Love the Christmas holiday!

 We had such a fun Christmas! Friday night before Christmas we got together with the Kroff family and had the kids open their presents from Gma and Gpa Kroff which is always pajamas.  T.J. loved his pajamas enough that he wore them through the next day until we had to leave that night (then we talked him into changing into clothes).

All the grandkids modeling their pjs

Hayden is such a great cousin to the little ones.

On Christmas Eve we stayed in Cedar so we wouldn't have to pack all the presents down.  Just to make things more fun we got together with the Braithwaite family and made homemade pizzas, played Just Dance on the Wii, and watched the nativity movie from the living scriptures.

Christmas eve...just after Santa made his delivery.

Steve totally surprised me! Maybe this is why I had such a good Christmas.  He knows I have been wanting one, but I didn't ask for one or even mention it.  I made some muffins with it first thing! :)

Whenever he was asked what he wanted for Christmas he told us an "ekavator" (Excavator).  Just so you know, excavators are like the hardest trucks to find.  But we found one and he loves it :)

Heber loves this game.

And he loves rocking horses

T.J. got a bike with training wheels

We got to talk to Hermana Emily Ruesch! So much fun to see her on skype! She had a spanish accent and everything. She is doing great on her mission and has grown a lot you can tell!  I love the technology we have now!

Our attempt at having the Ruesch grandkids do the nativity play! 

 We kept trying to get Heber to wear that crown to be one of the 3 wisemen.  I think it was on him long enough for Steve to quickly snap a picture and that was it.  T.J. was a cute shepherd though!

Christmas night we stopped at Danny and Staci's.  I just love this picture and how much Heber wants to be like his big cousin McCoy!

Here we go!

We are trying to adjust to another change in life!  It is crazy but I was just called to be the Relief Society President in our ward.  Yes it is a family ward. No it is not a student married ward.  Yes I am only 26 years old. But I guess that doesn't matter because I was called and although it was very hard at first to feel like I would be capable of this calling, I have finally been feeling peace and comfort through it all.  It is very, very humbling.  I guess I needed a reason to have to stretch myself spiritually and grow closer to the Lord.  I was telling my mom if I had guessed my life I would be called into Young Womens or Primary presidency calling around this age of life.  I wouldn't have imagined this calling for another 20 years or so (if ever).   We have a unique ward made up with a majority of young couples/young families like ours.  So I guess especially in this ward age doesn't matter.  I think calling my counselors to serve with me was one of the most spiritually challenging things I have ever done.  Mostly because it was such a learning experience to truly have to seek answers to sincere prayers.  I had a wonderful time going to the temple and searching and praying, and by the next day I felt such complete peace with the ladies that I had chosen.  And although we have yet to really get to know each other, I know I have the perfect ones to serve with me!  I can already tell they are going to be amazing in their callings!  It is great to know how the Lord will send answers to prayers and we just have to trust in Him.  I hope I can do this!  I loved the blessing I received from the bishop as I was set apart.  It definitely gave me extra peace and confidence.  I also received a lot of hugs and comments of support in church on Sunday, which definitely meant a lot to me.  It felt good to know that people are going to trust and support me in such a big calling!  Wish our family luck!  I will miss serving in the presidency with Angela (she is an amazing lady and a wonderful friend to me, and a great person for me to follow as the president!) but I am really looking forward to serving with this next group of ladies!  Wish me luck and send prayers my way! They will always be needed. :)

when it snows..

We go swimming indoors (which is a blast for the kids)

And play in the snow!

Love these two cute boys! They are so fun.

Since Steve is the one who loves the snow, he is usually the one who prefers to be out playing in it with the kids. :) 

trick or treat

We had a fun Halloween!  I made a spider costume for T.J., and we used the bumblebee costume that we have for Heber.  So we went on a bug theme this year!

Steve dressed up as Pest Control, and no I am not a mummy. I am a spider web. haha

I thought my friend Mandi's costume turned out so cute.  She put a lot of work into making the awesome skeletal detail of that baby. :)  (Even though you can't quite tell in this picture she is pregnant because of the black shirt.) 

Just because

I just think he is such a cute kid. Love him!

Red Cliffs hike

A couple weeks ago we were itching to get out and go on a hike, but it was a cold rainy day. So we had to go south to get a warmer hike.  We took our friends Jen & Reko with us since they are still new to the area and hadn't been to Red Cliffs yet.  It was a lot of fun!

The whole group

I think Jen and I both about had a heart attack during this part where T.J. was making this climb on his own (not in a backpack).  Steve had Heber on his back, which is why I was the one helping T.J. make his excursion. I didn't want all three of my family's lives on the line all at once. :)

This is another view of the climb T.J. made with our help.  Yes it was a decent sized drop with a pool underneath. Needless to say, T.J. was carried in a backpack on the way down.  I was not about to attempt him to climb it again.

