Father-daughter snow day

So there is this whole recession thing going on and it seems when you combine that with perfect weather a/c guys like myself have a lot of free time. Hhmmm, what to do, what to do?
Might as well go snowboarding! This week was a first for me as Gabe was sick and I was only taking Becca. Well let me tell you....the first father-daughter snowboarding trip was a huge success. It was a beautiful sunny day with temps in the mid to high 40s on the slopes. We arrived before they opened and since we did not have to wait in line for tickets we were among the first in line for the lift to the top. They had been blowing snow for 2 days and most of the mountain was freshly groomed. This year the kids have improved to the point where they can venture around the mountain more, this makes it more fun for them and me. After warming up with a few runs Becca decides, all on her own, that she wants to go over some jumps. You should have seen the smile on my face:) Man I was so stoked! And a little scared!?! Becca heads for the first of 5 jumps in a row and..........didn't quite make it. Undaunted she heads for the next one and cruises right over it! I am thinking this is good until as she approaches jump #3 I'm thinking uh oh....to fast, but she made it and almost got her whole board off the snow! We both decided this was a fun run and stuck to it for most of the day with her going over the jumps and me sliding the boxes and hitting some of the jumps as well. After Becs sees me sliding the boxes she thinks she ought to give it a try. She gave it three valiant efforts but no luck:( Her last try was on our last run down for the day and she was really bummed when she did not make it, so I had her take her board off and walk back up the hill to try it with my help. I held onto her as she went and she made it all the way across with my help. She then decided that she would wait till she was a bit better before trying it again as she discovered how slippery the boxes are. I must say this was an unbelievably awesome day for me. The best part was walking across the big patio area of the lodge as we were leaving, we each had a snowboard under one arm and we were holding hands:) :) I love you Becca!

The family that plays together...

Kathy and I took the kids (except Noah) snowboarding earlier this month. This was Elayna's first time and she was very excited. Kathy continued to impress us all with her improvement. Elayna loved going straight. Becca and Gabe will soon be better than their Dad. And I had a great time!

Kathy's Party

I think it was in September when I asked Christie (Willis) to help me organize a surprise party for Kathy. Then I did nothing until about the middle of December. I have always been pretty good at putting things off till the last minute and this was no exception. I started making notes, drawing diagrams, and of course lying to my wife. All the deception was the hardest part... it was killing me!
Almost everyday I would expand my plan, this was a bummer because whenever I have what I think of as a good idea I tell Kathy with great excitement. Usually she then very lovingly tells me why my plan won't work. But this time I had to keep it all to myself. When Kathy asked me what I wanted for my birthday I told her i-tunes gift cards, this of course was also for her party, as I downloaded a bunch of party songs. This way I didn't have to shell out $ 600.00 for a D.J.. I'm pretty sure she thought I was trippin. Her parents were here from AZ and I'm in the office feverishly spending all my money on songs for my ipod. The next big project was building a huge tent structure onto the back of the house. This was difficult because how do you do it without raising suspicion? HEY BRIAN? HOW COME THERE IS A HUGE TENT IN THE BACKYARD?
So when she was out shopping I simply built the pieces and stashed them on the roof or the side of the house. The food was the next big challenge. I told her Coby wanted me to go with him to look for stocking stuffers for his girls. Of course she asked "where are you going"? Uhmm well Costco. Now where do you put several hundred dollars worth of food when you aren't supposed to have it? At the neighbors and Moms house of course. I thought it would be cool to have a fancy cake of some sort but hhmmm what kind? Well since Kathy is such a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies, I ordered a cake that looked like a cookie. Thats done but the question remains "Will there be enough food?" so I ordered fried chicken from Albertsons. Now its the day after Christmas and Kathy needs to be out of the house, so her mom takes her to see Mama Nelly.
Everything is going good. I called the "help" and had them come over. Christie, Rachelle, Laura, my Mom, Jackie and Emma all did a wonderful job with the food and decorations. Thanks ladies!
While that was going on inside Mark (Kathy's Dad), Coby, Bill, and I were outside setting things up. Now is the time when I say sorry. I am sorry you guys had to put up with me. I was a wreck.
I missed calculated on the roof trusses and it was not going to work with what I had, bummer.
What do you do in such a situation? You call your dad. What I did not know was my Dad was at home and was very sick, sorry Dad, but of course he picked up the lumber I needed and brought it right over, then he went home to bed. Your the best Dad! Daniel was in the middle of this whole mess with the tent trying, and succeeding, to put up the 10' screen, projector and Wii. Thanks Daniel you rule! Did I mention that each room was lit with different color lights and we had black lights outside. It was really cool.
The guests are here. We are all ready. I am a mental case.
Kathy calls me and says "Why did Albertsons call me and tell me my 75 piece order of chicken is ready?" WHAT!! I forgot the chicken and I gave them the wrong cell number. Yes I know what you are thinking. So I say to Kathy "Well we ordered chicken for dinner but there must be some mistake I will call them and see whats up". I know....lame, but it was the best I could come up with. Luckily for me my wife thinks there is no way her husband can pull off a surprise party so she still did not figure it out.
Finally after another 20 minutes of waiting she walked into a house full of friends and family yelling SURPRISE! And yes she was! The music was loud the Wii was LARGE the food was plentiful and the people....awesome!
The party was a lot of fun and Kathy had a great time. Thanks to all who attended.

