Fun in the Snow

The day after Christmas we went to the local ski resort and went tubing, they have a fun hill and tubes there already. It was our kind of fun, just show up and play. 7 of us went, Colby, Lacy, Brady, Racheal, Sarah, Gerrit and Haylee. Ashlee, Alissa and Ethan hit the mall while we were gone. It was about 17 degrees and snowing. We figured out if you were the one in the front as you go down the hill, you can drag your feet and spray your friends and family behind you with snow and powder. We had so much fun, we hope to go back next month.

We slid down a 300 foot hill and then we went up the hill with the help of a tow, you sit in your tub and it takes you right back to the top. That was just as much fun as going down the hill.

Haylee all bundled up ready for fun.



READY!



SET!



GO!



Racheal, Haylee and Sarah at the bottom of the hill.

Brady's presents to the girls

So Brady is here spending a week with us and he found the most perfect gifts for the girls. I would have never thought they like them as much as they do, but they hardly take them off. He bought them all cute winter hats like he wears.

Here are Sarah and Brady Christmas morning, showing off her new hat.



And Racheal in her hat.



And of course Alissa in her hat.



We even found about 30 pictures of Racheal that she took of herself ,in her hat, with her own camera. It was too funny, I started looking at all the pictures she took that day and there were 78 of them with 30 of them of herself in her hat. They must really like them. Thanks Uncle Brady!

So this is Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. We slept in until 7:45 which is very rare in out house. It might have something to do with the fact that all the kids sleep in our room and we might have accidently changed the clocks back right before we went to sleep. Ooops!

Here is the living room right before the kids came down the stairs. So peaceful and pretty!



Alissa looking through her stocking. She got lots of scrapbooking supplies, clothes, a Zune with speakers just to name a few things.



Racheal just starting in on her stocking. She got a Nintendo DS lite with 4 games, a digital camera, lots of clothes, etc.



Sarah with her new desk she asked Santa for. She also got a new CD player, a big fluffy pillow (she asked for one like Mom's), lots of clothes, winter gear for ice fishing with Dad, etc.



Alissa and Sarah in the Christmas mess.



And last but not least, Colby got Lacy a little surprise for under the tree. We named her Miley, she is about 8 weeks old.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

So we had a white Christmas this year, however from these pictures you wouldn't be able to tell. As soon as it started snowing the kids were out playing in it. I think they used all the snow for the snowman. Sarah and Haylee out in the"snow" with their little snowman.

The Elves are busy!

We happen to call Brady (my younger brother) over the weekend, he was going to check some local stores for something I needed for Racheal...anyway, he said he didn't have any plans for Christmas so we invited him out and he is coming for Christmas! I am so excited!!! He will be here the 23rd until the 31st! The kids don't know yet, well Alissa does because when the confirmation email came through she happen to be on the computer. Darn! But the other girls will be surprised! We plan on going to the ski resort and trying out the tubing hill, the ski slopes are not open yet, so we will stick to tubing.

Countdown begins!

The kids are counting down the days...not until Christmas...but until they get out of school for Christmas break. Their last day is Friday the 21st. We went to see Santa at the mall last Saturday and we waited in line for 35 minutes. We always take a picture with Santa every year, from the time Alissa was 6 months old. We really enjoy pulling out all the past Santa pictures every year and seeing how the kids have grown.

Last week Sarah had a Christmas choir performance at her school. She did a great job singing, dancing and wearing her reindeer ears.

Cheer leading is over for Racheal, so we don't have any after school activities until spring soccer starts in March. Our house has settled down just a bit. Colby and I will coach Racheal's team again in the spring. Then in the fall both Racheal and Sarah will be on the same team. It will be nice to have just one game and one set of practices to attend every week.

Not a lot going on here, just shopping, wrapping, baking and counting our blessings.

I've still got a job!

I found out last week the lady I was job sharing with asked to go to full time and take over my hours as well. (What is up with that?) Thankfully my boss asked me about this and decided she did want someone full time, but I have been here 2 1/2 years longer than my coworker so she asked me first if I wanted to stay. So not only am I staying (and the other lady is leaving) but I get to go to full time and work all the days the girls are in school, and then we will work out a schedule for the summer where I come in and do the computer work in the morning and have a college girl come in the afternoon so I can go play with my kids all summer. Plus I will get the afternoons off when the kids have days off throughout the school year. YEAH!!!! Something to be truly grateful for!

