Sledding

A couple weekends ago we took Tyler sledding for the first time. We headed to the capitol building because I had heard there was a fun hill. When we got there the snow was so compacted that it acted more like ice and the drop appeared to be straight down. There were also a series of bumps along the way (retaining walls maybe?). I was a little nervous and Tyler seemed like he was going to refuse to go down. We sent Dan down first and he sped his way down and about flew out of the sled over every bump. Luckily it was a very hilly place so we chose a more tame hill. Tyler still wasn't very into it...not like I thought he would be.

Here is Dan pulling Tyler back up the hill. As you can see, we had a nice view of the Des Moines skyline.

Tyler sitting in the sled

Tyler looking cute

Tyler decided he would rather slide down on his bottom.

I wanted to get an action shot of Dan sliding down. His idea of that was to aim the sled right for me and I had to jump out of the way.

I didn't appreciate that, but then he ended up like this, so I didn't mind as much.

A view of the Capitol Building from where we were.

Here is a random picture of Lisle. I thought this was so cute how he was cuddling up to Dan's arm and even wrapped his paw around it. Lisle is our mean cat so this was too much cuteness for me.

Christmas

Christmas time was busy like usual. We embarked on our Tour of the Midwest the day after Christmas. We got delayed a day because of snow. Snow sure makes things difficult!

Our first Christmas actually took place in our own living room. That was a first for us. Tyler got the idea pretty quickly.

Presents were followed by pancakes and Tyler got his in the shape of a T!

Our next stop was Minnesota. It's always fun watching all the kids tear into their presents. Tyler has so much fun with his cousins!

Here is me and Brandon

Evan showing off his Wiggles costume that he was very excited about.

Our next stop was my mom's house in Indiana.

Tyler proudly displaying a fork that is also a truck!

I think this picture is funny/weird. I don't remember what he's doing but I know he's jumping and I think maybe he's excited? You can see his new apron which he wears when he helps me bake.

Supporting his favorite (pro) team!

After that we were off to my dad's house.

Cars! Tyler's favorite toy!

I did end up making the cinnamon rolls. I thought they were good but a little too sweet. Next time I will cut back on the sugar/cinnamon mixture. If you ever plan on making these, e-mail me because I have some suggestions.

Awhile back I got together with some friends and their kids. Two of my friends I don't get to see very often (one doesn't even live in Iowa) so it was fun to get everyone together. We attempted to line up our kids and get a picture. I think it turned out pretty well.

We've gotten quite a bit of snow already. I finally took some pictures of the back yard.

Here you can see it on top of the table.

What prompted me to take pictures though was when the top of Tyler's soccer goal almost disappeared. His goal looks like this:

And you can barely see the top of it in this picture. I put in an arrow to help you out.

Today is really warm and would be a great day to go out and play in the snow but I'm afraid I might lose Tyler!

Cute story from Sunday night. We were at church and the pastor asked, "do you love Jesus?" Tyler's lone answer rang out from the back, "yes!"

One last thing (if you've made it this far through the post, you may have too much time on your hands), a video of Tyler's new toy. It is so funny watching him run in place. I wish I would've kept taping because at the end he went over and collapsed on the couch.