Happy New Year!!

We had a great new years eve here in Georgia. It is nice and cold here. Some friends (ok 26 people counting kids) came over and played cards and enjoyed some good eats. We played dirty hearts which I haven't played since I was at the cabin before I was married. Later on most of us moved over to another friends house and watched the Peach Bowl. The game ended in overtime and was pretty exciting. The kids got to do sparklers shortly before midnight. This is the first time the kids have ever stayed up until midnight. We will see how they function tomorrow. After midnight we watched the world record motorcycle jump set on ESPN. It was the worst 30 minutes of TV I have ever seen. The jumper made it but I will never get that 30 minutes back. Overall we had fun though! I hope each of you has a happy new years day. I know that mom will be watching the Rose Parade!

*** I had an attack of the clevers and animated this picture. Unfortunatley this website doesn't seem to support the animation on the main page. If you click on the pictures it should show all three of the kids with their sparklers.

A Georgia Christmas

I have been meaning to get this stuff up on the blog for a few days and I finally got to it. We had a great Christmas in Georgia and by the looks of it so did everyone else! Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!

Apples to apples and football

Here is some of the after sledding party. We played apples to apples, uno, and the patriots' game was on the tele.

Sledding/ Snowmobiling part 2

This is the big hill that we started the day on.

David and Matt decided to do a bit more sledding on a small hill right by the cars. I had to jump back out of the way to avoid getting hit and Matt moved out of the way and still got run over!

This was David's last ride down the hill.

I had my snowshoes on so I ran over to pull David out. I was very surprised when I too sank down to my waist. I started yelling for help but we managed to get out by getting on our hands and knees and crawling until I could put David on the sled and pull him to safety.

Warming up in the car!

Snowmobiling/ Snowshoeing/ Sledding Part 1

Mike took us all snowmobiling and sledding east of Fairview. It snowed the whole time that we were there. It was the poweriest powder that I have ever seen. Snowshoing though it was a lot of fun. It felt like I was floating on top of it, kind of like you might expect walking through the clouds to be like.

I didn't understand exactly what Matt was going through in this video until he convinced me to ride down double with him, me in front. Not long into the ride down all of that light powder had formed at least a two inch mask of snow on my face.

Jaylin loves her jammies :-)

Little Jaylin had two pairs of Christmas Eve jammies for her first Christmas. listen to the video to hear her say, "thank you Great Grandma LaRee for my jammies made with so much love!"

Thank you from Maryland

We certainly feel fortunate out here in Maryland to have family send us such nice things for Christmas. The kids were tickled pink to find that Gram, Gramp and Grandma Great provided some funds, their wallets were very empty after Christmas. When they've all finished shopping you can expect a more dignified thank you note telling you what they selected!

We all liked our presents from Uncle Charlie and Uncle Breck - although as you can see in the [very badly shot - sorry it was me not Em this time] video, no one was happier than me.

We were also very glad for a completely unexpected gift from Lana and Dave's family of snowman ornaments dressed in camouflage. Lana, we were really touched by your note and impressed by how much you know and care about each member of our family; it also really helped us to not miss our Joshie so much! We'll remember your gift and your love in the years to come when we hang our little snowmen on our tree.

Thanks everyone ....!

Merry Christmas from Maryland

We all gathered at Papa Jon's house for a Merry Christmas. Clay made the pretty centerpiece; we all liked the sparkles!

Jay and Jaqui gave everyone their favorite team jersey!


Grammy Deb did the jammie thing; baby Jaylin was excused from changing into her jammies because she had another party to go to ..... in fact, she partied all night long, but never got cranky!


Joe's jammies were a LOT too big.

The three libras posing in front of the tree .... if Joshie had been home we would have been four!

Jaylin with her big new bear :-)

The best part of the day was a three minute phone call from Josh (totally unexpected!). He's doing great, getting ready for his final challenge (the crucible) and graduation on January 11, 2008. We're looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sunset on Mount Cadillac, ME

It was a beautiful view but it was also VERY cold and was the culmination of a VERY wonderful trip to Maine. Today we're going snowmobiling and sledding with Michael and Laura in Spanish Fork Canyon. It is almost this cold here! Kristi is helping me learn to create a post and post a picture. Now if I can just remember after she has moved-----

Great Presents Grandma LaRee!

Chloe would like to tell Grandma LaRee how much she loves the new toys. They were a big hit! I am also surprised how I'm "barely" annoyed with the "talking" mouse toy (wink). I should mention that Chloe is wearing her Halloween costume in the video. She was a giraff.

THANKS MA!

Spudman

Dear Previous Spudman Registrant, This email serves to announce that the 2008 Burley Lions Club Spudman Triathlon online registration will open Monday, January 7, 2008, at 12:00 NOON, (MST). A link to the online registration process through active.com will appear on our website: www.burleylions.org/spudman in advance of that date and time. There are no refunds or transfers of registration slots to others if you register and then subsequently cannot attend the event. We set the registration limit higher in anticipation of naturally occuring no-shows. All of the funds raised through the event go toward local, national, and international Lions Club causes. The event is staffed entirely by community volunteers. For more information concerning registration and the event, please visit our webiste at www.burleylions.org/spudman We appreciate your support! Sincerely, Burley Lions Club