Bridger's first time skiing!

 I took the boys skiing today.  We haven't had much snow this season but I has hoping that a recent storm would help us out.  We quickly learned that it had rained instead of snowed so the snow was really icey but I believe the saying that "the worst day of skiing is better than the best day at work."  Today was Bridger's first time skiing.  He tried snowboarding last year with Uncle Mike and Mike recommend skiing this year.  So Bridger took a ski lesson for a couple of hours when we first got there and Chase and I took off together.  It took Chase a little while to remember his snowboarding skills but he did great.  He has worked so hard learning how to snowboard.  Mike has done an amazing job teaching Chase.  After lunch, Bridger came with us.  I was completely shocked with how quickly Bridger had learned skiing.  He tore off down the mountain. He is a speed demon.  He's still learning how to turn so he likes to  head straight down the mountain and not turn.  It was such a fun day skiing with the boys.  Matt was at an anesthesia conference so he wasn't able to come.  Skiing brings back wonderful memories to me.   I remember Mom would make lunch for us while we were getting ready in the morning and Dad would load up the car.  We would have such fun days skiing together as a family. We would have good talks on the lift.  Dad was always so patient with us. I hope I can make the same memories with my boys.  

Bowling Fun

Matt had a day of vacation on Martin Luther King day so we decided to do something fun with the boys.  We gave them a few choices and they decided on bowling.  We invited the C's to come with us.  Even Aliyah likes to bowl.  She is very determined and has to carry her own bowling ball.  After she rolls the ball, she starts to jump up and down with excitement even though the ball hasn't hit any pins yet.  She just can't stand the anticipation.  It is so cute to watch.  Chase is getting very serious with bowling.  Every time we go, he improves.  Then Bridger just loves to have fun.  He doesn't always use the ramp because he wants to be just like Chase and roll it by himself.  We always have such a fun time when we go bowling!

Chase's Las Vegas Soccer Tournament

                           

Chase's soccer team participated in the Las Vegas Tournament.  We left Friday morning and drove straight to Las Vegas.  Chase had one game Friday night and then two games on Saturday.  I didn't realize how cold it would be at night so we froze once the sun went down.  Next year we'll know to dress warmer.  We stayed in the same hotel as half of his team.  Evan's room was right next to ours.  Chase and Evan had so much fun playing together.  Friday night they stayed up till 11:00 playing card games.  It's been really fun getting to know Chase's team a little better.  Chase's team played really tough teams.  Chase's team came into the tournament a little behind because they hadn't practiced since October.  We played teams that eat, drink, and sleep soccer.  They were hard core.  But I was so proud of Chase and his team.  Chase stayed positive the entire tournament.  He never gave up.  Every game he went out and gave it his best.  He is such a fighter.  As I watched the other coaches, it made me appreciate his coaches even more.  They do an amazing job of building each player and pointing out the positive.  Half way through one game we were getting beat really bad.  Instead of yelling at the kids and giving them unrealistic expectations of winning the game, he said "let's go out and get one goal for our pride."  I loved it!!! After each game, Chase would text Maddy and tell her all about it.  It was really sweet.  They are such good friends.  

 While Chase was playing his soccer games, Bridger would play football.  He was in heaven when Dad would throw the football to him.  Bridger was so sweet to sit on the side lines and cheer for his brother.

On Saturday night, we took the boys to see the strip.  WOW!!!!  Were we shocked!!!!  It is quite the wild night life.  Bridger fell asleep right as we pulled into the hotel parking lot.  So he slept for the first hour and then woke up to see about 30 minutes of Vegas.  Poor Chase was wearing his soccer cleats so his feet were killing him.  We loved looking at all the hotels but we didn't have time to really explore things.  It was mostly a drive by of all the hotels.  We stopped at "Serendipity 3" and got frozen hot chocolate which made us even colder and then the most expensive ice cream sundae we've ever bought for the size.  Our favorite Vegas experience is watching the fountains at the Belagio hotel.  We watched the fountains multiple times.  The boys loved it! I thought that we would have more time but between all the games, our time quickly disappeared.  It was still a nice quick vacation for our family.