Spring Break @ Deer Valley

Since the kids loved their first ski experience last year we decided we had to go again for spring break!  This year we decided to go to Deer Valley.  Doug and I had skied there before M&M came along and loved it so we thought it would be fun to take the kids.  Papa and Nona Lisa joined us which made it much more fun!!

The trip started off well. Two of our four seats got upgraded to Economy Plus.  When Doug told Matt that he and Marlie were going to sit in those seats Matt said, "what are we in, Economy Minus?" So that stuck the whole trip...Economy Minus!  Hilarious!!

We were a little nervous because the temperatures had been pretty warm and there wasn't much snow on the ground when we flew into Salt Lake City.  Thankfully though most of the runs (at least the greens and blues) had plenty of snow so we were in good shape!  The kids spent the first 2 days in ski school.  Matt was a little frustrated at first that he didn't pick up right where he left off last year but it only took him a day or two before he was flying down the mountain!  Marlie did well also.  I couldn't believe how brave she was going down a few steep hills! The weather was unusually warm which I loved and we skied most days in 50 degree weather!

It was fun this year...Doug and I got to ski with Matt one day while Marlie was in ski school.  It was nice to spend some one-on-one time with him.  Doug and Matt had fun skiing together too one morning and that's when Matt discovered he liked the moguls! And then we spent at least 2 days all skiing together!  Thankfully all the jumps and entrances into the kids zones were off of the long green runs so Matt was happy skiing those. Otherwise I think I might have gotten left out skiing the greens on my own!!  The best part of skiing together was Marlie skiing with the GoPro and narrating the video the entire way down the mountain! She loved it and we all couldn't stop laughing at her play-by-play which was mostly of Matt and how awesome he is!!

Although my peeps didn't want to take a day off of skiing I managed to convince them that our bodies needed a rest and we went tubing! We all loved it and the kids mostly enjoyed going down head first!

Great trip, great weather and great family time!  Looking forward to another ski trip next year with my big and little skiers!!

Hooks off to a great start!

Baseball season is here!  It's our first year of kid pitch and I'm amazed at how well these boys are pitching.  Matt asked Santa for catchers gear for Christmas and loves playing catcher!  You'll also find him at 1st base (I still think he's the best first baseman I've seen play), 3rd base and in center field when the other team can hit.  As always we continue to be so proud of Matt for just playing so hard and being a great team member. 

The Hooks have won 2 tournaments this year.  The first was small, only 4 teams, but the last one was 17 teams and they pulled of 3 solid wins on Sunday to win the championship.  Both tournaments the boys got rings, yes no trophies, rings!  Matt went to school last week with a necklace that had both rings on it.  Hilarious! Looking forward to watching these boys finish out the season! Go Hooks!

#1 Jags

Matt was ready for another great season of flag football and a great season it was.  Doug and Geoff Houlton led the 3rd and 4th grade Jaguars to a winning season.  The games were a little more intense this year but the coaches did great and the boys showed great teamwork and character on the field.  I was amazed at how many kids on this team contributed and loved all the high-fiving and hooting and hollering for each other.  We were mostly 3rd graders but you would have thought these boys were middle schoolers already the way the talked to each other on the field..."watch the blitz", "contain". What a great group of kids and the icing on the cake...what a great group of parents.

This year the kids moved around quite a bit and learned several positions.  Matt of course loved playing defense.  He was great at pulling flags and caught a few interceptions too! Coach Geoff did a great job of coaching the defense. 

 On offense Matt got to play a little bit of quarterback...

running back...

 But this year his favorite position was receiver and man can this kid catch the ball! He's just like his Daddy!

 He took some pretty hard falls throughout the season and was never afraid to sell out for the ball.

 When he wasn't in the end zone already he would run well, making cuts and trying to stay inbounds. 

Thank you to Dad and Geoff for all your hard work.  These boys have learned so much from you both over the years.  In fact this year our boys knew the rules better than our officials!!! It's great to see these friends have the opportunity to play together.  We even recruited some of Matt's baseball team to come play so Dylan and Logan joined us which was so fun! Can't wait for next year already!!!