Cute Kids

Rubie and Eric in the toy bins:


A family outing at mall. Eric in a Safari Jeep:

Eric spent about 30 minutes "driving" this van:

Rubie's first try with rice cereal, I don't think she likes it:

Eric loves olives:

Eric is a big boy wearing Daddy's shoes:

Rubie loves to play with her toes and even suck on them:

Eric loves to put change in his "bank" to save for college and a mission:

Every Monday and Friday morning, Rubie and Max get bundled up in the Chariot so that Sarah and Jen can run:

Eric thinks that he can hide his vegetables from me under the table when he doesn't want to eat them. He won this night because I didn't find this carrot until after dinner:

Rubie can sit up on her own now! Isn't she a cute little cherry chub:



Eric really likes to wear his parents clothes, daddy's or mommy's:


On our recent visit to Thanksgiving Point, Eric was brave enough to ride a pony at Farm Country. Here Eric rides "Chief" with mommy walking along side:

Eric on Chief, Noah in the background is riding Nina the horse:

Eric's birthday

Eric is now two years old!!

On Eric's birthday, January 2nd, Sarah, Noah, Max, Grandma Jeppson, and Grandpa Jeppson came to celebrate Eric's birthday with us. Sarah, Noah, and Max had come that morning so Jen and Sarah could get a run in while the kids played. We then had lunch and afterward birthday cake and opened presents. The theme for the party was "Cars" (from the Disney movie) and Lightning McQueen who is the star of the movie was also the hit of the party. Eric's cake topper there is a Lightning McQueen. There was a Cars tablecloth, plates, napkins, hats, banners, and noise makers.

Eric blowing out birthday candles with Noah's help:
Yummy cake:
Eric beginning to open presents (he was really spoiled this year--but it was really fun):
Opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa Jeppson, I think in this one is the Lightning McQueen pajamas: (which by-the-way, most of the time it takes lots of coercing to get those off of him and into regular clothes)


Eric and Grandma are excited, but Grandpa looks bored:

From mom and dad Eric received a train set and tracks:
The train set came with a rug to build on that has roads, buildings, and different landmarks on it:

Eric is wearing the McQueen pajamas; he received a cool car carrier from Aunt Jessica:

Look everybody, a Lightning McQueen car!

Scott was probably more excited about giving these gifts than Eric was receiving them. Eric got a Lightning McQueen chair/car. Noah really liked it too.

Eric sitting on the Lightning McQueen chair:

Now it is a Lightning McQueen car:

Look, we can both sit on the chair:


Eric also got a few story books. A Lightning McQueen story, one about Salamanders with pop-out bodies, and Smash Crash:

Eric playing with his train set later:

New Years Day

On New Years Day Scott and I gathered up our little family and we drove up the Alpine Loop Road to the Aspen Grove Area. There we put the kids in the Chariot and donned our snowshoes and set out to hike up the mountain for a few hours. It was a beautiful day. We passed other snowshoers and cross-country skiers and stepped out of the way for snow mobilers. People were impressed with our little sled for the kids. Eric and Rubie stayed warm and cozy and slept during most of the hike.

Eric and Rubie snug in the Chariot:

Jen pulling the Chariot up the hill:


Scott pulling the Chariot down the hill:

The Holidays

We had a lot of fun during the Christmas holidays. This year was our turn to be with the Wilson family for Christmas and we spread that out throughout the month. We started off on the first Sunday of the month going to see the lights on Temple Square. It wasn't that cold and turned out to be a good time to see the lights. We couldn't figure out why so many people were also going to Temple Square that night until we got into downtown and remembered the First Presidency Message was also that night. It was almost like conference trying to get to Temple Square, but once the program started, Temple Square was practically empty and we could see everything so well. As soon as the program was over we were ready to be on our way. My favorite this year were the hundreds of luminaries that were set out around the plaza and up into the plaza by the Church Office Building. They were beautiful.

Then we had a Family Home Evening activity of just our little family in which we built a gingerbread train with Eric. He thought it was great how we got to put frosting and candy all over it.

We also spent an afternoon at Dan and Brandee's making cookies. Aunt Dellitt was great helping the kids make and frost sugar cookies. We had a beautiful Christmas Eve and Aunt Angela's and Uncle Brett's. The dinner was amazing. Angela had set a beautiful table and decorated her house so to be so festive. She also spent time gathering tid-bits and facts about each person. We got to read them and guess who the person was. It was a fun way to get to know everybody better. We then had a very nice program to help us remember what Christmas is all about and to more fully partake of the Christmas spirit. On Christmas morning some family members went to Dan and Brandee's to watch the kids open gifts and to have breakfast. Later in the day others of the family came to our house to play games and munch on food throughout the day. It was a wonderful holiday. Of course the kids enjoyed opening gifts. Although it took us until almost 11:00am until we got to the gifts. When Eric got up he looked at the gifts but didn't much care for them. So Scott decided to go and shovel the snow (and there was a lot of it) and just with taking care of the kids and making breakfast it took awhile until we even got around to it. I'm sure in the following years will be a little different in that area.

Making the Gingerbread Train:
Rubie and cousin Tre together while everyone else was making cookies.



Rubie in her beautiful Christmas dress.

Eric opening a gift with Grandma Jeppson.

Eric in front of our Christmas gifts on Christmas morning.

Eric received a Pound Puppy from Aunt Jessica. Eric loves stuffed doggies!

Aunt Jessica sure knows how to make Rubie look cute!

Grandma Jeppson gave Rubie and Eric matching outfits for Christmas. They will make cute outfits for pictures later.



The day after Christmas we went to Thanksgiving Point with Sarah, Noah, and Max. We played in the Dinosaur Museum and then rode a horse-drawn wagon through the light display. It was cold!

Putting a dinosaur together.
Playing at the erosion table.
On the wagon ride.


Our old friends Thomas and Natalie Svantesson stopped by to visit during the holidays. The Jarvis' joined us and we enjoyed lunch and a visit together.