The First Hike of Winter

A winter storm hit northern New Mexico Friday; we got rain, but the mountains got some decent snow. So Saturday we hit the Sandia foothills for a quick hike. There wasn't more than 2 or 3 inches, but it was enough to blanket the ground. The hike itself was pretty pleasant, with little wind and a mostly sunny sky.

I carried Evan in the front carrier.
Allyson and Ryan ranged off trail and played in the snow.

And Isaac stayed close to Summer and ate a pound or so of snow.

See the picture of the week for the snow-covered cactus.

Ward Xmas Party

Friday was the ward Christmas party. Last year, due to systemic in-fighting, we did not hold a ward party; this was almost enough to topple our bishopric in a coup, but they hung on and learned from the lesson. Well, I'm not the ward clerk anymore, so maybe to appease the masses I had to be banished to nursery.

Anyhow, here are the older boys on "Santa's" lap:

Ryan looks like he's cluing the big man in on some secret.

Houses of Gingerbread

This past Monday, some friends came over for family home evening, and in between the ruckus of the six total children, we built some gingerbread houses. Here is our family's contribution to the project:
The small figures surrounding the structure are gummy bears. It's some sort of siege...

And here is the chaos of candy that resulted from the project:

Sweet sugar overload! The kids haven't slept since Monday...

What Did He Say?

It is a truism that parents struggle to understand their teen-aged children, but we got a glimpse of that with our preschooler recently. About a week ago, Isaac started saying what sounded like, "The vine fell dusted," which made, obviosly, no sense to us. We asked him to repeat himslef over and over, but to no avail. But the other day, Summer cracked the code.

You see, for his most recent birthday, Ryan got a set of Calvin & Hobbes books, including There's Treasure Everywhere. On page 131 is this comic:

It turns out that for several days Isaac has been telling us to "define well-adjusted." I'm not sure what to think...

Christmas in Old Town

On Friday, we made our way to Old Town, where we participate din the annual Holiday Shop & Stroll and saw (actually, heard about 45 seconds before we got there) the lighting of the 55' Old Town Christmas tree. The plaza across from the church in Old Town--as well as the streets throughout the neighborhood--was adorned with hundreds of luminarias. We saw the Santa parade around the plaza, visited some shops, and drank hot cocoa. And, here's the best part--while the picture below indicates a high level of bundling up against the elements, such was largely unnecessary, as the night was chill but certainly not cold. Every member of our party had doffed his or her hat by the time we left; simple walking made it too warm for hats and scarves. And we wound up untucking Evan, who more likely overheated, rather than froze. The Christmas season without the bitter cold is the most wonderful of all things.
Of course, when I told this to Carolyn, she said, "I hate you."

Happy Happy

To celebrate my wife's birthday, her father decided to send her a present. Actually, he's cleaning out his files and felt she could take better care of some of her paperwork. But in with the assorted documents were some photos from our trip to CA after we wedded. Here is a gem--we're opening a wedding gift. The caption for this picture would be, "Look, what an amazingly useless and awful piece of junk! How long do we have to keep it before tossing it? One year? Two?"
In all seriousness, happy birthday to my favorite person. I love you.

Welcome December!

We have now completed 11 months of the year, which means my annual truce with holiday decor has been broken and the tree is up. As part of the decoration festival, we strew ornaments, stockings, and nativity pieces around the house. Out of the mess today emerged this:
He wanted nothing more than a Santa hat to finish off the outfit. But, alas.