Ski Week Day 1

One of the things we missed last year while being away was skiing. As we’ve gotten back to Utah and winter, we have been looking forward to our week we get to spend at the Brighton Cabin. It’s one of our favorite things of all time! Well this week is our week and we couldn’t have been more excited to get up to the mountain for a few days! 

Our first order of business is to announce our walkie talkie call signs. We had a reveal ceremony first thing and after a couple of last minute changes, these are the call signs that we’ll all have for the week:

Desh - Dingleberry

Beck - Ghostrider

Keen - Patty Holmes

Liev - Warlock

Rhen - Tumbleweed

Rease - Derby Destroyer (DD)

Mom - Mama-ski-ta

Dad - Black Jackel

We are so lucky that our first day here fell on a snowy one. A snowy powdery day is my ideal and we loved skiing hard, hiking a little bit and getting between the trees to find as much powder as possible. One of the places the kids love to go is one right off crest they named “powder hollow”. Beck steered me in the right direction and showed me how to skirt along the edge of the hill to get up there. After a little side stepping and hiking to get there, we found the spot that powder hollow was named after. It was a sweet powdery run that left some of us in heaps because of how deep it was. Oh so fun to be up there with all that new snow! 

Of course the boys always love the “triple terrain park” run where we hit them all on the way down. The year off for our kids did not slow them down any and every one of them hits the hills and jumps hard and fast and with no fear. I love watching them do all they can do! 

We had Uncle Guy and Aunt Robin with us for part of the day and had fun showing them all our favorite spots! The kids are just a blast to follow around cause they’re cutting between trees and in and out of differ t spots and at times I lose track of them. Then all of a sudden there they all are again materializing out of nowhere back at the bottom of the hill together. It’s so fun! 

The best part is that we can have some downtime in the cabin when we need it. We have lots of food, hot chocolate and a nice fire waiting for us and it’s the best to recoup before getting back out there. And of course we get to sit and laugh about all the funny things that went on during the day. Highlights of today:

Keen and his girl Shareese. Just ask him about it. 

Our chair stopping right on the rollers. A rarity that only few get to experience. 

Liev earned the double ejector award twice in one day!  Once in the slide and another time on one of the jumps off my-oh-my. Both times he was ok so now it’s fine for us to laugh at him :)

Uncle Guy breathing heavy from a long absence from skiing. He did great but claimed that he was going to be sore after today!

And Desh made it to the top of camel hump along with the rest of the kids!

We ended the day with one last trip to powder hollow where we had a good but long and exhausted run. Our legs were tired and getting stuck in the powder was not as easy to get out of as it was earlier in the day. Desh lost his skis twice on that run and we had fun getting them back on in 10 inches of powder! 

But of course most everyone skied until the final chair headed up. My family is filled with die hards and go u til they can’t go anymore! We’re tired and sore but headed to bed with skiing on the mind. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

January round-up

Wrapping up our month of January:

Marathon training has begun.  Trying to get the miles in and stay warm at the same time

BYU basketball games!

Keen and I both got a haircut.  11 inches for me, trim off the back for him

Rease playing in the pep band is always fun to see!

Young women’s Just Dance night - oh so fun!

Activities days doing lots of creating

Till the Will, Neeb, the Been, Nena - whatever she is called, we love her the same

My beautiful daughter who makes me proud every day!

What a month we’ve had!

 

Rease band concert

We got to see Rease perform in her symphonic band concert tonight!  She loves playing the French horn and it never gets old seeing her do what she loves to do.  This band is headed to State in a few weeks and they have worked hard!  This was a great warm up concert for what they’re about to do.  Good luck!

 

Uncle Greg

Life is always just a little better and brighter when Uncle Greg comes around!  We love the drop in visits and the time we get to spend with one of our favorite people of all time. We got to spend the evening with good food, outdoor football games and a band concert to round it out.  Thanks for taking the time to be with us!

Temple trip for Keen

Being a new Deacon this year, Keen was so excited to be able to attend the temple and do baptisms.  We got up early this morning and took him on his own and it was super special to be there with him.  He has a certain light about him that is contagious and I know he has a lot of good to do in the world!  So proud of this boy and his love for the Lord!

 

Principal's Pride Desh

Desh got the Principal's Pride award today at school and he is very deserving of it!  He works so hard and has loved making new friends at his new school this year - not an easy task for kids.  We were so proud to be there and watch him get this award!

