We have had a few winter storms come through ... (begining with the one in October!) The trees in our neighborhood have had a tough time. This one across the street from us was across the road, at 10 pm, when we arrived home from a BYU football game a couple weeks ago ... (pretty good season! loved the home games! don't talk to me about the cheaters at the U for the last game ...)
This view of the house is pretty standard for the last few weeks ... We get dumped on, we shovel, it melts some, we get dumped on ... I guess the state is trying to live up to it's name of "the Greatest Snow on Earth" ... (if you ask me, the greatest snow on earth is wherever I am NOT.)
Shelby & Spencer (and I think maybe Devin?) made the first snowman of the season ...
Darren's mom created a service group in her neighborhood called We Can. For the past couple of years, they have decorated and donated a tree to the Festival of Trees. All money made at the festival goes directly to the Primary Children's Hospital. Spencer, Shelby and I met Grandma Shirley, aunt Tese, and Jessi & Sierra at the festival. We got there around 1:00 then Spencer & I left around 5.
Spencer & Shelby in front of Grandma's tree ...
The tree also came with the quilted tree skirt, 3 large reindeers (that uncle Bry made), and another lap quilt ...
The tree sold (of course!) ...
The reindeer even look cute from behind!
Besides all the trees, there are door decorations, quilts, centerpieces, and gingerbread houses that are auctioned and sold... plus a couple gift shops and sweets stands (cinnamon rolls, scones, fudge, chocolate, etc.)
Some of th houses were quite amazing!
We had to get a shot of the Scrabble tree for the Shirley boys ....
The military tree complete with coins was fun to see as well ...
And for Devin ... the ping pong tree ....
There were so many fun trees to look at! House divided trees (half Ute, half BYU), snowman trees, book trees, camping, halloween, countdown, pink, classic, fancy, simple ... it was amazing.... The stories and dedications for many of the trees were very touching ... definitely a worthy cause....
I guess I should be thankful it was my kids ... we had a friend (and you know who you are!!) who liked to take pictures of toes, ears, noses, etc. with unattended cameras ...
This view of the house is pretty standard for the last few weeks ... We get dumped on, we shovel, it melts some, we get dumped on ... I guess the state is trying to live up to it's name of "the Greatest Snow on Earth" ... (if you ask me, the greatest snow on earth is wherever I am NOT.)
Shelby & Spencer (and I think maybe Devin?) made the first snowman of the season ...
Darren's mom created a service group in her neighborhood called We Can. For the past couple of years, they have decorated and donated a tree to the Festival of Trees. All money made at the festival goes directly to the Primary Children's Hospital. Spencer, Shelby and I met Grandma Shirley, aunt Tese, and Jessi & Sierra at the festival. We got there around 1:00 then Spencer & I left around 5.
Spencer & Shelby in front of Grandma's tree ...
The tree also came with the quilted tree skirt, 3 large reindeers (that uncle Bry made), and another lap quilt ...
The tree sold (of course!) ... 
Besides all the trees, there are door decorations, quilts, centerpieces, and gingerbread houses that are auctioned and sold... plus a couple gift shops and sweets stands (cinnamon rolls, scones, fudge, chocolate, etc.)
Some of th houses were quite amazing!
We had to get a shot of the Scrabble tree for the Shirley boys ....
The military tree complete with coins was fun to see as well ...
And for Devin ... the ping pong tree ....
There were so many fun trees to look at! House divided trees (half Ute, half BYU), snowman trees, book trees, camping, halloween, countdown, pink, classic, fancy, simple ... it was amazing.... The stories and dedications for many of the trees were very touching ... definitely a worthy cause....
We had our own Mormon Mini Bar ...
Gotta have grandma's green bean casserol ...
Turkey, potatoes, cranberry relish, stuffing, rolls, yams with apples, and tons of desserts!
Spencer was a good sport and sat with the younger cousins at the shorter table ... afterall, someone had to help them cut their meat!! (he is the cool older cousin to the youngest 5, and they all love playing with him)
Since we didn't eat until 5ish, we had snacks during the afternoon, and the other cousins went to see Harry Potter.
Thanks to my big sister, Kimberly, and her tip of a great website/blog ... 
We were particularily thankful that little Lanie was doing better and able to make it ... She had had a high fever and ended up having a seizure at home and going to the hospital (having another seizure) and being put on antibiotics the night before ... So, we are very thankful for our health and our family!! It was a great day! (especially since uncle J was able to humble Devin and win the ping pong tornament!)
Like this before shot? You may notice the slight line through this front teeth -- where he broke them off doing the "ice skating" merit badge last year ... I still think he should have gotten the hockey merit badge as well!
The dentist was able to shape and fill his teeth in about 1 1/2 hrs. Beats a year of braces & the price of braces!!