Kathy's surprise party... coming soon!

Christmas morning

This year things were..... the same as last year. Except for the turkey recipe. We brined the turkey for about 16 hours, some (Mark) questioned this method. I must say Kathy and I made the juiciest most tasty turkey ever. It was a pretty mellow morning. The kids got up around 7 and dug into there stockings. We allow them to open their stockings so that we can get up and ready for the day. It wasn't until about 8 that Becca and Lydia started things off by reading Luke 2 for us and then it was time for the gifts! Everyone seemed quite satisfied with what they received. Later that day Kathy's family came over and we all ate a ton of food. However I had a hard time staying focused as I had been so into planning Kathy's surprise party. All in all it was a great day and I don't think the real meaning of this day was forgotten.

"Christmas lighting"

For the last 6 years we have taken our kids, Jackie and Lydia out to look at Christmas light displays around town. The kids refer to this as "Christmas lighting". The first 4 years we would stop at 7-11 for hot drinks and some junk food, sadly for the last 2 years we were unable to carry on that part of the tradition due to time constraints. Maybe next year. This year we found a great house where the lights move in rhythm with the music when you tune your car radio to a certain frequency. This house was definitely the highlight, pun intended. Unfortunately due to rain the trains were not running at the train house. The train house is always the kids favorite. The homeowner sits out on his porch running three very nice train sets through his yard and through several very intricate little towns. One of the trains has a car that is filled with little candy canes for the kids to take. Again, maybe next year. We all had a great time, and were thankful that even with Jackie and Lydia living in another state for the last 2 years we still haven't missed a year! Note to Mark: you will always have to come to California for Christmas. Just think of it as penance for moving to Arizona.

Snow!!!

We took our kids and Kathy's sisters up to the mountains for a little snow play a few days before Christmas. This was a first for Elayna, Noah, Jackie, and Lydia. We found a nice little area with some untouched snow and did all the fun stuff your supposed to do. Elayna made a couple snow angels, we all took a few turns on the sled, most of us ate some snow, and we made (finished) a snowman. Good times!!!

Childrens choir

Once again Becca and Gabe participated in the children's choir at our church. They sang with the adult choir in two of their performances and then they had their own performance which was a lot of fun. Becca had several speaking parts in which she did great. She actually memorized all the speaking parts of all the kids! Gabe sang loud and did a great job with the hand motions even though he was almost squeezed out of his row by the two kids on either side of him. Next year Elayna will definitely be joining them as this year she sang most of the songs while sitting with us in the audience.

35 years

This year I turned 35. I feel blessed to have made it! It has been 10 years since I was "mostly dead". This year my beautiful wife invited a few people over to celebrate my b-day. I enjoyed having some family over and Kathy did a great job making a real tasty cake. Thanks also to all who sent cards and or gifts.