Christmas - Utah

During our Christmas vacation to Oregon, we made a little trip to Utah for a few days.  We had landed on the 14th of December in Portland and then on the 16th we headed out in Ben's parents' suburban to Utah.  It was an insanely tiring trip, but I'm glad we had the chance to see my family.  We actually had great weather except for the day we left - when it snowed pretty hard.

This is what it looked like when we were about to head back to Oregon.  The kids were bummed we didn't get snow like this while we were there because they wanted to go sledding.  I can't say I was sorry about that. 

We had a Christmas dinner at Jon and Kelley's house the Sunday before Christmas with most of my family.  Kelley did such an amazing job with the dinner and we also celebrated Sarah's birthday.  My brother, Dayne, wrapped Sarah's present in duct tape - he's so special. 

While in Utah, we went to the BYU Museum of Art to see an exhibit by Carl Bloch.  It was pretty incredible. I walked around with Alexis and Sam and we talked about the artist and his paintings and why he included certain elements into his paintings.  They really loved it.  The only problem was that at the end of the exhibit I realized Ben had been waiting outside with Stina and Dayne and they had not been as engrossed in the art as their older siblings.  I didn't know that Ben had been waiting for us with 2 VERY tired children.  Oops!

Sam and Dayne catching snow on their tongues.

On the way home from Utah, we stopped off in Boise to stay the night with Ben's sister and her family.  Ben's nephew, Steve, was going through the temple in preparation for his mission and Ben was able to go through with him.  I wish I had taken more pictures - at least a picture of Ben and Steve - but I was lucky I even remembered to take this one at all.  My kids loved their dog, Sara.  She was such a patient dog.

Right before we made it back into Portland, we made a last minute decision to stop off at Multnomah Falls.  The last time we had been there was right after Sam was born.  It's so beautiful!

Christmas - Oregon

Christmas this last year was a blast.  It was so much fun seeing family and friends that we haven't seen in a while.  The only downer was that we were sick the entire time - other than that it was awesome!  Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Steve and Liz's family met us at the airport and greeted us with a sign they had made for us.

Christmas morning Dayne and Christian hanging out.

 The kids helped me to make rolls for Christmas dinner.

We had the family dinner at Ben's parents' house - as usual.  The one thing that wasn't usual was the kitchen was still torn up.  Ben's parents were in the middle of having their kitchen completely renovated - at the time there was no sink, dishwasher, or running water in the kitchen.  Life is always an adventure over there.  However, true to form, my mother-in-law pulled it off with out a hitch - I think there were at least 40-50 people there. 

At the family gift exchange, Steve modeled a few of the gifts - a Molalla snuggie, a mullet, a handle that makes your soda can into a mug (no idea what that's called), and an Auburn hat.

 Alexis took home the prize of a Boise State hat.  I'm sure she'll be using that a lot around here.  ; )

Oh, how I love this picture.  It's scary how natural Ben looks with a mullet and a fu manchu.

Every New Years' Eve, Ben's family has a tradition of having a pinata for the kids.  

BCS Champions!!!!! War Eagle!

I realized that I haven't updated in a while.  I can explain. . . college football.  It's been such an awesome experience being here during all of the hype.  We felt the same the other years we were here, but this year we both had student season tickets - it looks like we picked a good year for that.

I would have posted between this time and Halloween, but they all had to do with football, so I decided to go ahead and post them all at the end of the season.  (One day I might get our Christmas pics up, but I thought this might be a little more important.  Hey, I live in the South now!)


Auburn vs. Georgia

Ben wore his wig for a little bit at this game.  It totally cracks me up!

These were some of the signs that we were holding at the game.  After the game, we walked around with the signs and we had all sorts of people come up and take pictures with our signs (fyi - these are our friends in these pictures, not some random drunk people).  I'm sure there are more of Ben's signs out there on facebook somewhere.

Military fly-by.  Great timing - totally awesome!

SEC Championship (vs. South Carolina) - Toomer's Corner

BCS Championship (vs. Oregon)

We had kind of a funny set up for the game.  Since we don't have cable, Ben had to stream the game through the Internet and hook it up to the TV.  Ben said that he's never wanted HDTV so bad in his life.  Oh well, he still has to wait until after school.  This game was one of the fastest and slowest games I've ever watched.  That last minute of the game just about killed me - what a nail-biter!!!

