Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
(sorry it's a little late)
Brian and I spent Christmas with my family this year. It was so much fun! All of my brothers and sisters and their families were there. It reminded me of Christmases of my youth when everyone was home, except with the addition of wonderful in-laws and nieces and nephews.
The Sunday before Christmas, my niece Eliza was blessed.
Isn't she beautiful?

My whole family after Eliza's blessing.
Back row: Grandpa, Tyson, Aaron (engaged to Katie), Matt and Brian
Second row: Grandma, Becca, Katie, Matthew, Amy, Zachary, Emilee, Me
First row: Mom, Bennet, Ethan, Chloe, Jamian, Eliza and Troy

Christmas Morning What's in our stockings?
Elmo is almost as tall as Bennet!
Brian with cute Zachary (yep even got the drool)
Bennet giving Uncle B hugs.
It was a wonderful Christmas! We are looking forward to a new year, although it brings with it many changes. Brian starts his new job tomorrow, and I start my last semester of classes on Wednesday. We are also in the process of trying to find a house. Other exciting changes are possible, so we will keep you posted.

Jenny's Family Reunion

The end of August we headed to Idaho to party with my family. Everyone was able to make it except Amy and Matt and their little Zachary (I guess he's not all that little anymore since he's over 20 pounds and only 4 months old.) I'm looking forward to Christmas when we will all be able to get together and meet Zachary.

Can anyone guess our first activity? Perhaps a hint will help (see below pictures).

Brandon, Katie and Emilee processing and then cooking the apple sauce in the garage.

A gold star to anyone who guessed that we bottled apple sauce. Possibly not the most enjoyable activity; but like they say "many hands make light work." It has been quite awhile since we've worked together on a project which actually made it a lot of fun.

The next day we went up the canyon (some on motorbikes and some in the suburban) where we played games, hung out and enjoyed the beauty of nature.

Chloe giving Uncle B some exercise. She kept saying, "higher Uncle B, higher".
So Ethan decided that he would help Uncle B.
Bennet trying to play chubby bunny with Tootsie Rolls.
We went on a hike to see "hidden" waterfall. Thus named because it was so covered by brush and trees it was impossible to see. Can you see it in the above picture? Neither could we.
Family picture overlooking the valley.
Troy and Mom (Brandon in the background)
Tyson left Katie behind in a cloud of dust. You can see the evidence if you look carefully at her face.
And of course we had to ride horses.

Ethan and I riding Roy.

Troy and BennetBrian riding RoyEmilee and Chloe
It was a lot of fun and I look forward to a continuation in December.

Hiking Timp

This weekend we got together with some of Jenny's brothers and sisters and Hiked Mount Timpanogos! It took us about 9 hours. Because we hiked it on a Saturday there were a lot of people there. One hiker recognized me from the Day's of 47 Parade when I petted (is petted the right word?) his dog and talked with him and his wife - amazing memory. I also saw Jubi on the trail (Jubi is LDS Church member from Switzerland who my friend, Ted, worked with in Switzerland and introduced me to after we were home.)

Amazingly Matt and Emilee (Jenny's youngest siblings who thought they might find it too difficult) seemed to come out the best - no blisters and they still had energy at the end. The big downer was that Matt's beautifully carved walking stick got broken. His friend made it for Matt's birthday. One of the best parts was we got about 50 yards away from mountain goats! I've never seen mountain goats before. They reminded me of ponies with bigger chests and more angle to their hind legs.

L to R: Katie, Brandon, Emilee, Jenny, Mathew
Background: Mt. Timpanogos 11700 ft.