Happy 6th Birthday Dawson!

We are off on vacation beginning tomorrow...but before we left, Dawson celebrated his 6th birthday with some school friends (and Jamie). There were 12 kindergarten boys over for the afternoon, in our tiny house. Wow! That was interesting! Paula (our babysitter) was here to help, luckily.

They had a great time - and Dawson is super excited to be turning 6!

Everyone hiding in Dawson's closet to surprise him at the party.

Making a happy birthday banner.

Spoon Racing

Racing to be the first team to get all the winter clothes on and off.

Everything has to be hockey themed (or at least a sport of some kind these days.

Jamie seemed to fit in pretty well with all those boys.

Salt Lake City

I was in Salt Lake City, for work, over the last few days. Pictures of IKEA would be really boring to post, but on one of my extra days, I went with my friend Amy to the Sundance Film Festival up in Park City. We saw a lot of celebrities (if you want to see those pictures, go on FB) and it was so beautiful up in Park City and in the rest of the Salt Lake area! What a gorgeous place! I wish we would have visited when Joel and Shontel were still there. (Could you guys move back there for a little while, just so we have an excuse to go to Utah?)

In and around the Sundance activities

Park City

Didn't see any real wildlife in the short time we were up in the mountains but there was this bear and moose.

Hanging out with the Paparazzi, waiting for celebrities.

A bunch of other IKEA managers - after our long day of meetings.

View of Salt Lake on my flight home. Prettiest flight scenery I've had, I think.

Lets go Whalers

We went to a Plymouth Whalers game this weekend. Dawson already got to go to a Red Wings game with David a week ago, so hockey games are old news to him...but Jamie really got into it. She was screaming "Let's go Whales!" and "Do better Whales!" at the top of her lungs.

Lets go Whales

Dawson got pretty into the game too.

Real Sledding Hills

We did some sledding today, on real hills by our house. (As opposed to the sled ramp built out of plywood and snow in the yard.)

There's a lot we can do with a little bit of snow

We don't have as much snow as some parts of the state have...but it is enough that David has set up a lot of things to do outside, including an ice rink & a sled ramp/hill.

Daily Ice Rink Maintenance:

Oops

The Crowd

Some kids at play. Two of them are ages one and three, the other two...I wont mention their ages.

Snow Castle

Happy 30th Birthday to David

Happy 30th Birthday to David, and Happy New Year to everyone else!

Birthday Number One.

Birthday Number 30

Joel, Emily and Lydia were here for the "Big" birthday bash (consisting of us four and them.)

Visit From Lydia, Joel & Emily

Lydia came to visit us while Joel and Emily went to a Lions game. She spent the night with us to give them a break, and the kids had a blast with her!

Dawson was a huge help! He fed her, entertained her, made sure she was comfy sleeping and just about anything else he could think of doing for a baby.

Bedtime

Breakfast