first ski trip

Crazy or brave, I'm not sure which, but we decided to take the girls skiing this weekend for the first time. One major piece of motivation was to get out of the ugly inversion that has the smog of the city locked in to smother us. We just knew that above the smog was a beautiful sunny day, and true enough, it was beautiful on the mountain.

Now I had visions in my head of watching them snowplow down the hill, but I totally forgot that you had to teach them to do that. I just thought they could do it naturally or something. :/ So, the first run down, when Abby was clinging to me and running over my skis, and Sarah was screaming, I was pretty sure we were nuts and just wasted our money. But, we survived the adventure, and we have sore muscles to prove it.

Abby did awesome. She is pretty sure she is a pro now. She does do a pretty mean snowplow.

Sarah, well, she might be a bit young for this still. She wore the smallest size of skis and boots and looked pretty cute, but... well, next year she'll be old enough to do ski school. We'll let them teach her. I think that is a pretty good gig, actually. Mom and Dad can get a couple of good hours of skiing in, and then we pick up the kids and they are new and improved!

Sarah spent the time skiing between our legs, like this. No wonder she wasn't thrilled. She couldn't see! Actually, as long as we were moving at a good pace down the hill, she was happy. But when we stopped, she commenced her crying. She would say, "Mommy, Daddy, you're in my way!"

Notice in the photo above how Tom is only wearing one glove and Sarah has one giant hand? Well, Sarah dropped a mitten off the lift, and by the time we got back down to retrieve it, it was gone. We kept checking, but nobody turned it in. Who do they think they are, walking off with a mitten like that? Oh well, it was so warm we could have almost gone without coats.


Here is the brave daddy. If it weren't for him, I'm pretty sure I never would have braved this adventure.

This photo was before we got started. Sarah was pretty worried and kept saying "I don't want to go sledding!" After wards we asked her if she had fun, and she nodded an adamant "yes". This was after a little catnap as she sat with Mommy in the snow while Abby took her last few runs.

Guitar Hero heros

When we were at the cabin over New Years I snapped this picture of Tom and Justin playing Guitar Hero. Don't you love the expression on their faces?

Fast forward to this weekend. Lee and Tawnya stayed with us last night, and we pulled out the Guitar Hero again. It was Uncle Lee's first time to try the drums (he plays in real life) and he did a respectable job. Of course, we haven't graduated from the easy level yet. So, we were playing some Steve Miller Band and Lee said "I wonder what it would be like if you actually played the whole song". So, he flips it up to EXPERT like he's a pro or something and I'm like "yeah right, whatever" and stuff. And he plays right through it. I didn't think Guitar could ever be anything like the real thing, but LEE, YOU MADE ME A BELIEVER!

lens play

I've decided to buy another new lens for shooting photos indoors without a flash. I find myself shooting in these situations a lot, and you need a fast lens. I borrowed one from work tonight to try out. So, I give you this Abby and Sarah silliness. My ISO was set too high so these are a bit grainy, but oh well. Better luck next time!

This is Abby playing the Wii.



And this is Sarah eating her dinner.

And finally . . .

. . . a link to my pictures from the cabin, as promised. (Sorry it took me so long, Tawnya!) You can find them here and order prints, if you so desire.

Here is a family pic from Tim's camera. My photos were over exposed. Oops. But here were a few photos of the "couples" that I thought turned out okay for flash photography. I wish I had one of Tom and I.



And last but not least, here is Abby on the snowmobile. Just wait. She'll be keeping up with the guys in no time.

All 4

I also wanted to post this pic of the 4 sibs from our weekend at the
cabin. Not the best quality off my phone-sorry.

Dentist time

The dentist said she was way better behaved than most 3-year olds. Can
you imagine that?

New Year's Day and Christmas all over again.

We are in West Yellowstone enjoying a weekend of snowmobiling with the Clarks. The cabin is very cozy and sleeps all 18 of us very comfortably. And that is a challenge!

This pictures are in no particular order. If Blogger would make it easier to add/reorder pictures I might make an effort to put these in order, but I am just not in the mood to figure that out at the moment.
This is the sweet and adorable Elijas. He had loads of fun diving into the wrapping paper when we were all done with our Christmas. While he was doing this, we were all sitting around talking about the things that were our greatest blessings and lessons in 2008. It was the best part of the night.

Gorgeous Tiffany

And her fabulous husband Justin, reading to us from "1001 movies to see before you die."

The lovely and beautiful Petra, bringing another grandbaby to the family in 2 more months.

Sweet Maddy, the youngest grandbaby at the moment. I bought this hat for her on Etsy and was happy when she didn't want to take it off all night. :)

I snuck a picture of this moment between Tim and Petra across the room.

Although they thought the only pictures they could get of themselves were the ones they would take of themselves. You see, they are quite used to this after living on an island for so long.

Dawson, shirtless and sweet.

Tawnya and Lee always make our family parties lively and fun. Love them.

I'm not the only one documenting the event. It's a good thing. I'm not so great at taking indoor photography.


I love the joy of these kids when they open their toys.


Tristin, the oldest and most wise of the grandkids. He is the one to set the others straight when they fall out of line.

Sarah bear.

This was our attempt to take a photo of all 8 grandkids. As this was taken, we were asking them what they thought #9 should be. I'm pretty sure "boy" won out.

If it weren't for Claude and Cheri, we wouldn't all be here, enjoying each other.

Girl cousins are so great. Hannah, Ilona, and Abby.

And, I'll leave you with Ilona's beautiful brown eyes.

New Year's Eve

We spent our New Year's Eve time with my family at Brad and Amy's house.

A game of Settlers of Catan. Try it if you never have.


