OUR BEAUTIFUL GIRLS!!

SLEDDING ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

Sledding on Christmas Eve.

Emma and Will take their first run.

Brookie got very daring and even did the jump!!

Will with his friend Hayley.

Snow (any amount) means NO SCHOOL!! Yeah!!!

The kids have been playing in the snow nonstop since it started falling. the extra kids are the neighbors that we carpool with.

Updating and reinventing

Time is flying by and I am eliminating more and more things from my "To Do" list;) But I did get the leaky roof and the resultant wall damage repaired and living room and stairs painted. (By someone else!)

I also updated the dressers in our bedroom - went from colonial to cottage. Things learned?

1. Cabinet hardware is EXPENSIVE!



2. The screws will ALWAYS be the wrong length!

But I am having fun. I am even going to sew for Christmas. Be afraid!!!!

Fun Family Time in Utah

Natasha's wedding was beautiful. It was so fun to see everyone. Family is great:) Her reception was held at the church that President Hinkley attended as a child. It was built in the mid 1800's .

We had a great time at the Winters' stake play - " A Mighty Change In Christ". Jerry wrote the music and script and directed. It was centered on the story of Alma and Abinidi and was a powerful experience. Really excellent. (This is a picture of their son as one of the priests of King Noah.)

Here's a few fotos from around Madrid. The first one is down by Sol, it always makes me think of New York and how packed it is with people. The next one is the 'Metropolis' just a cool old building downtown. Then there's the gate of Alcala, used to be a gate to get into the city in the 1700's. The next one is what used to be a palace and now is the central post office. People call it the 'mail palace' as a joke. Last one is part of Plaza Mayor, the big central square.

I also found out this week some breaking news...they don't have the tooth fairy in Spain. But, they do have 'Ratoncito Perez' or 'little mouse Perez' that comes and leaves a little toy. I thought that was cute, but I think I would be a little scared to have a mouse going under my head while I was sleeping...

Christmas gift list
this is who you give to.

Sunni - Carson
Dan - Chris
Chris - Sunni
Carson - Dan

In a way to make things easier and on the whole shipping thing I thought it would be nice to just ship to one location. So for example it says Sunni give to Carson. So Sunni and Alan give to Carson and Deena. Not to difficult but seems to make it easier. Of course everyone remembers do their own thing for Mom and Dad.

Hopefully that works for everyone. If not sorry.

Honey same as always our kids to your kids. What do you think about not doing individual but a family gift for the kids. Let me know if you would rather do individual. So instead a game for the kids to play for FHE, or movie you know.

November 4th was a very exciting day for Brookie and Emma. Emma was elected the real President of the United States by her classmates. She had to give a speech and everything. It was very exciting for her. And Brookie was promoted to the next level in her Gymnastics class. She gets to go from G1 to G2, which is a BIG DEAL. She really is becoming quite the gymnast and we are excited for her.
(P.S. We disenrolled Emma from Gymnastics a while ago after ANOTHER visit to the ER. We thought we'd stop while we were ahead, before something serious happened. We're thinking about professional piano lessons for her instead. Is it possible to break a finger playing piano?)
Hope you're all doing well.

Halloween

We have had a great halloween in New Mexico. It is about 70 degrees tonight and the kids actually had quite a bit of stamina and managed to fill their bags full of candy. Of course I will have to make sure all the candy is safe, like dad always did for us.

This is the bee hive that we had in our backyard this summer.

We feel kind of like blog losers because we really don't do this often enough. So I'm trying to think of something to post. Janey has decided that she is NOT New Mexican, despite the fact that she really is. She does NOT like Green Chile. I am having withdrawals so I decided I am going to write about Green Chile since I can not eat it. So here is my "ODE TO GREEN CHILE."

This is my favorite soup right now and I'm dieing to make it. Sunni, did you ever find vegetables? I hope so. P.S. Green Chile is a vegetable:) P.P.S.Janey does not mind chocolate so life is still good, I'm pretty sure Gavin told me that chocolate is actually a vegetable too:)

Green Chile Chicken Soup

2 chicken breasts (cooked and chopped bitesize) or a can of cooked chicken

1 large onion (chopped and sauted until clear)

14 oz. can chicken broth

10 oz. can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 cup green chile

1 can corn

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes or crockpot it. Serve with spinach (or whatever flavor you can find) tortillas. Roll the tortillas tight and dip in soup. YUMMY.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH FOR US

"That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet." Emily Dickinson

Skyping!

This is what we see when we chat with Sunni using Skype. It is AWESOME - just like being there with her except we can't hug:(

The time difference is a little tricky - she is 8 hours later for us and for the ABQ Gees, 7 for Carson and Deena and 6 for the NC Gees. Means we can only call on Saturday or Sunday in the morning. I hope you will all have as much fun chatting with her as we do.

Love you lots and love to hear from and "see" you all.

Love, Mom

Today I went to the parade for the 'hispanidad' (I know it's a HUGE holiday for all of you too...) I had to google it and see what we were celebrating. Any way all the military groups parade for the king to review his troops, including the king's calvary (who still wear chest armour and ride horses) and some kind of ski patrol that carries machine guns...(we need that, don't you think). I have no idea what the goat is about (we called this group the 'tight pants' brigade, who also think its 1970 and it's a good idea to show off your chest hair..hehe) There's also a few pictures from Retiro park (the big city central park) from a few weekends ago. Hope you all are well, un beso, Sunni

Here are some pictures from this summer. They are from Aspen, and Holy Ghost Campground in New Mexico. The kids really loved rock climbing. We also did some fun whitewater rafting in the Aspen area. They are some beautiful areas. Maybe the next reunion should be in Aspen!

Hola

Alan went to Segovia this week. Here's a photo of the castle, the cathedral, the Roman aqueduct, and Alan becoming a monk after loving the cathedral so much (actually that was for a UW class before we left Seattle. Love to all...

The Spanish Apartment (not the movie)

Hey all- I finally broke out the camera--not so exciting stuff I know, but I thought you might want to see where you would be staying if you come visit. Oh yes, we DO have a bidet- I know you discerning travelers would insist on one for your European travel. Love to all and un beso-Sunni