too. Sledding is the only real reason to have snow as far as I am concerned. Once again, the only boys there.....one day they will appreciate this. Look at those cute girls.

Ringing in 2010

We did have a really fun New Year's Eve.....2 and a half months ago. We did not have a babysitter, so instead of hanging out with friends like we usually do we packed up the kids and went to, ready for this, West Valley City. A long 7 to 10 miles away from our home. The boys had their eyes on this new hotel that has a big enclosed slide that can be seen from the outside of the building. I decided to make reservations there for a quiet night of swimming. Thought that we would have the pool to ourselves, it is New Year's for Pete's sake. Wrong!!! Me and everyone else had the same idea. Even saw 2 people I went to high school with. That's always awesome to see someone you haven't seen in 15 years while you are in a swimsuit. We swam, ate, swam, watched a movie and swam again. We were in bed by 10 o'clock. Woke up feeling like a million bucks too. It was so much fun. The boys loved it and so did Nolan and I. We are going to make it a yearly get away. Maybe not always on New Year's, but at some point in the long winter.

Look Mom, 2010!

Tucked in and ready for shut eye by 10:00, it was New Year's somewhere.

Soft Hearted Hippies..........

The boy's are saying and doing the funniest things lately. Most notably is their obsession with whether you are "a hippie, a hobo or a hillbilly." I'm not sure what this means. I mean, at least Cy doesn't cry about it anymore. When he was in kindergarten he came home upset one day because another little boy had called him a "hippie." He didn't know what it meant but he knew that he did not like it. If you have seen the movie Up, maybe you have giggled at the part where the old man yells to one of the people who are trying to kick him out of his home, "Take a bath, Hippie," this has become a family favorite, but I'm not sure where the hobo or hillbilly comes from.



Cole is at the age where I could just freeze him in time forever, although I felt the same way about 2 and 3 years old. As I have mentioned before he is my more aggressive, feisty kid. He is also my tender hearted little man. The other day as we sat in the dark watching TV he wanted me to come into his fort he had built. As he went to lead the way with his flashlight, he flashed it in my face and then said these kind words, "Eww. Mom you like kinda old like that." Thanks Bud, that's not very nice. In his sweetest little voice, "No Mom, I meant kinda pig-ish and crazy." So, I crawled into the fort and pretended to cry. He crawled in next to me and said," I think I am going to have to cry too." The waterworks started flowing. Of course, Nolan and Cy thought his comments were hilarious so they were laughing. After Cole stopped crying, he proceeded to yell at both of them for laughing. He has also cried another time he thought he hurt my feelings, during Avatar and Where the Wild Things Are. The first time I recall him crying out of sympathy was on a road trip with E.T. on the playing on the DVD player. I had looked back to see him looking not quite right but didn't think to much of it. Finally I asked him what was the matter and he just broke down. I had to insist that he finish watching the movie to see that E.T. survives. Anyway, he is really a sympathetic little guy, I just love him.

Then last week Cy had had a nightmare. Apparently, he was still having it when he woke up. He told me, "I'm not even going to tell you what I was dreaming about. It's too sad." Of course, he did and he said that he dreamed that my Dad got a new dog then killed it because it would stop jumping on people (pretty harsh for a softy like my Dad). Anyway, he tried to tell me about it without crying, but was unsuccessful. Cole was listening to this all and then he started to cry. When my Dad got there, Cy was still mad at him. He needed a "few more minutes." Needless to say, I was late for work, the morning started out rough, but within several minutes everyone was okay. Cy loves dogs. I love him.

I want to order a blog book so bear with me while I get caught up. There's much to catch up about, really all of Summer 2009 for this post.

First up, the Brady Family reunion. This year, the first in many years, we did away with the fancy cabins we have rented and took it back to our roots at Old Folks Flat in Huntington Canyon. This was my Grandma Marge's favorite camping spot and had been the site of many reunions. I loved it. We had so much fun. We painted rocks (many, many rocks), the kids did a scavenger hunt and played lots of games, fished and hiked. We did plenty of visiting and eating and just took the time to enjoy each others company. This year Candy and Jenny, my uncle Rick's daughter's, got to come. That was exciting, I had not seen them for a few years. This is a weekend I look forward to each year.

Me, Heather and Richelle

Grandpa Bob and his kids

All the Little Cousins

Cy turned 7. For his birthday, my Mom treated him to a day at Seven Peaks Water Park. Uncle Mike, Cole and I tagged along. Cy is really brave and was hard to keep up with all day. We had a great time. I love my Cyborg so much. He is so thoughtful, kind and smart. I can't believe how quickly he is growing. He makes me very proud.

We held our annual Skibypalooza Festivities with the giant water slide and lots of our friends and family....and lots of girls. Usually the boys are outnumbered 4 to 1. It my favorite day of the summer.

