Pictures from Randy!

We finally got Randy's package that he sent on Dec 31st. He sent some nice warm "tukes" (hats) and his memory card. He had sent a tuke home last year and Blake and Jared love it, so they told him on the phone on Christmas to bring more home with him. He found some on sale after Christmas and decided to send them now. Most of the pictures were of Christmas, he loved opening all the presents and since even the little tiny things were wrapped he had a lot to open!

He seems thrilled with everything, he LOVES Nutter Butters!

He even seems excited about a new tie! And thanks to Cindy, he has had a much warmer neck since Christmas!

This is a video he took on a lock down day, as you can see they have to do some thinking and creating to fill up their time on those days. They can't leave their apartment when it is -40 real temperature or wind chill. There is a recording at the Winnipeg Airport that they call every morning to get the temperature so they know if they can go out.

Randy was thrilled that they had baked potatoes!

He and Elder Willardson had got caught in a huge rainstorm, he said they were soaked to the skin. His planner and books were all wet, too.

More winter fun!

On Saturday, we left Bear Lake and headed home. We met Brian and Celia and Jared in Soda Springs and rode around some more. Brian has trouble with helmets and goggles. The goggles fog up, no matter what he does, so he doesn't love the snowmachining very much. Blake and I rode on one machine and the rest of them had their own. Celia got to be a pretty good rider, the only problem was turning the machine! She liked going up and down the hills.

This is Jared doing some tricks.

This is Celia and Brian just after the machines were unloaded.

Here comes Celia!

Blake and I, ready to go!

Jared, having a ton of fun!

Blake's trying to be a little tricky too.

Snow Vacation

On Wednesday, Blake and I left for Bear Lake to stay in the Worldmark resort and to do some snowmachining. The weather was really weird, it was raining down by the resort and the lake. But the snow was good when we got up into the mountains.

Here I am, all ready to go! I don't drive the machines, because I'm a scardy cat, but I like riding on the seat on the back. I'm always amazed that I stay warm!

We found this little pond. Blake broke the zipper on his coat, good thing it has snaps!

We saw lots and lots of deer.

We also saw some bear tracks. They were fresh, made just that morning, we followed the tracks into a camp ground then they disappeared into the trees. I'm kind of glad that we didn't find the bear.

Snow Machining

Monday, Blake and Jared went to Soda Springs to try out an area for snowmaching. It was a fun place with wide open spaces to play around in. Jared would do all sorts of tricks and things. Blake had to try doing it too, and decided that he kind of liked playing around like that.

It was a bright sunny day! They had a good time.

They're home!!

My parents, Paul and Beth Chambers have been serving a mission in Pittsburgh, PA for the past year. They arrived home on Friday!!!

They finally arrived in Blackfoot after their long trek home!

Yay! Back to Sunday games!

Dad, being a clown when he's told to smile for the camera!

2008 one day ... 2009 the next

Brian and Celia came down for New Years Eve. We (everyone except Blake) played games and the Wii, then said Happy New Year and went to bed!

Brian's eating some candy while we are playing a game.

Celia's trying out some of the "old fashioned" candy that Cindy sent.

New Year's morning -- Brian scrambling eggs.

Blake's cooking "bleens" (russian for pancakes, but they are more like crepes).

Blake bought a propane heater to heat the shed when he's out there working. So we brought the ping pong table and the heater into the garage and moved the cars and played ping pong in a nice warm garage.

This must have been a high bouncer!