Christmas '07

What a great Christmas! Many thanks to all of you who were able to be here for at least part of the celebration. My (Papa John's) perception was that it was, as usual, a lot of work for Norda but she spread much of it out over time, which helped, and, in addition, she really appreciated the help from others to pull things off. We were doubly blessed with a multitude of presents and will offer the pictures as our thanks for your thoughtfulness. The gift cards to Cafe Sabor/Hamilton's don't show because they were sitting on my desk during the photo session but they will definitely be put to good use in the future. Some of the puzzles pictured were from past years but so much time was expended putting them together that we thought it would be appropriate to include them also. At the green sweatshirts said years ago, "Ho, Ho, Ho, May it Ever be So!"

We love you all and don't you ever forget it!

Someone please teach Tom, Shelly and their kids to ski

Please, this family needs help. If you have some time and talent, please contact this family and offer to help them learn how to ski. From the photos below, you can see that young Alex is afraid of speed - much like his sister Sam. Props to McKinley for showing some fashion sense. With Tom and Sam in matching Black Spyder outfits - down to their skis and baby blue Lange boots and Shelly and Sam not far behind in their black/dark outfits it was good to see Mac showing some fashion leadership. Alex

McKinley

Sam

Shelly

Thomas Dudley the One and Only - getting some sweet powder from Monday's storm midday on Thursday. How great is that?! Granted, the Beav was closed on Christmas, but to still find some fresh tracks on Thursday, justifies the day off.

"Hey, this is different from skiing backwards with 5-year olds"

On the day after Christmas Kristin ventured into the steep and deep with her brothers, uncles and dad for a couple of runs in the powder left by the Christmas eve storm. On Thursday it was back to the Beav for some cruiser runs in the sun. Don't let the sun fool you, it was bitter cold and as you can see, Kristin is bundled up to the max.

Dawn Patrol on the Ridge

Bill and Papa John survey the grooming from the top of the Ridge. After one run, grandpa decided that the day might best be spent on Little Beav with the younger grandkids. YPR opted to join his bros and nephews for several close to epic powder runs on the backside.

Bros Backside at the Beav part two

John (in black) and Brian (blue) enjoyed a great powder day on the backside at Beaver Mountain skiing with their uncles Bill and Jake and their own personal photographer. The Christmas eve storm left over a foot of fresh powder.

Bros Backside at the Beav part one

Jake eats a little of Bill's dust on the backside at the Beav. Where else can you get fresh tracks at 1:00 after a fine ham sandwich lunch? MPR (my pal Roland) showed us all how a grandpa skis the steep and deep. Two more storms on the way this week.....

And they shall call His name........Jesus!

Christmas 2007 at Twin Pine Ranch was once again a time of great food, good fellowship and spiritually uplifting. The annual Christmas play with its revolving cast helped remind us that the true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Savior. This year the great grandkids were all walking so a doll was used to represent Jesus in the crib in the manger. Next year, Beth and Paige (and ?) promise to bring a new great-grandchild so that we will once again have a live baby Jesus. Till then.....

All I want for Christmas......

Joel lost both front teeth yesterday after school. Guess what he wants for Christmas besides Pokeman and a Gameboy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (a day late)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM! :)

Just FYI...

Just to spare any big announcement at Christmas, I thought I would publicly let Grandma & Grandpa know about their 2nd Great-grandchild coming in 2008! (This is not our ultrasound, just one that I saw – about 9 weeks) In my opinion, a blog announcement is perfectly acceptable for a 2nd child…just not quite as exciting as the first…but still pretty exciting. Anyone else want to make an announcement? I told my Dad he could help spread the news, but I guess it’s all up to me since he didn’t tell anyone. It is still pretty early for me to be making any announcements; I won’t go to the doctor until January 2nd and probably be due at the end of July (so anything could happen). We were hoping for a spring baby, but the middle of summer will have to do! So don’t congratulate us quite yet (well, you can if you want) since I still don’t feel quite up to speed. I am among the few who can keep down food, although it doesn’t help me out trying to get sympathy from Lorin if I don’t show any real symptoms of sickness. We haven’t told very many of our friends, so if I am lucky none of them will follow my Emmettville link from our blog & find out early. I am going to wait until I go to the doctor before going completely public. We will see you all at Christmas! We will be making the arrival to Logan with the Illinois Emmetts on December 23rd!
Love – Lorin, Paige & Polly

Jack Smith Emmett walking II

The heading links you directly to the Youtube page of each video.

Jack Smith Emmett walking

Elder Mikey's first mission photos

Michael has finally sent home some missionary photos. I'll ask him to provide some background information and will edit this post later if he has more to say. He looks like he has mastered the art of the self photo. It has also helped me figure out why I haven't been able to find a few of my ties! Before he left, I thought he looked better with a size 16 neck, but he said he preferred size 16.5 so that's what we did. If I'm not mistaken, the 16.5 shirts fit pretty snuggly now and his face is a little rounder.

Jack loves Santa

John just sent over this low res cell phone photo of Jack snuggling up with Santa....

busy boy

Tecumseh Marathon 07

On the left, the professional photograph of me running the Tecumseh marathon on Dec. 1. On the right is me at the start of the race wondering, "Why didn't I wear gloves?" and "Where did the guy next to me get his colorful tights?" The run was a blast! I loved every minute of it and, in my case, that's a lot of minutes.

More photos and a full report can be found on my blog, Run Slow, Ski Fast. http://runslowskifast.blogspot.com/ or click on the above title.

Dreaming.........of a White Christmas - Steep and Deep

Let's Pray for SNOW! From the top.... Tom sporting a classic Mother Karen jacket at Targhee, Mikey and Brian getting some air on the backside at the Beav, Bob cruising at Targhee in a classic Storm Rider, Bob and Bill w/ Kristin, John and Adrienne, Bill in the steep and deep on No Name at Snowbasin, Kristin bombing the groomers at Snowbasin during the Olympics, John bombing the Ridge in his Donatello goggles, Papa John cleaning up after a major storm and finally, Ray in some heavenly stuff north side of the Beav.