Christmas Day

We were all together at Rich's on Friday but you can never have too much fun, right?  Lori declared that there'd be another party Saturday, this time at her house.

How many can we fit on the couch?

This many!

Bailey Sue (yes, I know it's really Bailey May...or is it Mae?)

My mama

 My sis--did you know, I love that my sister is also my sister-in-law so we share all the same family.  We always know that even at the most distant relations' gatherings we'll at least know someone really well!  Not that this little fact has anything to do with our time together this weekend...I just thought I'd throw it out there.

Nate and Bailey--the Newly-Engaged's

Jaina and me:  50mm lens at arms length gets only eyes and noses

Bailey brought Farkle and Rebecca discovered the fun.  We are now the proud owners of that game too, and play it everyday.

Dad and Mom, at 4:00.

Snowmobiling, Dec 28, 2010

John took Tuesday off at the last minute because he'd heard the weather was going to turn nasty at the end of the week, with higher temps and rain.  We loaded up the Polaris snowmobile and sleigh and headed to a nearby State Park.  After eating a cold lunch of leftover Shepherd's Pie, cold ham sandwiches, applesauce, and yogurt we were ready to hit the trails.
Joel is first on the snowmobile, so he gets the child-sized helmet

Rebecca and Clayton in the sleigh, our shadow in the snow

Cruising 20 miles of trails

Stop to trade passengers

Clayton's turn on the snowmobile, and a foot race while Dad checks the map

Rebecca gets to ride too, while Joel and I tag along in the sleigh

Helmet heads

Snowball fight

The view from inside the sleigh

Helmets and Polaris

Warm up

Let's go sledding!

Christmas Eve day we all gathered at Grandpa Rich's because when everyone has the same day off, we love to be together.  Friday was a beautiful day weather-wise and everyone had brought their snow gear and sleds, so after lunch we headed over to the hill a few blocks away.

Except Jaina forgot her hat, so I gave her one we had that I'd forgotten about.  It matched her coat almost perfectly and made her eyes turn green!

There was some talk about driving to the hill, but I thought the walk would be nice so I opted out of the ride.  But then Nathan told me to hop in the empty sleds he was pulling and I felt like a kid again.  So much for the walk!

We've had record snowfalls this year and I'm loving it.  Of course, I haven't had to do much of the snow removal, seeing as how I seem to get sick every other minute this year.  *ahem*  I'll try to put that behind me now and look ahead though.

Several of the little boys were already there with their dads by the time we got to the hill.

Jaina immediately hopped on behind Rebecca for her first ride.

Chet's all set with glasses and everything, except they never really go over his eyes.  They just sit on his hat, like so.

And Clayton's a whiz on the snowboard.

Luke and Doug showed us their awesome snowboarding skills too!

Climbing back up the hill was hard work, as evidenced by Joel's tongue.

Rebecca was down the hill more times than I could count, just one run after another.

We sort of hogged the hill...on accident.  That's what happens when all 21 family members decide to go sledding at the same time.
Oh, and take notice of Neal's contraption...it's an old runner sled with a new plastic sled on top.  He thought this set-up might prevent the snow from blowing in his face.  I guess it was a success!

A closer view of Neil's invention

It's a really really awesome hill.

Even good for going down sled-less.

Bailey was practicing snowboarding on a sled and was doing pretty well except the sled rope got tangled in her hair somehow.  I came to her rescue, as it was clear that none of the gentlemen at the top of the hill were leaping to help.
And here comes Rebecca on her belly.  How's that for a sentence that doesn't flow?

John tried out the runner sled again.  He and his siblings used the very same sled when they were little.

Ask Brina what it feels like to get a face-full of snow.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of her after one of our races.  I collapsed in the snow and laughed until my sides hurt when I saw her stand up slowly, looking like the female version of the Abominable Snowman.

Chet gets a push from Emily.

Brina challenged me to a race and I was all for it, but this is what I looked like when I finally made my way back to the top.  My coat sleeves got snow in them, my hat flew off, and my hair came undone.  And apparently I'm not a good sled steerer.  Brina made fun of my wiggly trail, while hers was straight as an arrow.

Why do kids always blink at just the right (wrong?) moment?