January 2011

Our beautiful mountain: the Tetons

Our amazing skier Brittany, everybody tries to beat her down the mountain, she only allows a select few and only for a a few times.

Nathan our Family Sherpa is always helping after a long day of skiing.

Cami in her first ski class, she had a great time and is defiantly ready for the chair lift. She has her pizza and french fries down perfectly-yea!

Dad is his ski buddies in the lodge getting ready to go skiing. We are so lucky to have such a fun dad who helps us fight off the monsters on the ski slopes by using our new ski skills of "pizzaing" and "airplane" turns:)


Our January has been filled with lots of skiing, I think we went 5 times this month. Sometimes just the big kids and Mike would go but most of the time it was a whole family adventure. One time it snowed while we were there and we couldn't get out of the parking lot. We had to have someone finally pull us up the mountain and then we were fine all the way home. We have also found a favorite after-ski-day pizza spot. The restaurant is called Tony's Pizza and Pasta, it is really yummy especially after a long day of skiing when no one takes time to eat much. It is really fun to sit and talk about our day on the mountain and who had the best crashes and who gets most ice cream scoops for crashing the most. The ice cream tradition was we started after watching the Disney movie, Meet the Robinsons, we wanted the kids to celebrate their failures knowing that you have to fail sometimes to move forward. Emily and Cami are skiing and loving it, it is so fun to see their smiles and hear their cute giggles of delight as they are going down the mountain and having fun with the big kids. Kayla got to take a ski trip with her high school ski club. She had a great time skiing at Snowbird and Brighton, she came back a totally different skier, our cautious, graceful Kayla is now a speed demon and not so cautious.

I (Jeni) also got to take a weekend trip to Phoenix. I went to help Aunt Holly move, see some old friends and to defrost. It was a great weekend, I got in my rental car and just sat in the sun for moment and screamed, I just couldn't believe how nice it could be somewhere else while we were freezing!! Next order of business was to find some where to have a snack outside:) I then went and visited my great friend Molly and then off to see some other very special people. It was great to see Aunt Holly. We got a lot done and it was so great to visit. She is a special aunt and I am lucky to have her. Saturday night, I had a girls night out with some old friends and on Sunday I went our old ward and saw our amazing friends. I/we love them so much and will always hold a special place for them in our hearts.

Fasting lesson.

Today in Church I was asked to read and share my testimony about part of the lesson. The lesson is on Fasting, and the topic I am to talk about and share my feelings about it this paragraph: Fasting With A Purpose: Fasting can have many purposes. We can overcome weaknesses or problems by fasting and praying. Sometimes we may wish to fast and pray for help or guidance for others, such as a family member who is ill and needs a blessing (see Mosiah 27:22–23). Through fasting we can come to know the truth of things just as did the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon. He said: “I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit” (Alma 5:46).

I was writing down my thoughts and thought that this belonged in our blog also. Here is my testimony on fasting with a purpose:

Fasting with a purpose allows me to put aside my carnal, physical needs and concentrate on more important matters. It is a way for me to show the Lord that I am putting all my physical needs on the "alter" and consecrating my heart to the Lord in all things, to do His will. When I have done this I have felt a peace and direction in my life that I can't find any other way.

I also have a testimony of the power of others fasting for you in your time of need. It is important that we allow others the opportunity be a window to our Heavenly Father's love and feel close to our Heavenly Father by allowing others to pray for you in your times of need. Two years ago this month I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I went through rigorous chemotherapy and radiation, surgeries and more doctors visits. It was a rough road but knowing that others were praying and fasting for me kept me going. The knowledge that others were giving up their food and water for me filled me with love and determination to keep going. There is a power in fasting and prayer and we can literally feel it as we have faith and act on this gospel principal and allow others to be apart of your lives good and the bad.

