Wrapping up 2009

2009 certainly went out with a BANG! I forgot my camera to record all the festivities! But here is some of the fun we had.We played with our Christmas toys for a few days then headed down to Utah for a New Year's Celebration! We had our usual Fabulous Feast with the Redds, played games, went sledding, hit a tiger pinata- 2010 is the year of the tiger, watched a few movies, played a few more games and ate and ate and ate.

We started 2010 off right by heading down to Alpine for our annual Mexi Feast and gift exchange. Delicious food and great company. We played some more games and watched a little football and a movie. The next day we went sledding and warmed up with chili dogs.

After a casual Sunday and good conversation we headed back home.

Our vacation was a lot of fun. I loved visiting with my favorite people on earth. Coming home was fun too, I love our house- But wherever my family is will always be HOME!

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that.

Merry Christmas!

Brig- who had stayed up until at least 1 am playing video games- took it upon himself to wake all the kids up at 7am. Kai- woke me up at 7:30 am and then I let him wake up Dad at nearly 8. Brigham was on call and was up taking care of a patient until the wee hours of the morning- so I let him sleep a little longer. However, the kids were going looney upstairs in anticipation. Dad got up, we cranked up the Christmas music, got the video camera ready, the kids lined up in order of age and I threw balloons on them as they marched down the stairs to see what surprises awaited them.

There was not a disappointed face in the crowd. Soooo much fun.

Christmas Highlights

*Swedish thin pancakes
* Sugary cold cereal from Santa
*Playing basketball on our new hoop
*The kids zooming around on our new 90cc quad.
*Watching movies
*Playing games, games, games
*Christmas dinner feast
*Happiness all around
*Traditions
*Playing secret Santa to some great families- and not getting caught
*Brig trying to disguise his voice on the phone
* Brigham having to leave for only one surgery.
*Gifts from neighbors
*Gifts to neighbors
*Enjoying the spirit of giving
*Basking in the GLOW of our Savior's LOVE for each of us!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Our cute family put on a stellar performance of The Nativity again this year. Katry was Mary and Kaleb was Joseph.

The three wise guys- Brig insisted on being shirtless for both his shepherd and wise man costume. I think he likes his muscles.

Kai joined the cast as Jesus, the little boy, when the wise men came to visit. I love having this production recorded year after year to watch the changes in our kiddos.

Katry and I snuggling under our favorite Christmas blanket, thanks GmaT. We had just finished giving one of our gifts to each other- our little "Love Notes', books. I loved reading all the nice things that everyone had to say about each other. There was such a great feeling of LOVE in our home afterwards.

After watching a movie, trying to find Santa online, having a treat and building forts for sleeping in, the kids settled down for a night of rest- or well, they hung out together anyway.

Sweet Dreams!

Random Acts of Cuteness!

Since the year is rapidly coming to an end- I wanted to add some pictures I don't want to forget for our "blog book". Kai climbing up to snatch some watermelon.

Seth made a gingerbread house at school.

Katry and Kaleb showing off the "Root beer Reindeer", they made at Pack Meeting.
Kai regularly climbs out of his crib at night now and we have found him in some odd places. Here he is right in our door way, we have also found him behind the laundry room door and
my favorite, on the stairs.

I love that cute rumpkis, up in the air.

Christmas Brunches

This year I hosted two Christmas brunches. The first was with my YW board- and the second was with the ladies from my neighborhood. These pictures are with the ladies from our neighborhood. They were both a lot of fun. I love getting together with good food and good friends. I feel very blessed to know such great people.

A Nearly Perfect Day!

December 6th was a nearly perfect day that I always want to remember. We had great meetings at church. Then we came home and had a beautiful spirit, filled "family testimony" meeting. We started on our "Love Notes", to each other. We each have a little book and everyone takes turns writing in it things that we love about each other, and then we get to read them on Christmas Eve. After that, we cranked up the Christmas music, trimmed our tree, set up our nativity and Christmas stockings were hung by the chimney with care. We then ate delicious egg rolls that everyone helped make. After that, we watched the church's Christmas broadcast, it was great- though a few who shall remain nameless, dozed off. It was fun to see Grammy singing on her birthday. Then we made some amazing whipped hot chocolate that we ate with some yummy cookies as we enjoyed the Christmas lights. We ended the day singing Christmas hymns and thanking our Lord and Savior in prayer- for our wondrous blessings. What a beautiful day!

