Christmas Break- Snowmobiling and Taste Test

As my family gets older, we are getting more and more adventurous. We went jet skiing for the first time this summer and loved it. So we decided to go snowmobiling during our Utah vacation. It was not a white Christmas and there was no snow to be found in Sandy, but we went up near Strawberry and there was plenty of snow. We rented the snowmobiles and departed on a guided tour. We had a grand time and hope to make it back soon. 

First in line in Cody, then Ryan, and then me 

 At the top of the mountain

 After a while we pulled into this open area where we were able to do a little riding and exploring on our own. Ryan went for quite a ride here and ended up supermanning off his handlebars. I had the video camera in my lap, I only wish that I was filming :)

That night we began a new tradition- Taste Testing. (I stole this idea from my good friend Andrea- thanks for the fun idea!) We were each in charge of finding 2 food items that are available in 3 brands or flavors, etc. We then placed small samples of each food item in small cups. We went one by one and tried each of the 3 brands of each item and decided which one we liked the best and determined the winners. 

Here are all of the samples ready to be tasted

Our winners were: Virgils Cream Soda, Black Forest Gummy Bears, Orange Powerade, Better'n Peanut Butter, Original Cream Cheese, Pink Lady Apples, Grandma Lamb's grape juice, and a tie between air popped popcorn with butter and Orvil's natural pepper popcorn.

Christmas Break- Catching Up

I was grateful that we were able to see a lot of my family during this trip. My cousin Nelson and his wife Robyn, my cousin Kellee and her husband Bryce and their twins Kambry and Myka, and my aunt Susan were able to come over for dinner one night. I was able to see all of the Jenkins, the Carters, and my Grandpa Jack and his wife Lynette on Christmas Eve. We were also able to see my Grandma Lamb on Christmas day. Two of my cousins, Stephanie and Kirstin, are pregnant and we had a baby shower for them over the break. My aunt Peggie and cousins Nicole and Hilary came for the shower and it was fun to catch up with them too! 

After the baby shower we had an afternoon to rest; we had been going full speed ahead, which was good because we were able to see a lot of people and do lots of things! Cody was able to try out his new golf club, I figured out my new computer, and we both played with Molly. 

 Cody golfing in the park behind my parent's house

Molly "Devil Cat" Lamb- the only time to play with her is after she has had a nap and even then you are playing with fire

That evening we went to see 'A Christmas Carol' at the Desert Star Playhouse. I remember going to several plays there when I was younger. We would always order rootbeer floats and popcorn. 

After the play, Cody and I watched a Kings game (only the parts where Jimmer was in) with our good friend Mark. We met Mark while Cody was at BYU and it was good to catch up with him and his family (Mark now lives in New York).

Christmas Break- Snowmen and Cupcakes

I've been in a crafty mood lately but Minnesota doesn't have quite the crafts that Utah does. So I knew that we needed to go to the Wood Connection while we were in Utah. We found cute snowmen, hearts, and owls to paint. We decided that the snowmen were the most relevant and I packed the rest away in my suitcase for later projects. I convinced Cody to paint with us and he ended up spending the most time on his snowman- to his credit his snowman was very intricate, he is more patient than I am. 

 Painting the snowmen

Finished product! I made the snowwoman with the snowflake pin and the snowman with the blue scarf, my mom made the snowwoman with the red scarf, and Cody made the snowman with the tuxedo

That night my friend Megan and her family and my friend Russ came over for dinner and to make cupcakes. This is a tradition that started a few years ago. We get together at Mama Hong's house (Megan's mom) and have dinner and then make holiday cupcakes. We have made Easter cupcakes, 4th of July cupcakes, Thanksgiving cupcakes, St. Patrick's Day cupcakes, and Valentine's cupcakes. This time we convened at my parents house and we made New Year's Cupcakes. 

Cupcake Work Zone- you have to be an expert to enter :)

 Mama Hong's Cupcakes- I especially like the Christmas tree

 My cupcakes- a scary snowman, 2012, the New Years Eve ball, and a clock

 Megan's cupcakes- Happy New Year, confetti, and a palm tree representing Hawaii (where she will be soon- lucky!)

 Russ' Cupcakes- the New Year Eve ball, and clocks

My mom's cupcakes- a muppet and decorative

 The cupcake group!

Christian, Russ, Megan, Nathan, Katie, Cody

Best Friends since 10th grade!

I'm so glad that we were able to get together, it wouldn't have been a holiday without cupcakes!

