Art class & Birthdays Jan. 2010

We have a very talented sister in our Stake that offered to teach the girls oil painting. Of course who could refuse such an offer. They have loved it.

They did several types; still life, floral, and landscape. (which ended up being animals instead)

They are very proud of their paintings.

As a side note this is Aleena's creation, a God's eye mobil.

We got to help celebrate nephew/cousin Eric's 1st birthday. We have loved having the little guy around. He gets so excited every time he comes over and loves for the girls to take him outside.

Can you tell who is the center of attention?

Shaun celebrated his big 40 this year. He said he didn't want a party (I don't think he wanted anyone to know) or presents, so we did something else instead. We were going to decorate his office at work but he took the day off. So we went to plan B. We decorated the office at church since he had meetings that night. I think he was pretty surprised. We brought treats later for him to share with everyone. We had fun trying to sneak around trying to surprise him.

A stay at the cabin & more skiing!

We asked My brother Ivan... , no let me change that. We begged Ivan and Annette to let us stay at THE CABIN. It is such a beautiful place any time of the year. They graciously let us invade their space, and we loved it. Here are a few of the monkeys in the king-sized bed...

and a couple more in the loft bed. If we wanted to see the boys we just went to where the screens were and there they would be playing video games.

This was our 2nd ski day the snow was great but the day wasn't long enough.

Me and the girls, they got to come because they caught on so quick the first day.

Shem was just loving it! (The next Flying Tomato.)

The Russian & I lovin' the snow.

On to Idaho!

Next stop, My Brother Dan's house. We stayed a couple of days here and of course enjoyed the company and his famous sourdough pancakes.

Here are a couple of monkeys' (Sarah & Kate) in their monkey PJs

Dan & Will sword fighting, If their is a stick around it is a sure bet that Daniel will find it and use it for a sword.

All the girls got a wee bit silly with the makeup. Of course Isabelle loved all the attention.

One of the main reasons we came SKIING!! This was the girls first time skiing, They LOVED it! they all caught on real quick. Sarah & Hannah went down the bunny hill a few times then they decided they were ready for the big hill. They were going up & down the big hill so well. Isabelle & Aleena wore a path in the bunny hill. Up & down, they loved it.

Of course the boys were enjoying every minute of it. Here they are taking a little rest.

Shem showing us his moves.

Dan, notice his big smile.

All the boy cousins.

Smiles all around, We may have to make this a annual tradition.

Christmas out West

For Christmas this year we told the kids we would take them skiing for their present. They were thrilled. For all of December we heard I can't wait till we leave!! So here we have a picture of the kids relieved to finally be in the car and on our way.

Our first stop was at Shaun's brothers place in Utah. Their kids didn't know we were coming So when we arrived the surprise on their face was priceless. On Christmas Eve their tradition is to break a pinata. So here we are beating the poor thing to death.

Christmas morning

Shem with his new 5x5 rubiks cube

Isabelle with her Diamonds

Hannah with her walkie talkies

Dan with his itouch cover ( he had just bought the itouch before Christmas)

The beautiful mountain view out their window (I miss the mountains)

The day after Christmas we went sledding, except for Aleena she built a snow castle.

Joe Cool

Sarah & Alex were the sledding queens they went up & down a hundred times.

I don't know how Aleena talked Isabelle into pulling her around?

Shem flying down the hill.

Hannah catching some air.

One of the highlights of the trip was going to Temple square to see all the Christmas lights. There was also nativities from different countries. It was beautiful.