Christmas 2008

Since we weren't going to be home for the week surrounding Christmas this year, we decided not to get a live Christmas tree, but instead dug out the little metal standby from the basement. Finn absolutely adored the tree with its lights and ornaments which he rapidly learned to identify as star, angel, frog, fish, snowflake, etc....paying particular attention to the macaroni angels (an old time favorite of Hudson's). My pre-Christmas project next year will be to make a few replacement macaroni angels.

The snowy and icy roads created treacherous conditions for our drive to Bozeman, but we made our way, slowly, surely and safely with Chris behind the wheel; setting a record long drive time of nine hours. After a car spin out in front of us and the first car off the road we placed our bets on what we'd see on our journey. The numbers continued to climb as we drove with a final tally of:
9 vehicles off-road and a boat - as one of these was an overturned truck hauling a large boat
1 snowplow accident
1 spin-out
I'm thankful we weren't included in any of these statistics! Who knew that having to replace all of our tires last week due to a slashed sidewall would be such a blessing in disguise.

Our stay was memorable. Much time was spent in the kitchen preparing Christmas traditions such as lefse, date cookies, and popovers, as well as just working together to create plain ole good meals to share. I'd be in trouble if I ate that well every day!

The cousins played hard:

Giggles filled the air, as did noises of trucks driving and crashing. Kids tumbled to the ground in hugs. Madison popped back and forth between assembling the annual Christmas puzzle with Mom, Amber and I (especially motivated by the horse theme), becoming a tennis pro on the wii and playing alongside the smaller kids. Hannah and Finn swapped toys; Hannah checking out Finn's phone or trucks and Finn carrying Hannah's baby around. They crawled up the stairs side-by-side like partners in crime or were spotted playing silently together in the guest bedroom. Finn and Isaac were all about trucks, trucks, trucks, whether it was books or toys. Apparently Isaac said one night, after they'd gone back to their house, that Finn was his best buddy. I bet if Finn could speak that many words, he would express the same sentiment. He often sat in awe of his big cousin and soaked up all his actions.

Unfortunately our camera died half-way through the trip so i'll be relying on posts from Amber to fill in the shots of the adults playing hard: between intense wii competitions of boxing, bowling and tennis and our crazy snowmobile adventure to Little Bear Cabin...... there's more to come.

and now for the parting shot of Finn dancing in Grandpa's baby boots. I wish I had his moves on video as his tap dancing two-step accompanied by a enormous grin was so adorable.

It feels good to be home but it is so hard to be far away from family again!

1.5 yrs; Good Times

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that Finn's entire body fit on Chris's forearm. This photo gives a good sense of how big he's gotten (although it may be a bit like the classic exaggerated fish story photo due to the angle). Here is a brief photo update of our 1.5 year old boy.

To Walk in Daddy's Shoes

One quick lesson from Daddy and he's a pro

Chris and Finn assemble the new shelves for the mudroom.



The mudroom continues to come together. I just need to pick up some more baskets for storage of hats, gloves, shoes, etc...and we'll be on our way to reducing clutter in other rooms.

Birthday Getaway

This afternoon we returned from a remarkable weekend just over the Idaho border at the Malad Summit Guard Station. Chris orchestrated the entire weekend down to the smallest thoughtful details: planning and shopping for meals, sneaking the few gifts that arrived by mail into the car, packing all we needed except Finn's clothes and my clothes, and keeping all plans a complete secret until we pulled up to the gate leading to the cabin. I was pleasantly surprised by a weekend getaway to a rustic cabin (just Chris, Finn, Hudson and I).




























Chris and Finn warming their hands by the "Hot" fire.


We had a memorable time taking frosty morning walks with Finn to hunt down the "water". The creek ran along both sides of the cabin and through the surrounding riparian areas. Finn couldn't get enough of it, constantly asking to go outside to see the "water, water...". If it was up to Finn, we'd have spent the entire weekend walking along the creek or running through the grass.
-Lucky me, even the traditional carrot cake!

We spent a few hours Saturday hiking the Indian Mill Trail. The wind had a chilly bite when it wasn't countered by the sun. There were sections of snow and mud and water to cross and all and all, it was beautiful to be out together.
I couldn't have asked for a more perfect birthday celebration!

Fall Leaves

Even though there are still a good number of leaves in the trees, it is that time of year to begin to rake, rake, rake (before the snow falls).

Finn got to come to work with me for the morning - for the Realms annual Leafathon fundraiser
















Using his new skills learned at the Leafathon, here's Finn raking at home with Daddy









..............................
and undoing the raking by jumping into the piles












Good Times!

First Tracks

Finally a new post! Sorry for the delay - hopefully you haven't given up on us.


Last weekend we celebrated the first signs of Winter in the Wasatch and took the kids up to Alta for some nordic skiing. We had a great time touring up a road to the base of an upper Alta lift. Going down was a little more interesting. Those skinny skis even make snowplowing hard! Finn loved it, except when I would almost lose my balance and go over and when I'd get going too fast. He was very interested in where Erika was, looking back and saying mmmmmmmmom.

Here are a few photos:

Majestic Mt. Superior.

E and Finn getting ready.

Stefan, Jess, and Greta (in Chariot) and Erika skiing up.

Lunch.

Finn and Greta making a snowman.

Finn and his new favorite food: Clif Bars

"Wish those lifts were running!"

Family shot...Greely bowl in the background.

One last note: Finn has taken after his mother - loving frogs. As I write this Finn has collected all of his frogs into one big pile - nine total! I asked him if there were any more and he brought his blanket with about 200 frogs on it! Smart boy.

Gotta Stay Positive

Erika and Finn headed up north today to visit her parents in MT (she has the week off since students are on an international trip). Unfortunately, I'm stuck at home...but took advantage of all the spare time to work on a couple of overdue projects (once fully fueled with coffee, obviously). First - I tiled a few trim strips between the kitchen and "mudroom" and down on the lower landing. This was supposed to be easy - but try as I might, I had a hard time getting the individual squares to look level. Oh well, not that anything in this house is level anyway.

Here is the "before" photo...from when we moved in. Notice the wallpaper in the hallway - those walls (and ceiling) are the only surfaces that we have not painted in this house!


And the after shot. The mudroom walls are painted "faint flickr" which really brightens it up.


Next I gingerly approached another long-standing project. I donned the HEPA-filter mask, eye protection, gloves, and ipod and started scraping and painting the shed. Ughh. Luckily good songs came on "shuffle" and I pushed through. Here are the before and after photos:



Looking through the old photos I came across this one, housed in the folder "kitchen demolition and choas," which about sums it up. I think it's my favorite shot of the total madness that sprung from our kitchen remodel. I had no idea what I was up against (mold, coal soot, plumbing issues, electrical issues, plaster issues, window issues...) and spent a lot of time staring blankly, but somehow pulled through. Notice the open book that has plumbing photos for a PERFECT house. A lot of help that was. Also notice the essential kitchen gadgets: Coffee maker, Egg & Muffin Toaster, and Toaster Oven.