Appreciate the squirrels

Ok, guys!  Important day to put on your calendar!  (I mean, it was important enough to announce on the radio.)  It's Squirrel Appreciation Day!  As I was told on the radio, "if you see a squirrel today, wave and, at least silently, say 'hello.'"  Enjoy the squirrels of today!

"I think I'd be hard pressed to unfurl

A poem as exquisite as a squirrel.

A squirrel that plays with God all day

And buries nuts for a rainy day.

A squirrel that may in springtime wear

A crown of blossoms in her hair;

Upon whose tail fresh snow has lain,

And frolics sweetly in the rain.

Poems are made my silly girls,

But only God has mastered squirrels!"

Snow day!

It is, sadly, not very often that we get to enjoy snow in these parts.  We live in the mountains, and yet it rarely snows as low as our house.  This is the great disappointment factor every winter.  One hopes for the joy filled flakes, but they never come in enough quantity to pile up.  This year was no exception.

My dad (and mom) used to take us to White Pass every winter for a special snowboard/ski trip, and we have many good memories of that family tradition.  But, for various reasons, we haven't been able to go for 6 years.  Just try to imagine the thrill of getting to make it work this winter!
It was so fun for me to spend the day with my mom, sisters (Tirzah and Ema), and brothers (Matt and Caleb).  The snowboarding was great fun, but the lengthy drive there and back was nearly as entertaining.  Those brothers of mine are hilarious, and I absolutely loved getting them more or less to myself for the day.  That doesn't happen very often!
I'm super grateful they got to come, and for their patience and perseverance in helping Ema and me stay upright.  They are pretty incredible snowboarders, not to mention brothers.  Here's a peek into our day together:

Entering the land with snow!

Our very enthusiastic driver.

Excited to finally see snow after a long drive!

We made it!

So much snow...

Yep, the one making that cool move really is my brother.
He could snowboard for real!

Me lagging behind one of my patient teachers/brothers

Tirzah looked as cool as she skiied.

Look, look!  I'm standing!

After the mountainside adventures--proof that we are all still alive.

Last chance to enjoy the snow before getting back in the van.

Family and Christmas

Christmas has come and gone...all rather suddenly.  For me, the latter half of 2015 passed so quickly...and yet also very slowly.  I think everyone has moments when everything seems to have all happened so recently, and the next moment time has flown and the past is so far away.  It is a bit of a wonder to me that time does not always feel like the same amount.  Why do you think God designed it this way instead?

In preparing for the holidays, it is always nice to have little hands to help.  Maybe these little hands aren't always actually very helpful, but they often add to the excitement and joy.  Here's a piece of our Christmas in 2015:

Making cookies and other sweet treats is an important part of any celebration, but maybe especially Christmas.  We enjoyed making sugar cookies with Moriah and answering her questions like, "why are candy canes sticky?"  Kids are great for drawing out creative (and very possibly not true) answers just for the fun of it.  

Getting ready for Christmas: making cookies!

Carefully observing Auntie Tirzah

There must be a true art to which way to twist the cookie cutter.

Wonderful soft pretzels made by the most talented Tirzah

Every good celebration is preceded with toe painting.

One of the great things about Christmas is that the personal mail is more numerous.
What can beat that?

Here is Elijah, taking a little while to understand Moriah's shouts of "Elijah, look over there!  Look at the camera, Elijah.  Smile!"

Whew!  Finally got him...but now Moriah's looking away.

Our Christmas breakfast table.

Ema demands for food! 

The following games got a little competitive.

Obviously not a trumpet player.  Cannot locate the mouth.

Ema the baby-whisperer.

Gideon thinks little of his pink hat.

Moriah admiring the nativity.

I would wish you all a Merry Christmas, but it's past that now...So Merry Mid-January!  :)

The fun and games don't last forever

*sigh.  Isn't it a sad reality?  We've had a pretty wild, memorable few weeks, but it's January again.  Nothing against January;  I think it's quite a good month!  But it does mean that the fun and games must come to an end;  everyone must return to being educated or some other form of nonsense.  But I'm glad we got to enjoy the relaxing time of nothingness while we could!

