Happy Easter & Happy Birthday Dad!

Cache Valley was good to us this Easter. It's a long story, but we ended up having to drive into Logan from Hyde Park to use Grandma & Grandpa's shower n Sunday morning. It was very much appreciated to not end up as the stinky family at church on Easter Sunday. (It reminded me of how clean Grandma keeps the house when she doesn't have guests leaving their clutter & toys everywhere!) The only thing we did for Polly this Easter was her new dress to match all her cousins. What will it be like with a little boy in the middle of all these girls?

We were also grateful to Tom, Shelly & their kids for helping watch Polly while we went to the Sky View Encore dinner theater on Saturday night. The dinner was good & the performance was great. At Tom & Shelly's, Polly colored Easter Eggs & came home happy with a cute easter basket (pictured below)! Thanks for entertaining her all evening after such a long day.

Last but not least ... Happy Birthday to my favorite bishop! I didn't know if & when I should call, so I sent out a birthday text message after church. Hopefully the ward went easy on you because of the holiday & your birthday on the same day! (If it were our old ward you would have been invited to primary for a special birthday song, too!) Happy Birthday & we love you!

Samboni hits the gates

Lorie and I traveled down to Snowbasin today and watched Sam rock the course. The girl can turn 'em.

Current photos from Beaver Mountain

Alex

Tom

Lorin

Jake

Elliott Rich

Wayne Rich

Robert Hutchison

Papa John favoring right knee

Papa John favoring left knee

It has been fun having the Illini Emmetts here this week and to also get in some skiing with Chad, Sarah, Joel, Jake, Lorin, Tom, Shelly, Alex, and what is left of the Courduroy Posse. The weather has been somewhat variable so some days we could see better than on others but even a bad day of skiing beats most other days. Jim Fain, a professional rodeo photographer and also a Beaver Mountain instructor, took some pictures of me during two rides last Monday. Unfortunately they all looked like me skiing - none looked like Bode Miller, Herman Maier, Samantha Emmett, or Stein Erickson. Oh well, if its true, its true.

Does Sam need an agent?

Tom sent me this photo of Sam en route to winning the J2 GS last Saturday at Brighton. I am in awe at the flex she has on her outside ski and that she can remain upright with her backside only inches off the snow. I sent the photo to a buddy in the UK who likes to photoshop ski photos. He spent some time trying to lighten the photo and improve the contrast (he's the one who convinced me to buy the Nikon D80 with the 18-200 VR lens). One thing is for sure, in both versions of the photo Sam looks FAST.

winter fun

Will asleep in his crib in his favorite going to sleep position. His beloved blanky by his side. Last week Sarah moved to her lovely bedroom in the basement and Will moved in to a big boy bed in Joel's room.

Sarah and Joel with our traditional New Year's Eve rainbow platter.

Joel playing Lego Star Wars on his Game Boy. Will loves to watch.

Joel on our front yard toboggan run. The banners are in celebration of Marie's birthday.

Joel and Sarah skiing at Beaver Mountain last week.

Saturday at Beaver

Since I might have a lot of pictures in Logan this week, I will keep it short - for once. Lorin, my Dad & Bill went up to Beaver on Saturday. It was a good day for Lorin, he got to hike out of bounds & sent me these pictures from his camera phone. We are hoping for Grandpa to take his camera up one day this week to get some action shots of the skiiers & boarder.

Happy #12 McKinley

A shout-out to McKinley, Happy Birthday!!! Not only the cutest piano and violin playing dancer I know but also a pretty cute skier who is still too young for Young Women's. We love you, Dad & Mom

Jamie had a great B'day

My bad for not getting a post for Jamie's b'day before now. Thanks to Papa John for filling in. Jamie is growing up way too fast, but has agreed not to start driving until she beats me in a game of tennis. I better keep practicing.

Happy Birthday Lesa!

This is Sam at the Bird this past week end. It was her first race in the J1-2 Qualifier (kind of like a Cat 3 bike racer, she stared as a Cat 5, just moved up to race as a 3 but still a 5, and the 1-2 are pros). She started last and finished in the bottom 2/3 going against girls up to age 20 (even one 37 year old) I think the coaches comments help us understand if Sam has any talent. (I was standing next to one coach filming too and the talk was from the others on the radios.) Sam finsihed well at a Snowbasin GS race today too.

Alex has a new love for the terrain parks. He skied one night at Wolf Mountain (Nordic Valley) while Sam was race training. Alex hits a couple boxes and then the big table at the end. He has started turning sideways on the boxes now not to mention how many heads are turning to watch this kid. (Obviously his uncle Jake's freestyle skiing genes are in his blood.) Let me know if you want more videos of this 7 year old going crazy...

Mac has the real talent that is worth something in this family. This is Mac's duet with her friend Madison (no Madison is not standing on a box). I am hoping her next solo is Dust In The Wind. Mac's musical talents with the piano and violin far out weight the rest of us not to mention she is the only one who can dance, besides her Hi-Lo mother. Did I mention she is the cutest little Roxy skier too?

It's Jamie's birthday too

It looks like she is not only just a year away from her driver's license but is also an "all around girl" who does most everything whenever she can. Keep it up, Jamie, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Happy Birthday to a WONDERFUL sister!

We love you

Adrienne, Allison, Laura & Katie

aloha and mahalo

We had a great trip to Hawaii. That's the short version. If you're interested in the travel log and too many pictures you can check out our blog. If anyone is ever planning another trip let us know because we can't wait until next time!