New Years Eve in St. George, UT

Finally I am to 2010! A belated Happy New Year to everyone. We were a little crazy and left at 6:00 am on the morning of the 30th to go to St. George for New Years. My mom had reserved some condos down there for my whole family to go and spend the week of New Years. We left thinking we would get there at about 7 or 8 that evening. A storm came in that night and made the roads very slick from our place to Jerome, ID. Then everything was great and the roads cleared. Until, just after Spanish Fork, UT. We would pass all the signs that said speed limit 80 mph, and there we sat going 40-45mph. Luckily, our kids did awesome, and we made it there safely at 10 pm. We were never so glad to get somewhere.

The next day was New Years Eve. It was really fun! We hiked, played kickball at the park, had a picnic and ate and swam a lot. By 8 o'clock that night, most of the adults were ready to go to bed. However, we toughed it out and made it to midnight to ring in the New Year and watch fire works.

We left Saturday, and drove on clear roads to Idaho Falls where we got to visit our favorite Yeck family. We also were able to see Josh and Tara and their family. We really enjoyed our visit with them. On with the New Year!!!

A hot air balloon right outside our hotel room balcony.

Broadee, Keaton, Sierra, Lindsey, Megan and Stetson watching the balloon land.

Lindsey and Hunter on our hike. As you can see, coats were required. The weather was chilly. Not exactly the "St. George" weather I had envisioned.

Keaton, Megan, Brindee, Stetson, Haylee, Sierra and Broadee striking a pose after their exploring.

Megan, Broadee, Lindsey and Haylee in a hole in a rock. Lindsey is crying because she really didn't want to go up there but her daddy shoved her in there anyway.

A cute picture of Brindee and Sierra.

A look from afar of the holes in the rock they were playing in.

Hunter yelling at his cousins to come see the hole he found.

More fun holes to climb into at "Dixie rock."

A cute picture of Stetson and Broadee.

Jason, I and Hunter and Lindsey overlooking St. George.

Lindsey, Haylee and Jason. (Notice the arm in the glasses)

New Year Eve, so far everyone is awake and doing well.

Everyone preparing to play another game.

Sierra attempting to stay awake with a sugar high.

10 o'clock and they are starting to drop.

The few remaining, "must stay awake!"

Lindsey's #6 Birthday

December 29th was Lindsey's birthday. What can I say about our little fireball Lindsey Lou. She is a lot of fun! She loves to run around, wrestle, "whistle" and tease her little brother Hunter. She loves kindergarten and learning. When she wants to be helpful, she is really helpful. She loves and admires her older sisters and wants to be like them when she gets bigger. She is very helpful with Gage and loves to play with him. We are so lucky to have her in our family. It would be very boring without her.

On the Sunday before Christmas, all the Bingham's were asked to do a musical number in sacrament meeting. Wendy played her violin and Megan and I played our cello's while everyone else sang. Once the musical number was started I found that my cello had gotten tapped while I was picking it up and went badly out of tune. The "G" string unraveled, making it impossible to play. After sacrament meeting was over I was explaining to Megan that all the cello we heard was her, because my "G" string didn't work. Lindsey overheard the conversation and took Hunter to nursery. She told the leaders in there that, "her mom couldn't play because her "G" string broke." I am the primary chorister in our ward. I go into the nursery to sing with the nursery kids. When I went in there I got all kinds of questions about my "G" string. They all got quite the laugh out of it. I am always leery when someone comes up to me and says, "Did you hear what Lindsey said." Like I said, it would be very boring around here without her.

Lindsey's birthday breakfast, her favorite, waffles.

The cake she requested. A princess castle. She had this cake when she turned 3. It was not easy then and it still wasn't easy or fun at 6. Good thing we just needed it long enough to sing and blow out candles!

Lindsey blowing out her birthday candles.

Our friends crochet her this adorable hat. Megan wanted to take the pictures. So, unfortunately you get to see the bottom half of it.

Hunter and Lindsey's friend Dallon giving her her birthday presents. Dallon has a birthday 3 days before Lindsey's.

Lindsey sporting her presents. The next morning after her birthday party, we left for St. George, Utah for New Years Eve.

Christmas 2009

Finally I have gotten to Christmas. So, then I can continue on with the new year. Christmas Eve sledding was a blast. Unfortunately I had to work the night before so I stayed home to sleep while Jason took the oldest four kids. Lindsey, Sierra and Megan were troopers and Hunter was for maybe once down the hill. Then he was pretty much done. Justin and Emily we can hardly wait for you guys to be there next year.

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed being home and around family. Until next blog, thanks for checking on us. Blog ya later!

