Sledding

One of our traditions on Christmas Eve is to head to the mountains and go sledding.  Since we have had no snow yet, the sledding was pretty sparce but we found a hill with lots of friends and had a grand time for 3-4 hours.

 Sarah with her best friend Makayla.

 Kathryn just chillin in the snow.

 Sam and Luke heading down the hill and a minor wipe out at the end.  Luke said he thought it was great but refused to go again with Sam just with our friend Bryce on a big tube.  Guess it wasn't that great after all :).

 Seth and Kathryn taking turns.

 Kathryn with her best buds Afton, Ashley, and Maddie.

 The guys in a train.  Besides being almost sideswiped by a cement bench they made down whole and intact.  Silly boys!

 (trying to avoid the bench)

 All of us in the snow.  What a great time we had!

Christmas Vacation

 Ahhh...vacation, or something like that anyway.  This year we headed to my parent's house to spend several days with them before Christmas.  One after noon all the grandkids that lived nearby headed over and had a party together.  They watched the Polar Express,

 ate yummy spaghetti, and frosted sugar cookies.  The winner was the one with the most frosting..thanks Dad!

 

 That night we headed into town and looked at some beautiful Christmas lights.  

 It was so cold but we had a grand time looking at everything.

 My sister Jenny and her baby Grace had just come in that night from Seattle and met us there also.  By the way, the picture below is the crazies "warming" up by the fire.

The main reason we went to visit was to see my brother Brian get married.  They got married in my parent's shop and it turned out so beautiful.  We were on our feet moving from 7 that morning till late that night and with lots of help from everyone we got it all set up, decorated, food made, served, and cleaned up!

 Brian with his daughter Ezra.

 Beth with her mom and uncle and my parents with the couple.

 Brothers and Sisters (everyone but Spencer and Michele).

 Family and sisters.

 My sister Emily made the cake and I made all the cream puffs.  After minor disaster we got them made and down there and it turned out just fine.

By the end of the night we were absolutely pooped.  But everything turned out fabulous.  Brian and Beth were very happy with how everything turned out and we were so happy that it looked nice and all the food was delicious!

Julius Ceasar

 For Seth's end of the year program his class performed Julius Ceasar.  It was AMAZING!  The entire class did a fabulous job and I was so impressed with all their hard work.  They even got into emotionally and spoke so well in front of everyone.

 Seth was Brutus and he did great.  He had everything perfectly memorized and was quite serious the whole time.

 Here is he with Cassius (the girl in the green).  Julius Ceasar has hardly any girl parts so many of the girls played boys.  She did an awesome job too.

 This picture is for posterity sakes, especially the blonde (Jade).

 This was Seth's favorite part--the war scene.  He was quite sad that it was only 10 seconds long.  Smart teacher!

 He is trying convince...can't remember his name right now...to kill him since they are losing the war.  He finally consents and Brutus "runs upon the sword".  I forgot how pretty much everyone committed suicide in this play but it's Shakespeare, what can you say!

Good job Seth!!

(and sorry about the blurry pictures, I was too focused on watching the play to make sure my camera was focusing--dang it!)

Sarah's Roman Days

 Sarah's 3rd grade class had Roman Days to celebrate the end of their unit.  It lasted 2.5 hours (wow! were the parents tired at the end) and her class did a great job.  They had a recitation to begin and then they were statues that came to life when you pushed a button on their project and they told you all about their specific topic. 

 Sarah's topic was Roman Mythology.  She is standing by her project waiting for someone to push her button.

 Sarah with her best friend Makayla.

 At the end of the statue time there was a Roman feast.  They reclined on their left side (or were suppose) on pillows and ate authentic Roman food.  Man was it disgusting!!  The kids were brave and tried most of it but just smelling some of the stuff made me want to vomit (I'm not kidding--I made the rolls and these are their ingredients: grape juice, yeast, grated cheese, anise and cumin seeds, shortening, and wheat flour.  Gross!)

 These 4 girls love to hang out--Sarah, Makayla, Emma, Savannah

 Love that face!  She didn't want me to take another picture.

At the end the class performed Androcleas and the Lion and a Christmas song they learned.  Sarah was very glad to get out of her toga but she did a great job and now only 1 day left of school this year!