The Curse of the Rubiks Cube

McKay got a Rubiks Cube for his birthday a few months ago. Once it was out of the package, it immediately it looked like this:
The Rubiks Cube was recently found by McKay wondering how on Earth he could get the Rubiks Cube back to it's original form. I have never solved a Rubiks cube. Jeremy and I were laughing because when we were younger we both had taken one all the way apart and pieced it back together claiming it solved. Jeremy told him he could probably figure it out by looking it up on the internet. Since I had always wanted to solve "the cube" I looked up a solution online. I learned a lot about the puzzle cube, but was overwhelmed by the task at hand to solve it. I passed the buck. Jeremy stayed up until 2:00 a.m. last night with You Tube and although he got close, the Rubiks Cube still looked like this:
He claimed his brain had shut down. 24 hours after having start to solve the Rubiks Cube and much diligence and patience, the Rubiks Cube finially looked like this:
Whew! Way to go Jeremy! He didn't even have to take it apart (or remove the stickers). I am impressed!

*Did you have a Rubiks Cube when you were young?
**Did you ever take it apart (or take the stickers off) to get the cube back to normal?
**Ever solve one with or without help? I am impressed if you have!

Christmas 2009

Boy life is crazy. The holidays are here before you know it and then suddenly they are gone and the Christmas tree is down. Thankfully we have photos and a blog to remember it all. Let's start with the Sunday before Christmas:

I had my boys all dress up in matching shirts and ties. They all looked so handsome. (Jaxon has been determined to wear his suit every Sunday since his baptism.)

Then we celebrated Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa White's house. We had a great Christmas feast, played games and opened presents.

It has become a tradition that Grandma White makes all of the grandkids matching pajamas. This year they were red CTR pajamas.

Christmas morning finally arrived for the kids. It came all to quickly for Jeremy and I. We had told the kids they were not allowed to wake anyone up or come out of their room until 7:00 a.m. Kayden, however made an appearance at 6:00 a.m. We tried to get him to go back to sleep by putting him bed with us, but he kept talking to Jeremy saying, "Hi, Dad!" and then woke the rest of the family up.

Exchanging gifts with each other has become an excitement for the boys. They look forward to going shopping and wrapping each others gifts and then watching as each other unwraps them. McKay did really well for Jaxon this year (above) getting him Pokemon cards and some other kind of toy magnet thing that pops open when rolled across a magnetic card. (Whatever, he liked it.)

Even Suki, the dog, got presents on Christmas. I was hoping that after receiving some new chew toys it would lessen the chewing of everything else around the house--I was hoping in vain.

Josh was very pleased about receiving a gumball machine.

McKay got a book to teach him how to tie balloon animals. His brothers were excited about it too. What kid doesn't love a balloon animal?

Kayden had a lot of fun this year opening presents. He was a lot of fun to watch and play with this year. He has really done a lot of growing up.

The much, much, MUCH wanted Lego set that McKay received after his mom did much, much, MUCH bargain hunting and shopping. He was so excited!

Jaxon got a big Lego set too. He kept asking Santa for money for Christmas so that he could go and buy the Lego set he wanted. He was excited when he opened his gift too. I received some major hugs on Christmas morning.
I even tricked the boys with their Lego sets. They kept searching under the Christmas tree for big boxes that when shook sounded like Legos. So when I wrapped their Lego sets, I put a name tag on one that said it was to Dad, and Jeremy put a name tag on the other one that said it was to me. Needless to say, the boys didn't touch those two boxes under the tree until Christmas morning when they unwrapped them.

I left the best gift for last. I asked Jeremy to frame the Proclamation to the World that I received during teacher appreciation week last year. He had it framed and it is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!! I love it. I love it all the more because he immediately put it up on our wall right away.

