Utah Fun...

On Christmas day, I left for Utah with Brooklyn and Easton. Eric stayed home with the two little boys. I drove all day...we stopped twice...quick stops. I made it to Utah in less then 12 hours...a record! We discovered that McDonald's is the only restaurant open on Christmas Day. The drive was good. Brooklyn and Easton were great.

 

We got there and met the family at Temple Square. It was cold but very pretty. I was surprised how many people were there. It was worth the stop. Very beautiful!

 

As soon as we got to my parents...the kids had to open presents. My mom spent hours making each family a big blanket. I love her blankets. We sleep with them every night. She also made Brooklyn and I matching really soft blankets. Easton was excited about Legos and Brooklyn got stamping craft set.

 

 Rod and Jo came to Utah too, so we wanted to get together and hang out. We met up at Mike's and we headed to his school to play in the gym. It was a lot of fun. We played kickball, basketball, soccer, tag...the cousins just had so much fun playing together. Had a great time.

 

 After spending the day at the gym, we headed to Michael and Jamie's to go sledding. Man was it FUN. The hill was crazy steep and crazy fun. Michael knows how to go extreme sledding. We had a great time. I went down the big hill one time, but since it took me forever to climb back up...that was it. Great day sledding!

 

After a couple of full days of shopping, staying at Alex and Amanda's, girls movie night...We headed to St. George. We spent a couple days swimming, chilling, shopping and having a fun New Years Eve Party, and we saw Frozen with the cousins!

 

New Years Eve Party!

 

Minute to Win it games, A Dance, Hot tub, Food, & New Years toast 

 

Happy 2014!!!!

 

We drove home on January 2. It was a great trip. I was excited to come home and see my little boys. I missed them. Ryder learned to say "Momma" while I was gone. That made me a little home sick.

 

 

Christmas!

Christmas 2013...

 

It was a great celebration. We celebrated it on Christmas Eve this year since I was leaving for Utah with the big kids on Christmas Day. We got lunch at Subway and then headed to the park. After we had lunch we headed home and surprised the kids when they saw all their presents under the tree and also their stocking left out. Sneaky Mommy. We had a great time. We talked about Christ's birth, and the story about the orange.  The kids loved opening presents. Happy happy kids. Ryder even had a great time opening presents. The night was spent playing with all their new toys and games. 

 

 

 

Christmas was perfect this year!

Elfie is back...

Elfie came back and sure had fun around the house.

 

Another big hit this year...

 

Merry Christmas from the Redfords!

More December Memories...

We always look forward to the night when Santa comes around on the fire truck. He never disappoints. The kids loved it. And it was fun hanging out with our neighbors while we waited. 

 

Oh Cooper...he took Eric trimmer and cut his hair...nice and straight line.  All the way to the scalp. Then Eric painted the stripe with the arrow. Funny daddy.

New Photos, New Camera...

I got a new camera...I like it...I played with it for a couple of days.

And of course I had to take photos of my cute kids and husband!

Christmas Trains!

Our favorite Christmas tradition!

Always lots of family fun!

Winter-wonderland at Six Flags...

Six Flags-Holiday in the Park

 

Michelle and I took the kids to Six Flags and spent the day riding big scary rides, eating popcorn, sledding in real snow, jumping in a snow globe, watching an amazing dolphin show and listening to Christmas music. It was cold and got really cold once the sun went down, but it was totally worth it. We had a great time and it was really nice spending the day with my two big kids. They loved it. They loved the big rides...scared me to death. They went on the huge swing multiple times...I couldn't wait to get off. I think I am totally afraid of heights. Old age will do that to you. We got season passes for 2014 so we will have more fun days at Six Flags!

 

 

 

 

 

Santa...

We visited Santa...

Who's been Naughty & Who's been Nice?

Thanksgiving and early Christmas in Moses Lake

Driving to Washington to see Grandma and Grandpa...and Jon & Traci.

It was a long long drive...we were very happy to get there.

 

It was a great weekend spending Thanksgiving in Washington with Eric's family. The kids were excited to have an early Christmas with Grandma. Grandma gave them some fun gifts.

 

The weekend was filled with lots of  food, shopping, cousins playing, dinner and movie date, and just hanging out having a great time with Jon & Traci and Grandma & Grandpa. It was a nice visit in Moses Lake. 

