Winter Carnival

Yesterday we drove almost 3 hrs up to McCall for the Winter Carnival. It exceeded expectations. One the way up, we marveled at the river-turned-winter-wonderland. We even pulled over to watch a family of otters playing in the snowy bank. "Adorable" doesn't even come close to capturing it. And neither did Matt's camera, since they slipped into the water as soon as he pulled it out. Once in McCall, there were many spectacular snow sculptures, but our favorites were definitely the giant angel and the Egyptian pyramid. The most amazing thing about the pyramid was the detail inside. There was a sarcophagus, two mummies, two god/goddess statues, and hieroglyphs carved into the ice inside. The kids also got to play in a mountain of snow, coast downhill on plastic sleds (next year we will know to bring our own!), and walk on the solidly frozen lake. Yes, the whole entire lake was frozen. It was a sight! And Matt and I got to sample the beer (and wings) at a local microbrewery so that rounded out the fun for us. The kids decided that this trip will be a family tradition, and we agreed.

The snow mountain in one of the parking lots was as tall as the supermarket roof next door.

A snow slide

Payette Lake, frozen solid

The pyramid is built of blocks of ice cut out of the lake.

Characters from "Finding Nemo"

Christmas in Liberty Hill

We were sick again this year, and we managed to spread the joy to Papa Wes & GG (again!). Still, we had a great visit in Liberty Hill. We enjoyed the big Griffin gathering at the roost, waffles & omlettes by Wes, gift exchanges, cousin time with Mercedes & Evangeline, a Fredericksburg trip, and a good movie every night. Thanks for taking care of us Papa Wes & GG!

Christmas in Abilene....and a trip to Midland too!

Our big trip to Texas finally came...and went. We started off with an exciting day of flying- first time for the kids. They loved it, especially when they found out about the cookies and ginger ale served on each plane. Since we arrived in Austin, we spent our first night in Texas with Papa Wes & GG. The next morning we drove to Abilene to spend the first week of our stay. The kids started checking off all the usual fun stuff right away- children's museum, trampoline, ride in the back of Pepaw's truck, etc. In the middle of our week in Abilene, we also squeezed in a 24 hr trip to Midland. The Jones family graciously hosted a dinner for us with all our loved ones from church. We spent the night at the Williams' house, where we got in a good visit. The next day, we attended church and had lunch with the Smiths. Saying goodbye again was hard. Back in Abilene, we ramped up preparations for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, even as sickness started to overtake first Matt and then the rest of us, one by one. Nevertheless, our time with family was precious and fun. And we're looking forward to hopefully hosting them this summer!

 Headed to their first flight

 The Christmas prep...

 making sugar cookies...

 visiting historic Buffalo Gap... having some old fashioned fun on the playground.

 ...and in the school house.

Saying good-bye to the Smith crew

 With our good friends