Dawson The Dog!

I'm sure you noticed that Dawson The Dog has exceptionally beautiful eyes. Just wanted to point out his unique look. Steve quite likes that dog and Dawson is very good with the kids. I'm sure you all can't wait to meet him.

Christmas Vacation!

As you can see, I don't really know how to blog yet. I figured out how to upload some pictures from my camera card, but then I couldn't remember what I put in the last blog entry so I went back to check that. Then I couldn't get back to the page to comment about the pictures. So now I'm posting a new entry.

After a delicious Christmas dinner primarily prepared by Chef Adam, we headed north AGAIN! Getting to the freeway was a lot better since it was 36 degrees with rain and snow mixed. Once we got to the freeway, we were committed so we "white knuckled" it for the next 4-5 hours. Actually I was calm enough because Steve is such a good driver, but it was slow going and in order to be an extra set of eyes, I was not tempted to doze as usual.

Due to the storms, Steve had to make 2 trips to take Heather and Aaron to the airport. They had quite the day of it, but that's their story. We played witht the kids, Dawson The Dog, and were joined by Taylor and Jen on the 26th. They two had a slow ride north, but didn't let the weather stop them from having a good time. Steve spent a lot of time plowing the driveway with Aaron's new 4-wheeler and blade. Everyone played in the snow and got pulled behind on the sled except for Elsie and I. We kept things going inside where it was cozy.

Unfortunately the 24-hr stomach flu made an arrival and settled in on Jantzen and Tanner on the afternoon of the 26th. By the 27th, they were feeling fine but Brinley was miserable. We were sad that Brinley spent most of her birthday in bed and in the bathroom! It's a good thing she had celebrated early as it may be a memorable birthday but definitely not a fun one.

I did tons of washing and cleaning and the kids kept spraying everything with Lysol and using hand sanitizer so we were able to turn the household over to Janene on Sunday afternoon with everyone feeling better and things looking up. Our trip back home found us with some snow and ice but it was a significant improvement from our trip north. Even in our little condo, it is good to be home.

We are back at work this a.m. The plan is to get one more house closed yet in 2008!

Star Wars Light Sabers were a big hit. Here Britton & Jenna pose in their new pajamas in "Saber Position." It was really touching when Jenna spotted her saber the very first thing and offered it to Britton before opening any presents or looking in her stocking. Steve was totally impressed with her unselfish willingness to give her brother her "purple saber".

Steve and Britton pose with Britton's books and his main gift the Lego Castle.

Jenna and Korinne work on their new laptops while Britton coaches them.

It was fun watching the these grand kids on Christmas morning. Everyone seemed to have fun and fortunately no one was jealous or pouted, etc. I guess the main spoiling in this household comes from grandparents. This is as it should be of course.

After eating the traditional breakfast bandt cinnamon biscuit ring, Steve and I decided to head north to prepare for our upcoming babysitting event. It had started snowing and we wanted to get ahead of the storm. The snow increased and within about 45 minutes we were in white out conditions and had a large truck across the road ahead about 4 vehicles. It would be a long wait to get that truck moved so we head back for Adam's homemade rolls and turkey. We were feeling badly about missing those, but thought we could get ahead of the storm. Whoops! Mistake! Guess we'll have a nice dinner after all.

Steve Says:

I hope you are impressed that Kristen is now an official blogger. What a high tech lady she has become. We so enjoy all of the families blogs and read them daily to see what is going on. Our lives seem to be rather hectic, but we thought you all might be interested in what is going on with us as well.

We went to a "Christmas Carol" with Taylor and Jen at the Hale Theater the other night and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. It was a nice evening to celebrate Jen's birthday. One of Tays friends from high school was in the play and did a great job.

Christmas Eve at Hilary's

Korinne, Jenna and Britton with their Christmas Eve gifts.

Korinne insisted on being the Baby Jesus.

Steve was the best narrator ever!

Tiffany set this blog up for us about 6 weeks ago but we didn't figure out how to use it. Since we are at Hilary's for Christmas Eve, she has compassion for us and is trying to teach us how to blog. We love reading your blogs and think it is a great way to keep in touch.

We had a great dinner of Reuben sandwiches, chips, potato salad, 7-layer dip and the traditional shrimp, cream cheese, cocktail sauce spread for crackers. Steve, Adam and I enjoyed wassail. Hilary doesn't care for wassail or baked beans so we skipped the baked beans but not the wassail.

The kids opened their Christmas eve presents - surprise they all got new pajamas. Then they acted out the Christmas story. Britton was Joseph, Jenna was Mary, and Korinne was baby Jesus. Adam was the donkey, Britton the shepherd, I was the angel. Steve was the narrator.

Hilary gave the kids her secret sleeping potion and they left egg nog and candy for Santa and food for the reindeer outside. This household is set. Except that Hilary and I still have gifts to wrap. Sounds all too familiar. We're expecting a huge snowstorm in Utah. We'll let you know how that goes.