January Misc

So we haven't had too many adventures in January. It's kind of tough getting out doors when it's a little chilly for the little guy. I mean overall it's been a pretty dry, mild winter considering, but it still is winter so we stay indoors most of the time.

Travis and I have kept busy doing things we enjoy. I play basketball with a bunch of women in town every Tues and Thurs morning and I love it!! I've missed playing sports and have no problem getting out of bed every Tues and Thurs to go play. I take Dallen with me and he just sits on the sidelines and plays with his toys, watches us play, and plays with other kids that come around to see him.

Travis has started going to the archery league doing shooting tournaments with quite a few people in town. And by people that means girls too. :) It's actually headed up by a friend of mine who's a really good huntress, Paula. She actually just shot her first mountain lion last week with her bow! Very impressive, I must say. :)

I also started teaching piano. I have 4 students and am enjoying working with kids again.

Lily has started her new years resolution of losing weight. We noticed she has started limping after going on long hard runs/hikes. She's starting to get arthritis because she's such a fattie. So we put her on a prescription diet and have cut back on a lot of hand outs and treats. She's definitely not enjoying it to say the least. Poor Lil! But I'd rather her get healthy now then deal with a lot of health issues later. She seems to be adjusting ok.



Dallen has decided that he would like to be on his feet as much as possible and loves to hold our fingers and stand up. He can even move a long furniture and take very wobbly steps. He still hates being on his tummy but we've been seeing signs of scooting and he likes to climb on us and on pillows and things. So I'm sure he'll be mobile here sooner than we think. :) He's also started to become picky in what he eats and the textures of the food he eats. He'd rather chew stuff then eat the mush. So that means eating is a much longer process and I feel like feeding is what I do all day long! I guess that'll be the story of my life with these 2 boys I've got. :)





In the evenings, Travis and I have started watching Vampire Diaries TV series. IT IS SOOOO GOOD! We highly recommend it, and when I say we, I mean Travis really likes it too. :) It's great. I also have sucked him into watching The Bachelor with me. Just gotta get my weekly dose of drama. And when we're not watching those 2 shows I've been enjoying the Percy Jackson series. I know it's a youth reader series, but it's nice to read something that's good but doesn't take over my life. That's why I decided to take the recommendation from my brother and read it. The books have definitely gotten better as they go along and I would totally recommend the series for young boys.

So we stay busy enough, just not so much doing the usual Hicks Family Adventures. Looking forward to spring and enjoying taking Dallen outside a lot more.

First Back Pack Hiker

It's been pretty good weather this month, so we planned to go on a hike with Dallen in the back pack for his first back pack ride. Well, the weather wasn't the greatest the day we decided to go, so we waited a couple hours until it subsided a bit and took off. He totally loved it- all cozy in his snow monster suit. After about 2 miles he ended up falling asleep and had his little face all wedged in. It was so cute. Lily had a blast, of course. In total we did 4 miles and the last 15 minutes he was done. I think he was cold and hungry. The weather started to change again toward the end of the hike so I couldn't blame him. But overall it was nice to get out and to find out that the back pack works really well.

Christmas #2 & New Years in Vegas

It was such a nice vacation spending time with family and friends in Vegas. It kind of still feels like home there, even though I'm so glad we don't live there anymore. It's a weird feeling. We stayed with Travis' parents which was quite the full house since Kristin is living back at home with her 2 kids as well. We got in around noon on the 26th and enjoyed spending the afternoon opening gifts. Dallen was very spoiled as were we all. It was definitely funner this year having more kids there to open gifts with. Dallen was so interested in all his toys, but we put them aside to play with once we got home. There were plenty of little David's toys for him to play with while he was there. Linda made a delicious prime rib dinner that night and it was just another wonderful peaceful day.

The next day we decided to spend together looking at the Bellagio Gardens. I don't think any of us would've gone if we knew how many people were going to be there! I've never seen it so packed. It was crazy. Anyway, the gardens were gorgeous as usual and I think the kids enjoyed it.





The next couple days Linda and David had to work and Brighton was with her dad so Travis and I ran errands and he worked on the Ranger. Friday Travis went out with his Dad, Nick and Cael to go bird hunting, but really just to ride around in the Ranger at Christmas Tree Pass. I spent the day with Mindy and enjoyed chatting away and catching up. That night our old group of friends went out to dinner and played games at the Starleys. It seriously was just like old times. It felt like none of us had ever moved away! We played Mofia for hours and just laughed and laughed. It was such a good fun night- we didn't get to bed until 2am!