Brad and Mom make homemade pizza. Soooo good.

My patient husband.

Grandpa is always good for a read.

Snow day

A snowgirl named "just Sue."

Sledding down our own personal hill.

blog catch-up

My blog has been very neglected lately as I've been busy getting ready for Christmas. (So have the inside of my eyelids). But then, I can sleep when I retire, right? Except, it occurs to me that I don't know any old people who ever sleep in. Bummer. Just when I have time to sleep in . . .

Why was Christmas preparation so stressful, you ask? I got an early start on shopping. But then came the Christmas cards, all 70 hand-cut wonders.

Then there are the Christmas treats. Which are fun until you make 150.

I even got Tom in on the act this year.

And then there is the wrapping, the parties, etc. etc., and pretty soon I am REALLY ready for a Christmas break. So, it has come just in time and we are really enjoying our lazy days at home. (Except, I wouldn't call all that shoveling lazy.) In any case, I finally have time to catch up on my blogging and I've given you some serious reading material. I hadn't posted since December 3rd, so anything since then is new. Happy reading! Hope you are all having happy holidays.

a White Christmas

We got dumped on Christmas day in this western corner of the valley. Everyone prays for a white Christmas until you have to go out and shovel. And shovel. And shovel. It was beautiful, but today we still haven't caught up with it all. It keeps snowing faster than we can shovel. Our neighbors are gone, so we are trying to keep their driveway clear too.


This (below) is after a couple of hours of shoveling today, and see? There is already more snow to shovel. And it's been snowing for 3 or more hours since I took this. Not that I'm complaining. I mean, the more shoveling, the more holiday treats I can eat guilt-free, right? My muscles are sore and weary. (Wimp). That is my subconscious talking.


Do you like how I got down real low when I took this to make the snow pile look like its as tall as the rooftops? In real life its close. I'm serious. The girls are going to have a sledding hill right in our front yard. I should have gotten down real low for this next picture too, but that would have meant getting my tooties cold and disturbing the pristine snow on my back porch.

Christmas Day

The thing about Christmas is that everyone wakes right up out of bed and runs to open their gifts. Which means, they are looking pretty roughed up for pictures. And then their is that dark living room lighting. That is why you won't see any pictures of me here.

The day was a little bittersweet, being our very first Christmas morning with just the four of us, but we still had a wonderful morning.


Here is Abby enjoying one of her new gifts, and wearing a crown Aunt Amy made. Thanks Amy! Amy has the handmade Christmas thing down to a science, and we always love what she makes.

Mike and Diane Buhler (brother-in-law Justin's parents) were so nice to invite us to Christmas dinner at their house. Here is Justin with his dad:

The girls had a great time playing with their cousins. We are looking forward to more time with them next weekend in West Yellowstone!


Hope you all had a Merry Christmas too.

X-ray paraphanilia

This is a picture of Sarah. Notice anything odd?

Let me help you. I zoomed up and added some contrast (oh yeah, and a subtle arrow):

Yes, that is a flower/butterfly something or other in her stomach. She came to us complaining that her chest hurt and informed us that she had swallowed a Barbie shoe. I'm not sure that is what it is, but it definitely should not be in her stomach. We were relieved a week later to get another x-ray and find it gone. We weren't very good at sifting to find it as it came out the other end . . . even though that is what the doctor recommended. Guess we missed it.

Tom's job

I thought I'd give you a little update of what Tom has been up to. He has been traveling every week to Page Arizona for this job:

The project he is working on is a fancy resort. That's about all Tom will let me say :)

This picture shows the terrain of the area. This resort is truly out in the middle of nowhere, but it is beautiful I think.

Page has gotten a rare snowstorm this year and it got quite cold for Tom in his trailer. A couple of weekends ago he battled the bad roads back to Arizona where he found his pipes frozen and his water heater burnt out. Not a pleasant thing to deal with in a brand-new trailer. Bummer.

It looks like we'll be dealing with Tom's travel schedule for a while longer. I am trying to keep my chin up and be grateful he has a job.

Ogden Specials

This is what it looked like on our way to Ogden for a Special Meeting (for our church). Whew! Glad we made it through that one.

Jr. Jazz girl

We signed Abby up for Jr. Jazz (basketball). She is the only girl on her team, but we are so proud of her! In her very first game she broke away, dribbled down to the other end, and swished her first basket.


The first weekend in December, before the Christmas stress kicked in and while I blissfully and naively thought I was ahead of the game this year, we had a visit from the family of these freckle-faced beauties:

Camille

Isabel

I didn't get a picture of the rest of the Raineys. Well, I got a few, but I thought they would appreciate it if I refrained from revealing their bed heads to the rest of the world. We've upgraded the Raineys to family now. Friends might come and go. But sorry Raineys. You are here to stay.

I learned a few things this weekend.

1) We love this family. Actually, we already knew that. But it was reaffirmed. Why else would we be begging a family of 6 to come stay with us again soon? Seriously, their kids are so well behaved and got along with ours brilliantly.

2) Settebello has amazing pizza. They serve authentic wood-fired Italian pizza. After a tip from Tiffany (who lived in Italy for 2 years) and Casey (a genuine foodie), how could we not try it? I can't wait to go back.


3) I love to shop. (OK, so I already knew that too.) But Holly and I can shop. Like madwomen.

sweet remembering

I was browsing through some old photos this evening and ran across these gems of Abby and Dad (Grandpa Rog to her). Some would say Abby and Sarah don't look that much alike, but I must simply beg to differ.


another project

I tackled another project this weekend. This one is a little different. Do you think I'm crazy? I mimicked the pattern from the new wallpaper in my entry and hand-painted it on the wall.