Cooper has been working toward his Trail to First Class this past year.  With his birthday fast approaching in May we have been eager for him to get in a few scout campouts in so he can pass off more requirements. 

Birch is the best and arranged this whole campout out with the other two boy's dads.  Cooper was awfully grouchy about the whole campout but SURPRISE -- he ended up loving it!!

Connor Johnson, Heber Johnon, Cooper at Camp Getaway!

Cooper was in charge of fixing dinner for the group.  He made stir-fry ramen noodles and grapes.  Dinner for kings!

We hadn't had hardly any snow this year so it was pretty exciting when the boys woke up to find four inches of heavy wet snow fell during the night.

Connor made pancakes and bacon for breakfast for the group!

Burr!

Yum!

Fun rope swing!

Ahhh....campfire warmth

Poor Connor was hurt from a basketball injury.

Heber

Camp Getaway has a fun obstacle course that all the boys had fun attempting in their snow boots!

Warriors!!

I think my favorite part of the boy's scouting experience is just the fact that Birch has been able to make so many memories with each son.

Daddy is still on fire!!!  Birch plays basketball twice-a-week in the early morning hours before he heads to work but it has been awhile since he has played on the ward basketball team.  This year the stake decided to ramp up the competition a bit by making Stake Men's Basketball more organized and hiring paid refs.

Birch hasn't been able to play every week due to church meetings or not feeling awesome but the weeks he has been able to play he has really enjoyed it.  Recently the whole family was able to go cheer on Daddy as we had no school the following day.  It was like a blast from the past when I used to have three or four little kids in jammies next to me on the sidelines cheering on their daddy.  Only this time I didn't have to keep them from trying to sneak on the court.

My indoor sports photography is obviously lacking but let me tell you -- Birch is fast!!!

BAM!!  Three pointer!!

I love watching Birch play because he is competitive but has good sportsmanship and is kind to all the players.  He might have accidentally broken an opposing team member's nose earlier on in the season but other than the whispers when Birch goes into stake meetings the actual guy was so sweet about it. 

I'm hoping we get to catch a few more games this season!!!

We had the neat opportunity to provide and serve dinner at Camp Hope (homeless shelter for men, women, and children) tonight with many of our friends. I asked one man if the baked ziti was hitting the spot tonight and he responded, “this is WAY better than dumpster diving!” We enjoyed mingling with many of the residents and found everyone to be very kind and appreciative. Camp Hope is in need of lots of donations - clothing (all ages), kitchen stuff (they are working on getting a kitchen area built - currently in need of a meat slicer), one woman said she would love a piano so she could sing (she did treat us all to an acappella number), and some furniture. We’d love to do this regularly - sure was nice to have lots of donations as we provided baked ziti, salad, bread, and water bottles for 80. I am glad my kids had this opportunity as they were especially touched by the few children that we met that live there.

We totally enjoyed staying home for a couple of days following Christmas.  Birch worked, we cleaned up the house and Christmas decorations, and we all went to bed early and slept in late (well, except Birch).  After work on Wednesday we loaded up and headed to spend a few days in Spokane.  Everyone but Tavia and her family were in Spokane so you can imagine the partying was endless!! 

The first party we kicked off was a surprise retirement party for Grannie!!

I had a great time doing the decorations with Alysee's help.

Logan and Julia opened their beautiful home to host the party.

Retirement is sweet!!!

Each family did a little tribute to Grannie.

Blayre's family

Carter giving "Grannie-Mommy" a hug.

Kelly's family

Our family - "Lean on Me" - tweaked version

Juje!!!

Brent's family

Blayre and Ryan made a sweet treat letter.

These girls did the cutest dance/song together.  I'm so mad -- I thought I recorded it but only got a picture.

Logan's family did a little charades game guessing the various jobs Grannie has had throughout her life.

Watching Tavia and Vaughn's family tribute that they sent over as they were in Utah for Vaughn's parent's mission homecoming.

Grannie had lots of kids willing to help open her gift...a Vitamix blender.

Pretty sure this was all the kids favorite part of the evening!

 Wish you were there? 

After the party we got the kids all situated and the adults all went out to eat!!  It was so fun to be sans kids.

New Year's Eve!!!!

Hours and hours of games!!!

Smorgasboard of favorites for dinner.

These cousins all got to go to a Stake Dance together!!  It was Lucy's first dance.  So fun for them to all share these times together.

Toasting at midnight!

Kissing my Lover at midnight!!

We ended out trip with attending Blayre's ward for Rhett's baby blessing.  It was so wonderful to be altogether!