November photos to remember...

Fun memories...and some funny...

 

Cooper is 3!!!

My Cooper boy turned 3 today! All dressed up for church.

 

What a handsome big boy!

Birthday Party Time...

 

COOPER IS ONE CRAZY BOY...look what he found...Eric had left out some black paint...Coop had some fun in the kitchen...I carried him to the tub and then he had fun painting the tub...Mommy couldn't help but laugh and also be so frustrated. It took Mommy a long time to clean this one up. Oh Cooper...never a dull moment.

 

Ryder's 1st Haircut...

Sad day for mommy...it was sad to see his cute curls go bye bye. He wasn't a huge fan of the haircut process. He looks like a big boy with his haircut. So glad hair grows back...

Ryder 18 months

Soccer 2013

Soccer Season is officially over...another great year.  Both Brooklyn and Easton enjoyed playing. I got more pictures of Easton for some reason. Cooper and Ryder had fun watching and playing in the grass and dirt.

October moments...

October went by so fast.

The kids are growing up so fast. Doing so many things. Keeping us busy.

The school does a jog-a-thon every year. The kids enjoy it a lot. Rick is always very generous and helps them earn a good amount of money for their school. Easton fell on his bike the week before and really scuffed up his knee, so he couldn't run too much. But he walked as fast as he could and jogged a little bit. Cooper and Ryder loved cheering them on. Cooper would blow his noise maker...and he even gave the school mascot, the coyote, a high five and hug. (At first he was afraid of him but then he liked him) It was a fun outing for the boys. The jog-a-thon was another great event.

Halloween Fun...

Halloween was full of Halloween Fun!

 

RSI had a Halloween trick or treating party during lunch. It was a lot of fun. And so fun to visit and see everyone's kids and grandkids. Rick had his mummy outside his office and it popped it open when the kids walked up...it scared both of the boys pretty good.  Ryder was shaking. Poor kid.  They almost didn't want to walk up to Rick but once they saw he had candy they were ok. But they were happy to stay away from his office the rest of the visit. Kelly scared them with a witch broom...lots of scary fun at RSI.

 

Ward Halloween Party...NO rain this year. The weather was perfect. Played some games, ate yummy food, had the famous maze to crawl in, costume contest and of course trick-or-treating. The golf cart was very helpful except it didn't fit all of us...so the guys rode in the golf cart and Kathy and I had to walk...but it was ok. We didn't mind. The kids loved trick-or-treating. Eric took the big kids out after 8 to get more candy...I was happy to stay home with the little guys and pass out more candy. (I actually gave away a bunch of Cooper's candy...worked out great.)

The kids had a parade at school. They always love that. Its fun to see all the different costumes.

Halloween was a success!

The Pumpkin Patch...

On our way to Lakeport one day, I saw a sign for the pumpkin patch, corn maze and produce stand. I decided to stop and see what it was. It turned into a great little adventure and a great time with the little boys. Cooper loved the corn maze. And picking out a pumpkin was such a treat. What a great little find. It is a family run business and I plan on stopping for produce every time I pass through in the summer.

 

Since we had a great time there, I told Brianne and Kathy about it and we decided to do a little field trip with the kids before Halloween. We tried to make it like a preschool thing and do some activities and snacks inside the corn maze. The kids liked it. They loved picking out the pumpkins and riding in the wagons. It was a fun day!

P!NK!!!!!!!

It's no secret that I like P!NK! When I heard she was coming to our area...I really wanted to go. I bought tickets but they were up high in the nose bleeds. So I sold those tickets and decided I still wanted to go. Eric said he didn't care to go and told me to find a friend to go with...so Kathy said she would go with me. We bought PIT tickets and couldn't be more excited.

 

There was a playoff baseball game next to the arena and we wouldn't be able to park at the venue...so we had to take the Bart...I was nervous to take it into Oakland. But we arrived safely with all the other concert goers.

 

The opener was horrible...it was his first time playing in a arena and in front of that many people. He was crazy and we had fun laughing at him.

 

P!NK came out and KILLED IT! She doesn't put on just a concert...She puts on a SHOW! An AMAZING SHOW! She does crazy acrobats, sings the whole time, and dances like crazy. She has sooo much energy. She stayed pretty clean...she said she doesn't curse like she use to since becoming a mom. I was happy about that. She flew around the arena, she spun around in silks and dipped her body in water and spun around, she did an amazing song inside the "egg." She is daring...and does it all without safety wires...nothing prevents her from falling. I was so impressed. Her concert was worth every penny I spent...and I left wanting to see her again...so GOOOD!

