Why not?!

Less than 2 weeks after getting home from our Montana trip, we decided to take one last road trip to Utah. Mom has had the itch to go and we didn't have a chance to stop while driving through to Montana. Plus, daddy's busy baseball season is coming up (when he is gone ALOT) so we thought one last weekend together was a good idea.
Our first night, we stayed with some old friends from University days, Kate and Kent Griffith and their 3 kids. They have a beautiful home in Vineyard and it was nice to catch up. The rest of the weekend was spent at Smiths, which was a blast! We even got to meet our second cousin, Lile. She is just younger than Damon and the sweetest little thing. This video is great because you can see Cooper's cheesy grin.

Saturday night, we drove to Provo and attended a BYU basketball game. It totally took mommy and daddy back memory lane while we walked around campus and cheered at the game. We love our little cougar fans!

Arriving home was hard as reality hit. This time last year was the beginning of one of the hardest times of mommy's life. This year will be different however because she will not have a new born and a delivery to heal from. But Daddy will be gone and busy just the same. And now she has a very busy (soon to be) 1 year old crawling around along with us older rug rats. In addition, she babysits everyday of the week and is taking more piano students. Yes, things will be different, but she is trying to mentally prepare for the fact that things won't necessarily be easier.
Even though she will feel like a single parent much of next 5 months, she is lucky to be the mother to the most incredible boys whom she loves more than even she can comprehend.
Just a sample of the Cooper activity our house experiences

He really is so fun and lovable. Turning out to be a sweet but crazy little baby.

Houston's costume on his way to a CRAZY birthday party.

Daddy finished the custom bench and shoe storage unit for our front entrance. Mommy made the cushion cover for the top.

Houston and Daddy made a box for his new remote control monster truck (from Santa) to live in.


The flu hit our family hard last week. Everyone has had it except Cooper. We are praying it passes so that we can escape this week of isolation.

Christmas 2014

Houston had his pre-school Christmas party and did great!


Because we couldn't be with daddy's side of the family this Christmas they sent their Christmas presents to us. Star Wars ties

We were lucky enough to spend Christmas with the entire Schlenker side of the family at Ashley Lake this year. Our way up:

It was such a blessed holiday: no kids got sick, no one had injuries, no fighting (except for the royal rumble). Just wonderful memories!
The overload of pictures is not very organized but you get the idea. Uncle Matt provided many of the great shots.




On Christmas Eve we put on a program and all the kids participated. It was very special. At the end the grandkids presenting Grandma and Papa's gift which was a snowball story (each kid wrote a portion) called "Grandma and Papa's Christmas Adventure".


Each day a different person was in charge of fixing supper. On Christmas morning, Uncle Derek and Ben made heavenly scones.

One highlight was going Skiing and snowboarding.



Cooper was a trooper hanging out at the ski hill. Grandma Campbell took care of him most of the time. He loved watching the cars below the lodge and banging on the window.

Another highlight for some was going ice fishing. Houston and daddy went out late after no one had been able to catch anything. But Houston came along and caught the first fish! Soon everyone was catching them too.

Uncle Matt was kind enough to do mini family photo shoots with everyone. These are our favorites.

At the hotel on the way home