MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope everyone had a great Christmas - we sure did.  It is kind of hard not to have one I guess.  And we even had a white one.  On Christmas Eve we went to down to Gary and Margee's for their annual party and all their kids were there with their kids and grand kids.  It is quite a group. It is a fun time and the steal-a-gift is always the high point for many. 

Connie went skiing with Brenda and her son Riley on Christmas Day.  I can't ski this year because of my knee replacement, and it looks like Ike is going to have to get one also so he is not skiing.  Getting old has it's drawbacks.  I kind of got things ready for Christmas dinner while the ladies and Riley were up enjoying over 14 inches of new fluffy powder.  This might be a long few months until we go south if the skiing is so good!  When they called and said they were off the ski hill, Ike headed over to our place.  Brenda had him working on things for the dinner also.  We had a great dinner of lasagna and many other things.  Exchanged gifts and called it a day.

Doug and Rita's boys: Joel, Ben, and  Colton.

Some of the Stephens family.

Gary had a couple of his grandkids helping to hand out presents.

Teresa and her granddaughter Addy.

A little fun is always had with the kids.

On Christmas morning, Carl, Deb, and their kids dressed up as elves and went visiting!

Dell the cat had a great time playing with her toy bird.

UPDATE 20 DEC 2014

Christmas is just a few days away.  Connie and I have spent a little time getting ready for this day.  Connie more than I.  She has spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen as well as the shop.  We don't have any snow on the ground here so are a little bummed about that.  A White Christmas is always our wish.  We did have a short snow storm last night with great big snow flakes but only lasted a few minutes.  More snow and cold weather is in the forecast, so maybe, just maybe the white Christmas will materialize.

Connie and the kids watching TV - no, really they are just watching me put wood in the fire.

Zeph has to share his bed.  Not sure he is all that keen on it, but better than sharing his food.

The snowflakes almost look like stars.

CHRISTMAS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

Christmas is getting closer.  I know this because Connie enlisted my help in making her Christmas Tree for this year.  And most of you know that Connie rarely ever has a traditional Christmas tree.  This year is no exception to that rule.  She actually had this idea quite a while ago and this is the year it came to be.  It turned out great as most of her ideas do.  We have both been skiing for many years and have lots of skis stored above our tack room in the barn.  Well, up there she went and handed down a number of old skis to me.  We put them together and made a pretty darn good tree.  Decorated it with old ski passes and ornaments made out of wine corks.  Connie is pretty darn talented and made some really neat skiing reindeer ornaments. 

Dell likes sleeping in my Grandmothers chair near the fire.  Especially when it is cold outside.

After one false start, we finally figured out how to get them to stand up with some sturdiness. 

Moved it inside and started to decorate.

Connie's ornaments.  She spent a few days working on these.

 The top is starting to take shape.

Dell thinks we put this up as her personal play house.  You can see she already has some of the lights off the skis.

Getting closer to being done.

After helping us with the tree, Zeph and Dell had to take a nap on the bed.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Connie and I traveled down to Salt Lake City to have Thanksgiving with Connie's family.  We have not spent a holiday with them for a number of years so it was good to do that and we had a wonderful time.  The drive down and back had some weather that was not the best, but we made it down there and back safely.  Drove the pickup and was glad we did as we had to drive through 10 inches of new snow going down the east side of Chief Joseph pass.  On our way down we had lunch with Allen and Yvonne in Dell, MT.  Was great talking to them and caught up on all the news of the ranch and family.  Our drive back was pretty good until we got to Idaho Falls where there was a bad dust storm and I-15 was closed north of Idaho Falls to Roberts.  We had to take a detour to get around that.  They had a multi-car pileup with quite a few injuries as the visibility dropped down to zero.  And we had snow in the Big Hole area again but made it through just fine.  Colder in Montana than it is in Utah though.

The Thanksgiving dinner table at Connie's sister Wendy's house.

Not enough room for the 26 people at the big table so the youngest kids sat in another room and two really young ones were in high chairs.  

Connie and her sister Wendy.  

Some great cheese appetizers coming out of the horn of plenty made out of bread.

We stayed at Connie's friend Sharon's place and this is her grandson's room when he stays with her.

What would be Thanksgiving without a little football played in the yard!

Most of the family went to the Hogle Zoo for the Christmas light display.  Bill leading the way.

Had quite a time keeping track of everyone.

Nephew Austin and his wife Kiley with Connie.

Connie and her two sisters -Wendy and Pat.

Niece Lesley with her niece Emma.