Christmas Countdown at the Cabin

We just returned from our first ever Christmas at the cabin. It was an amazing trip full of family, games, and fun in the snow. Here are a few of the highlights:

12 homemade snow cones (actually I probably ate more)

11 adventurers setting out for a snow shoe expedition (not pictured is me as I have the camera)

10 people opening presents on Christmas morning

9 ski runs at Alpental

8 games of cribbage (I lost this game badly to my uncle Brent)

7 minutes to get baby Anne bundled for outside

6 nights spent with family at the cabin

 

5 sections tall snowman (I made him myself - Dave is just there for perspective!)

4 Lamberts - Dad, Mom, Natalie & Derek

3 Hindmans - Jeremy, Amy & Anne

2 Howes - Dave & Melanie

1 Dog - Jobe

 

Harry Potter, First-Class Style

Tonight Dave and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We thought the movie was good, but what we really enjoyed was the theater. Last year we got a gift card to Gold Class Cinemas from Santa that we are just now using this Christmas. It was awesome.

The chairs were massive, super comfy, and could fully recline.

We also had a call button that we could press for waiters to bring soft drinks, popcorn, and other treats. I ordered some little fresh-made donut holes that you could dip in different sauces. Dave got battered chicken strips that were delicious.

 

Santa - you got an A+ for this gift!!

Leading Separate Lives...

 

Apparently Dave and I have separated. We suspected that something wasn't quite right for awhile now, but things did not fall into place until tonight when my "fake" visiting teachers stopped by and were surprised that I had a husband.

According to our church records we exist as single people in two different wards that are part of two different stakes. Dave is a member of the Rivergrove 1st Ward with no wife (our "real" ward) and I am listed with no spouse in the North Park 2nd Ward (the "fake" ward). I am also in the directory under my maiden name instead of "Howe". We each have our own set of home teachers, but neither of us have a calling. It's all been very confusing.

I guess we have some things to straighten out when we have tithing settlement at our real ward tomorrow!

We are still here!

So it appears I've fallen a bit behind on the blog... Things were going along nice and slow and then Halloween hit and time just flew by - hence no post for the last five weeks. All those missing entries will be posted shortly, but here's a little something for the interim:

So every week at work I check the calendar of events, grab my box letters, don an apron, and climb a ladder to change the marquee on the side of the school. Lately it's been pretty cold so I change out the letters as fast as my little frozen fingers can go.

As I was leaving the school last night, I looked up and noticed that the inevitable finally happened - my self spell check failed. It's especially awesome that my mistake follows the announcement for the spelling bee.

MERRY CHISTMAS EVERYONE!

 

The bakery is open for business!

This year we made coffee cakes to give as gifts to friends, teachers, co-workers, etc... Oh boy was this an undertaking! I was baking every night for almost a week. I was just glad that this year I have kitchen to work in, as this would have been pretty difficult at our old house in my tiny kitchen with my tiny oven.

Here are some of the finished cakes - 17 were given away but we did keep one for ourselves, as
a test of course :)