The next day the whole family went out riding on the 4wheelers. David brought his Polaris and we all piled in and headed up to Lovell Canyon. We had a nice picnic and went on a couple of short rides and really enjoyed being away from it all together. Little David played in the snow for the first time (I think) and Brighton had a blast exploring and riding the 4wheelers. Linda had a good time as well and it was just so nice to get away and do something all together. Because Travis & I were up so late the night before, we rang in the New Year snoozing away. I think that was a first for me in a long time. :P Guess that's what happens when you become a mom. ha!









We headed out on Sunday and really had a nice little vacation. We miss being around such great friends and being closer to family, but love our new home in Beaver. Looking forward to the next visit!

Christmas in Beaver

Christmas Eve- Already so EXCITED!

Caught ya! No peaking...

This year we had 2 Christmas'- Christmas day was spent in Beaver and the day after in Vegas. Travis was on call the 23-25th but took a vacation for the rest of the week so we could go down to Vegas and spend the week after Christmas with his family. It was definitely different being just the 3.5 of us (Lily being the .5), but I really did enjoy it. It was very calm and peaceful and nice to have Dallen's first Christmas be with just us. Christmas was on Sunday as well so that made Christmas day a little different as well. We woke up at 6am to video chat with the Heeb family and do buddy presents and grandma Hayman gifts. It was crazy as usual. Then we got ready for church. The whole program was music and I sang a duet, Were you There On that Christmas Night'. Travis got called in at the end of church so Dallen and I went home and waited to open presents. Well it was awhile before he came home and when he did, Dallen was napping. So Travis and I opened our gifts to each other and then took a nap with Dallen and then finally around 4pm Dallen got to open his presents. Not like he knows any different, but definitely different then all other Christmas mornings we've experienced. :) It really was a nice Christmas Day and I'm looking forward to playing Santa for our little family.

He LOVED the wrapping paper. What's he doing with a Gators football...?
There goes Lily climbing on my shoe boxes to get to her treat
And she got it! :P




Lily hoarding her new toys and treats

50th Birthdays

This year was my parents' 50th birthday (Dec 20th & 28th). So us kids decided to plan a surprise party as our gift for them. You'd be surprised (no pun intended-ha!) at how much planning and coordinating it takes to pull off a surprise party when most of you live out of town! It was a lot of work, but it all came together and they loved it. Mom picked up on some accidental clues about the party, but didn't know that it was all planned by us kids. Dad was completely clueless though. :) Jessica and I weren't able to be there, but the rest of the family was and they had a great turn out with their friends. As a gift, we put together 50 reasons we love mom and 50 for dad, 5 from each kid, and put them in a jar for them to keep. :) We set out a few old albums for people to look through and of course had plenty of food. I wish we could've been there, but after all the work we did to pull it off, it almost felt like we were.

Newest Toy! & Newest News!

Now that we've lived in Beaver for almost year, we realize how much we actually could and would get out and go 4wheeling. This is only possible with a baby if you own a side-by-side ATV. So, this past year we've been lucky to get out and ride when the Starley's are in town, since they have a RZR and both babies can ride in the back seat in their car seats. Now that hunting season is over and they aren't coming up every other weekend, we decided it's time we find a side-by-side for ourselves:



It's a 2011 Polaris Ranger Crew 8000- 2 bench seats, 6 seat belts, and a dump bed. We found it in Wyoming and decided that since we were in N.Utah buying our new trailer anyway, we'd go over to Wyoming and check out the good deal. Well, it turned out to be a pretty nice one and we decided to get it! So instead of just coming home with a trailer, we found our new side-by-side too! It's really comfy and lots of room to store stuff. We added new wheels and tires and will be getting a hardtop roof in the future and half windshield. Travis is also supping up the suspension as well.

pulling out from the place we bought it

pre-wheels and tires

Of course things couldn't go that smoothly and on our way home, on the freeway, the truck broke down. We had to get towed from Sandy to Beaver and it was definitely an ordeal. Thankfully it was a safe and quick tow, but we sure had to argue with the dispatch company and figure out how to make everyone happy. We get unlimited towing through our insurance company but the dispatch company didn't want to be responsible for getting our family home nor our trailer. It was such a mess. But like I said, at least we got home safe and it didn't take very long at all. Turns out the right rear axle snapped. Crazy huh?

While we were in N. Utah we stayed with the Rowes and had a great time catching up. We also went out for sushi with the Wells for Sarah's Bday dinner. Because we were eating sushi, we found out a little sooner then expected that Sarah is expecting #2!!! She's due July 25th and is so excited. :) Should be fun to have another little one in the fam next year!

After our excellent sushi, we went and took pictures with Santa at the Shops at the Riverwoods in Orem. Jacob and Dallen were sooo cute! I'm so glad we got a 1st Christmas Santa picture taken with Dallen. Yeah!