There are several other things that we did during Christmas break that I wasn't able to document with photos (mostly because I forgot or didn't think about taking my camera). The day after Christmas we went up to Soldier Hallow and went down their tubing hills with my family. It was a fun day and the kids enjoyed it a lot. Later that night we got together with my extended family for a Culley family reunion. It was fun to see a lot of my cousins, aunts and uncles. Family is the best.
The Sunday after Christmas we got together at my mom's house with my sister Juli and my brother Paul and their families. Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids their Christmas presents from them and then the cousins exchanged gifts. That was followed by a wonder Christmas dinner. We also were able to keep up the Haacke family tradition of acting out the Nativity.
Monday morning, I piled my kids in the car and went snowmobiling with my family up near Strawberry Reservoir. The temperatures were a frigid -3 but we went snowmobiling, sledding and Jaxon was able to try out his new bootless snowboard that he received from Grandma and Grandpa Haacke.
Wednesday, we were able to go up to the Salt Lake Temple to see my sweet Nephew Caleb sealed for time and all eternity to my brother-in-law Weston and sister-in-law Jennise. They adopted Caleb in June and had to wait six months before they were able to take him to the temple to be sealed. It was an amazing experience. I was so grateful we could be there.
For New Years we went up to my brother's house in Idaho Falls. We had a great time with them and my parents ringing in the new year. We played Clue, Blokus, made things with beads and ate and ate and ate. It was a great New Years Eve. New Years Day we had received a nice new blanket of snow and so we went sledding and snowmobiling plus we rode the four wheelers. It was a great weekend.
To top the weekend off, we were able to go to see Caleb blessed on Sunday morning. It was nice to be there and with Jeremy's family celebrating such a wonderful family event. It was the perfect way to end the Christmas break.
I hope you had an equally wonderful Christmas break. We were busy, but was wonderfully fun creating so many fantastic memories. Here is looking forward to a new year!

Gingerbread Program

The second grade had a Christmas program this year about a gingerbread man that ran away because he was lonely. They sang all sorts of cute songs with cute actions. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Jaxon is on the top row in the middle. The program is just getting ready to start.

Singing a song with jingle bells.

Jaxon giving his part. It was about how they should make a lot of gingerbread men so that the runaway gingerbread man wouldn't be lonely. It was a fun program and Jaxon did a great job. I must say he was the most animated child up there.

The Dentist Makes a House Call

Josh smacked his front tooth on a friend's pogo stick last summer (2008) resulting in a late night visit to the dental office for a filling and patch job. It was not pleasant. Over the last year, his tooth has been slowly turning gray and then this last Sunday I noticed a nice bubble (for lack of a better word) on his gums right over his dying tooth. I consulted the dentist (interrupting his primary class) right away and he said it was time for the tooth to come out. Knowing how busy things are at the office, the dentist suggested that he bring home some tools and take the tooth out at home. Convenient. Tonight was the big night. Josh was so brave. He was just excited for the tooth fairy to come and see him! Here is a little something to look at before you consider purchasing any child in your life a pogo stick:

Prepping the tooth for it's final yank.
(Anesthesia had already been administered.)

Yank! Out came the tooth before Josh even realized it.

Jeremy (aka the dentist) had to do some digging to get the piece of root out that had split off when it was hit by the pogo stick. Josh had done great up to this point, but this was too much for his stomach. Luckily he didn't throw-up. He felt better after lying down for a while. (Jeremy thought it was a great photo opp.)

Then end result. He is going to have a missing front tooth for a long while!

Jaxon's Bobcat

Jaxon received his Bobcat award tonight at Cub Scout Pack Meeting. He worked very hard this month so that he could earn his award. He had to memorize the law of the pack and the cub scout motto, along with some other stuff. He is well on his way down the path of scouting. Way to go Jax!

Service Party

McKay is on the student council at his school. He is required to serve so many hours each month. He volunteers every Monday morning before school in a teacher's classroom, does peer mediation on the play ground and helps with all the school activities (food drive, walk-a-thon, the school store, etc.) All the members of the student council were able to have a "late night" at the school if they met the minimum amount of 16 service hours for the first quarter. They had pizza, treats, prizes, played games and they watched movie. I snuck in at the end of the party to shoot some pictures.

McKay claims he ate five pieces of pizza and a bunch of candy. I believe him.

They were able to take bean bags, pillows and blankets to the school to watch the movie with. You could have worn your pajamas too, but McKay just opted to wear "comfy clothes". He had a great time celebrating with all the other members of the student council all the accomplishments they made the first quarter of the school year.

*Wouldn't have been cool to have a late night at the school when you were a kid? I would have thought it was awesome!

Summing Up Rivalry Week

Enough said.