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!

Father/Son Tennis

On Saturday, Jared and Blake played in a Father-Son tennis tournament. Some young dads were playing with their really young children, which was fun to watch. They had 5 different divisions, they all played 3 matches. Brian was going to play with Blake in another division, but he had to work.

I gave Blake these white shorts for Christmas, so he and Jared were even dressed alike.

They lost their first two matches and won the third. They were glad to get a win especially because they were playing a "mother - son" combo. I guess the Dad couldn't make it and the mom stepped in. Blake and Jared would have hated losing to her!

Christmas!!!!

We had a great Christmas Day!! The best part was the phone call with Randy! He sounds good and we had a great visit! We are able to do a three way call with Cindy, it's almost like we are all together.

We use the speaker phone and sit around the table to talk!

When you have a child serving a mission, these phone calls are the best present you can ever get!

Brian had worked all night. He and Celia got here 5 minutes before the phone call. Brian lasted through the first 1/2 hour, but could not stay awake for the last 20 minutes.

After the phone call, we opened presents. Brian could barely wake up enough to see what he was getting.

Cindy sent us these cool tiles with these sayings; "A mother holds her children's hands for a while...their hearts forever" and "Dad a son's first hero a daughter's first love." Cool, huh?

Jared knew he wasn't going to get much for Christmas from us, because the snow machines were a big part of his presents, so he asked Cindy for what he wanted! A really nice back pack to wear when he's snowmachining. It is perfect.

Brian finally woke up enough to look at his presents. This is a family calendar I made for them. I made one for us and Cindy, too. They have become a tradition that I almost forgot about this year, I remembered in the nick of time to get it printed and bound and mailed to Cindy!

Brian did things backward this year. After we opened presents, he went to bed for awhile, then got up to eat dinner. He ate in his pjs, then played games in them too. We got two new games for the Wii, in this picture, they are playing Table Tennis.

We also got more controllers, now they are playing NBA Basketball, they even had a slam dunk contest!

We had a very nice Christmas, with snow and wind and family! What more can you ask? I hope you all had just as nice of a day! Happy New Year!

Another Winter Wonderland

While we were in West Yellowstone, there was a snowstorm here in Blackfoot that dumped about a foot of snow. There was a little wind with it, but mostly just snow, snow, snow. When we got home, we parked Big Red at the church and my car over in Anderson's yard, and Jared and Blake plowed and shoveled the driveway. It took over an hour to get it plowed out so we could bring Big Red home and get my car in the garage. It's been a long time since we have had that much snow in one storm. We are definitely having a white Christmas! Here are some pictures of the snow removal process.

This is the driveway before they started plowing. We don't know who drove in while we were gone. You can see our footprints we made from walking over from Anderson's.

Jared could only do a little strip at a time, then he had to go back over it again to catch what went over the plow.

I'd say that's quite a bit of snow!

Blake got the least fun job.

Jared had to move the snow farther into the garden, so he had room to plow down the driveway.

He goes down the driveway with the plow down, then turns around and comes back to do it again.

Poky had to come and see what was going on, and get some lovin' from Blake.

Winter Wonderland

Sunday night Jared and I loaded up in Big Red and headed for West Yellowstone. We stopped in Idaho Falls and picked up Brian. Celia had to stay home because she had to work. (Sorry we keep leaving you behind, Celia -- we missed you!) Blake had to stay behind on Sunday also because he had to work on Monday. He left as soon as he was finished working Monday afternoon and stopped in Idaho Falls and picked up his mother, and sister Natillie, her husband Mark and daughter Darbie. We all ended up driving in blizzard like conditions, but we made it safely.

After we got all settled in to our suite at West Yellowstone Worldmark, we made hot chocolate. Brian likes to have a huge cup and didn't think the mugs in the cupboard were big enough, so he made his in this tea pot.

Monday morning, they went and "worked out" for a little while.

Then we took off for Island Park. We found the bus that we keep seeing, no snowman yet this year.

The new machine worked really well. I enjoyed the seat, it made riding much easier for me.

When we got back to the pickup, Jared and Brian played around in the powder for a while. Jared absolutely loves it!

Brian had to get used to the machines for a while, then he decided he liked it ok too, everything except the helmet and goggles!

Randy had sent this hat home last year, and Blake decided it is a warm hat! Thanks, Randy -- bring more warm hats home with you!

Natillie even convinced Blake to play Sequence.

We took a picture in the lobby. L - R Jared, Diana, Brian, Blake, Helen, Darbie, Natillie, Mark.