January Happenings

David and Carmen went to a UVA Women's basketball game and had court side seats! Then Carmen got asked to participate in a half time competition against a boy her age. Well, she totally ran that kid into the ground and won! She got a $25 gift card which she used to buy some nice UVA basketball shorts.

 On one of our days off of school we decided to check out the new trampoline Jump park. It was definitely a great workout and a lot of fun!

 Dallin got a lot of new planes for Christmas. Here he's got them lined up on the table playing with them.

 And David was famous this month!! This add for Virginia National Bank featured David and his company. The add appeared in the paper and on the back cover of the Charlottesville Family magazine. He got a lot of comments from everyone about how famous he is now.

 Poor Charlotte was struck down with the Flu and Step Throat for a whole week. These pictures were taken after a week on the couch - she had some pretty serious "sick day hair" going on!

Wintergreen Cabin Trip

On one of our long weekends off from school, we decided to go up to Wintergreen to enjoy the snow. Originally, David I were going to take the kids up and practice the snowboarding that they had learned over Christmas break. But, at the last minute, David had to go out of town. So I invited my family up to come with me and the kids. Since I wasn't about to take the girls out snowboarding by myself, we mostly just lounged around the cabin for a few days. There was a lot of yummy food made by Oma and a lot of TV watching going on. It was a nice little get away, not too far from home.

 This was the fancy bathroom cup I got a kick out of. The house is owned by a coworker of Davids and it wasn't very kid friendly.  I was worried the entire time about breaking something that belonged to them... I think we left only breaking one thing -  a bowl.

 We had wanted to go tubing, but the tickets were sold out. My mom and I did manage to take all 6 kids ice skating! And it think that was a huge hit with everyone... except for Dallin.

 See that little hooded head down there in this picture? That's Lane - he was mostly in this position the entire time! He left with only getting a bloody nose, but I'm shocked he didn't leave with a broken bone...

 Dallin hung out by the fire the whole time. It was pretty darn cold. And the poor boy doesn't own adequate winter gear. He mostly cried the whole time.  Next year we will be more prepared for him.

 After ice skating it was back to the cabin where a crock pot of hot chocolate was waiting for us and Poppy built us a nice warm fire.

CTR = Choose the Right

This girl is ready to Choose the Right! She moved up in Primary at church to the CTR 5 class. I love that she has this simple reminder to help her make good choices.

Gatlinburg Vacation

For Christmas this year, David asked that I plan a family vacation. The girls had really expressed a desire to learn how to snowboard, so a cabin with snowboarding was on the agenda! We found a really great cabin in Gatlinburg, TN that had everything we wanted and more! It came with a theater room, pool table, arcade games, air hockey, hot tub, a spot for everyone to sleep and lots of room to rest and relax!

 On our first day there we headed up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort... we never saw a single patch of snow the entire ride. I was getting pretty nervous. But they promised us there was enough snow to snowboarding. So we suited up were ready to hit the slopes!

 I could not get over how adorable Dallin was in his snow clothes and with that little tiny snowboard!

 He loved every second of it!! And bless that sweet instructor who pushed him around on his knees for over an hour!

 Charlotte, Carmen and David all did awesome as well!

 I took this picture to show just how little snow there was. It was all man made and cover maybe 100 yards of grass.... pathetic. But it was still perfect for the beginners that we are.

 Aliza and I were the photographers from the sidelines.

 After snow boarding, everyone warmed up in the hot tub back at the cabin.

 The next day we visited Wonderworks Museum. It was full of a lot of fun exhibits.

 This giant Light Bright was pretty cool.

 Carmen was the only one brave enough to try the bed of nails

 That night we went to the Dixie Stampede dinner show. We've been before and had a great time. It's a horse show and this one happened to be Christmas themed.

 The last time we went David and I got asked to be part of the show. This time Carmen and Charlotte got to be part of it! They had to chase chickens across the arena to the finish line. It was so funny!

 On our last day there we walked around Gatlinburg to all the tiny shops. It's so quaint and was decorated so beautifully. We waited in line a long time to ask at the Pancake Pantry, and had to get treats to tide us over until we got to our table.

 That night was New Year's Eve and it just so happened that my cousin and her family were in Gatlinburg at the same time. We invited them all over for a fun night of games, movies, hot tubs, food and slushies! This is my cousin Steven with his new bride Melissa and my aunt Becky. We played Ticket to Ride for hours.

 The kids watched movies and enjoyed the games and hot tub.

 Most the crew that night - missing are my cousin Jenny and her husband Dan.

 At the stroke of midnight we celebrated with noise makers! (that promptly went in the trash after the celebrating was over, too noisy....)

 The next morning we had to get up and pack to drive home. After such a late night the kids were pretty exhausted. This was how I found Charlotte and Dallin that morning.

 Aliza made this sign to share her sentiments about our vacation. Despite me having pink eye and Carmen needing a trip to Urgent Care, and then 3 pharmacies trying to find the right medicine, I think the trip was a success! We are already planning our Spring Break and Summer vacations.