an update ..

we are having a great time .. we spent wednesday and thursday skiing .. ellie has it all figured out .. she .. hunter and greg must have gone down the mountain 20 times .. cash .. jeff and i stayed on the bunny slope .. he was to get the "stop" part down .. all he wants to do is zoom down the slope .. he is pretty sure the people will get out of his way ..

today the high is going to be 7 .. thank goodness it is a day off .. might ice skate or sled a little and then i am pretty sure the kiddos are going to go to kids camp this afternoon .. maybe the big kids will take a nap ..

we snow mobile tomorrow .. we are crossing our fingers that cash will stay awake this year ..

Me in about 30 minutes !!!

real quick ..

we got checked in about 2:30 or so .. the room is perfect .. we have a 2 bedroom condo with a kitchen and living area in the middle .. greg and hunter get one room .. jeff .. me and kids get the other ..

our room .. notice the pillow pets ..

we have been to the liquor store but not the grocery store .. the kids have already swam .. they have checked themselves into kids camp .. i have started a load of laundry .. yes we have a washer and dryer in this place ..

all we need is greg and hunter .. their plane lands at 10:15 .. jeff will pick them up .. tomorrow we sleep in .. pick up  our skis and then hit the slopes ..

got to go now .. unwind has started ..

And we are thru the tunnel !!

About 3 hours from Denver ...

The Griswalds have left the lake !!

Merry Christmas to all !

more of christmas eve day ..

look .. me .. never has it even occurred to me to hand my camera to someone else and have them take a picture .. such a simple request .. so i handed it to uncle dan and said please take my picture .. that way my children will know that i did exist ..

i was truly so excited with this new plan that i started grabbing people that were walking by and said hey get in the picture with me ..

see .. now aunt susie and baby jake are in the picture ..

i even got a picture with ellie ..

we were also lucky enough that daniel joined us this year as well .. remember he works with us .. he was one of the trapeze artists ..

all this food and dessert and family time can cause strange things to happen though .. cash and ellie might need a hair appt with aunt mary ..

and because uncle jon was at the fire station today we stopped by on the way back to the lake to wish him a merry christmas .. and yes .. cash is wearing his fireman's gear ..

today we will spend the day up at mom's .. opening presents and eating an enormous breakfast .. and then we will be lazy the rest of the day ..

then i will have to get on the packing thing .. we leave for beaver creek on sunday ..

i hope that everyone had a splendid christmas eve and christmas day .. however you spent it ..

christmas eve day ..

cash came running into the bedroom this morning .. momma momma he says .. is today the day .. the day that santa comes .. yes cash i say .. finally !! he says .. it seems that christmas eve has taken a little longer to get here than cash would like ..

we spent the day at uncle joe and aunt rhondas .. and because it is a whole family celebration kind of thing lucky went to .. really that means that we did not want to leave him alone the whole entire day .. he doesn't like to be alone .. poor mom .. he took up the entire back seat .. he flipped over onto his back and had his feet in the air the entire trip to tulsa .. he has no issues when it comes to riding in the car ..

this is leif .. he is in town from denver .. he is cash's age ..

this is wrenna .. leif's sister ..

uncle pat and uncle dan ..

neil and ryan (leif and wrenna's dad)

julien (neil's son) helping himself to the cheese log .. he was watching cash and leif try to turn a little house they built with foam squares around ..

the fella's finally enlisted ellie's help ..

elliot went with us .. because lexi got an american girl just like me doll for her birthday .. her name is stephanie .. the girls thought that it might be fun for elliot and stephanie to hang out as well ..

lexi and her new little brother jake ..

people everywhere .. remember my mom has 10 brothers and sisters so when we get together there are alot of us .. and today was no different ..

the food .. before ..

the food .. after ..

i know .. no pictures of plates of food .. no .. you do not get to see how high ross stacked his mashed potatoes this year .. because ..

no .. this poor momma did not dress her child in the dark .. this is two babies .. twin baby boys .. the brown sock baby and the blue sock baby ..

i was to occupied with holding the blue sock baby when everyone went thru the food line .. i could have cared less how many helpings of potatoes and green bean casserole ross put on his plate ..

i had to love .. snuggle .. kiss and squeeze these babies .. they live in PA and we might not see them again for a little while ..

plus .. they did not smell like dirt ..

i am just a little concerned though .. see the handsome boy in the brown pants and plaid shirt holding leif upside down .. he goes with the twins .. someone needs to tell mike that you don't hold babies that way ..

lets eat dough ..

last sunday .. or maybe two sundays ago .. i have lost track of time .. jeff went with chris mullen in the freezing cold and rode the toy run on his motorcycle .. the kids and i stayed home and made a batch of sugar cookies .. 

 

we piped them with royal icing .. and then filled them in with flood icing and sprinkled away ..

we ended up with several dozen .. we probably ate as much dough as that as well .. we all had belly aches .. we don't have any left to share with our friends either .. we ate all those to ..

i know .. not very nice is it ..

the work lunchen

ruth organized a "work holiday luncheon" the other day for all of us .. this means that everyone brings something and we eat .. pretty much all day .. some of us .. who will not be named .. slave for hours to prepare our dish .. some of us get up at 4:30 so that we can put out our rolls so they can rise .. some of us painstakingly cut out little leaves from pie crust so that our pies are beautiful .. some of us bring nothing .. some of us have our wives/girlfriends prepare our dish (this is obviously not ME) and some of us stop at kahoots on the way to work and pick up our "dish" .. doesn't matter though .. what matters is that we all eat together .. as a little work family .. in shifts though .. because there is not enough room in the lunch room ..

delicious ham .. with cloves and pineapple .. i did not make this ..



green bean casserole and thanksgiving potatoes .. both out of this world ..

it was a great day .. after we all filled our plates twice or 3 times .. we then had dessert .. we then snacked for the rest of the afternoon .. and then we all passed out and took a nap on "jeff's time"

Cash is helping the fellas move big big rocks today !