The Garlocks

Friday, June 29, 2012

Outdoors and Indoors

Our winter continues on with some fun outdoor adventures such as...

Gracie learning to ski!

Her ski school teacher seemed a little old at first, but boy was he awesome! He oozed coolness and was a pro at teaching beginners. Gracie was lucky to have such a groovy instructor. She learned so fast!

I got to join her the second half of the day. Oh how I love to ski and, even better, how I love to see my daughter ski. It is weird to watch your kids do the same things you used to do.....it makes you feel old. But we had a great time together!

We also enjoyed a little sledding... (our family snow sport of choice for now)

In the ready position!

Shark-boy Ben

Cuddly Bear Sophie

Speedster Gracie

My two boys

Preparing for the 'all-girl' run

And as if that wasn't enough fun in the snow, we built a snowman with all of Ben's buddies, including cousin Henry who came for a visit!


(L to R: Ben, Kian, Luke, Henry, and Jack)

Here up north, we also spend a lot of time indoors in the winter. But the creative juices are flowing at the Garlock house...

We love food and spend a lot of time in this position....kids on the counter 'helping' mom. Here we are trying out a new granola recipe.

We saw this fun pretzel recipe in the "Friend" magazine and had to try it out for Family Home Evening. The kids loved it!

And I just had to add this photo because this is where we find Sophie nearly everyday lately...our little 'art-teest' creating up a storm!

And as the weather warmed up, we headed back outside because soccer season returned! This year Jake was the new coach of the "Hurricanes"! (fitting for where we live)

Because he has some connections, he had some of the Aggie soccer team come to a practice and share their skills with the girls. (Gracie is holding the checkered ball and Sophie is in the green as the "team manager"...a job she takes very seriously)

Gracie is loves playing goalie, so she got a one-on-one lesson from the Aggie goalie. Here she is learning how to drop kick.

Go girls!

Ben's 3rd Birthday!

Look who's 3!

When we woke Ben up (which is rare...he never sleeps in!) to tell him it’s his birthday, he breathed in really deep and exclaimed “I’M THREE NOW!?! I NOT TWO ANYMORE!?!”-as if life was totally great now. We joked that two must have been hard for him.

Ben, you are any mother’s dream child. You have such a unique and special little personality. I love how you just know exactly how you want things done. You are a chief (that's code for the boss/sometimes bossy). Your little buddies are very important to you and play with you often.

You have a very sweet side too.

You feel the spirit even at such a young age. The other night I told you the story of Ammon and the king's sheep for the first time, and you asked me to tell it three times in a row. When I was finished, you exclaimed “I’m going to be a missionary, too!” I can’t wait for the day that you get to serve a faithful mission for the Lord. You’ll be wonderful, I know it!

Ben, I couldn’t be happier to be your mom. We get to spend some alone time together now that Gracie and Sophie are in school, and I love every minute of it. You bring such life and joy to all of us.

We love our Ben!

Ben and his new basketball hoop. He loves basketball like his daddy.

Ben has a new fascination...cars. Finally something besides balls! This was his race car birthday cake that was actually pretty easy to make.

Grandpa and Grandma Shaw came up to celebrate Ben's birthday, too. Here's grandpa introducing Ben to the wonderful world of tools. So many new boy toys to explore! We're used to dolls and princesses around here.

Happy Birthday Ben! We love you!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Christmas 2011

The Christmas Season started off great! Our family was asked to sing a Russian Christmas carol at our ward Christmas party. After practicing for a few weeks, we were all ably to sing a little Russian...even Ben! We sang "Far Far Away on Judea's Plains". I loved that our family got to work hard together for something special.

We also had the annual work Christmas party at the local family fun center. Our kids LOVE this!

We discovered a new favorite family activity...lazer tag!

Of course, Ben spent the evening here using up all his tokens (as well as mom and dad's).


Gracie and Sophie were the only brave ones to sit on Santa's Lap. FYI: Gracie wants some legos and Sophie wants an art kit.

Then FINALLY it was Christmas Eve! We had a wonderful Christmas at home for the 4th year in a row! As always, Grandma Mary came to celebrate with us. We feel so spoiled to have her each year! As a bonus, we had our dear friends and neighbors, The Knights, over for our traditional celebrations. It was marvelous!

The festivities started with our traditional Christmas Eve movie, courtesy of Jake's projector and lap top. It's a good way to pass the time on a day that seems extra long for our little ones.


Here's our Christmas Eve Candlelight feast. Food, if you haven't guessed yet, is always a big part of our traditions, especially Christmas.

Then it was time for our Nativity.

Angel Sophie

Sweet Gracie as Mary

Shepherd Ben

All the actors

After the Knights went home for the night, we opened up our 2 traditional gifts: the Jammies and the Family Game. This year's game was Kerplunk. It was a hit!