Arnold- Can't get enough snow?

We took a day trip up to Arnold to visit Grammy and Poppy and enjoy going to the snow. This is the first year both of our kids have really enjoyed the snow, so we had to milk it some more. We had a great sledding day up at Spicer Reservoir.

Daddy told me that when you crash, you have to do it with style!

Boy, was I flying down that hill solo, I can't believe Mom and Dad say I didn't like snow last year, who do you believe?

Bryce kept looking at me with that worried face and I couldn't figure out why...oh was it the big snowball I was holding, maybe.



Bryce's sentence of the day: "Tha' wa' FUN"

Woooohoooooo, this is crazy fun.

Daddy took Bryce a number of crazy runs like this down the hill, but he kept saying "more" and "again."

I'm a snow trooper on the ice planet Hoth.

Ready, Poppy are you ready...set...go!

Family Birthdays in Tracy

We gathered in Tracy for a larger family gathering with Brett's family to celebrate the birthdays (some early, some late) of Brett, his sister Wendy, and his cousin Caitlyn. It was nice to catch up, share some fun stories, watch the kids play together, and eat.


Caitlyn laughed at a joke I'm not old enough to understand as Bruce chuckled his approval.



Daddy is getting old, so I pretty much had to open all his gifts for him.

Haley, Rachel, and I demonstrate that we have the pucker power to blow candles out, of course we also helped the three elder statesmen with their cake full of candles...

That is one bright cake, how old are you guys?

If you notice, Daddy had to hold Bryce's hand down or else there wouldn't be a cupcake still in Daddy's hand...

Idaho in the Snow

After enjoying the first few days in Idaho with blue skies and sunshine, we suddenly had some serious snow to contend and not just in the mountains we drove up to for the purpose of tubing. Garrett had a great time tubing even though he had to retreat to the warming shed after a few trips down the hill. His favorite part was taking the ride up the mountain on the pulley system. Brett got some nice justice as he had packed ski goggles that everyone made fun of him for bringing, but when the wind picked up on the tubing hill, everyone wanted a turn with the goggles... We also got to play in the snow on the farm later in the week.

The whole tubing gang: can you tell it was cold, something like 13 degrees plus wind chill, I don't think I see/feel those temperatures in California.
I don't know where Aunts Alecia and Kaarli and Mommy and Daddy got their smiles from...

Much happier once I figured out how to bury my head into my tube when the wind would kick up, see it wasn't as miserable as I thought earlier, and when I got back to the farm, I was talking about how much fun I had.

There is my favorite part: the ascent up the hill as you can see on the right, but let me tell you, we got a lot of speed going down this hill.

That's my brother, Bryce getting a sled ride from Aunt Alecia.

Meanwhile, Ryan and I got to ride around behind the ATV on a sled, those figure 8s sure were fun.

...and Daddy sure liked driving the ATV and "helping" us fall off with some sharp turns.

How's this for a Christmas present...a snow dusted combine harvester.

60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Wow, none of us have ever been to a 60th wedding anniversary! This was pretty cool, there were a lot of couples there who had also been married for over 60 years. What a testament to how great marriage can be. Joy's grandparents had a wonderful time and were blessed with many fond memories being shared. It was also good to see Joy's grandmother be out and about.

My great grandparents were all decked out and looking great for the celebration.

Uncle Aaron tells one of his many great stories as Great Grandpa can't help but laugh.



Grandkids and great grandkids (me and Bryce) surrounding the couple of honor with love.

Grandma and Grandpa with my Great Grandma and Grandpa, wow that's a lot of G's.

Jackie and Robb with my Great Grandparents.




Roger, Ryan, Christy, and Brittany await there turn for a picture with the special couple.

Idaho

We flew to Idaho at the beginning of January to join in the celebration of Joy's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. While we were there we had lots of fun with Joy's family and our boys got to play on the farm and in the snow.

Check it out, I'm old enough to be up on the wheel structure, you can find me on the far right with Daddy helping me stay up! 10 years ago when they took this picture Brittany was just a baby.

Think Ryan and I have perfected the "trouble" smile?
Great grandpa with 3 of his grandkids.

Who has had any training in 8mm film projectors? I guess Daddy did because he got it working! Man he must be OLD.

Who is a fan of John Deere? We men (and boys) are!

Jackie laughed while Bryce was mesmorized by my picture taking, or maybe he was just tired...






Great Grandpa, Ryan, and I took the tractor for a spin around the yard and I got to honk the horn.

Great Grandpa loved showing Bryce and I the tractors, and we just couldn't get enough John Deere.




Some of us are grandkids and others of us are great grandkids, can you figure out the difference? I think we're all friends.

Hey Uncle Robb, can I take your vintage X-Wing for a flight, I promise I won't break it. Did you check to be sure I didn't pack it in my suitcase?

Bedtime books with Bryce and Daddy.

Family Pictures from Grand Rapids

These are a sampling of the pictures that we had professionally taken while we were back in Michigan. The settings were out in the snow by an old covered bridge and in Joy's dad's bookstore. We definitely had fun taking them.

January 2009: Happy New Year

Here is a little video to introduce the new year to you. There is a little foreshadowing as Garrett and Bryce are both playing together in THEIR future shared bedroom. (If you can't hear them well enough you can scroll down and pause the music- basically Garrett says "Happy New Year")