Christmas!

Look at me, already writing again.  I've discovered that if I try to write on Sundays I keep up a lot better.  Anyway, we had a great Christmas.  We started out the week with a Spjute Christmas party.  Lots of yummy food of course (although the stinky ham somehow turned into stinky turkey which isn't nearly as good).  Some caroling, talents (we use that word loosely in our house) and testimonies followed by pie.  It was wonderful.

We went skiing twice this week, which is also wonderful.  My kids finally got to experience skiing in new snow.  It was awesome.  Sage is hilarious to ski with.  She yells, "wahoo!" and "this is awesome!" the whole time.  Which makes it awesome for everyone else.

Christmas was great, pretty low key.  We continued our tradition of skiing on Christmas Eve.  It was so cold that Sage had to go to the lodge to warm up after one run.  I had to work that night, so Jake took the kids up to his mom's where they had good fun.  I made the kids wait for me to open presents on Christmas.  I assured them I would be home by 7:30, but of course that didn't happen.  As usual, things went crazy right at shift change and I didn't get home until after 8.  Needless to say, they were very excited to see me.  They opened presents and we had breakfast, then I slept for a few hours while they played with presents.  In fact, we've hardly seen the kids the last few days because they've been playing so much with their new toys.  Which makes me happy because it means they liked what they got.  Success!  We did manage to go sledding on Christmas.  It was lots of fun, especially watching people go off the jump.

Anyway, we had a great week together.  We're super blessed and grateful for this time of year when we can remember the birth of our Savior.

Our group for the Christmas Bus - there are a lot of us!

The kids waiting for me to get home

Opening presents

Sledding fun

Sage rocking it on her own

Snow angel

The Christmas Bus and Other Fun Things

We got to experience the annual Christmas Bus last night.  My kids count down to this event almost as much as they count down to Christmas.  This year my sister Mel and her family braved horrible roads to drive from Seattle and experience the Bus.  It was good fun.  Wonderful chaos as usual.  This year we went to an apartment complex in Salt Lake where elderly people live and did a program.  All of the kids participated and it was great.  The old people didn't know what hit them with all of the noise (I mean beautiful music).  Temple Square was beautiful and chaotic as usual.  The red tree was up this year, which is always awesome.  We managed to make it back to the bus without losing anyone, always a minor miracle.  On the ride home we had hot chocolate and cookies while listening to "The Polar Express".  Awesomeness.  My dad and Kathy are pretty amazing for pulling this off.  I'm sure it takes them a few days to recover from their hard work, but my kids sure love it.

On another, more sinister note...  I've included a frightening picture of Santa that Zack made at school.  For some reason, known only to Zack, he decided to make a vampire santa.  And its scary.  So scary that his teacher had to move it from the hall into the classroom because she got so many complaints.  Maybe we need to do some therapy?  Hopefully this is somewhat normal boy behavior.  He just laughs when we ask him about it.

Most of the kids.  See, its a miracle no one gets lost

Sage is peeking her head out somewhere

Kate helping Grandpa with the program

The kids singing

Frozen yogurt!

Super creep Santa!

Our first ski trip of the season!

Merry Christmas From Linz!

I know Mom and Linz are around a lot.  More than we'll ever know.  And every once in a while they make their presence known.  I love it when this happens.  This year, Linz sent my siblings and I money for Christmas.  The State kept calling my dad to let him know that Linz had money they were holding.  He could have it as soon as he showed them her death certificate.  Long story short, my dad finally got what he needed and sent it in.  Soon a check came in the mail.  We don't know what it was from, maybe a pay check she forgot to collect.  Anyway, my dad wasn't sure what to do with it.  Gut instinct was to buy some food storage, because that's what he does these days.  But then he says Linz made it known to him, very clearly, that she wanted it sent to her siblings for Christmas.  So, for the first time in lots of years, we got a Christmas present from Linz.

I told the kids about it, and we of course decided we needed to do something fun with the money.  Because Linz was all about having fun.  So we all went ice skating at the outdoor rink in Midway.  It was so much fun!  My kids were a little nervous because they'd never been, but they ended up loving it.  We all had great fun and can't wait to go again!  Thanks Linz!

Sage loved cruising around with this walker thing.  By the end she was going really fast!  Zack fell a million times but loved it

Kate did let go of the side, and really ended up having fun.  Which surprised her I think.

And this is an unrelated, hilarious, picture of us at the Midway Creche.