Early Santa Spotting

I guess Brigham was extra good this year cause Santa showed up early with his Christmas present. A brand new, cherry red, four wheeler with a snowplow. Good thing it came early- cause we have had to use it twice already. Kaleb is his plowing buddy and they are dressed up uber warm- cause its only 2 degrees outside. BRRRRRrrr!!!!

Robotics

Seth joined the Robotics club this year. They start from scratch using legos and a computer- to build robots- then they compete in competitions. He just had his first tournament. It is a day long affair. Luckily this one was in town, at our own elementary school.They made sun visors that look like birds- cause their mascot is- the Raptors.
This is the course that they have to teach the robots to move through. There are different missions that they have to complete in order to get points.

Seth's team did well enough to qualify for the state tournament. They also had to prepare a skit. The skit they did was on saving electricity. They were driving electric cars. Seth has had a lot of fun in this club. But it is a little frustrating- cause he just wants to build the robot by himself. :0)

Mr. Personality

I guess we have a teenager on our hands. He is still wearing shorts and a sweatshirt to school. On the rare occasion that he wears pants, he only wears a t-shirt. This disease is probably hereditary- his Dad used to wear shorts and flip flops in the snow too! On this particular day- he is certifiably insane, the temperature outside is......-8 degrees. That's right, eight degrees BELOW zero.

In other news, Brig just finished up a wrestling season. He had a lot of fun- but he's glad its over. Me too! I don't care for the sport- its too cruel.
And finally, Brig has just received a fabulous award at his Junior High. He was chosen out of all the other eighth graders as the male with the "Best Personality". We think that is a pretty neat honor. Way to go Brig! We love you- frozen legs and all!

Travelogue Athens: Day 10

This was the final day of our trip. All good things must end- they say. However, the end did not disappoint. It was spectacular! We began our day with a tour of THE Acropolis- which means upper city.The Acropolis sits atop a very large hill. Our tour guide, Brigham had mercy on us and we took a taxi instead of braving the climb. He is so good to me. :) Near the top- you can look down and view this- the theater of Herod Atticus- built in 161 AD by the Romans. They still hold concerts here as well.
Brig has found an ancient hole.

This is the entrance, built in 432 just before the outbreak of the Pelopennesian wars. Just as we were entering the -the Presidential Guard was leaving. They wear white skirts and pom poms on their toes.

This is the Erecthion. It sits on the most sacred site of the Acropolis, where Poisidon and Athena had their contest to see who would be the patron of the city. We all know who won- we are in Athens after all.

Above us waves a Greek flag and behind stands the beautiful Parthenon, it was completed in 438 BC. It has been a temple, a church, a mosque and finally as a storage facility for Turkish gunpowder. The Parthenon is the most perfect and most imitated building in the world.

The restoration work you see has been going on for the last 30 years and may go on for another 30. The more they try to put it back together the more respect and awe they have for the ancient Greeks.

Below the Acropolis stands this small temple- known as the Thission, built in 449 BC it is still virtually intact. The temple was used as a Church, dedicated to Saint George, known as Saint George the Lazy because it was only open one day of the year.

After our morning stroll -we headed to a cafe for a late lunch, early brunch. Just to show you how spoiled the kids are- I took a picture to remember that Katry chose "chocolate pie" for her meal- and got it. It was really good.

Brig chose an omelet and was extremely satisfied as well. After being well fed- we headed to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens- where we got to see a lot of artifacts that were taken from all the sites we had previously visited.