Christmas Break- Cody's Parents

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Cody's parents were driving through Sandy while we were in Utah. Brad and Lisa flew from Homer, AK to Panguitch, UT to spend Christmas with Cody's grandparents. They then borrowed a car and drove through Utah up to Idaho to see Cody's sister and brother. Cody's sister and her family live in Boise and Cody's brother and his family live in Rexburg, so they all met in Idaho Falls. We were not able to meet everyone in Idaho because we flew out the next day :(

We met Cody's parents at a Red Lobster and as you can tell it was a warm, sunny day. We enjoyed having lunch with them and then went to Target and bought a remote control airplane. Even though their visit was short, we are grateful that we were able to see them. 

Cody's parents continued up to Idaho Falls and Cody's sister-in-law Brit had her baby the night they got there- talk about good timing! Their baby John was also the first baby of the new year in Idaho Falls. We are grateful that they are doing well and that Cody's parents were able to be there for the birth of their grandson. 

That night we went to dinner at Zupas- we really miss not having one in Minnesota! We then spent the rest of the night playing games and packing. We had a great time in Utah and can't wait to visit again! Hopefully this semester goes by fast :)

Macy's Christmas Display and the Holidazzle Parade

Every year the Macy's in Downtown Minneapolis has an animated Christmas display on the 8th floor. This year the theme was "A Day in the Life of an Elf". Since this is our first year in MN we decided that we had better check it out. We also decided that since we were downtown that we would go to the Holidazzle parade- an outdoor parade with fairy tale themed floats. Normally it is below freezing in Minnesota so we have heard that the people who go are crazy, but this year it hasn't been too cold. We decided that we would go to the Christmas display at 3:30, eat dinner, and then watch the Holidazzle at 6:30. Boy were we surprised when the line for the Christmas display started on the 5th floor! Needless to say, we enjoyed the Christmas display and the parade and then had dinner. 

Elf Dorms- the Elf on the top bunk is tickling the foot of the elf on the bottom bunk. That elf would be in big trouble if Cody was on the bottom bunk- his feet are very ticklish! 

Making snowmen

Laun Tree

Reindeer Stable

A panda bear at the North Pole?!

Entrance to Santa's workshop

Making Cookies

Christmas Wish Lists

The Jolly Old Elf's office- I hope I'm on the nice list!

A pile of Christmas presents with an elf who tried to sneak into a package

All of the crazy people standing outside in the cold waiting for the parade to begin- call us crazy cause we were there an hour early to get a good spot :)

Holidazzle

Pinocchio

Nutcracker

Jack and Jill

The Wizard of Oz

Gingerbread House from Hansel and Gretel

Baseball Snowman

The reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh

Santa!

Kids Say the Darndest Things Part 3

Here is a recap of the funny things that happened at school this week:

-One of the 1st grade students told us that fat people store food in their belly- that there is actually a whole cheeseburger and fries in their stomach and that is what makes their tummy bigger

-Sometimes I carry around a Target sack that has toys in it that students and I use to play with during breaks. One of the 1st grade students asked me why I go to Target everyday during school- he thought I was going to Target during recess and bringing groceries back

-One of our special ed students who has been at the school for several years saw another student walk in who has also been at the school for several years. She said "That is a really tall man". I couldn't stop laughing, it was like she had never seen him before!

-Earlier this year all of the SPED teachers had a meeting during the last hour and the students went into another teacher's classroom. The student mentioned previously said "No Ms. M, no Mr. David, no Mr. Joel, Friday Fun Day!" Apparently things are fun when we are not around :) The name stuck and we had Friday Fun Day this week.

- I went with the elementary students to the science museum. There were five floors of science experiments and cool things to do and look at. Out of all of the educational stations, the students spent the most time at a cardboard cut out of a girl that sneezed water on the students

Work can be stressful and not a fun place to be at times, so it is nice to think about the fun things that happened at school this week. Hopefully I will have more fun stories next week!

What I do in my spare time

WARNING! If you are Sister Melanie Lamb, stop reading now!

I decided that because Melly is serving her mission in a cold place (Omaha, NE) that I would knit her a cowl scarf for Christmas. They seem to be the popular thing to wear in St. Paul and I think they are cute. My mom taught me how to knit when I was younger and I made a couple of pot holders, but that is about all of my knitting experience. I have crocheted before and have made several hats and flowers, but I found out that knitting is not the same. I scoured the internet for a knitting pattern and found one. I liked the picture that was attached to the pattern but I had absolutely no idea what 1k 1p 1k yo 1k sl 2p pull slip over 2p meant. My next stop was youtube where I found videos that taught me each one of these stitches. It was quite the process and I probably started over 10 times, but now I consider myself an expert on this pattern. Here is the finished product!

Here is a close up of the scarf.

As you can see, if I made one mistake it was obvious :( This unfortunately happened on one of the panels, so I had to start over on that one, but I am very happy with the finished product. I hope Melly likes it!

On another note, Cody gets his green thumb off tomorrow! Then he gets to do the dishes for 6 weeks ;)