After we won the game, we woke up the kids and took them down to Toomer's Corner (about 11:30pm).  Luckily the kids didn't have school the next day because of the bad weather (freezing rain) we'd been having.  (I don't think they canceled it for the weather.)  Toomer's Corner was crazy, but I'm so glad we got to experience it.  It isn't everyday your university wins the national championship.

The next day, Toomer's looked even cooler.  It looked like it had snowed.  They were cleaning it up as we were taking pictures, but I think it got "rolled" again when the team got back into town that night.

WAR EAGLE!!!!

Happy Halloween

Well, better late than never.  Here are some pictures of us from Halloween.

 Kids at the pumpkin patch.  Despite the look on Sam's face, I think they were having fun.

 The city does their own trick-or-treating downtown with the businesses a few days before Halloween .  Stina was a princess (under all of the layering), Alexis was Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Sam and Dayne were Darth Vader (however, just for the record, Dayne said he was a nice Darth Vader).

 Stina, helping out with the pumpkin carving.

 Halloween parties at school.

 Ben and I dressed up for our friend's party.  Ben was Fat Albert and I was his side kick, Dumb Donald.  The black 'fro and rose were not part of my costume - we won those for best couple costume.

Parents in Town - War Eagle!

When my parents were in town last week they were lucky enough to have the privilege of experiencing a little Auburn sports mania.  It was so great!!  The first event we took them to was the opening of new basketball arena.  We had some great seats and the main attraction was the Harlem Globetrotters (notice I didn't say the basketball team - we'll see about them this season).  The next night we got to take them to an Auburn football game and they got to see what REAL tailgating is and how CRAZY everyone is for football here. 

THE OPENING OF THE NEW BASKETBALL ARENA

 

Charles Barkley came to the opening of the arena.

 

Alexis and Laura dancing to YMCA - some things never change.

FOOTBALL GAME:  AUBURN VS. ARKANSAS

Mom and Dad learning how to be real football fans!

Ben aspires to look like this guy.

Auburn vs. LSU

When you guys are watching the game tomorrow (CBS, 2:30 Central) I want you to look for this sign.  Ben will be at the game with it.

Parents in Town - Birmingham

My parents were in town this last week - one last time before they set off for their mission to Guadalajara, Mexico.  I'm so glad we got to see them again before they left.  We packed in so much for them during the stay.  The first thing we did was go to the Birmingham Temple.  It was an all day affair because it takes 2 1/2 hours to get there in the first place.  It was great getting to be there with my parents and was worth the drive.

I don't even know what they were looking at, but I love the looks on their faces.

Horseback Riding

Horseback riding at the Auburn Equestrian match.

 

 Maybe she was a little annoyed that she didn't get to ride on a horse.

Rocket Run '10

This last Friday was the annual Rocket Run for Alexis and Sam.  It's the only fundraiser that their school does during the year.  The kids have to collect pledges and then they try and run as many laps as they can (the goal is to run at least 20 laps).  Alexis had her run at 8am and Sam's run was at 10am.  My friend Cameo really saved the day.  When I got to Alexis' run I realized that my camera had broken.  I had to go to the university and get Ben's camera from him.  They don't have parking where Ben was - Cameo came with me so I could just leave the van and go inside to get it.  She also stayed with me during Sam's run.  It was such a blessing because Sam really wasn't motivated to run and I had to go out there and run with him.  Thank you to everyone who pledged - we're so grateful!  (Sorry, no pics of Alexis because of the camera casualty.  She ended up running 39 laps.)

Sam did fine once he had a little motivation.  He ended up running 31 laps!

Cameo hanging out with the kids.

General Conference

 This weekend was General Conference for our church, so we got to watch it on the internet.  As usual, it was very inspiring and I loved it!  The day was so gorgeous that for the last session, we went outside with the laptop and watched it in our backyard.  Alexis said she listened better outside because it was more fun.  At least it got everyone to sit still for a while!