Jan 2, 2014 Christmas break

Finally an update.
Interesting how the blogging doesn't come as natural as it did back the in California days. Blogging then was very therapeutic for me, now I am just recording our life and thoughts.  If our lives turn upside down again, I am sure I will need that blogging therapy.

It has been a wonderful Christmas break. Kids are all doing well. Here are a few events we want to remember.

Kade's baptism. Back on Dec 21, Kade Thomas, our friends who live in Homedale and were in Calif the same time we were with their daughter, was baptized. I had the honor and privilege of speaking at his service.  I talked about the events of June 2012 when we met and how that has brought us together.

Kids Basketball. Lindsey had her last game over the break. I think she had a really good time, and I enjoyed coaching the kids. Now Lindsey is playing YMCA volleyball and Stacy is coaching that. I am coaching Hunter in his YMCA basketball with other 1-2 graders.  We have 9 kids with a WIDE range of skills.  Justin was going to coach it, but his daughter Alya broke her leg up skiing, (which is another story) so since his daughter won't be playing basketball, he doesn't want to coach. Go figure.

On the 20th we last good snow storm. We have about 3 inches of frozen snow on the lawn, and about 30 inches in the mountains.  We need a LOT more to get through the irrigation season this coming year.

On Christmas Eve we did our traditional tubing party at Little Alps. We have gone there every year (we can) since I was a kid.  It is good fun for the family, especially the kids!  Hunter and Megan had a blast going over the jump.  The other kids were a bit more conservative. 

Christmas Day was everything we dreamed of.  In our family, we have to get up and get the chores done before we can go in to open presents.  So we had all the kids up, out feeding cows, eating breakfast, and cleaning up before any presents were opened.  Then we spent the day at Jake and Wendy's for Christmas dinner.  The memories of last year are still very bright in my memory.

We still don't take the simple things for granted, like all being home, all eating together, room to run around, not hooked to machines, etc.

Last Saturday, Stacy and I took the girls up skiing. Now that was fun.  The girls are all good enough to get down the intermediate runs. Megan was fun to challenge, she would follow me down any hard run I wanted to go down.  Couldn't quite get Sierra to blindly follow along.

Played basketball with a bunch of Bingham's. Had Cass there, Hailee's husband. He is a 6'10" guy who played for USU and is VERY good. It was really fun to play against someone that big.  He took it really easy on us and gave everyone a chance.

A few days ago we killed 3 pigs up at Nick's.  That is NOT for the light hearted.  We now have them gutted, skinned, halved, and hanging in the shop. Tomorrow we will be cutting them up into pork chops, ham roasts, sausage, and bacon.  It's actually pretty fun.

Lindsey had a fun birthday on Sunday. Big 10 years old. We had a fun get together with family and friends and played guestures and other games.   For New Years, we let Sierra and Megan have some friends over for a party.  I KNOW they had a blast.  They made these music videos and painted each other fingernails. Even Samual and Roper came over.  They thought they were pretty cool hangin out with cute junior high girls.

Sierra and Lindsey had a heart checkups in Boise. Lindsey's echo and checkup was perfect. No issues there.  She goes back to California in early February for biopsy. Sierra has some issues with her echo that they are reviewing it with California, possible increased pressures. (grrr)  They didn't do and change anything, just issues to watch.  She goes back to Calif next week for biopsy and IVIG.

I would be lying if I said I'm not concerned.  Remember that little demon that sits on my shoulder that says, "What if?"  Well he is still there.  For the most part I don't think about it much, but it's always in the back of my mind. She looks and acts great, so we will just do what we have to do, what ever it is.

So that's a basic history of what we have been up to. Nothing out of the ordinary, just thoroughly enjoying being home...together.  We are truly blessed.

Now for the pictures...
Here are some fun pictures of Lindsey and Keanna, and a crash they had up tubing.

 

 

 

 

Next is a train we did up tubing.

 

 

Later, Jake crashed on the jump. Blood was everywhere. It was awesome!

 

Now for some skiing

 

 My cute girls



 

Now for breakfast / dinner

 Before...

After...