Christmas Parties 2010

This year because we didn't make it to San Diego, we got to go to Rupert for the annual Whitesides Family Christmas Party. It is so fun to play with cousins, and see Aunts and Uncles. Santa even came!! We love our family!! Another fun Christmas party was our the annual Church Christmas party. It was very memorable with a visit from the Grinch, and Kayla and Britt singing, where are you Christmas. Both were fun memorable parties. Here are some pictures from the kids with the Grinch, and a video of Kayla and Britt singing.

Christmas 2010

Well this year has been the year of the Christmas's like no other, we counted up how many times we opened presents and it was 5!!! Crazy, no one is complaining and we hope it continues!!!:) The season started out with the annual ski swap, we decided to buy ski passes this year and we need some supplies. Off we went and found some great ski boots for Emily, who said ski boots so cute that we couldn't resist; she is very excited to ski like the big kids. Britt got some new skies, and we got some other fun misc. like wool socks, hats and gloves and ski pants. Then our second Christmas took place before Thanksgiving when we decided it was time for some electronic upgrading, so we got some new TV's, blue ray players and gasp-satellite TV. The kids are asking what happened to their parents, but they aren't pushing the subject too much. The Third Christmas came with the grandparents when they came to Britt's baptism, (see grandparent Christmas blog posting). The fourth came on the Thursday before we were suppose to San Diego, instead of bringing presents we opened the presents leaving the stockings for San Diego. All the kids loved the xbox360 and kinetic from dad. The little girls loved their barbie castle, Britt loved her new chef outfit, Nathan loved this new games for the xbox and the Kayla loved her new clothes, (I know pretty original, but she is 15 and that is what she asked for). The Fifth Christmas came on Christmas morning. It was a good thing that people sent presents to us after we were suppose to be in San Diego so the kids felt like some what of a normal Christmas. The kids got to open their stockings from Santa and stockings from Grandpa & Grandma Mc Nett, and some presents from Aunts and Uncles. On Christmas Eve, the kids tracked Santa on the internet and were so excited for Santa to come that all we had to say was it was time for bed and the kids in their beds and a sleep in record time. Britt was a little anxious, any noise she heard was Santa coming. The funny thing is, is that last year she asked so some many times about Santa that we finally told her the fun story of Santa. So when she got so nervous I reminded her and she calmed down a bit, but was still very excited for Santa to come.

An Idaho Christmas

This is a view of our beautiful Mountains on a beautiful day and up at the ski resort the girls asked me to bury them in the snow, I thought how ironic it was that I was burying them in the snow and not SAND!!


Laser tag and Miniature golf at one of favorite places in town.

We were suppose to go to San Diego for Christmas leaving on December 21st, but the snow was so bad this year that we had to cancel. We were all very sad, we looked forward to the museums and Science Center at Balboa park, the beach, Sea World, and the Sun! But all that will have to wait until another time. It was a hard decision not to go, but after we found out that on the morning we were suppose to leave it snowed 18!!! inches in Provo, UT. We were glad at that moment that we had made the decision to stay home. We have been enjoying ourselves by playing Laser Tag and miniature golf, playing with our new Christmas toys, enjoying some beautiful days of skiing, watching movies, and playing games. It has been nice to be home and relax and enjoy the season. After calculating we have been here for 5 Christmas's and we have only stayed home 1 other time so this has been a nice for a change.

Grandparent Christmas

The weekend of Brittany's baptism, we decided that since our grandma's and grandpa's never get to see the kids open their Christmas presents we would have an early Christmas. It was a lot fun and the kids were of course very excited. Grandma wanted to savor the moment by having each child open one present at a time, well that lasted all of about 2 min.

Britt's Baptism Weekend December 4, 2010

This weekend was very special for Brittany. She was baptized and confirmed by dad. Lots of people came ALONG ways just to be apart of her special day. Grandpa and Grandma Kelly, Aunt Laura and Uncle Joe and Grandpa Mc Nett. Casey and Rachel(Flynn) joined us at the church and after for brunch. It was a very special weekend for Brittany and a fun weekend visiting with family. We played games, bowled, swam, went out for pizza, and just caught up. We have great family- we love you!