Рождественская елка oh, рождественская елка oh

Preachin' the Word

What! There's no pig fat in this!!!

Cement Paradise

Is that a leaking nuclear plant on the horizon?

Proof he finally got some BOOTS :-)

Christmas Advent Activities

Paige put together an activity a day this month to help us celebrate Christmas. Matthew has particularly enjoyed going to the calendar each day, selecting that day's slip of paper, and anticipating a new adventure.

Burlingame (between SF and Palo Alto) closed down their downtown for an evening and had a Christmas parade and festival. While we missed the parade, we did manage to take a ride on the Christmas train and in the back of a wagon pulled by a team of Clydesdales. The night was a hit and was deemed complete when Santa passed us riding in the sidecar of an old motorcycle as we returned to our car.

Paige put together a great evening of gingerbread house decorating for a few families. She made a small house for each child to decorate as they pleased, plus a larger house for each family. As evidenced by Brent's t-shirt, I use the term "decorate" quite lightly. For the record, the children are (l to r): Henry (Matthew's best friend), Matthew, Brent, Josh (friend from Boston/HBS), Rachel Jepsen.

It is worth noting that Paige and Katie held off on decorating their "family" gingerbread houses until all the children were gone or in bed, and then spent the next hour and a half designing two very impressive gingerbread houses. Bret and I are still waiting (2 weeks later) for permission from the gingerbread architects to begin dismantling/eating their creations.

These are from a sub-for-santa that we did with a few other families. The most interesting thing here is Matthew's contribution to the fruit basket. After talking so much about the importance and joy of giving gifts, not just receiving, here is hard evidence that it may have just worked, at least for a little while. We'll see how Christmas days plays out.

While parents were busy wrapping and children were busy playing, Matthew went and found his favorite lacrosse ball (old, grass-stained, etc) and tried to put it into the fruit basket. His efforts were kindly turned away, but he persisted, and after going back and forth a couple of times we finally caught on. He wanted to give the family something he loves, rather than just clothes and food we had bought that day and meant nothing to him. So he gave the lacrosse ball a position of prominence, fitting for the meaning behind it.

Fall & Winter in CA

Levis at the beach...sweatshirts at the Christmas tree farm...this is the kind of winter weather I think we can all learn to appreciate


Paige took the boys out to Half Moon Bay before Thanksgiving and came back with this great picture of Brent. What you don't see is how wet his clothing is due to a wave that crashed on him and Matthew and soaked them up to mid-chest.

We thought this was the year to trek into the forest with nothing but our wiles and a bowsaw, and cut down our Christmas tree. We braved the trek over to the coast and found a great Christmas tree farm - or so we thought. The highlight of the trip was these rope swings.

The lowlight of the trip was driving away empty handed and procuring our tree from Target later that night.


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Who said Sunday was a day to rest from your labors?

Styrofoam! Enough said...except vacuum attachments do wonders on cars AND children!

And this was after a bathroom flooding from way too much toilet paper being shoved in and flushed over and over and over again...and a pack of 750 Q-tips emptied and strewn all over the other bathroom floor with giggles!

Click on photo to see more detail!

Ever wonder what the inside of our car looks like with 5 car seats? Just in case . . .

BTW, it's best when they're all asleep!
The beautiful spread! Ryan enjoying the appetizers, especially the awesome artichoke dip!
Three cousins trying to stay out of mischief!
Alternate mode of transportation!

Here are some pics of Mom and Dad during my UT trip and then pics of the blessing at Rich and Paige's home

Just wanted to get Matt's pig skin off the computer screen

Sam feeding the goats at "Lazy 5 Ranch," or as Danny likes to call it "Lazy S Ranch" because of what it sounds like

New couches (cheap off Craig's list)

Not only can I walk, I can pose at the end of the runway

Just cuz I'm a lady bug doesn't mean I ain't a man

I'm learning the real meaning of Halloween

Russian Dinner & Fashion Show

Thanks to a Russian friend in my six sigma class this week, I learned that this is outer pig fat, so it looks like Matt's getting ready for a tasty feast.

We just need to make sure he brings the sweet Russian garb home. . . could be a hit in Provo ;-)

This was a big week for you danny. The above pic is my first baptism of sveta.
This one is after a meeting. It is me, Sveta, and Elder Harrison.
Andre, me, Maxim, and Valentina. Andre and his friend. Max just got baptized on the 14th of Oct. And Valantina is a crazy Baptist. Long story. After the mish.
That is one of the Family home evenings. I won't bother with names for you. The blonde who is 2nd from the left is nastya who got baptized on the 14th as well. I'm sitting next too the KFC guy.
Those are what Russian appts. look like. They are everywhere. That is Russia.
An Russian orthadox building from afar. ha ha. keep it a secret.


Elder Manwarring and I in downtown Chilly.
First p-day. I guess I hadn't figured out quite what a russian really was. He is fake. Ha ha.
Well those are some chilly pics. Next week will be more now that I figured out how to do it. Congrats Danny on the big blog week.
From Russia, Elder Benny

WELCOME BABY SOREN!

On our way to the hospital!






















Welcome to the World, Soren Mitchell

















Chillin' under the tanning lights after my first bath!

















What a handsome boy!
 

HALLOWEEN!
Two Firefighters and Fire, Spark & Flame

 

Halloween and BYU Fun

Hello dearest Family,
I have been a bit of a slacker on the blog, so I'll redeem myself by putting up a few photos to keep everyone laughing. I am doing well. Lots of school. Lots of track. And that's about all folks!

Dinner with Candace and Lis for Candace's b-day.

Superman and wonderwoman. And yes, those muscles are real. . .


Cruising down the alpine slides with the crew. Thanks, Father.

Here is the chair Sondra. Sorry it took me a while to get this posted.

Congratulations Paige! Way to go keeping a good secret. Evidence you must be a trustworthy person. Good luck Julie--this is the big week! We are eating our words at Christmas, thinking we would be the next ones with a new baby. Don't worry, we won't let you down. Grandchild number 10 is already 3 months along, and unlike Julie at this stage, and from pictures Paige, he or she is already making his/her presence known. We love you all. Happy Halloween.

Love,

Sarah

Half Moon Bay

Here are a few pictures from a trip to Half Moon Bay last week. I had Columbus Day off, so we headed out to the coast. We started the day heading to Santa Cruz, then drove up Highway 1 along the coast to Half Moon Bay. It was a gorgeous day, more sun than these pictures reveal, and we had a great time. After a summer at the lake with its 75 degree minimum water temperature, the boys (and I) were quite shocked at just how cold the water really is.