 

Book of Mormon read-a-thon

In preparation for youth conference this summer, our stake young men and young women's presidencies hosted a Book of Mormon read-a-thon this weekend.  The goal was to get the kids together in one spot (the stake center gym) and have them listen to (and read along) the whole Book of Mormon in one day.  It had to be listened to on triple speed to be able to get through it all and at times it seemed like it was a little chaotic...But I was so proud of all the kids that showed up and spent the day reading and listening along!  That was a big sacrifice for them to spend a whole Saturday doing that and I was overwhelmed with their goodness! We made it ALMOST all the way through, but ended about 10:00 pm with just a few chapters left that the kids were asked to read and finish on their own.  What a great day for our youth!

 

Snow Days

Bring it on snow!  We've had a string of storms hit us and still more to come and we can't get enough!  There's nothing better than tons of snow to get us through the long winter.  We might as well ski our way through if its going to be cold anyway!

 

Beutler brothers

Once in a while we get these two together and the similarities between them really show up!  Today as Andy was visiting us, I glanced over to catch the two of them looking at something and laughing together.  It reminded me that brothers need each other and sometimes its just great to get together and laugh!

 

Ski Season 2024

We couldn't be more excited about ski season starting in our house!  The good news is we've had a handful of storms lately (and more on the way) that it's made for an early GOOD start to the season this year which is amazing!  The kids love every second they get to be on the mountain and we snuck up this weekend all together to get a day in before lessons start for the Beck and Desh next week.  Looking forward to lots of snow and many days in the powder!

 

Hopkinson sleepover

This weekend we had a cousin sleepover with the Hopkinson kids and it's always a good time when all these kids are together!  Nothing gets better than snuggling up together on the floor to watch a movie and falling asleep there for the night.  We woke up the next morning and they were all still there sleeping together.  Love this crew!

 

Plinko night

Our Young Women's class hosted a Plinko Trivia night for the young men and young women in our ward.  It was a blast with lots of prizes, challenges and trivia that got super competitive.  Love all the youth in our ward that love to be together!

 

Happy Birthday Josh!

Happy 45th birthday to the one that keeps our family strong! This man is the reason why we can say we're Beutlers and be proud of it.  He teaches all of us to be persistent, think deep thoughts, believe in our dreams and then supports us in all that we do.  Meanwhile, he has dreams of his own that he's not afraid to go after (think future horticulturist!) We are better people because he is the man of our house! Happiest birthday to our best man!

 

Christmas Day 2023

Christmas morning is magical.  Even as our kids get older, we love it all the same and it doesn't get any less special! Our early limit is 5:00 and the kids don't let us get up 1 minute past that.  Mitch Miller's "Santa Claus is coming to town" is the signal that it's time to come down the stairs and see what treasures lie ahead.  We still take turns coming down in age order and the kids don't complain about that anymore.  We also take time and open our sibling gifts first (which are always a favorite and so sweet to watch.) Then it's on to the stockings and then one at a time we open our gifts.  It takes some time, but we love seeing what everyone got and celebrating in the small celebrations together! 

 

We had Grammie and Papa with us this year which is ALWAYS a treat in itself.  Some of the favorite gifts this year:

Rease - An apple watch

Rhen - Bose headphones

Liev - an iPod and AirPods to go with it

Keen - Dolphins hat and Mario tennis

Beck - A new watch and lego set

Desh - RC truck and marker set

The funnest part is watching the kids and their reactions to the gifts that we have carefully picked out just for them.  It's so fun to see the joy!

As soon as gifts are all opened, they're hard at work building legos, playing games and organizing their new things.  And then we watch all the good basketball games and eat leftovers while just enjoying our time together.  No wonder it's a magical day!

Most of all, we remember our Savior and His birth and the whole reason for the season of giving.  We are beyond grateful for this beautiful gift that we get to celebrate every year!

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas is finally here and we couldn't be more excited!  I think our kids get more excited as they get older so it makes it so fun the whole season long!  

Christmas Eve is so fun for us because we get to do all our favorite traditions.  Today was extra special because Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday, so we got to spend the morning with our ward that we love dearly.  The Christmas program was lovely and full of the spirit which makes the day a whole lot better! We love to go caroling in the evening and sing to our favorite friends and neighbors.  The boys have grown to love it more over the years as we've transitioned from fake candles to real ones...Mostly we just love to sing about our Savior and share His love with those that we love!

The best tradition of all is sleeping in the same bed that night.  The kids love it and don't mind being cramped into one small bed together.  Although, I think some end up on the floor by the time morning comes around.  Christmas Eve is here and we are so happy about it!

