Christmas Day

It snowed again Christmas Eve, so this is what our back yard looked like on Christmas morning.

First, we went to Teri's house.

Then, we went to Kristi's.  (Maryn didn't want to be in the picture because she hadn't done her hair and makeup yet.)

Then, everyone came to our house for dinner, so I got a picture of Suzi's family in front of our tree...

...and Michael's family in front of theirs.

Mary's Christmas Concert

Mary's school band performed on December 19th.  These are excerpts from their three songs.

Snow Storm

On December 15th, we got a lot of snow, but it was gone in a few days.

Jackson & Maggie's Chorus Concert

Jackson and Maggie both sing in the school chorus.  Jackson is on the back row, second from the left.  Maggie is on the middle row, sixth from the left.

Maggie was chosen to play a drum during one of the songs.

Nikkail's Concert

On November 28th, the Youth Symphony performed some Christmas music for the Festival of Trees at the Expo Center in Sandy.  Unfortunately, the lighting and sound weren't as good as her junior high auditorium.  Nikkail is in the center with a girl on her her right and a boy on her left.

Joseph's Championship Football Team

Joseph played football for the first time this year.  The bigger boys are called "X-Men" (you can see an "X" on his helmet in the first picture) and are only allowed be linemen.  His team only lost one game the whole season and ended up playing (and winning) the championship game in heavy snow (as seen in the last 2 pictures).  Joseph is #33.

Joseph played guard on offense.

He sometimes had to block guys that were bigger than him.

He also played guard on defense.

That's Joseph directly above # 74.

This is the whole team after winning the championship game.

Nativity

Our stake has been doing an elaborate live Nativity for 14 years that now attracts thousands of visitors over its 4-day run.  The Nativity was scheduled from 6-9 pm on Monday, November 26th through Thursday, November 29th, but it took until at least 10 pm each night to accommodate all the visitors.  This Nativity was featured in the Church News on December 18th, 2004 (http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/46619/Visiting-Nativity.html), but it has grown bigger and more elaborate since then.  On Monday, I was one of the Three Wise Men and Alice was the Wool Dyer.  A fellow in our ward took this picture after we got into our costumes.

On Tuesday, I was the prophet and Alice took the following pictures.

Alice and Marci

Our neighbor, Marci Hansen, has been Alice's horse-riding buddy for several months now.  Alice finally found someone who enjoys horses and riding as much as she does and they ride almost every morning -- Monday through Friday.

Thanksgiving 2012

We had Thanksgiving dinner with Kristi's family and Suzi's family and Edna.  Teri's family had dinner at the Gardners, but stopped by afterward.  Michael's family is on a 2-week cruise to Hawaii.

Jackson's Birthday

On November 14th, we took Jackson bowling.

He got several spares and came within a few points of beating me.

Afterward, we had pizza.

Nikkail's Orchestra Concert

On November 13th, Nikkail had a concert and they played 4 pieces:

"Minuet" by Luigi Boccherini,

 "Badinerie" by Bach,

 Mozart's "Minuetto," and

the Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila." 

Mary's Halloween Concert

Mary had a concert on October 25th and they played 3 pieces:

Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King,"

"Overture" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera,"

and "Pirates of the Caribbean" by Badelt.

And this is Mary and Nikkail -- in costume -- after the concert.

Snow Storm

It snowed all day Friday and most of the day Saturday and we got at least 6 to 8 inches.  I wish I'd gotten more steps done before the storm, but I'm glad I got some done.

Retaining Wall and Steps

Michael and I (and the tractor) stacked about 75 boulders around the barn to keep water flow away from it.  We engineered it so that there is now a driving path around the barn.

 On the days that Michael was busy (he does have a full time job), I started putting steps down the hill to the barn.

Halloween

On Halloween, Maryn, Mary, Nikkail, and Brianne went trick-or-treating together.

UEA...Continued

Friday, among other things, Chase, Maggie, Bauer, Kelsey, Draeden, and Jackson played kickball in our back yard (which is perfect for it). 

Alice also took them to a nearby park.  Jada, Katie, Bauer, and Liam are in the foreground.  Chase, Kelsey, and Maggie (barely visible) are in the background.

Draeden, Alice, Jada, Bauer, and Liam.

Our Grandkids Love Hanging Out Together

All of the grandkids were out of school for UEA (Utah Education Association -- teachers' convention) Thursday (18 OCT) and Friday (19 OCT), so Suzi's kids slept over at our house.  On Thursday, they went to the "Scarecrow Festival" (a free carnival sponsored by a local boys' school) and then to "Scheels" (a new sports outlet similar to Cabellas).

Mary, Katie, Liam, and Jackson are on top.  Joseph, Chase, Kelsey, and Maryn are on the bottom.

Chase is in the blue shirt 4 levels up.  Bauer is below Chase and Draeden is below Bauer.

Jackson and Joseph are shooting hoops.

This really isn't a cage! Chase, Draeden, and Bauer were jumping in the "bounce house."

Kelsey, Nikkail, Mary, and Maggie stopped for treats.

This is Maggie, Katie, Chase, Draeden, and Bauer in front of an aquarium at Scheels.  (In case you're wondering, most of them had their faces painted at the Scarecrow Festival.)

This is Kelsey, Mary, Jada, Nikkail, Brianne, and Maryn.

Scheels has various dioramas set up for "Photo Opportunities."  If you get far enough away (like the one with the red jeep below), you can tell that it is a diorama, but if you get closer, they look real.

Maggie, Katie, Chase, Draeden, and Bauer.

Chase, Draeden, Bauer, Maggie, and Katie.

Maryn, Brianne, Kelsey, Mary, and Maggie.

While We Were In Europe

While we were in Europe, Michael finished putting the roof on the barn, our new trees assumed their fall colors, and our chrysanthemums bloomed.  Our trees turn colors much earlier than some in the area.

Bulle to Geneva - Thurs., 11 Oct 2012

Today is the last day of our trip, so it is appropriate that it is "Cheese and Chocolate Day."

Switzerland is so green and beautiful that it is difficult to take a bad picture.  This is the view from our hotel in Bulle.

This is Pringy-Gruyère.  (Pringy and Gruyère are 2 neighboring little towns where a cheese factory is located.) 

The cheese production area has a glass walkway around it on the second floor (the base of which can be seen in the upper part of this picture) so that the entire process can be viewed.  There are 4 vats (3 visible above) and each one makes 16 round blocks of cheese (35 lbs. each) and takes 16 hours to press.  There are 16 blocks being pressed on the top row (most of them visible at the left of the picture above) and 16 more on the bottom row (partially visible above).  There are also two more rows of 16 on the backside (as shown below), so the facility produces 64 blocks of cheese per day.

This is how the molds are filled.

This is how they turn them to start the next row.

This is the robotic mechanism that stacks and the cheese and turns each block over every couple of days for 3 to 10 months until it is cured.

This is the Nestlé-Cailler chocolate factory in Broc (less than 15 minutes from Pringy-Gruyère).

This is how they cover the toffee with chocolate.

This is the robotic arm that packs the toffee into boxes.

This is the "tasting room."  Every product of the Cailler brand is displayed here and you can eat as much as you want.