 

 

I don't just LIKE P!NK...I LOVE LOVE LOVE P!NK! BEST CONCERT I have EVER been to!

Cooper and Daddy's day on Clearlake

A Little Background

The 1984 Lavey Craft was purchased 6 years ago. She was a good boat for the first little while, but she soon became a pain. She was our first boat and she was a handful. She was difficult to unload, she took about half an hour to start, and she was very difficult to load back on the trailer. Oh but when she's set free on the water, she glides like an eagle in the wind. Over the past few months I've been on a mission to make her run like a top. I put in over 40 hours of research and wrench time to get her running her best. I sent you a video file of her starting up. The electrical system was rusted from the ignition coil to the distributor. I gutted it all and replaced the entire electrical system. The first trip out she ran, but not the best after she warmed up. We had to get towed back in, but we made it home. A little frustrated and confused, I called up a friend that had the same engine in his boat. I went over and tool a look. The recommended type of ignition coil online was the wrong one, so I changed the ignition coil to an external resistor style coil from an internal resistor style coil.

The Story

It was a Saturday in September. The weather was in the 80's and the wind was calm. I hooked up the truck to Lavey Craft and asked if anyone wanted to come on boat ride. The whole family seemed hesitant due to her past history, except for Cooper. He was anxious for an adventure. I installed his car seat,  threw in his life jacket, an ore, and we both put on our shades. We headed for the Kelseyville. I stopped by Kelseyville lumber to get my guagua mussle sticker, then we went straight to the state park. We arrived at the boat launch to find no one there. I untethered the boat, hooked a line to the front and back, then lowered her down the ramp. I was all alone so it made it double the fun. I tied the rope on the back to the dock about fifteen feet passed the boat. I tied the front one directly across from the front. I pushed her off with my foot and pulled the trailer out of the water. I tightened up the rear line, put out the bumpers, and parked the truck. I put Cooper's life jacket and Croc's on and we jumped in the boat. I pumped her twice and she started right up. I pulled in the lines and off we went. I stayed around the boat launch for about 10 minutes. Cooper drove for a while. I turned her off and started her up about 3 times. The coil seemed to be doing great. She wasn't hot and ran much better than before, so we took off across the lake. Cooper was my co-pilot. He had his blue sunglasses on and he chilled in the passenger seat next to me while we sped across the lake to a small town on the other side of the lake. I kept the shore close enough just in case I had to row to it. Cooper jumped over in my lap and I held him as we headed back towards Lakeport. He started to fall asleep in my arms to the gentle rocking of the boat on the water. We made it to Lakeport in about 20 minutes and found a small Mexican restaurant that had a dock attached to it. I drifted her in slowly, put on the bumpers and the ropes. Cooper jumped onto the doc first. I handed him the front line and he (without me showing him) started to wrap/wind it onto the dock cleat. I grabbed the back line and hooked her up. Cooper clapped his hands together in a "I'm done" fashion and we headed to Mexican restaurant, TNT's. We sat outside on the deck. I took off his life jacket at the table and we looked over the menu. I ordered a TNT pork burrito special and he had a quesadilla with chocolate milk.  We had a great meal together. We talked about the boat ride and what things he liked to do. I then got the check and began to put his life jacket back on. The table next to us asked, "Why does he need to wear a life jacket"? Cooper just pointed out to the boat on the dock and said, "Cooper's boat." They laughed and we left. We got down to the boat, Cooper untied the front cleat and I did the back. He jumped in the front, she started right up, and off we went. It was another 15 minute ride back to the boat launch. Cooper sat in my lap and drove most of the way. When we got to the boat launch, we tied her up, backed in the trailer, and pulled her on by hand. It all went very smooth. No one was there so there was no need to rush. We pulled her out of the water and wiped her down. I felt so happy that I was able to get her running, spent some fun time with Cooper, and made it back safely. The perfect day.

The Rest of the Story

Now with the boat all fixed up, We sold her the following week. I learned so much about diagnosing electrical systems, it was worth way more than what we sold the boat for

*Written By Eric