MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MY WONDERFUL FAMILY!

2014

Emily cheering for West Valley Basketball team

Go Wolfpack!

(she's in the middle, second row, underneath the "A")

She made a beautiful cake with fondant for the top.

It looked great, but not the greatest flavor.

We peeled back the top and ate the cake!

Cooper made sure NOTHING happened to it.

Gave Stormy a Christmas bath...

She was not happy, but smells less like a letterbox now!

Our Christmas Eve Dinner.

I destroyed the turkey so we had swedish meatballs instead!

Caleb says, "Thank you for all my stuff!"

Emily says, "Thank you for all my stuff!"

Chillin' on her phone.

After the storm :)

Cooper's very happy with his new chewies.

Stormy got a catnip mouse. She sleeps with it.

I babysat these two little nuggets on Christmas Day while the kids were at their dad's.

Gidgit and Gabby belong to a co-worker - quite the entertainment!

We got a bit more snow. 

Christmas cleanup came earlier this year.

I was just ready to get back to normal and really needed something to do!

I'd like to say "thank you for all my stuff" as well.

We are so very blessed in so many ways... 

I love you all and look forward to next summer when we can be together again!

Have a Happy New Year - may it be the best one yet!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am so very thankful to have this family! 

I couldn't have picked a better one if I tried :)

Love you all

So, I'm at Laura's and I see this beautiful, hand-crafted tree decoration in a frame on her wall. 

She says her grandmother made it.  Doesn't it look just like that package ornament that was passed around forever (and, apparently, I lost). From Noni, I think?

Our Thanksgiving dinner at the DuPonts:

Me, Caleb, Wyatt, Morgan, Emily and Tim

(Laura on camera)

Em and Morgan twinning and being goofy.

That's better :)

One attempt for a Christmas picture.  There were several others.

The Christmas card will sport a slightly different version.

Christmas Tree:  Start!

Christmas Tree: Finish!

My favorite part!

 Now I can say, 

"The Stockings were hung by the chimney with care..." 

and mean it :)

Tis the Season...

Hello everyone!

Winter is slowly creeping up on us.

It's been a pretty good fall, so far.

A little bit of snow and not yet frighteningly cold!

You'll see lots of Emily pictures in this blog.

Caleb is just not into getting his picture taken.

For their 4 month anniversary Stephen surprises Emily 

with this ridiculously gigantic teddy bear. 

Pretty sweet, though.

What High School is really about...

Caleb snuggling with the pets.

Emily, too.

Our pumpkin family. 

Emily, Stephen and I carved a few, but never took pictures.

I know, bad me.

They dressed up as a crayon and telatubby for trick-or-treating.

Road trip to Anchorage last weekend.

Took the girls (and myself) out of school on Friday.

Drove to Anchorage to watch Lathrop and West Valley hockey and do some shopping.

After his game - all dressed up!

Dinner at TGI Friday's

The balloon guy made Channing Tatum for Emily :)

My students at the Westmark Hotel Veteran's Day Ceremony.

This is Tayton doing the opening.

And the kids after while we listened to a few songs.

Carol grabbed my phone and took a few pictures. 

I liked Brianna's salute :)

And the cute couple after his first home high school game.

Thanksgiving will be early for us this year as our good friends will be in Anchorage again for more hockey.  We'll head out to their house next Saturday for the big feast and hot tub soak!!

The kids will be with Rodd on Thanksgiving day, so I'm planning to help out with dinner at my church.

They plan to have football on the 3 big screens!! Should be cool :)

Love you all and miss you tons!

Hello Everyone!  Hope you are well and loving life :)

Caleb has been in Minnesota this past week playing hockey.

It's called a "Showcase" which basically means showoff. Unfortunately, he (and many others) do not feel like they belong in this division. They're getting beaten pretty badly. Caleb, fortunately, is still having fun because he's playing the game he loves.

Ken and I hiked Granite Tors last weekend and completed the Equinox Marathon this weekend.  Here are some of our highlights...

Getting ready for the hike. We started out at 5:00PM Friday night.  We hiked about 3 1/2 hours and made it about 6 miles - it was pretty much uphill the whole way (with backpacks)
It was getting dark and we couldn't find a level spot, so we ended up pitching the tent on the trail!
The weather both days was beautiful :)

The next morning, we set out at 9:00am and made it to the first tors by 10:30.

These tors were created by lava coming up to the surface of the earth and, then cooling. They stick out of the ground not because they popped out, but because the land around them eroded away over time. Very cool, huh?

Not really sure why this dead end sign was here. The trail led straight to the tors... Funny :)

That's me standing next to the tree :)

Pretty picture of our hike out.

Walking stick - man

My favorite picture of one of the tors. We climbed up a little.

Beaver dam built right over the boardwalk 

Emily and Stephen after Friday night's football game against Juneau. It was their first home win. The crowd was WILD!

The start of the Equinox...

The famous "turnaround"

My results... 

We accomplished our goal (well, Ken's goal since I already accomplished mine 2 years ago...). We improved our time from last year by shaving off 1 hour and 10 minutes and our pain level was way less.  SUCCESS!

The trail was a mess. We've had a beautiful September so far and, of course, it rained the entire day of the race. The mud was slippery and sticky and everyone was soaked. Oh well, we had fun :)