 

Keen's Christmas Concert

We got to go watch the Butterfield Canyon Christmas Sing-along today and it was so fun to see Keen doing his thing!  He loves being the oldest kid in the school as a 6th grader and they had fun today singing Christmas songs for all of us.  Thanks for not being too cool and letting us come be a part of your day!

 

Losee Christmas

For the past few years, we've had a night before Christmas that we spend in Delta and celebrate Christmas with the extended Losee family.  It's so fun for the kids to get together with all their cousins and we love being at Justin and Steph's house.  We do the cousin gift exchange, act out the nativity, eat lots of food and stay up late playing games.  It's such a fun night and one we all look forward to every year!

 

Young Women's Stuff

I was recently called to be the Young Women’s President in our ward - so FUN!  We’ve been able to do a handful of fun activities this month and it’s been THE BEST to be able to get to know these amazing girls and celebrate the best time of year together!  Band concerts, the new Wonka movie, ice skating, bishop’s baskets are some of the fav things we’ve done. Looking forward to so much more together but this has been a great start!

 

Winter Band Concerts

We've got two band players in our house and it's so fun to be able to hear them play!  Liev has loved playing the euphonium this year and his teacher says he's a natural at it!  For a beginning band concert they did really good and it's so fun to see how far they've already come in just a few short months.  

Rease also had her band concert on the same night so we went from one concert to the next.  Their symphonic band at the high school does a great job and we always love hearing her play the french horn.  She has such a fun group of band friends and we've loved seeing them all grow up together the past few years!  We love our band kids and look forward to so many more concerts in the years to come!

 

December happenings

SO. MANY. THINGS.

There’s so much going on around our house that sometimes I just have to take a minute to catch up on everything:

Sick Desh (poor boy couldn’t get better)

Rhen with some new hand me downs

Lily being…well Lily

I played in and our team won a women’s basketball tournament 

Girls cleaned out their room and all the junk laying around (Dr. Pepper anyone?)

Ward Christmas party

First ski day of the year (Liev and Keen are taking a 3 day Freestyle ski class at Brighton)

Friends Christmas gift exchange with Shelley, Stephanie and Melissa

Desh still sick…

Broken fence from an aggressive football game in the backyard

And…Beck’s eye?

 

Warriors game/Birthday celebration

Because we were in Puerto Rico for Rease's actual 16th birthday, we delayed the big celebration until now.  16 is a big year and we had to celebrate in style.  So we jumped on an early morning flight to Phoenix and spent the day bumming around (by bumming around I mean eating lots of good food and seeing awesome friends) and then had tickets to see the Warriors play that night.  It was such a fun trip just the two of us and I bet I gained 10 pounds in 24 hours just because we had to FIT IT ALL IN.  What's a vacation without eating whatever you want? The game was SO FUN and we loved seeing our guy Steph Curry play and also play against one of our own, Kevin Durant.  We didn't want it to end.  But of course it always does, but we got to continue the fun and spent the night with our dear friends the Ballards that live in Mesa.  They were kind enough to let us stay overnight and hang with them for a few hours before we caught our flight the next morning.  We LOVE them and are so grateful we got to see them and spend some time together!  Happy Birthday my dearest Rease and enjoy being 16!

 

Activity Days

Keen and Beck have had so much fun in activity days this year.  Lately the've been doing some fun winter/Christmas things and it is so fun to see them having a great time with the good boys in our ward and neighborhood!

 

Herriman Harmonies choir concert

Beck and Desh have been going to early morning choir practice all year at school and practicing for this Christmas concert.  The Herriman Harmonies group goes in early on Mondays and practices and they have gotten really good!  It's not always easy to get there, and sometimes there is some complaining.  But overall they have loved this choir and were super excited to be able to perform for their friends and families!  

 

Winter Ball

Rease was asked to Winter Ball by her good friend Blue (I actually don't know what his real name is!) She loved getting all dressed up and ready to go with her good friends and taking pictures in their formals.  They all looked so beautiful!  Such a fun night with good friends!

 

Beck's 4th grade Utah program

Beck and his class have been working hard on their Utah program and music production.  I get to volunteer in Beck's class each week grading papers, so I get to be in the background as they've been practicing so hard for this.  It is a lot of work to get a whole grade to be on the same page with lots of different songs and speaking parts.  Today we got to see the final production and they did SUCH a great job!!  So proud of this boy and all his hard work whatever he's doing.