Look what we got from Santa!

Merry Christmas to you all!!!

reading the birth of the Savior in Luke 2...what...it's not done like this in your house?

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve we always have a nice dinner..looks like Ty can't wait!



This year Ty put together our Christmas devotional..it was wonderful and everyone felt the spirit.

24 hours

What can you do in 24 hours or less? Well, Kirk and I drove to Provo Tuesday morning for my nephew Brady's wedding at 4 pm that afternoon. We attended the sealing in the Timpanogas Temple and afterwards ran to WalMart to get the last minute stocking stuffers. Then, it was over to my sister's house for a wedding dinner and to visit with everyone. Oh, and not to forget, we watched (yes, during the dinner) BYU whoop some Oregon hinies. Then it was off to my brother's house to stay the night and visit with them. Wednesday morning started early as we left my brother's house at 7:30 am to go to my Mom's house to leave stuff for them. We passed my Mom and Dad on the road as they left to take my Mom to physical therapy, so we ravaged their house for goodies (not really) and then left them a surprise in their stockings. Then it was off to Ty's house to pick him up and bring him home to Jackson for Christmas. After a tour of his humble abode, we headed to Derek and Becky's house to awake them all with Kirk's constant doorbell ringing at 8:30 am. Kirk had a great time interrogating Derek about his "man cave" and wanted me to come in and visit..I declined due to my not having enough testosterone to enter such a man's domain. After a nice visit with Derek and Becky and sweet Brolin who appeared in the living room donning a Santa hat, we were off to see what havoc we could wreak at Rick and Kim's house. We were greeted at Rick's house by most of their offspring and it was fun for Kirk to visit with Tristin about his experiences thus far at Naropa. I must say, Tristin is a good match for Kirk and can handle his quirky questions and curiosities. Thank you Kim for the wonderful eggs and Tristin and Juanique for the fresh squeezed OJ and yummy toast. It was much appreciated. It gave us energy to next go to Target for me to make a return and for Ty to buy Lea her gift for Christmas. Then it was off to Heber to visit Burke and Andrea and their strapping bunch of athletic kids and to see their new addition. Gas in Heber and a quick stop in Evanston at Walmart for knitting needles for Maya and we were back in Jackson in 24 hours!

PLEASE...don't squeeze her!

I found Lea asleep on the couch today and couldn't resist taking her picture. She's just so darn cute and I wanted to go over and squeeze her fatness like silly, but I resisted. After spreading joy and sunshine at the hospital this morning, after work I took her to get both her seasonal flu shot and an H1N1 shot.

Band Concert

The Band Concert was last night and Star, Sky and Maya are all in band. Star plays the alto saxophone, Sky plays clarinet and Maya the flute. Unfortunately, Maya has the flu and was unable to participate in the concert. The band director is a wonderful man who loves to work with the youth and it shows. Here is just a small excerpt of the concert. Makes me yearn for sunny California!

Orchestra Concert

Sage is the only member of our family to play a stringed instrument--the viola. Everyone else wanted to do band and Lea...for obvious reasons sang in the choir. This is Sage's first orchestra concert as a 6th grader. She's had a rough start in orchestra due to her teacher falling off his roof (at the beginning of the year!) and not being able to really come and "teach". I thought they did pretty well. Hear for yourselves..

There's more than one way to do things...

OK, so the other morning it had snowed only a skiff. I walk downstairs and hear this awful, loud noise and I look out the window only to see this. I guess there's more than one way to deal with the snow. Mind you it's like 5 below outside too.

Our Fun Friday

Mari had her wisdom teeth out this morning...FUN! Not really, but she's doing fine. The doc said it went well and she didn't try to escape when I ran into the grocery store to pick up her meds. So, life is good. Lea had a social engagement this evening too. The hospital was having it's employee Christmas party tonight and it was a night of food, fun and dancing. We dolled her up to the hilt and sent her off to have a good time. Quite the beauty!

Sun dogs

There was an awesome sun dog this morning as I was taking Lea to work. I considered stopping and taking a picture, but realized that I couldn't do it justice with my cell phone and that it would just look like a "bright" mess. Besides, it was Wednesday. Lea's FAVORITE job--where she pushes the juice cart around the primary care unit in the hospital and dispenses juice, newspapers and her sweetness to all the patients. Back to the sun dog...in case you're wondering what one is, it is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky which looks like a halo or ring on either side of the sun. Sun dogs are formed by ice crystals in very cold weather. Yes, it was about 7 below when I left the house at 8:30 this morning. Thus...a sun dog.

Thanksgiving!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year gathered as a family. We invited two other families to join us plus four missionaries! We had lots of helping hands in the kitchen too.

Villa D'Este

We stayed at Villa D'Este on Lake Como in Italy. It was a quaint hotel and has been around for a long time. What makes this place so special is the large piece of ground that the hotel is on. The mountains that surround the lake just go straight down to the lake, but this property had quite a bit of flat space around the hotel grounds. The hotel closes down during the winters, but is quite the place to be and be seen during the summer months. The original owner was in the military ( a long time ago!) and his wife thought he would be bored, so she had a fortress carved into the hillside so her husband could play military games! Villa D'Este also had a floating swimming pool. The grounds were beautiful and had this large mosaic "piece" as part of the hotel.

More adventures

When we left Innsbruck, Austria our final destination for the day was to be Lake Como in Italy. As we drove across Austria we "bumped" into Lichenstein (teeny weeny country in Europe). Then we drove through Switzerland and finally got to Italy. Four countries in one day..pretty impressive...but only in Europe! Here's some pics of some beautiful countryside.

Austria

From Munich we drove to Innsbruck, Austria and explored the town and the surrounding countryside. It was beautiful and very quaint.

only in Europe

Kirk had a great time driving his nice, new car all over Europe. His favorite part, driving the Autobahn at any speed you desire; least favorite--driving through some incredibly long tunnels.

Have you ever....?

Used a car elevator? Our first time and it was pretty scary! After we got Kirk's car, we had to park it somewhere and we weren't real keen about parking on the street. Our hotel had a small parking garage (only 6 stalls!) underground. So, with much trepidation, we stuck our hotel key card in the slot and the doors opened and there was enough room for one car. I got out of the car to make sure it was going to be big enough and that the doors wouldn't close too soon. It was CRAZY!

more BMW museum pics

We loved walking around this very modern space and seeing all the cool cars and motorcycles built by BMW.

BMW--Bayarin Motor Werks

BMW museum was very modern

BMW is BIG in Munich, Germany. The BMW museum is next to the main office and the factory. Across the street is the BMW Welt. One purpose of the Welt is for the European delivery of cars to their owners. The factory tour was very interesting and the museum was incredible and VERY ultra modern.