the breinholt's go skiing.

way way back, like in 2013, we took a trip to the snow in durango, colorado.  we actually went there with my family for the new year and it was really so much fun.  jason and i were able to take turns skiing with all the kids except for jonah who stayed warm in the condo with my sister kayda and his nana.  we enjoyed seeing the kids personalities shine through as they tried to learn something new and maybe a bit challenging.

eden was fearless and picked up on it way quicker than i ever imagined.  jack and ava did ski school one day and then went skiing for a half day with us.  ava has some natural athletic talent in her so things like this aren't really that hard for her but she was very cautious and took the time to make sure she was doing all the right maneuvers.  jack was another story.  that kid likes to go straight down the mountain and doesn't care much about control.  unfortunately, that doesn't work out too well when you are trying to learn to ski so he had a ton of wipe outs and ate a lot of snow.  by the time he was at the bottom he was frozen from all the snow that got all up in his clothes and gloves and boots.  it didn't help that jason and i snowboard and that we were trying to help these kids ski.  it's very difficult to help a skier when strapped to a snowboard.  but we did it and we had the best time being with our kids and seeing them try and learn something new.  can't wait for some future ski trips!

^^^eden was the happiest little skier.^^^

^^^my sweet dad, my sister kayda, and her friend cheyanna.^^^

^^^heading up the big mountain on the ski lift.^^^

^^^check out those colorado rockies!^^^

the end.

lemonade!

^^^taking a short break from marketing.^^^

^^^cutest cashier on the block.^^^

for christmas, ava got a multi purpose stand that can change from a puppet theater, to a market, to a post office, to a lemonade stand.  well she was dying to try out the lemonade stand so we did what any normal arizonian does the day after christmas...sell lemonade! we really are blessed with perfect winter weather but in turn, we pay for it in the summer.  its a good enough trade off for me, though.

ava had quite a successful day.  she had her marketing team making signs and her stand was well staffed with a server (eden) and a casheir (jonah).  they had so much fun and even made a few dollars.  she was, however, very generous and gave out plenty of samples to the neighbor kids and to those helping out.  everyone was well hydrated...with lemonade ;)

scenes from christmas morning.

christmas 2013

^^^little heads poking around the corner to catch a glimpse of what santa left behind.^^^

^^^"candy, mom." all jonah really cares about.^^^

^^^and let the present opening begin!^^^

^^^love that excited face.^^^

^^^eden was really excited about her lego house.^^^

^^^in train heaven.^^^

^^^an impromptu puppet show.^^^

^^^taking his new scooter for a ride.^^^

^^^looking pretty fly on the new bike with one hand on and one hand off.^^^

first off, this is really sad that i am blogging about christmas morning when it's valentines day.  i keep trying to catch up but life keeps getting in the way.  so, of course christmas was great and magical and happy and everything it should it be.  lots of joyful kids.  and this christmas was even better than past years because we mostly stayed home all day together.  although, we did sneak away for a few hours to go see frozen (for a second time).  my kids adore that movie and i think my husband does too.  but then we headed back home for a quiet afternoon where the kids explored all their newly acquired stuff.  we usually are racing from one family's house to the next all day long but this year we decided to stay put and like i said, it was wonderful.

well i hope everyone out there is having a happy valentines day and spreading some love! we can always use some more love in this crazy world of ours.  xoxoxo