For our final meal- we had some amazing Souvlaki. This place had the best pita. It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

This was a cool looking building in downtown Athens- unfortunately, we seem to be covering most of it. Oops! After dinner, we went back and got our backpacks- yes we did the entire trip with four backpacks. Be amazed! Then we headed to the airport and got a ride to a nearby hotel. Our flight left bright and early at 7am- so we went right to bed. NINETEEN and a half hours later- including a stop over in Paris- we were ecstatic to greet our little boys at the airport. It felt so good to have had an amazing journey and to make it home safe and sound to have our family reunited. A big thanks to Grandad and Grammy Redd for watching them for us. I was very nervous about leaving my little guys at home. But I am so glad we did. I loved focusing our attention on Katry and Brig, spending so much time together, and seeing so many spectacular things. Wow! What a ride!

Travelogue Peloponnese & Athens: Day 9

We spent this morning exploring the Acronauplia and the Palamidi Fortress. Once again, we had a great time scaling walls and battling the Ottomans. Brig tried to climb in just about every cave he found. He left no hole unexplored. The scariest part was how he would jump across openings in the wall that were farther apart than I cared for and a good 12-15 feet up in the air. Yikes!Our next stop was the theater at Epidaurus. It is amazingly well preserved, and we put on a show for all our adoring fans. They still put on shows here in the summer.
Not to be outdone by Brig's Cactus ears-- Katry has found her own cute addition.

We spent the rest of the evening in Athens exploring the city, getting a delicious dinner and buying our much sought after sweatshirts.

Travelogue The Pelopennese: Day 8

Good morning Greece! We had a great breakfast here too! I had heard that Greek Yogurt was really good- but wow!- it was really good. It is as thick as sour cream and they put honey on it to sweeten it. Delish! After breakfast we headed down to this beach. It is overlooking the Gulf of Corinth. The kids had a great time collecting rocks to give to their friends as souvenirs.

As we drove through Greece, we saw many, many orange and lemon trees.

Our first historical stop was Corinth. Corinth's history begins in 6000BC. The apostle Paul lived there for nearly two years around 52AD. It was pretty cool to walk where Paul walked. This is in front of the temple of Apollo.

The best site was in Acro Corinth- several miles away on top of a mountain. This is where the people of Corinth would retreat to during times of attack. There were three big gates still intact. The kids and Brigham especially love to climb around on these ancient ruins.

Below- Brigham and Brig are coming back from an adventure where they hiked to the very highest defensive wall. It was quite the climb.

Our second stop was Nemea. It was famous in greek myth as the home of the Nemean Lion which Hercules had to slay. It is also the home of the Nemean Games- begun near 573 BC. The crew is demonstrating the correct stance at the starting line. The stadion or running race was one of the five major events in the Pentathlon.

The three of us actually ran a race and Brig came in first, Katry second and as usual- I brought up the rear- being six months pregnant had nothing to do with it. I always loose to them. I am okay with that. We want our kids to be better than us. Right!?!

Here Brigham is holding up the remains of the temple of zeus. A very Herculean effort!

The kids had their windows down for the drive and this huge grasshopper decided to hitch a ride. We had to stop the vehicle so that our own hero- Hercules- ahem Brigham could save the day by swatting the afore mentioned grasshopper from the car. Oddly enough, the kids kept the window rolled up after that.

This was one of our more memorable stops. Mycenea. We had seen a lot of really neat 'old" structures up to now- but this really took the cake. This fortress was thought to be built around 1600 BC. The Colosseum was built in the early 1st century and it is 2000 years old- this place nearly doubles that age. Wow!

Since Brig had won our footrace in Nemea- Katry wove for him a wreath of grass to signify his victory. They actually wore victory crowns of parsley.

We loved these signs warning of danger. Click on it for a closer view.

Ahh! The Lions Gate. The largest stones weigh well over 20 tons. For this reason- it is believed the wall was built by the cyclops. It is also believed that Agamemnon lived here and left from here to fight in the battle of Troy. He was later killed by his wife for sacrificing his daughter in order to get favorable winds to sail their ships. Crazy people!

Our last stop of the day was Nafplion. The water of the Aegean sea was gorgeous here.

The entire hillside was covered in cacti- Brig managed to find some great uses for it.

Brigham rang the bell in the Acronauplia- a giant fortress- to let the town know that all was well.

Mmmmm! This girl loves ice cream.