Lindsey the mountain Queen of sledding. She just kept going and going.

The bottom of the hill and a look at "the jump."

Hunter thinking he was done 15 minutes after he got there.

The infamous train.

Megan relieved she survived another run.

Some of the gang roasting hot dogs at the bottom of the hill.

The girls Christmas morning.

Hunter and his new "rocket" bike. When he went to bed Christmas night he said, "the girls scooters are beautiful, but my bike is awesome." Too cute.

Gage just loving the wrapping paper and boxes.

Christmas Traditions

At Christmas time, we like to make Christmas candy and then take plates around to neighbors. This year we did the pepper jelly, but we still had to make the candy. It is a tradition that, the kids informed me, we were not going to break this year. So, we made our candy. Unfortunately, in all the hussel and bussel around the kitchen, my pine garland fell off from the top of the cupboard. It brought with it our plate from Rome and Prague. They both shattered. We were able to piece the Rome plate back together with super glue. The Prague plate however, we attempted, but it did not make it. So, Justin and Emily, if you guys happen to go to Prague between now and July, would you mind finding us a plate? Sorry for the late blogs, we are trying to play catch up.

Recipes in hand, aprons on, we are ready to begin.

The remains of the Prague plate.

Jason gluing the Rome plate together. The finished product of our labors.

Gage reaping the benefits.

And loving every minute of it!

Pre-Christmas Activities

We started December off with a bang!! There are always the list of things to do before Christmas, such as, Christmas cards, make candy, goody plates to neighbors, and on and on and on. As I am sure all of you have the same list. It is amazing how quickly the time flies by. One evening on the 5th of Dec, I started to make some pepper jelly (thank you Bonnie for the recipe). We decided this year we would give these to the neighbors. However, I got 3/4 of the way through the recipe and found out I accidentally bought taco sauce instead of Tabasco sauce. Unfortunately I had to work that night so I was unable to finish until Jason came home with the Tabasco sauce. Which, left him to finish canning it. I must say, he did a wonderful job.Thank you so much dear!!

Lindsey showing off her lovely play earring she borrowed from her cousin Abigail.

Gage has been really cute lately with hats. He sees a hat (be it girls, boys or underwear) and puts it on his head. Then he parades around the house until everyone has seen him before he'll take it off.

Hunter not wanting Gage to have too much of the spotlight. Apparently spaghetti is a must have on the face for this outfit.

Sierra and Hunter showing off their "big" muscles. I am not sure who's is bigger.

Jason with the apron on getting serious about canning the pepper jelly.

Jason making sure Sierra took lots of pictures for mommy to see when she gets home.

With a lot of Sierra's help, the finished product. Way to go guys it looks beautiful!!

On the 7th of December, Hilary and I got together to do our annual Christmas chocolate dipping. It is always a lot of fun and the product is delicious. Hunter kept trying to be the taste tester.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Utah and had Thanksgiving with my cousins, Aunts and Uncles that I hadn't seen in years. It was a lot of fun with a lot of people. Here are some pictures of the activities.

The kids decorated turkey cookies before the "big meal."

Hunter and Layne eating the cookies before dinner.

Aunt Tiffany with cute little Ryleigh in her arms. Doesn't she look good holding a baby?

Broadee and Lindsey. Broadee showing how well the turkey fits in his mouth.

Hunter thinking the turkey cookie took up more room in his belly than he thought.

All the cousins being too big to sit with their parents.

My grandparents at this table. They are 87 years old. They are the start of everyone here.

My cousin Tammy who I hadn't seen in over 9 years. Getting ready to take pictures of everyone. Aunt Kelly in the background practicing her "cheese" smile.

From left to right: My cousin Jeff and his sister Jodi, my brother Cory with his wife Stephanie in the background and Jason solving the problems of the world.

My Uncle Gary and Aunt Arlene with 2 of their 4 kids and 5 of their 10 or 11 grandkids. Along with my grandparents.

My Uncle Dennis and Aunt Kathlene 2 of their 4 kids. Along with Tammy's 2 girls.

My mom has a twin brother and they have 7 children like my mom. We are all the same ages and did a lot growing up. My uncle now lives in Alaska with 2 of the 7 children. This is 4 of the 7 children and their families. It is always great to see them.

My family, everyone but my sister Holly and her family are pictured. We missed you Holly.

On the way home from Utah we stopped in and visited with Josh and Tara. It is always great to see them. Thanks for letting us crash your place on short notice for Sunday dinner.

Jason testing out the infamous rope bridge at Josh and Tara's.

You can't see it from this angle, but he is really white knuckled as he is taking the last steps. He made it!!