We've got spirit!

Yes we do...we've got spirit how 'bout you?
Racheal has been cheer leading this year for her middle school. She is constantly cheering no matter where we are...in the house, at the grocery store, in the car. Needless to say we've got spirit. She has really enjoyed it and is looking forward to next year. She was picked to perform a dance the cheerleaders learned from the high school cheerleaders, they will preform it this week in front of her school. Only 9 girls were picked out of all 3 grades.
Here she is before a basketball game.

Thanksgiving trip

We had a very nice trip to Washington for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to see everyone. The kids had a lot of fun playing with Uncle BJ's (Colby's brother) Wii games.
Here are Sarah and BJ playing a tennis match.

Racheal and Brady (my brother)playing Wii


We were able to spend some time with Brady on Thanksgiving day, he came over for dinner and spent a lot of time with the girls. They just love him so much, and they always ask me if he is moving to Idaho yet. I'm sad to say he is still happy in Washington and we have yet to convince him to move near us.


I had a chance to go out to breakfast with Shelly. (My other mom!) It was fun to catch up, when we get together it feels like we never spent any time apart. We just pick up right where we left off.

Colby's Grandma (and lots of other family) came down from Bellingham. He was grateful to see her and spend some time with her. Here is Colby with his brothers and sister, his Mom and his Grandma.


We had so much fun, the time flew by so quickly. But we are grateful for the time we spent with family and friends and are looking forward to our next trip.

First sign of winter and Girls Camp talk already

We had our first snow fall this morning. It snowed for maybe an hour, but it sure was pretty. We are leaving tomorrow morning for Washington to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Colby's family. The snow should all be gone by then and I am sure we will have clear roads. So over the hills and through the woods we go. The kids are sooo excited, we pack tonight and leave in the morning. The kids have a half day of school tomorrow but we will miss it. As I remember, there is nothing important going on in school on a half day, especially right before a holiday.

On another note, I received an email letting me know that I finally have my 2 new assistants for girls camp. I turned the 2 names in way back in August, why does it have to take sooo long? Anyway, this will be my 4th year serving as the Stake Girls Camp Director and I can't wait to get started. We have our first meeting next week after Thanksgiving and I am ready to get planning! I joke with people that I feel like a party planner for a week long party for 160 people. We have so much fun and really enjoy watching the Young Women grow spiritually as well as build friendships. It really is the best and most challenging calling I have had all wrapped up in one.

We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

What a helper!

Sarah's latest past time is to help with her cousins, we can't seem to keep her home. If she has any spare time she is already out the door before I can blink, heading over to Ashlee's house to play with Haylee and hold Ethan. She just finished up swimming lessons and she will probably take another class before spring soccer starts. I can't believe we are already thinking about spring soccer. I'll have to see if I have any soccer pictures of her, she scored every game this past season and would play the whole game. She played half as goalie (she only let 3 get past her all season) and then the other half as a forward so she could score her points. After she would score 4 then her coach would ask her not to score anymore but to work on her passing skills to let some of the other girls score. She really took on the role of team leader and enjoyed helping some of the younger girls score.
Here she is with Haylee (her cousin)

And here is little Ethan (her cousin)

A new cook in the house

Racheal has been so interested in cooking lately...she wants to change her name to Racheal Ray. (No kidding, she actually asked how to go about doing this) She even asked for Rachel Ray cookbooks for Christmas. What 12 year old asks for cookbooks for Christmas? So we made her own apron and she has been putting together a recipe book.
Here she is making ultimate cookies

Going in the oven

Warm cookies, yum!!!

Redecorating her room

Alissa picked to redecorate her room for a YW project and it turned out so cute. She already had the bedding which is a brown and pink quilt with polka dot sheets, so we went with that theme. She had Ashlee print her out some vinyl polka dots for her walls and some sayings. She covered a lamp shade and painted a frame for a mirror. We found some pillows for her window seat and recovered her window seat cushion. We found pink curtains and she sewed a strip of matching fabric onto the curtains. (Her first time sewing) We also recovered her bulletin board with matching fabric and brown ribbon. It was fun to do a project together and of course shop together.