First XC Ski Adventure

I took Gray out cross country skiing a few weekends ago and we had a blast. It was his first time to strap on skis of any sort and he did great. No, it's not snowboarding, but it's still great fun and you don't have to buy a lift ticket. This winter has been excellent for snow and we've been able to go right up Green Canyon which is only a few minutes away from home.

Um, how do I get out of the powder??

Under the Weather

Naomi has been battling the Flu for the last nine days. This picture was a highlight though. Naomi got bubble bath for Christmas so we filled the tub with warm water and bubbles. She eased in to the water and soaked everything she possibly could for quite a long time (she definitely reached the raisin stage). Her little face was the only thing visible and she looked so happy and relaxed that I had to snap a shot.


She's starting to get back to her usual spunky self, but it sure is hard to know your kids feel miserable and there's not much you can do to help.

Aaah, a Week of Leisure

Our holiday season was great this year. We were able to see lots of family and even took a vacation! It's been a while since we were all able to get away together (aside from Interbike, but I don't really count that as a family vacation -- that was work).

It was great to get back to Arizona. I can't believe two years had slipped by since our last trip down there. Steph was a gracious hostess as we crashed at her place for ten days. I'm pretty sure we got in everything on our agenda: read books, swim, relax, bike, hike, shop (ah, what a beautiful DSW sale) and Changing Hands bookstore. And yes, the glass bottle of blueberry juice from Trader Joes did make it home intact after a grueling 14 hours in the bed of the truck.

Kory and Graysen goofing around at the restaurant in Tortilla Flat. Notice all the dollar bills? The place is covered in them.

We spent one day doing the Tortilla Flat/Roosevelt Dam loop. Here's a shot at the Goldfield ghost town.

A trip to the Bass Pro Shop provided a Gray Bear encounter. Hehe, get it? Gray... Bear?

Check out the lizards sunning themselves at South Mountain.

Naomi and the manatee discussing the finer points of Naomi's new Barbie laptop.

It's 10pm and I'm thinking that leaving for work tomorrow morning at 6:45am is going to be tough after two weeks of sleeping in. I'll write more later, but for now, thank you for all your wonderful gifts and holiday wishes. We love you all and hope you have a great new year!

Let it Snow!!

Yippee, we finally had a big snowstorm and to our good fortune, Erin and Abe were at our house!! So, while Erin and I made bushels of cookies, Abe and the kids created this snow basilisk. Although there did come a point where we had to abandon the kitchen to play in the snow ourselves.


Erin is bringing those menacing fangs to a sharp point.

Countdown to Christmas

Here's our Christmas countdown. I've given up on the paper chain. I'm not that good at planning a month in advance. With the socks, we can plan as we go and put our daily activities in each sock. Hope you're all having a great holiday!

Pearly Whites

Graysen went in to the orthodontist the other day to have his braces/appliance checked and look how things turned out! Doesn't he look handsome?

Thanksgiving

OK, finally getting around to posting about Thanksgiving. For some reason, things have just been nonstop since then and I find myself just crashing each night. So, better late than never, here are the pics of my roll making. Due to some sort of mental calculation error, I ended up baking 16 dozen rolls.

Naomi with her plate of dessert sitting next to her cousin, Stephanie. I'm pretty sure this plate has more food on it than her dinner plate did.

Here we are playing an intense game of Domino's. All except Gray, he looks far to confident doesn't he?