Big Helper

I asked Jackson to get Max something to play with. Thinking like a two year old.

Gobble Gobble 2010

Our Thanksgiving break was packed full of fun! We went non stop for four days and then crashed on Sunday. I will let the photos do the talking...

Thanksgiving dinner at Grandpa Roger's and Grandma's with the Harris'.

sega nba basketball : jackson's version of thanksgiving dinner

a little crafting

a little football

a little dancing

a little movie watching

a little shopping

{photo has been blurred to protect your eyes}

We took a trip to Seattle to see the train, ride the monorail and the carousel.

hitching a ride with grandpa roger

all the boys loved the train

grandpa roger, jackson and grandma

watching the little "ant people" outside

got our photo with santa

bumper car rides for the adults : carousel rides for the kiddos

just to prove these cuties were there : max and molly

Then out to Enumclaw for some Christmas tree tagging, games and vegging.

fastest tree picking year ever

a little more gaming : miniclip

fort/ drive up ice cream shop

jackson and megan

We ended the break with some murder in the dark. Body body! No pictures, because that would give away our hiding spots.

Forgotten Carols

Every year the Forgotten Carols comes to the Seattle area. This was our second time to go, but this year Brandon got to be a part of it. He was able to illustrate the children's book version of the Forgotten Carols, which came out this year. To help promote the book and play Deseret Book set up an interview for Michael McLean and Brandon on the local news. We are glad everything went so smoothly as we were driving up to Seattle early in the morning right after a snow storm hit northwest Washington. It was a long day...early morning and late night, but so fun.

waiting in line to get books signed

the koontzes, tarpennings and dormans with michael mclean

brandon, gily and michael

Whistler Canada

We were lucky enough to join our friends the Walkers on a weekend getaway to Whistler, BC. It was a fun little break from everyday life, though getting ready to go in the snow is so much more labor intensive. We were able to sled a little. Max and Jackson lasted about ten minutes. Brandon and Sam braved the cold, but were brought inside when they saw a really, really BIG bear too close for Sam's liking. The next day while sledding they saw a coyote.

brandon and jackson : almost done

Whistler has a great community center with a perfect little kids' pool. Spitting bears, lazy "corner" river, vortex and "slightly warm" hot tub. But the kids had fun.

me and my little boys

max, brandon, jonathon and dawson

There was a lot of much needed lounging.

love the snuggles

jackson was so into the movie : happy moose

We took a gorgeous drive to the Whistler Olympic Park in search for the Olympic rings. They weren't there, but we did find amazing views of snow caped mountains and trees.

We made our second trip to the community center to try out ice skating with the boys. They were so excited to wear the hockey helmets. And they needed them. They had more than their fair share of falls, especially when they didn't go very far. But they both had the best attitudes and were so excited to be on the ice.

they even had a stroller for our little max

me and sam i am : daddy and jackson

eventually brandon got a good system down to pick up speed with the boys

"the ice is slippy"

Our favorite activity consisted of going on a tour of the sliding center, where they do the luge, skeleton and bobsled. As an added bonus we were able to watch bob sledders train for the World Cup later the next week. It was so cool. Sam made a new best friend, Carol the tour guide. She guaranteed that no one would be able to get a photo of a bobsled, because they go sooooo fast.

here were our best tries

brandon doing his best to keep max warm : poor kid was under blankets all night

watching the bob sledders : the mile high course

warming up with cocoa

the boys loved the virtual bobsledding and skiing

The next morning we found the Olympic rings...just down the street from the condo. Go figure.