New Year's Eve

The Crew

I snapped this picture of the boys just before they left to the mall and spent some of their paychecks on some great sales. They came home with new shirts, hats, belt buckles, etc. Then after jamming out in the basement on the drums and guitars, they left to the church New Year's Eve Dance. CE had a party to go to but the dad got sick and so his plans were canceled and J and his friends took CE along to the dance with them. I am sure he was excited about that as he is only 13 and the dance is for 14-18 year olds. T is spending New Year's with her aunt and uncle in Provo, L is at the Young Adult Dance/Party so CD was left home alone with mom and dad. We took a drive to the airport to take my dad who has a 12:05 am flight. He is heading to Morocco and Tanzania. We just arrived home in time to watch the ball drop. Happy New Year!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day we planned on going to Huntsville but a big snow storm was expected and Grandma and Grandpa didn't want anyone traveling in the snow so we stayed home. It snowed a lot in the morning and we spent a lot of the day shoveling.

CD was happy with all her Santa gifts

T with her gifts

L looking over her gifts

CE and J looking over their gifts

K had to work Christmas evening 7:00pm - 9:00am. Grandpa took us to the movie

but K missed out. The weather had cleared up but another storm came hit during the movie. I wish we had pictures of that. It took us over a half-hour to get out of the parking lot. It didn't help that there was a steep incline to get out of the parking lot. I drove, CD stayed in the car, but the rest of the kids and grandpa all got out and pushed us. They got tired of having to get in and out so just stayed out of the car until I made it up the hill. The problem was lots of people had trouble so there was a wait to get out. Only 4 wheel drive autos made it easily. Every time we stopped in line, it took some pushing to get going again! When it my turn to make the hill, I gunned it crept it to the top. The kids all cheered as they ran to the car. It was white out conditions all the way home and roads were covered in compacted snow that was all ice by morning. K used his work car (Dodge Durango) on the 26th to run all our errands with. It was that or chains!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Provo and celebrated with my sister and her family. My Uncle Rick also came up and joined us. My brother-in-law's sister and her husband also stopped by for awhile. We ate dinner which included the traditional Oyster Stew. We had chowder for those that don't like Oyster Stew. (An option I never got growing up!) We then sang some carols and let the kids share some talents. CD played a few songs on the piano, T shared her bottle-cap collection which is up to 77 caps, J beat-boxed a song while CD rapped "Mary Had a Little Lamb", CE, CD, and L rubbed their tummy and patted their head, and CD did a one-handed back bend and SP did his version, and DP balanced his bat.

dishing up dinner...

J

CE

L

CD and SP

CD

SP

DP


L, T, CD

J and V

Grandpa reading the Christmas Story from the bible.

Snow Fall

When K and I drove to the store the other day I was admiring the snow. I love fresh snow on a clear day. (I do admit though that I can do with a week of snow and be good for the year. I don't need it all winter long!) Anyway, I thought it was beautiful and grabbed the camera K had in his car and started taking some pictures out the window as he drove. Here is a sample.

Pleasant View Drive

This is my favorite of the photos.

Do you see the ducks? These are at Lee's Market Place.

Sweating it out in Sweaters!

CE had a party last weekend and they were to wear their ugliest sweater. The host burned his sweater at the party. Anyway, CE wanted to win the gift certificate prize offered. I went through my sweater collection that I brought home from my mission in Chile. I figured that just the fact that I brought them home in 1985 ought to give them some "ugly" factor to Junior High students! CE did win the contest and came home with a $5 gift certificate to Hastings. (He also won the arm wrestling contest and another $5 gift certificate to Hastings.)

The sweater below is a "store bought" verses the the hand-knit sweater that won. My sweaters brought back a lot of memories.

SNOB was an exclusive brand and when we came across these one P-day in the city all the Elder's had to buy some and so did I. I thought I only had one and was shocked when I found two identical sweaters in my cedar chest! I had to get a picture of my boys wearing them together. They didn't really like the idea but were nice enough to let me. J even wore his the next day to school. I was happy to see that. He looked great!

My Twinners....probably the only time I will get a shot of them in matching clothes!

J is always "proving" to CE that he is bigger and stronger.

I think he knows that it may not last much longer!

Private Field Trip!

CD received a Principal's Award that included a gift certificate for a free kids meal to Applebee's. K and I picked CD up from school to take her out to lunch with her certificate. On the way to the restaurant, we stopped at Union Station and wondered around a bit.

We enjoyed walking around and peeking in the windows of all these trains.

K and CD

CD and N

CD was able to add to her smashed penny collection!

Inside the train station lobby.

After lunch we extended our afternoon and went to the Hill Air Force Base Museum.

CD also enjoyed this. We spent some time on the simulators inside

and she was also able to get a smashed penny in their gift shop.

We had a fun day on her private field trip!

South Carolina

I am a little behind, but I am going to try to catch up on my blogs before the New Year.

This is an office building outside K's hotel where he stayed earlier this month on a trip to South Carolina. He is a lead Assessor for C.A.L.E.A. and his last department to visit was in Greenville, SC.

CD gives K a teddy bear to take on his trips and take pictures of in different locations. Well, on his trip to St. George at the first of the month, he figures that he left the bear on the car as he drove off. So...a Moose has taken the place of the bear and this is the Moose's first trip. This is outside the police department.

In the hotel lobby.

In the hotel room.

In front of the G-Drive baseball team's store.

At the airport in South Carolina.

Waiting for a connecting flight in Dallas, TX. The flight was diverted there from Colorado due to poor weather.

Haircut time!

On Sunday CD decided she wanted a haircut...so I cut it short how she wanted it. I think it turned out cute, and she is happy with it. That is what counts!

Then on Tuesday J got a haircut at school. Now for those of you who know J know that a haircut is the last thing he wanted. (You can look at the SNOW BALL post to see how he likes it.) Anyway, the school is doing Quarters and Cans--a fund raiser for charity. Beauticians come in and cut hair in the quad during the day and the price of the haircut is donated to the charity. Well, the school police officer paid to have J's haircut, but J wanted nothing to do with that. So the officer paid again, telling J that he paid for 2 cuts, now he needs to get it cut. And of course lots of kids were around saying to go for it. The officer teasingly told J that if he didn't cut it, he would tell his dad that he was caught in possession. J said that his dad knew he didn't do drugs. Then the officer said, "Ya, but who do you think he'll believe? You or me?" J had to think about that and admit that he wasn't sure. Then to top it off, over the PA system it was announced, "J-------- is getting his haircut. Attention, did you hear that? J-------- is getting his haircut!" So, he did it. It was hard to say no after so much publicity! I think it looks great. It is not too short which would have made him very upset, and I can see his eyes. I told J that I could give that officer a hug. His reply, "No way! He knows dad!"

I wanted to get a picture of the two with their haircuts. It was a challenge to get J to smile. So the following pictures are CD's attempt for a smile and my attempt to get it on camera. The smiles came but the camera had a hard time catching it!