"Just thinking about a friend makes you want to do a happy dance, because a friend is someone who loves you in spite of your faults."

This winter has been different for our family in a lot of ways.  It's made me think--about who I want to be and why; about what God is planning next for my life; about what I have lost...and what I have gained.  Through all the changing, waiting, losing, gaining, crying, and laughing, God has never failed.  Maybe it sometimes feels like He's absent, but "the teacher is always quiet during the test."  

Now it's 2016.  A whole new year has come again, and another old one has passed.  We are given another chance to start fresh, just as we can each day.  It hurts some to think on the past year, but God has also provided many gifts.  

Among the more recent gifts, our "long-lost sister" got to spend Christmas break with us.  We talked, experimented, and laughed a lot.  We did what great friends do: make more memories!  Here are only a few of the things we did over Christmas.  More posts about our time together are yet to come!

"Coffee with friends is time well spent."  Hey, I thought so, too!

Picture at Jack in the Box to remind us of awkward experiences there.

Is this not the coolest thing?!!  Who doesn't want to live on Costco Drive??

Although we didn't get to take as many walks as we would've liked, the few chances were very welcome.  

Nothing quite like the water drops on pine needles to keep us hydrated on our walks!

One day we decided to hike up a cleared mountain-side up to the trees.  It looked easier and closer than reality, but it was good exercise and fun.  From our destination we could see our back field, several houses, and the canal.

I must say, Tirzah and Ema were pretty good at holding up the underground tube.

"Let's climb way up to the rock hidden between the trees!"

How it feels to have accomplished that hike!

We started out down there at the round, grey gravel spot

We could even see the canal from up there!

And we found snow! ...But it was on the opposite mountain.  :(

No pine needles to drink off of.  We. can. survive.

And when we were home being lazy, we seemed to still come up with something silly to do...

Much of our "relaxing" time ended in some pile up like this.

Ema goes for the more successful way.

Sucking from a straw is not as easy as it looks.

Teaching Moriah how we do make-up.

Not bad for my first time wearing make-up, right?
The charcoal off of burnt wood is a great natural choice.

My make-up assistant who could not take me seriously after this.

A metal can that wouldn't spray anymore was subject to being concluded.  All the labels on these cans say "do not puncture," but don't describe the outcome of doing so.  Expecting this thing to burst, explode, or do something extreme, we took it out with the ice-pick.

Working up the courage to actually puncture it.

Whoops.  That would be the ground.

Disappointed by the anti-climactic ending.  The bottle seemed to be ok with having a hole.
Nothing dramatic.

 You know it's cold when the hose is frozen but the cow's trough is also empty because all the water has been lost to ice blocks.   However, it turned out to be a great excuse to exercise when we were feeling at our laziest.  We grabbed the gallon jugs and ran from house to trough until the hose started running again.

Contraption to hold the hose in place.  Ahh, my very clever sister.

Skyping Johannah!

This "vacation" with Ema was themed by weird food combinations.  It got to quite a serious point when we would try anything that was suggested to us as long as we were capable.  Some foods were really not even fun to try and swallow, but it was a fun theme to follow over the few weeks together.

Pickles on ice cream.  Not my favorite, but great for making hilarious memories.

Nacho cheese on chocolate pretzels.  Not bad at all.

Nacho cheese on cookie dough ice cream...tolerable.

How we felt about the cheese on ice cream.

Nacho cheese on pumpkin roll...one star rating.

Ketchup on pumpkin roll=a great way to ruin a wonderful food.

Nacho cheese on chocolate peppermint cookies.

Ketchup on chocolate peppermint cookies.  Thanks, Johannah, for this one!  It was thoroughly disgusting.

Taking our first try at the ketchup on our cookies.

Not a particularly happy experience.

On to more pleasant foods!  We tried a new recipe solely for the name:
Bubble and squeak (I suppose they are twin mice?) with wow-wow sauce.
It was actually pretty good, despite the mice.

So thankful for a few weeks with our honorary sister.  Now to see if we have entirely scared her off forever....