We snapped a few photos on Christmas Eve before we headed off to church and dinner. Just thought I’d share them!

Last week we went on a little adventure to visit the Surfing Goat Dairy. My mom saw a flyer for it and she was dying to go check it out. We all really love animals and thought that it would be a fun family adventure.

We went in the afternoon so that we could help bring the goats in from the fields, help them feed the goats, and then assist with milking. After that we got to watch the cheese making process.

What an incredible place! You could tell that everyone that was there truly loved the goats and what they were doing. Even though they worked HARD! The farm is owned by an adorable German couple. They vacationed in Maui from Hamburg Germany, fell in love with Maui and decided to stay. They have been running the Surfing Goat Dairy for the past 9 years.

And the goats were so cute. They had something like 30 babies born the few days before we came. It was so cute to see the babies play. We went down to the field and watched them run and jump all over. They reminded me of puppies. I was surprised at how big they were at just a few days old. We helped herd the goats from the field up to the barn where they were going to be fed and milked.

Here they are being led into the barn and getting ready to be milked.

The goats got to eat while they were being milked. They showed us what the goats eat, and even let us try some. These goats are well taken care of! All the food they eat is suitable for people to eat too.

As we were milking the goats it started to pour rain. The workers went down to the fields to collect the babies from the rain. They put them in huge rubbermaid tubs and dragged them back to the barn. It was really cute to see a tub full of baby goats. The kids helped to towel dry them before they went into the pens in the barn.

It was a really fun afternoon. We all thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Surfing Goat Dairy. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun adventure in Maui!

Another wonderful Christmas in Maui! Merry Christmas to everyone. I am so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends in my life. Love you all

Last night was the annual Christmas Mai Tai party at Kahana Village. Every year around the holidays they invite the hula girls to dance and Jeff sings and plays the guitar. This year they invited the kids to come up and dance too. I quickly ran home and got the video camera. It was dark and the video quality is not very good, but here you go.

Last night I was in charge of BBQing. Ian and I went out together. I watched the steaks cook and he roamed around exploring in the bushes. This was the beautiful sunset we got to see.

Our annual trip to Maui has begun! I wish I could remember exactly how many years we have been spending Christmas in Maui. I know for sure that the first year was before Scott and I were married. I think it was before we got engaged, so I am thinking that it was maybe 1994? If so, this is our 15th year (we didn’t come in 2004 when I was pregnant with Ian). I’m not sure how long it has been, but I know that it is a tradition that I hope we continue for a long time.

The kids were so excited to get here this year, especially Emma! She talked about it constantly for days and days.

Our flight over was uneventful, which is always good. However, once we got to Maui it wasn’t so easy. The road to our condo is a very small and windy two lane road. There was an accident a few miles into the drive. What should have been a 45 minute drive turned into 2 hours. We ended up getting to bed about 1:30am, which translated into 4:30am our time. Luckily my kids are very adaptable and did fine. Emma and Ian slept the whole way in the car and Nora was wide awake keeping us all entertained!

The first day was a little rough. We were all exhausted. Nora got out of the pool about 12:30 and said to me “I want to go inside and take a nap.” I didn’t really believe she would do it, so I asked her “Why?” She looked at me like I had 3 heads and said “Because I am tired!” I took her in and sure enough she slept for 3 hours! Luckily for me my mom and aunt watched the other 2 kids and I got to take a nap too.

Today Emma and I spent the afternoon together shopping. It was so nice to spend some one on one time with her. She was just glowing the entire time. Every time I looked at her she was just glowing from ear to ear. I really need to make more time to do things like that with her.

I haven’t gotten my camera out yet. But I will soon! Tomorrow the kids are planning to decorate the gingerbread houses that we put together today. Maybe I’ll take some photos of that!

What a nice Thanksgiving break we had! With our “Blizzard of 2010″ we got one extra day off, and ended up having a 5 day weekend. It was such a nice break. I loved not having to get up early and not having to run around driving kids to all their activities. Wednesday I stayed in my pajamas all day! I did a bunch of things around the house. The kids just relaxed and played video games and watched TV–a real treat for them!

Thanksgiving was nice. We spent the morning getting the ice rink going. The forecast called for very cold temperatures, so we decided it was a good time to make the ice. We put the liner in and started filling it up with water. We headed down and spent some time at Scott’s mom’s house. It was fun to see his brother and sister. The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins. Then we drove back to Park City for dinner with my family. It was fun to have Carolanne, Andy and Christian there. And Gert and the kids came too. Bryan and Mary came in from Arizona. The food was delicious and everyone had a nice time together.

We also spent part of the weekend skiing. It was lots of fun. I can see that this is going to be a good winter for us. We are finally at the point where we can all ski together as a family and actually enjoy it I’m looking forward to lots of family ski days.

I’m not looking forward to getting up early tomorrow and getting the kids off to school!

I wish I had taken a photo of all of us, but I didn’t, so you will just have to imagine it

Today we all skied together as a family. It was really the first time that we have ever been able to do it. Now that Nora is 4 and getting to be a better skier, I can see that we are all going to be able to have some fun together!

We had family in town for the holiday. We decided to all go ski together as a big gang. My aunt Carol Anne was here with her husband Andy and her son Christian. Christian really grew up skiing here. They used to come out every Christmas and usually a few other times a year. I can remember him going to the ski school at Park City Mountain Resort. Now I have my own kids, about the age he was when he came out skiing.

My parents took Emma, and Scott and I took Nora and Ian. We started at First Time and took Nora on a few runs. The first run was a little rough, but after the first run, she was skiing like a champ. She can turn in both directions and totally control her speed with her wedge. She and I took a few runs together while the rest of the family went on some harder runs. We all met up for lunch and then headed to the top of the mountain.

It was Nora’s first time at the top, and she did great! By the time we got to the bottom, my legs were killing me from snow plowing. Nora was as happy as could be just singing and talking away.

I think this is going to be a fun winter of skiing for us!

Nora has been potty trained in the day time for almost 2 years now. I had to go back and look to see when I wrote about potty training with her, because I couldn’t remember! Lately she hasn’t been napping very often, but she has been dry when napping too. She wears pull-ups at night, and they are usually wet in the morning. But I think she pees in it while she is awake. I can see her pee almost as soon as she puts it on. Little stinker!

I talked to her and asked her if she thought she was ready to stop wearing pull ups at night. She said she was. I have had success with Emma and Ian using a bed-wetting alarm at night. She was excited to get her turn to be a “big girl” and wear the alarm.

We tried it for the first time 2 nights ago. I was expecting to have to wake up with her a time or two in the night. I was shocked when I woke up in the morning all on my own. I figured that it had gone off and she just took care of it. I went to check on her and she was totally dry. She didn’t even need the alarm. The second night she did the same thing! She is so proud of herself!! I think she was ready

Tonight will be her third night without diapers. I think I am going to celebrate. I have had a child in diapers or pull ups for almost 9 years! I can’t wait to be done with that phase of my life.

This weekend was filled with hockey for all of us.

Ian had hockey practice on Thursday night. Friday night he had a scrimmage against one of the other Ice Miners house teams. Then Saturday we hosted the Jamboree where 6 teams played 5 games each. Then we added in Grizzlies games both Friday and Saturday night. To top it off Ian’s team sold chuck-a-pucks at the Grizzlies game!

I have a feeling this is a glimpse of things to come with Ian playing hockey!

Here are a few photos from his game.

Here he is taking a face off–his favorite thing to do!