2010 Savik Family Pictures

While we were up in Utah for Thanksgiving, Dacia Durbin (Berezay), came and snapped these pictures for us -- what a huge task for such a large family! It was great to see her and she did a wonderful job!

First Snow Day!

This was our first real snow day in Flagstaff! We have two huge artificial turf fields right next to the house so I figured that would be the best place to go play in the snow and make a snowman. We are so lucky to live right next to friends who can come play with us. Kristen and Keegan came to play in the snow with us and a new family we have met in our ward, the Larson's. The Larson's have two little girls who Makenna just adores -- her first real girlfriends! They also have a little boy that is the exact same age as Hollis. The first thing Makenna did when we got to the fields was eating the snow and it wasn't too long before Hollis figured it out as well. Once Hollis figured out how to eat the snow, that was all he did. He especially loved sucking on the snowman which wasn't so great because it was covered in the artificial turf -- had to clean out his mouth several times. Makenna was taught how to make a snow angel from the other little girls there and Kristen taught her how to make snowballs and throw them. We finished our day off by making a snowman and the girls decided the snowman needed a bow on its head. It was a fun day with the kids!

Family Pics in Flagstaff

So we met a great family in our ward and, Jen, just happens to take pictures. She use to do them professionally but now takes them as a hobby -- how lucky we are! She was so good with the kids and they just loved her! Now I just have to figure out how to repay her.

October 2010 Utah Trip

Makenna, Hollis and Jerrilyn had a great time in Utah. The family showed us a good time -- we went to the pumpkin patch where the kids got to check out the little petting zoo -- they even had a kangaroo! There was also a hay maze there that the kids had tons of fun playing in. After they picked out their pumpkins we went home a carved them. Then, one day, we took the kids to the park and Elle fell of the playground equipment and she seemed pretty bad to Jen and I took her to the E.R. where she got lots of attention and she was loving every minute of it. She kept grabbing her back and insisted that she couldn't stand or it would hurt -- she even had x-rays! Everything seemed to check out fine and then when we got back in the car to go home Elle was standing up and having a good time -- she played us all -- Jen, I and all the doctors! I am sure she was hurting but just not to the extent that she made us all believe -- it was very funny!

St. George Fun!

Mom had a condo in St. George for the weekend and invited the family to come spend time there together. We had a lot of fun swimming and shopping and the kids had lots of fun on the playground as well. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Upper Lake Mary

This is Upper Lake Mary -- about 15 minutes from our house.

Elk Watch!

This is the latest and greatest thing we do together as a family and quite often load up with Kristen, Jamon and all the kids to go look for elk. We always have a great time and the kids love it. They all know how to do their own elk calls -- even Hollis. Often times though, Makenna will say "Here Elk, Here Elk"! Makes me laugh every time. When Dustin went on his hunt this year, Makenna would often include the elk in her prayers -- I guess she hears us talk about them a lot. There hasn't been one time that we have went to look for elk and haven't seen some. We have probably been elk watching about 10 times now. In fact we did that for Dustin's birthday. Some times we will even get to hear them make calls -- so cool! The cool thing is they are only about 15 minutes from the house so we don't have to drive that far. These pictures were taken in August, but the last couple times that we have went they seem to be a lot bigger with bigger racks. We just went out this last week and on our way home it was dark, but no fear, Jamon has this huge spotlight and shines it outside as Dustin drives down the road. We came to this big open field and Jamon spotted like 30 elk -- it was great! There were probably about 5 bulls or so in the group and you could definitely tell which one was the leader because he started to try and push the cow's in the direction they should go. He then started to almost draw a line on the ground with his antlers -- he probably didn't like the spotlight on him. He looked like the biggest one as well. We love to go elk watching!

Flagstaff Fishing

This was our first Flagstaff fishing trip as a family and it wasn't that great -- we ended up leaving after about 10 minutes and my shoes had about 2 inches of thick mud all the way around them.
We were there just long enough to get these pictures.

Green Chile -- YUMM!

The first week we moved to Flagstaff I found a place outside of our Farmer's Market that was roasting New Mexico Hatch Green Chile's. Being that we didn't have any left from the year before we loaded up -- 3 boxes! I think last year I only got 2 and it didn't last us the whole year. The only problem with getting 3 boxes is the work it entails to get it in the freezer when you get home -- we got all the roasted part off, deseeded them, and put them in zip lock baggies. Each box takes about an hour or so. I started out doing it with Dustin but then I ended up just bagging them in the end because one of us had to watch the kids. Dustin found some that he left whole so that he can make chile rellanos later. One of the best parts about getting green chile's is the wonderful smell they put off after they are roasted -- our car smelt like green chile for a week. We are so glad that they had a place here to buy roasted green chile because we use them pretty much every week.

Fun on the Boat!

Josh and Becca took us out on their boat a couple times while we were in New Mexico this summer. The water was perfect and we always have a great time with them. Thanks Josh and Becca!

Toy Story 3!

Janie, Becca, Gabe, Makenna and I all went to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D -- it was so cool! It was my first time watching a 3D movie. I don't really like the idea of having to wear glasses during the whole movie but it was a cool experience. I guess if you are Makenna though, you just put the glasses on and off as you please. I kept telling her to put on her glasses because when you have them off the screen is a little blurry -- she didn't seem to mind. The movie was great and Gabe paid our way -- thanks Gabe!

Farmington Lake

This summer while we were in New Mexico we took a night to go up to Farmington Lake to go fishing. Makenna was the only one who got her picture taken because my camera battery died right after I took her picture. This kids had a great time and we had to strip Hollis completely down before we left and dip him in the water to get all the sand off of him.

4th of July Parade!

Thanks to Julie and Kyle for getting up so early to stake us out a good spot to watch the parade. We all loved the parade and Makenna's favorite parts were the big "Curious George" balloon and all the pretty girls on their pretty floats -- she thought they were real princess's. Makenna blew one girl a kiss and the girl thought that was so cute and waved to Makenna -- she was thrilled!

Happy 4th of July!

I was also up in Utah this summer for the 4th of July and we went to watch fireworks right outside the Provo temple grounds. Stadium of Fire puts off the best fireworks! We went a little early and sat on the grass as we played cards and ate our homemade caramel corn. Makenna loved the fireworks and was calling them flowers in the sky -- so cute!