Lake Tahoe 2009

As I posted in the previous sledding video, we had an amazing time in Tahoe.  We spend the week between Christmas and the New Year up there with my brothers, parents, sister & her girls, and overall it's just FUN.  We spent a day having snowball fights, another day sledding, another day building snowmen, another day sledding and there were tons of games in between.  It was really a fun time for us because MOST of our kids were able to dress themselves and get themselves outside (after we pulled out all their stuff for them).  It's so different after having babies for so many years to have older kids that are just fun to play with.  I had a great time playing around with my camera up there and all the new tricks Jen Stewart taught me.  Enjoy!

Snow Angels were one of the first activities in the snow

Z was covered in snow!

Proudly displaying his snow angel

There was tons of snow eaten, it's a wonder there were no gastrointestinal issues!

Another snow eater

My niece Haley Lynn eating snow

The cutest 4 year old I know

Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!

Don't know what the pouting was about, but it's typical.

My boy filling a saucer with snow in anticipation of the snow war.  They divided into teams, built snow forts, made ammo and attacked!

The cutest 6 year old I know

She is seriously cute! 

My dad the photographer, playing with his new camera

Isaiah was constantly taking off his jacket and he would come inside from playing with his shirt DRIPPING!  We only heard a complaint once about being cold.

Cutest 7 year old boy I know

Love those blue eyes!

My poor dad had all the 3, 4, 5 & 6 year olds on his team.  I think they won the snow battle though!

More snow eating

My handsome husband preparing to attack me with a snowball.  YES, he got snow on my camera.  NO, he didn't get in trouble :)

Poor Ev, on that day he got everyone ready, sent them outside then by the time he got himself ready they all wanted to come in.  I went in the house and guilted them all into coming back out and playing with their dad.  This is him waiting on the snow fort for them.

After another hour or so of playing, Ev carried them back to the cabin.  Love his baby blues too!

Another day Dad took the kids outside to build snowmen.  The big kids built one and then the two little ones built one.  Here's my niece Haley rolling her snowball through the snow for the snowwoman (they all decided)

Lainie's snowball

Man that is hard work carrying snowballs

Dad built the base

Then they stacked their snowballs

Every snowwoman needs a hat.

Isaiah got in big trouble from the girls for eating one of the snowwoman's arms.

Carving out the face.

Adding eyes.

Hunting for her mouth.

The finished product ~ Emily.

Ev & I couldn't get enough of this little one.  My niece Lauren is absolutely the cutest 3 year old I know.  She's best friends with my Micah T.  they left a few day before we did and Micah missed her terribly.

Helping out.

Rolling big snowballs for the 2nd snowMAN.

The second snowman, Thomas, ended up with apple eyes, a cheesstick nose and raisin mouth.

They were proud of their work!

Most of the snowpeople makers, where's Zaiah?

Eating an extra arm.

My dad and I went out one evening to shoot photos of Tahoe at Sunset.  That night the sunset wasn't quite spectacular, but the time with my dad was.

I don't know if I've ever been on a sandy beach covered with snow.  It was beautiful and I especially loved this snowman someone had built on the shore.

My dad shooting

These two played the hardest with the kids, so they needed some down time.  Football helps!

Home from Tahoe

Every year we spend the week between Christmas and New Years up in Tahoe with my family. I have tons of pictures, etc to share but first I thought I'd post this clip of my Zaiah Zaiah. The kid was fearless on the sled and flew down the hill like lightning. I was videoing Micah building a "fire" when I caught Isaiah flying down on his sled. We deemed this the best sled run of the trip :)

Fun times

This is how we roll!

Our Christmas Nativity

A few years back (4 to be exact) The Williams family made a special book for my mom.  We put the Christmas Story according to Luke in a book along with photos of our interpretation.  I just stumbled upon these photos and they put such a smile on my face I thought I'd share.  The kids ages in these photos are:  Alorah (7), Isaiah (4), Alaina (2), Micah (10 months)

1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

1:27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
1:29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
1:32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

2:2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
2:3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger;
because there was no room for them in the inn.

2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
2:16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

I don't know where in the story this photo is supposed to go or if I just snapped it cuz he was cute.

I hope the season doesn't get away from you and that you remember the reason for the season.  Happy Birthday Jesus.

Wow, I won!

One of my favorite digital scrapbook stores is Catscrap not only cuz my FAVORITE designer Creashens is there :) But because I love all the different styles there too.  It's a smallish community and everyone is quick to praise you.  Love that.  They also have really cool challenges that make you scrap outside your box.  One of the recent challenges was to scraplift another scrapbooker.  The scrapbooker they chose is one of my FAVORITE scrapbookers Scarletsierra (sara), she has a very distinct style and her work is simply gorgeous.

Here is her original page:

Here is my scraplift:

Mask from Any Given Day kit by Creashens at catscrap.com

Everything else from Love Story kit by Something Blue Studios available at catscrap.com
 
I won the challenge and a $10 gift certificate for catscrap.  Sooooo cool!