He preferred this ride on the hike back anyways. :)

Surgery

T.J. had an inguinal hernia that we found a few months ago.  We finally got the surgery scheduled so they could fix it this last week!  We were at the hospital bright and early...6:15am!  T.J. was the first surgery of the day for his dr, because they don't like to make little kids go hungry for too long, and he couldn't eat anything at all because of the anesthetics.  He was actually really excited at first, because it was new and Steve and I wisked him away from home first thing when it was still dark.  While we were driving to the hospital TJ said "this is fun Mom!" haha

 T.J. is one cute kid!! Not scared of what is coming yet still... :)

They gave him little games to play with while we waited.  This picture is proof of how early it was.

They asked TJ if he wanted to ride on the bed to go into surgery, or if he wanted to ride the wagon.  What would you pick if you were that age? Of course the wagon!! This was the saddest/hardest part for us as parents. Letting him ride away without us!

  This was T.J. right after they brought him back.  He was definitely out of it still. Eventually he got enough energy to want his popsicle that they promised him before he went in.



All in all he did great! He was walking around by the next day.  The first day was his hardest for recovery, but today, just two days later, I almost can't even tell that he had anything major just recently. He is running and jumping already.  I'm so grateful we have the medical technology that is here today! 

Last call...going private

Hey friends we are making this blog private in the next few days and I just want to make sure everyone who wants an invite is included!

If you have not sent me your email address already then please leave your email address for me! I will not publish the comments so don't be worried to send it to me!

Thanks!
Brit & Steve

The big change

We decided we are going to make the blog private.  So, please let me know your email address so I can send you an invitation!  I will probably wait a couple of weeks just to make sure I get comments from everyone who wants to be invited.  Please don't hesitate to let me know if you want an invite!
I have always felt like it would be safer to have all our family posts private from search engines etc, but I know how much less I look at blogs that are private so I have hesitated changing.  But I decided its time to make the change anyways.
Thanks everyone!!

PS I won't post your comments so you don't need to worry about sending me your email address in a comment!

vacation!

We had a great time last month on our summer vacation! We went with Steve's brother's family, Ben & Chelsi. Pretty impressive that we were able to plan a week vacation with another family and have it work out so well!  The first couple of days we spent camping at Great Basin National Park. 

This was the view from our awesome campsite.  It was beautiful.  TJ and Gracie had so much fun playing together on the trip.  Notice them racing back to the campsite. :)

This is the view of Wheeler Peak.  We all kind of wanted to hike it but it was too far with young kids.

See what I mean about pretty view from our campsite?  

We went on a 3 mile (round trip) hike to see a bunch of Bristlecone pine trees.  Some of those trees are over three thousand years old, it is crazy to think.  This was the beginning of the trail.

We thought this was fun, the reflection of TJ looking in the little puddle.

 TJ and Gracie inside an old Bristlecone pine tree!

Awesome picture of Ben sitting on a Bristlecone pine.  They are cool looking trees.

We put this hot dog on a stick for TJ and he roasted it perfectly.  It was so funny watching him roast a hot dog like a pro.

We drove through Delta on our way to the cabin, and according to the old Kroff tradition in Steve & Ben's family growing up we stopped at the cheese factory and had to buy the squeaky curd cheese.  We each bought a bag and we ate both of them before the trip was over!

This was in Lehman Cave at Great Basin NP.  Huge cave that we went on a tour in!  It is really dark in there, hence all the surprised wide eyes in this picture from a bright flash. :)

Inside the cave.  They have dim lights all throughout the cave now but in the past they used to do tours by candlelight.  I would have been so scared! It was fun but unfortunately  Heber didn't like being held and so he was crying most of the time.

The last few days of our trip were spent at my relatives' cabin in the Uintas. Here is TJ displaying his fishing pole. "Pidah man fishing pole!"  This was also his reward for potty training.  (Which he is potty trained now!! He still has accidents but he hasn't worn diapers in over a month! It is great.)

TJ and Gracie were practicing casting their lines with the little plastic practice fish that come with kid fishing poles.  I think Gracie was trying to untangle herself here from the line. :)

Gotta love this kid.  Don't these flip flops look so comfortable?? :)

TJ spent hours just sitting on this four-wheeler and pretending he was riding it.  Anytime we couldn't see him we found him outside sitting on it making four-wheeler noises.

This was the only down side to the trip..Gracie picked up a hot coal and burned her hand pretty badly.  It was so sad because it happened right before we actually got to go fishing.  She was a trooper though, and still fished the next day anyways, with her hand all bandaged up.

He was so cute, he actually did really good casting the whole time!  We never actually put a hook on his fishing pole, we just let him throw the little red practice fish in the whole time.  He never knew the difference. haha

 I think he is good lookin! :)

I fished with Heber on my back for as long as he would put up with being there.  Which of course was never very long until he was trying to jump out of the backpack.

Cute picture of Brigitta holding Heber. She was such a good help with his constant need of attention!

Cute baby, beautiful background!

My three boys

This kid LOVES watermelon.  Don't worry that he dropped it in the dirt like three times.

On the drive home... "Look mama! Me and Heber are holding hands!"  It was so cute.

It was such a fun and relaxing trip!  Steve was the only one who caught any fish, unfortunately for the rest of us.  We were glad to spend the time away from life and just enjoy nature!  And it was so much fun to spend the week with Ben & Chelsi's family!