Out of Touch...

I feel like I've been out of touch with the world lately. 2 weeks ago the motherboard on my laptop died. Such a hassle! No data was lost (plus I back up the things I really care about frequently, so I wasn't too nervous about that), but I depend on the computer so much! Even something as simple as I wanted to make some fresh lemonade and my favorite recipe is online, I turned to my empty computer desk and grumbled as the empty desk mocked me. I now have my new laptop and it will take me weeks to configure it the way I want it again, but now I can blog!

We've been unbelievably busy even without my computer. David's free time has been dominated with a Superintendent search and interviews for the School Board as well as church responsibilities (if he volunteers for anything else, I'm going to scream!).

I have been working mostly full time and the project team is great, but the product we're working with is riddled with problems that I am constantly having to work out to try and keep the team working. Throw in being Young Women's President at church, Young Women's Camp Certification Leader, and, oh yea, all the mom stuff - I barely have time to breathe (if I can't say "no" to anything else I'm asked to do, I'm going to scream!).

A pathetic example of how busy we are is that one of our cars ran out of gas close to home, so it has been sitting in the driveway for two weeks and we've been driving the other two cars because we can't find time to grab the gas can and get gas. Totally pathetic.

Anyway, I'm back online and feeling human again.

Birthday and Baptism last weekend

Last weekend we went out to Massachusetts for our Nephew Zac's baptism. It was about the best attended baptism of an 8-year-old I've seen. Here is a picture of Zac and his Dad, Frank.


It was also Betsy's birthday so we got to celebrate with her.

Walt has been feeling pretty good, although he tires easily. That doesn't slow him down, much, he's been working 4 or 5 days a week and still fits in some Grandpa time. Here is a picture of him with Jen's son Tommy.

We stayed at a hotel near Jonna and Frank's church and only had two beds, one for David and I and one for Parker, so we put Bryson in the closet (McKay stayed home with a friend). The couch cushions fit nicely in the bottom of the closet for padding. Yes, Bryson actually slept there all night! This picture was after he had fallen asleep.

It was his idea. He's so weird.

Objection your Honor!

There was an ongoing investigation at Voorheesville Elementary in order to solve a mystery using science. Someone was murdered and the 4th grade has been processing the evidence in their science lab to determine who could have done it. Finally a suspect was identified and a trial was scheduled.

Bryson was appointed as the Defense Attorney. He has been preparing for three days including a meeting of the Defense Team at lunch yesterday. The Prosecuting Attorney was Bryson's friend Carson. Bryson spent last night preparing his questions, closing statement, and memorizing all the possible objections for the trial today. He left the house in his best suit, hair combed nicely, and a cookie for morning snack.

The trial lasted for 45 minutes with one 5 minute recess to re-angle the cameras in the courtroom (sort of like the timeouts for commercials at football games), so the 4th grade could watch the trial from their classrooms. Apparently during the 5 minute recess both attorneys grew mustaches of marker ink. The Judge, Principal Diegel, and Jury, the entire 4th grade, unfortunately found his client guilty and she was taken away in handcuffs. He joked that the Bailiff had to restrain him from attacking the judge when they announced his client guilty.

He really wasn't too upset about losing his first (and maybe only) trial, but I consoled him by saying, "You win some, you lose some." His response was, "I'm just in it for the money." lol!

Ice Skating

We've been looking for someplace to go ice skating since we got used skates for everyone last fall. Just before everything started to melt, we found out OUR town park had an ice rink set up. We had driven by looking for one several times and didn't notice it down one of the hills and not visible from the road. Grrr. So we finally got out on the ice. Although we may never take Parker again because he's always whinning about how his skates fit (darn wide sasquatch feet) or their not tight enough, or the laces breaking (a valid complaint since it happened).

Some are graceful, some are boys.

In memory of Sparky

Bryson's rat Sparky had to be put to sleep today. Here are some pictures of when Bryson got Sparky for Christmas two years ago.

Recent video of Sparky (and Raskal)

We'll all miss Sparky!

Battle of the Hot Cocoa

One day we decided that we needed to find out which hot chocolate mix we liked best. I was excited when my local grocery store started carrying Stephen's Gourmet Hot Chocolate this year, but David was convinced it wasn't any better than Nestle that he likes. Parker was determined that Swiss Miss was the best. So, of course, we had to perform an experiment. Blind taste test.


