First ski trip

Since Maddie is in 5th grade this year she got a ski passport through school. This lets her go to something like 12 ski resorts for free (the ski resorts know what they're doing). We've never taken our kids skiing and Jon and I haven't been since before we were married. My body has changed a bit since then so I was a little nervous. It turned out to be a great day. We put all the kids in ski school which I think made it more enjoyable for them to learn the basics. Jon and I started on the bunny hill and after 2 or 3 times I was confident enough to ride the ski lift up. We both had forgotten how fun skiing is. After lunch we got to ski as a family. The kids wanted to go up and down a hundred times, I finally started watching them at the bottom of the hill, I was worn out! We did all go to bed at 7:30 that night.

We decided to go to Sundance which was beautiful!

Maddie and Seth getting ready in their thermals. Seth said he's only missing one thing. I thought it would be skiis but it was a ninja sword!

It all started with a funny picture.

It all started with a picture of me in the 10th grade. I had my head turned slightly toward the camera which made my neck look long and wrinkled. My sister took the opportunity to tease me about it and started calling me giraffe neck. I was the younger sister and much taller than her so I'm sure that had something to do with it, but I did have a long neck. This isn't THE picture, this is my senior picture and much more flattering than my 10th grade picture. Once I went to college Lyssa would send giraffe stickers and stuff for fun. At this point we really missed each other so I loved the giraffes. Now, every year she gets me some kind of a giraffe for Christmas. I love giraffes! This is now my display when you walk in my front door.For our anniversary last year, Jon went to Pier 1 and bought me the biggest giraffe I've ever seen. Since it was our 13th anniversary, I named him 13. The salesman said, "You really want to buy this thing?" I love it!Jon's mom just brought me a wall hanging that is SOOO beautiful! It had to have taken her so much time, I really appreciate it. Now, I'm getting too many giraffes to put on my table, but that's okay. Max and Seth even got me a plastic one of a baby and mommy to put in my stocking this year.

The Cabin

We decided to all go to Gram's cabin for New Year's Eve. Peter and Donovan decided to shovel off the deck, good work!!When we arrived, the heater was not working so it was 31 degrees in the cabin. That is really cold! We built a fire and Jon figured out how to get the heater to kick on but it took forever to warm up. Everyone decided to go see "Bedtime Stories" while the cabin heated. The bad thing was, Tanner threw up out the window of the car on the way up so he was fast asleep downstairs. I got to stay home and freeze with him. It was actually kind of nice to sit by the fire and wipe everything down while everyone was gone.
Here's a picture of everyone under blankets to get warm. Seth loves (in a girlfriend way) Paige, Donovan's wife, so he is quite happy. The downstairs toilet was the only one thawed enough to use, we were happy for that. That night Maddie threw up and Tanner felt better. Most of the family had to leave the next day to go to work so we all decided just to come home. Not quite as fun as we had hoped, but it was an adventure!

Let it Snow!

We found a great sledding hill so we took our family, the Krumholz family and Tanner's three friends. Max--the faster the better!The Boys of Winter! Daniel, Carson, Michael, and Tanner.

Maddie and Peter enjoying the snow!

Katie, Seth, Maddie, Max and Thomas in their snow fort.

Jon's Birthday

Jon gets a little short changed having his birthday 5 days after Christmas but at least being a teacher he always gets the day off!! Jon's mom got him a Colt's jersey that he wears a lot. We got Lincoln one for Christmas from the kids from Jacksonville and he wears his a lot too so here they are together wearing their Jerseys.It's a tradition to get Jon an ice cream cake. He just blew out his candles. Way to go Jon! We had to get two since Lyssa's family was visiting.