Remembering 1-3-2011

While this isn't an important date for most people I'm sure, it is for Ridgecrest. That day we woke up to 3 inches of snow!!! Honestly, I don't know if it has ever snowed that much in one day before! Added to that, it was the second year in a row that it has snowed in Ridgecrest. Talk about global warming.... Anyway... They cancelled school that day since no busses are equipped to handle the snow or ice on the roads. So Jordan stayed home and played. She actually wouldn't go out and play in the snow on her own though. Finally, I decided I'd better get the kids out before the snow melted. Jordan tromped right on out and made a snow angel.

Remember how I said that Liam didn't like the snow? Well, he just stood in it and was ok with it, until he fell. Once he was WET and cold, that was the end for him. He just cried. It probably didn't help the fact that it was nap time.

Oh wait... the snowing started on Sunday, 1-2-2011. I took the picture because, well, how many times in your life are you going to see snow on a palm tree? Plus, it was really cool looking.

Jordan REALLY wanted to jump on the trampoline with the snow, so I let her. Well, I actually only let her bounce a couple times, then I was afraid she'd break it with the weight of the snow and her.

Of course, with the snow, you have to make a snowman. I apologize now for how retarded it looks. I was freezing, wet and my back hurt from bending over to make it. Then I actually had to sit and think if we had the stuff for the face of a snowman? Why would we in Ridgecrest? Later I figured I could have at least put some sunglasses on for the eyes, but still have no idea what else we could have done for the lips. So here is Jordan with her dirty snowman and his cookie crisp eyes, carrot nose and hair clip mouth. Betcha that you will never see another snowman like him. Any takers? Just kidding.

Christmas Catch-up

So I know I'm almost a month late for christmas pictures, but who's counting... right? For Christmas this year we went to Utah. We weren't able to make it up at all last winter because Liam was only a few weeks old and Ty's work had a fairly large emergency going on last year. Jorda was so excited to go and see the snow and build a snowman, though she was really worried Santa wouldn't find her. So she and Ty wrote Santa a letter telling him that we were going to be in Utah, and please deliver the presents there. Guess what. He found us! Ty's whole family was able to make it down. We had a lot of fun all together. Liam and his cousin Emersen had a little fight going almost the whole time we were there, but Jordan would step up and protect him. I love watching her love for her brother in action. We also went to Hurricane Utah for a Staheli family Christmas party. They do this every year with the entire Staheli side of the family, but we haven't been able to make it for 3 or 4 years, so it was really good to see everyone. I didn't take a whole ton of pictures for a couple reasons... first, I just plain forgot to. Second, I didn't actually have a camera until Christmas morning because a week before Christmas, mine was dropped by an unnamed 5 year old living in our house, and broken. Ty is so sweet, he got me the same camera and even put my SD card in so I'd have all my pictures still. But here are some pictures of Christmas with the Staheli's for you guys to see.
Jordan got this beautiful sparkley skirt that she's in love with! If you look behind her you can see all the presents she got to pass out. It was probably one of her favorite parts.
The Lymans gave Jordan and Liam this huge city car mat. I think they are going to love it. Especially Liam once he figures it out.
Liam liked the 4-wheeler ok. I think he also liked riding in the tube behind it, though he didn't smile much. Perhaps it's because his face was frozen?
Jordan liked tubing though.
Jordan out in the blizzard.
Liam out in the blizzard. He actually cried most of the time. We don't think he's too fond of snow.
This is just a very common way to find Liam... With two fingers stuck in his mouth so he can chew on them.
Joey LOVED holding her cousin B. He's only 6 months old and so tiny. He was so good in putting up with all of us.
And lastly, this picture I took on the way home. This is just crossing the Utah stateline right in to Arizona. We just thought it was really cool watching the wind blow the snow right off the bluff.

If you ever play Hide and Seek...

If you ever play Hide and Seek with Liam... make sure to check here! It's his favorite spot to hide.

Of course though, we usually have this filled with pots and pans, so he has to pull them all out at loudly as possible, so you know he's there.

Ward Christmas Party

I was on the Ward Actvities Committee until they disbanded that. I was released 5 days before our Ward Christmas Party, so they asked us if we would please finish the party anyway. Of course we said yes. We were planning for about 160 ish people there and had about 200. We ran out of food, but honestly, that's because over half the people who came to the pot luck dinner didn't bring anything, but that's another frusterating story. So back to the Christmas Party. In the back of the room, they have a Creche table set up and everyone is welcome to bring a Nativity to display and look at the ones on display. There are some really pretty nativities out there!
I love the little pillows one!!!

One thing they always do at the Christmas party, is that the Primary acts out the Nativity scene. It's always soo cute. But what we haven't been able to understand is that for the second year running, our little girl is the pig in the stable. Seriously?? It's still cute though.

Swinging!

Here, there is only a little winter, so you can do some things longer... like swinging! In early december, Jordan finally learned how to swing by herself.

Now, for just a cute Liam picture....

Train Ride

Some people in our ward own about 5 acres of property just outside of town. They are also hobby train enthusiasts. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, it's the minature trains that you can ride. There are several people in the valley here that have them all over their property. Anyway, these people in our ward every year turn about 1 mile of track into a little winter wonderland. It goes all over their property and is all decked out for Christmas. It's way fun. We first went about 4 years ago when we just moved here, but this year I got us tickets again (yes, it's such a popular event and it only lasts for 3 days, so they give out tickets to control the crowds). It was so much fun. I think the kids really enjoyed it. Here are our few pictures we took. Oh yeah, after we finished the train ride, we went and saw Santa and took some pictures.

If you look just above Jordan's head, that is a map of the train track. To the left of her is one of the engines all decked out for Christmas.
About to leave the station...