It’s hard to believe that she could possibly be old enough to be baptized, but on Dec 3rd she made the decision to take the plunge. After a fun party with her friends on Friday, we gathered at the stake center with family and friends to take part in her baptism and join her as she made sacred covenants with her Heavenly Father. Afterwards we all joined back at our house for some yummy treats. It was a beautiful morning and we’re all very proud of Mallory and the decisions she’s made.

Unfortunately, due to the extreme muddiness, we didn’t take our camera on the run with us so we were only able to get a few pre-race photos prior to getting utterly filthy. By the end of the race though, I don’t think there was a single clean spot on either of us. The race weaved back and forth around the Soldier Hollow bowl and consisted of tons of sloppy mud, several snow machines to ensure that the mud didn’t dry up and lots of obstacles. We proceeded to slip, slide and crawl over, under and through multiple challenges which ended in us being muddier and wetter than we were before each. A portion of the race even went out into a pond and consisted of “running” about a quarter mile in waste deep water. We climbed rope towers, played on a rope swing, climbed through large drain pipes and ended the race by sliding down about a hundred yard water slide.

At the end of the race, Emily donated her shoes to charity and I donated mine to the trash (Nike shoe foam apparently has about a 20 year shelf life and my high school track shoes decided to give it up about 3/4′s of the way through the race). We also got to take a group shower in water which was apparently piped directly from the arctic ocean. It was actually cold enough to cause a brain freeze from the outside and the end result was a severe lack of cleanliness because we couldn’t stand it in long enough to actually get clean without fear of losing extremities to frostbite. We made up for it by having lunch in Midway though. All in all it was a fun outing and I was only sore for about a week afterward. Hopefully we’ll find some muddy photos, but until then, here’s our pre-race outfits.

Anyway, Jack and Annie went to their first day of pre-school the other day and had tons of fun. They’re already making friends and having fun with the many activities that school has to offer. The other day Jack taught me all about “Stop, Drop & Roll” and Annie told me that I should always crawl under the smoke (they were learning about fire safety last week). They also told me all about dialing 911 so I’m waiting until they decide to try it for real. I didn’t get many pictures before dropping them off cause we were in a bit of a hurry, but here they are in their new school clothes with their backpacks on.

Anyway, Jack and Annie are now 4 years old! It’s crazy to think that its already been 4 years, but they’re growing fast. They’ll even be starting preschool in the next week or so. It’s interesting to watch their personalities as they grow though. Under identical learning conditions, they’ve developed into their very own little people.

Jack has become the little jokester. He’s always trying to be funny and loves to tease his sisters. He’s also become quite addicted to playing the Wii. He loves Batman and Spiderman and enjoys playing with Owen and Cutwer (Cutler).

Annie is definitely the boss. She loves to have things her way and is quite vocal about it when things don’t go her way. She loves ponies and would happily own every single one if she could. She’s also becoming quite the artist and has developed her own unique style.

We celebrated in the back yard on the 21st and had family over for cake and ice cream. As you can see, Emily made them fun cakes. Jack got Batman with a sweet Bat symbol and cityscape on the side and Annie got a cool pony cake (and she got to keep the pony). They gots lots of fun presents from their cousins and grandparents and we all had a good time.

Happy birthday Jack & Annie!

As we got a bit of a late start we stopped off in Park City for some Wendy’s (and to let the Jeep cool off a bit). After finishing our Frostys, we arrived at the campground and setup our tent. Jack played with Cutwer and the rest of the boys while I got things set up and then we sat around the fire and roasted some marshmallows. After a short fireside we went to lay down in our tent. Luckily I had good coverage on my phone and we got to watch a few episodes of the old 1960′s Spiderman series on Netflix.

The next morning we woke up and had an excellent breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon. After taking the tent down Jack and I went on a walk around the campground and spent some time throwing rocks in the river. We then proceeded to wade into the river and Jack ended up on his can in the water after trying to stand on a rather mossy rock. Once Jack was in some dry clothes we played some frisbee with the Tomers and threw his football around for a bit. Even though it was a short outing, we had fun sleeping in the tent and sitting around the fire.

Regardless of the overheating issues though we had some good times putting the Jeeps through their paces and using them for the purpose the great creator intended. We forged rivers, played in dirt holes and climbed the lower portion of The Rock Garden. It was a great outing and one which I wish I had time to enjoy more often.

After spending the entire morning retrieving the Jeep, we all piled in the Yukon and headed down to Spanish Fork canyon with my folks and siblings to do some shooting and have a BBQ. It was good times. We took the shotguns and .22′s and everyone had fun shooting. Even Jack and Annie got into the rotation and took a few shots with my sisters 20 gauge. After turning half a box of clay pigeons into powder we pulled out the hibachi’s and had fun BBQing in the drizzle and wind. It only threatened to storm for about 30 minutes and then blew over and was actually quite pleasant weather. We all had fun.