For the 1st round we mixed it according to the directions on the label. There was no doubt the Stephen's was better, but the directions called for significantly more mix per water, so the others tasted watered down, while Stephen's tasted rich.


In the 2nd round we doubled the recommended mix of the Nestle and Swiss Miss. It was unanimous that Nestle was the best flavor with Stephen's coming in second and Swiss Miss in last. Although we all thought that with a lot of mix in the water, we would like any of them. David was having a hard time being humble and not gloating that he knew the cheapest was the best all along. We've now solved one of life's mysteries and shared it with you. You're welcome.

You know you're too busy when...

I like to pride myself on my multi-tasking abilites, but sometimes I get a little carried away.

Maybe you're too busy when you're driving with your 9-year-old and he sincerely asks, "Is there a class to learn to drive with your knees?"

January Birthdays

With a family this big it seems like there's always a birthday lurking around the next corner. This month we celebrated Hannah and Ben and Dorothy's birthdays.

David and Ben drove out to Boston to go to lunch with Hannah and do a little shopping for their birthdays. After an Indian lunch, they stopped by Cheescake Factory and picked up Birthday Cheesecake.

Dorothy's birthday is this coming week, but they left for a cruise last Friday, so we took her to dinner at her favorite sushi restaurant on Thursday to celebrate her birthday. David called ahead and planned a little Birthday surprise for her. Whe needs birthday cake when you can have Birthday Sushi?

Isn't that hilarious? When David called the restaurant to make arrangements, they said, "Nobody's asked us to do that before", but they promised to do their best. (In case your wondering, the words were made out of spicy shrimp chopped up, formed, and cooked to set the letters. They tasted great!)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Night Skiing and Boarding

Trip # 1 was David and Hannah hitting the slopes.

Trip #2 David, Chris, Parker, McKay, Bryson, and our Grandson John. This was McKay's first try at snowboarding. He picked it up really fast.

David giving McKay lessons.

Parker

John

For your viewing enjoyment, I have include a couple of video snippets.

Trip #3 David, Chris, Parker, McKay, and Bryson on $10 night at Jiminy Peak.

Bryson, watch out for that tree!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and everything in between

We had a Christmas Party the Saturday before Christmas at our house with friends and neighbors. We live in a more rural area, so people don't get out to meet their neighbors often. We introduced the neighbors on one side of our house to the neighbors on the other side. They've lived here longer than we have! I'm used to knowing all my neighbors, so I find it really weird that they didn't know each other at least by sight.

David's brother Jon also came to stay with us since he had a cold and Walt was coming home, so he couldn't stay up at the farm.

Christmas Eve we had David's kids over for brunch, Gingerbread houses and dinner.
Shhhh...they're concentrating.

Can you believe I wasn't up until 1 am wrapping presents on Christmas Eve? I always seem to do that. I just like to see what I have for the kids all at once before wrapping it so I make sure I don't get them too much or too little. This usually means I do most of my wrapping Christmas Eve. Which I did, but Hannah and Bryson helped and I got started earlier in the evening, so I wasn't up so late.

Christmas day was more low key. McKay got the sword he wanted, Parker got a new calculator and new scriptures, Bryson got software to put his compositions on sheet music and a box for putting his pokemon cards in (along with plenty of other things).

Several of the Young Women from the Ward came over for a Book of Mormon reading marathon. 28 hours reading with a 2 1/2 hour break for sleeping. It took me days to recover, but they loved it!

Saturday was Nathan's birthday party. On the menu: Lobster, baked potatoes, and corn.


We spent New Year's Eve with Nathan, Rachel, and Rachel's family, Jon, Julianna (Joyce's step-daughter) and Juliana's friend Brianna from Walt and Alice's ward. We had lots of snacks then a tense game of Phase 10 which ended minutes after midnight. The kids played games and watched movies downstairs. Juliana and Brianna stayed up and watched a movie after we sent everyone else to bed.

When everyone finally woke up on New Year's Day we went tubing.

McKay

Bryson

Jon Chris David
Brianna and Julianna

McKay, David, Chris, Bryson, Julianna, Brianna, and Jon. (Parker isn't much into tubing)

Happy New Year!