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.

just 2 random pictures of my sweeties

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.