Cole turned 4. I thought we had an agreement about this. Four is the hardest birthday. They just aren't babies anymore. Of course, he'll always be mine. He is a hilarious kid who is at that age where you just want to freeze him in time. He is our much more feisty child but still has a such a tender heart. He's my precious Angel, just ask him.

We did lots of swimming this year. The boys took lessons all summer long. It was Cy's first year of traditional school so we had a long summer. We all had a wonderful time enjoying the lazy days of summer. Look at those tans too. They certainly do not have my pail skin. I love summer!!!

Rockin' On!!

My Mom scored some last minute tickets to the American Idol concert. Cy and Ashlee came too. We went to dinner first and then off to the concert. It was time for Cy to learn how fun concert night is. The concert was surprisingly good. Don't get me wrong, I love me some American Idol but I thought it might be heavy on the cheesy scale. Instead it was highly enjoyable. I am enjoying the days that Cy is still not embarrassed by his mother shakin' her booty. I was the ONLY one in my section to dance it out to P.Y.T. Cy was precious. Dancing and clapping. Although not so much when I needed him during P.Y.T. He was absolutely exhausted by the end of it but he wants to do it again this year (Did ya hear that Granny?)

Cy, Cohen, Cole and Skylee....cuties!

September brought the Skiby Family Reunion, a first. I used my love for event planning to throw this shin dig together. We rented a cabin just East of Park City. It was really nice to have everyone together. We played games, Wii, watched movies and Nolan and I got to sneak out to the Parade of Homes since this landed on our 12th anniversary. We also spent some time in the hot tub which then had us spending time at Insta Care/ER with a case of folliculitis. Darn it. Good times anyway.

The Skiby's


Low light of the end of summer, Cole's crash. Cole was being watched by an uncle, who shall remain nameless, when he crashed on his bike. Yielding these nasty boo-boos. Apparently he was a brave little man. I wasn't as brave when I got the pictures sent to me at work on my cell phone followed by hearing his sad little voice.

Cole played his first year of t-ball. He was more excited than I thought he would be. Also, he was just such a good boy. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say but we had some super naughty kids on our team. So more than I was proud of his good hits, I was proud of him being respectful to his coaches and team mates.

Finally, the Payoff....an awesome trophy.

It was a great summer...cannot wait until June to do it all over again.

I believe....

Last night when I thought all was quiet for the evening, Cy asked me to come to his room. He asked me if I still believe in Santa Claus. I explained to him not only do I believe, I know Santa is real. He asked how I knew and I fell back on a precious story a good friend had told me this year. I am telling this second hand so I may have some of the details wrong, but this is how I remembered the story.
I told Cy that when our friends mother was 14 years old her mother was sick in the hospital on Christmas Eve (the real story is that she passed away just days before Christmas, but that was too much for me to explain). Being the oldest of 5, and without her father around, she was very worried about the younger children. She worried that many of the rumors that she had heard from those who do not believe may be proved true. As she settled in for the night there was a knock at the door and when she answered it, who should be standing there but Santa. He delivered Christmas dinner and gifts for all the children, more than they had ever remembered receiving before. From that day forward Santa's existence and magic was never doubted again.
As I was telling him, I had gotten to the part where Santa arrives and I had asked him who he thought was at the door and he said "WHO?" I'm not sure who else he thought it might be but I told him Santa of course. He yelled, "I knew it, I knew it!" He was so excited about the story he covered his eyes and the anticipation of our visit from Santa in only a few days was just oozing from every inch of him.
I asked him why it was that he was asking me all of these questions. I asked if someone at school had chose not to believe. He said no, but that he thought it was strange that some grown ups do not believe in Santa. I told him that I thought that that was sad for them and asked him if he thought they got anything for Christmas from Santa. He answered no and I explained to him that Santa does not bring presents to those who do not believe. So you have to beleive to receive.
Then I was worried that he might over think the fact that Nolan and I do not receive gifts from Santa. I recalled that Nolan and I had asked Santa to only deliver gifts to the kids after he was born because it was more fun for us to watch the kids open presents than it was for us to get them ourselves. He thought that for a minute and then said, "You're a good Mom". Probably the best Christmas gift I'll ever receive.
Thank you Emmalee for sharing what is now one of my favorite stories about the beauty and magic of Christmas.
May your homes be filled with the magic too.

Ummm.....ask Santa about that!

Cole came out of the bathroom yesterday and told my Dad that he really wished his peiner (that's a scientific term) was a "glowstick." Oh, little boys.

Funny Boy

Today Cole was looking at Nolan's hair and pointed to his receding hair line and said, "Dad did it hurt when you lost your hair?" Nolan answered "It just hurt my pride a little." Cole touched the top of Nolan's head and asked, "Is you pride right here?"

Friday, while showering, Cole was in the shower chanting "BYU stinks!" So I asked, "You don't like BYU, huh?" He answered "No, the BYU beat the Yankees. Papa was mad."

Finally, he keeps talking about a new version of a game or whatever, he just likes to use the word version. However, he pronounces it "virgin" instead.

He's a funny one!