Getting caught up: Chistmas EVE to New years

I am in limbo.

I want to start blogging again but,

I got behind on my posts and I cant get caught up. 

Now...I can not post anything new until I post a bunch of old stuff.

So, here is the old stuff.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Snow and lights

Christmas lights in snow. Nate put up lights? weird...

 ________________________________________________

Christmas Spirit or death wish?

Tanner wore this Christmas hat for the majority of December. To school. On the bus. At home. To bed. He rotated this Santa hat with an elf one his Grandma Chris made. I am surprised no one beat him up on the bus.

 __________________________________________________________________________

Christmas in July 

Leah teasing DJ with kisses.
We wanted a photo to document
the markings left from a light falling
on his... face.

Me and me Sistah

Each year for Christmas eve, we choose a theme and this year we voted for Christmas in July.

We ate hamburgers and hot dogs. Potato salad and the (forgotten) thrice cooked baked beans.  I made my first Jello salad; a 7 layer jello salad. It took a long time to make and I probably wont make it again. 

I wish I had more photos of the food. That jello salad is pretty spectacular looking and I want to remember how fun it was to eat non Christmas food. Usually by Christmas Eve, I am tired of ham, rolls, and the traditional comfort foods reserved for the holidays.  I guess what I am trying to say is,  that it was nice to have a good ol'  "wiener" (as Grandma A still calls them) for dinner.

Grandma Bev brought "sparklers" to the party and so the grandkids and I ran like crazy monkeys in the backyard; tossing glow sticks and chasing one another. It was crazy to be running outside on Christmas Eve without any snow.
 

Of course its not Christmas Eve without Grandmas cherished PJ's.

**Leah, Thanks for letting me use your camera so I would stop hyperventilating**.

_____________________________________________________________________

Christmas Day: Random photo

Look at how cute my hands look! 

_____________________________________________________________________

New years EVE

New years eve was spent in downtown SLC for EVE. We had so much fun last year and voted to do it again. Last year we went home early due to the cold weather and so our main goal was to stay there for the new year. 

We had a few obstacles... bad food.... freak-in cold weather (lowest recorded temp 2F).... a 45 min wait for trax and a 1.5 hour ride home but it all became part of the fun. 

For instance, even though the food was bad ( I do NOT like macaroni grill... not at all!) we were able to draw on the tables. Casi and I  had a series of Tic Tac Toe games where I kicked her ass.  "Sucka!"

And... the cold temperatures gave us something to discuss as we walked the streets of SLC. like " I haven't felt my toes since ...." and "why in the hell are you wearing slippers, Nate" ... and "lets take trax"

The 45 min wait at the trax station gave us a long group huddle with strangers and a short lived toss the ball game. Which was (rightly) ended by the trax cops. The trax stations are in the middle of a road for silly sake!

And the 1.5 hr drive.... yeah that pretty much sucked but we were all smiles the whole time. When we finally walked into our warm home we immediately started to discuss how much fun it was and how much we cant wait to do it again next year. 

It was a wonderful start to the new year with those we love and it was perfect.

We all had turns with the ears.

Three story high ski jump!

Fire, Casi, and Salt Lake City

A great ending to 2010 and a perfect beginning to 2011

__________________________________________________________________________________
Birding: The first day of 2011

Viewing gulls at Lee Kay Ponds