I love to see the: temple, eagles, and moose

Henry is learning to love his jumper. He is still a little small for it but it is nice to have somewhere he can be that isn't laying down

Henry is pretty good at rolling over. Here he does it with the aid of his play mat (check out that lip at the beginning)

Henry can also be quite vocal

 Nixon used his stay up late coupon and he and I made this cool helicopter together

 Lyza and Nixon had fun playing with these Blockus tiles together

 Mason has enjoyed these dot markers from Christmas

 I think there are some wires crossed in Mason's brain that make him think that yogurt is finger paint

Our two year old is a little bit wild. Here is an example of how wild he can be

 Lyza had a snow day on a Friday so she didn't have to go to school. Kim planned on taking everyone to the open gymnastics morning but it was way to busy. So they went to a new bouncy house instead. Lyza was kind enough to hold Mason and take him down the slid HEAD FIRST...silly girl

He had lots of fun though

 These three played hard together

 And had a few breathers

 I wasn't around to personally witness this but it make me so happy inside. Mason can be some much work right now that it makes me happy to see him in such a bind (in a loving way ;)

This is one of those "emergencies" where instead of helping right away you grab the camera to document what happened

 Mason is the kid who will drag a table around the house so he can reach anything he wants

We have mentioned before that he really loves the Hand Clap song. Here is Mason singing parts of it

 A couple Saturdays ago I went to the temple by myself to see what the new changes were. That also meant that I had some time to take some photos of the temple. These are my favorites

The stars are aligned just right when all three of these kids will play together without fighting. Usually one person builds something and the other(s) break it and cause a fight

Such a rare occurrence to see them all working together (it probably didn't last very long)

 And Lyza had to do some posing

 That evening both big kids used their coupons to go to a movie (think they had enough popcorn and pop?)

 I got to take them to see the new Grinch movie. It was really funny and we all had a good time

Our family got "The Book With No Pictures" for Christmas and it is already a favorite. Here is a clip of me reading the book. It is so silly!

Last Sunday Nixon got himself all dressed. I love the tie placement (and the fact that Lyza photo bombed him) 

 She was pretty proud of herself

 My handsome two year old all ready to go

 What a good looking bunch!

 To celebrate two hour church (although Kim was still at the church building that day for WAY too long) we used some of the extra time to go eagle watching. Apparently, this time of year there are lots of eagles hanging around Coeur d'Alene lake because of the spawning kokanee salmon. You can read about it here.

We have heard about people eagle watching before but assumed it was not very exciting. WE WERE WRONG!

The kids got to throw rocks in the lake: WIN 

 We saw lots of eagles: WIN

 The kids got to climb and scare us: WIN (for them)

 We got to get decent photos of eagles: WIN (I can't wait to do it again with a longer lens...)

 We got to see hundreds of fish heads (presumably left by the eagles and not some monster that also feeds on small noisy children): WIN

 The bald eagles were beautiful

 Not sure what type of eagle this is, so I am assuming it is a golden eagle?

 We saw a bald eagle fighting this other eagle!

 I got to spend time with these beautiful people in unusually warm and beautiful weather (the wind did get cold at times, especially for Henry)

 Mason using the binoculars was a fun sight

 This is an example of how many eagles we were seeing at the second bay

 It was cool seeing the eagles swooping down and catching fish

 There were lots of people there watching but it never felt crowded (maybe because I was so into taking pictures)

 This is the best bald eagle picture I got

 This is what we saw most often as the eagles were in the distance and a silhouette in the sky

 It was a really pretty day and the scenery was extraordinary

 These two had a lot of fun

 Henry didn't last as long and needed to find shelter in the van

 On the way home (only a 25 minute drive) all of the boys fell asleep (you can see Henry in the mirror)

 We love finding the kids reading on their own

 Lyza is a dancing machine and it is fun having a camera fast enough to capture her amazing moves

Lyza's dancing has taken on a whole new level of awesome

 Lyza and Nixon both enjoying taking pictures with their cameras

I love taking their pictures

 Mason passed out in the middle of the day 

 Night time smiles with Henry

 When you have a double stroller and three boys who all need to ride...you improvise

 Mason watching the excavator near our beach (it is the cutest thing to hear him say "excavator" because it sounds like "alligator")

 Lyza just found this note in her bedroom from her Grandma and Grandpa Bullock that they left after their stay at Christmas: "Thank you Lyza for letting us use your bedroom. We know that is a Big sacrifice for you. We love you so much and can't wait to see you again."

She was over the moon!

 When I was gone one evening Lyza watched some TV with Kim and it was the Titan Games. After she drew this picture for Kim with her scratch pad: "you are strong!!"

This is how Mason keeps his body in such good shape

 The boys enjoyed playing Perfection with their mom one afternoon

 And the fishing game

For the longest time Mason would say "grandpa" for both Grandma and Grandpa. He can finally distinguish between both now

Henry was being so cute with Kim one evening before bed. I was holding Henry so I grabbed the camera and flipped the screen so I could see what was being recorded and tried to capture the cuteness. Well, Henry could also see himself on the screen and that was a little bit distracting for him

Earlier this week Kim had a close encounter with the neighborhood moose 

I was really jealous of just how close she got to the moose

 Kim had a girls night here on Friday night and Nixon helped me clean all of the chairs before the guests arrived

 It is fun getting Henry up in the morning when he greets you with so many smiles

Yesterday the two big kids had their first gymnastics class together. They started with some stretching

 They did somersaults 

 The bear crawl

 Jumping jacks (Lyza's hair is so cute)

 Crab walk (Nixon went sideways just like real crab do)

 They practiced cart wheels

Here is an example of the stuff they were doing on the first day

 They they got to play parachute games

Parachute fun

 They all got stamps

 And at the end they got some free time with hula-hoops

 On the way home from gymnastics I got my very own close encounter with the moose. I was so excited! You can see an apple in the moose's mouth here

 It was cool seeing the moose kneel down to eat off the ground

 Posing for the camera

He had to clean himself off after eating from the ground

 Peeking in the neighbor's window

 Then he decided the grass was greener on the other side of the street (our side)

He crossed the street right in front of us

 This house had a tree fall over in a recent wind storm so the moose decided to try and eat that tree

Mason has been getting much more talkative. His face is also very expressive when he speaks. Here is an example

We have been having a great new year and hope you have been too.

Take care!