So, It's Liz this time.  I know New Years is long gone, but I just can't resist sharing William's perspective of New Year's Eve.

     New Years Eve my brother and his family were here visiting.  All day we kept saying, "It's the last day of the year!" and "We're going to have a party tonight!"  William kept asking, "This is really the last day?" and we would say, "Yes! Isn't it exciting?" We made some creative party hats, got our noise makers ready, then we headed out to the local ski resort to watch a torch light parade and fireworks.  We were all standing outside watching the skiers ski down with torches and then I said to William, "The fireworks are about to start!  This is exciting!"  William then asked "This is really the last day?"  I said, "Yes, it's the last day of the year!"  He then asked again, "This is really the last day?"  I again said "Yes!" Then he asked, "When are we going to die?"  My mouth dropped open and then I realized what he had been thinking all day.  He thought we were having a party to celebrate the last day EVER!  He thought we were all going to die and go to heaven!  The amazing thing is, he was so calm about it.  Well, I guess I would be too if that was how I was going to go.  We all have a party together and go at the same time!  That's the way to go!  A few people in the crowd heard this and started to laugh.  I quickly explained to him that it was just the beginning of a new year and hopefully many more to come!  

     Sometimes children see things so differently!

Skis and "Sparks"

Here are more photos from the weekend. Grandma and Grandpa brought some Swedish "Sparks" (kick sleds) with them, and the kids had a blasts. Grandma and Grandpa got out cross-country skiing with us a few times too. 

Wild Kids and Wild Animals

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came up for the weekend.  They brought Isaac and Luke (my brother Bryce's boys) with them for Sam and William to play with. Our house is still standing, despite having 4 boys running on junk food all weekend.  We got some great video footage of the 4 boys breakdancing, which will come in handy some day when we need to blackmail them. 

We went on a sleigh ride through the National Elk Refuge which is the wintering grounds for over 8,000 elk and happens to be 15 minutes from our house. Out on the refuge we saw a couple coyote, two bald eagles...and thousands of elk. 

Fifteen Below Zero

My brother Sid lives in Hawaii with his family. With an average of 85 degrees in Hawaii, we were exactly 100 degrees colder in Jackson Hole today. Here is a photo I took this evening about 100 feet from our house.  It did warm up to zero degrees by the time we were done with church at 2pm.  Which is another big deal for the new year...our ward no longer starts at 8:30am! That was even earlier than school. We never seemed to get to church on time without A LOT of arm twisting to get our kids out of bed, dressed and ready.  Today was a much more peaceful experience getting ready for church. 

Christmas seemed to come and go way too fast again this year. A few highlights were: 1.  Going to see Santa come to Jackson Town Square the day after Thanksgiving for the lighting of the Town Square (Sam asked for a pet reindeer...he didn't get it, too bad); 2. Going to see the play "Scrooge" at the local Center for the Arts with the kids; 3. Going to a Christmas Concert by "Loose Ties" (a very talented local Bluegrass Band); 4. Going to the memorial service for one of my young patients who died. It was held at the local Presbyterian Church. It was sad but very uplifting and moving...an experience I will never forget. 5. Cutting down our own Christmas tree up Red Creek (about 20 minutes from our house). It only cost us five dollars! 6. Making gingerbread houses, Christmas breads and cookies, and taking them to friends. 7. Going to Salt Lake and staying at Liz's parents for Christmas Eve/Christmas morning (and staying up all night trying to put together a stupid wooden doll house Santa gave to Ella that had the WORST instructions ever). 8. Having our kids on "autopilot" for a week while they were totally entertained by their cousins. 9. Going to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's Cabin in Brighton on Christmas Day...more fun and more cousins! 10. Skiing with the kids at Solitude. 11. Having Jeremy and Amy and family (Lizzie's brother's family) come up and visit us for New Year's...we stayed up all night playing "Ligretto" (an Italian card game...order it on Amazon).  12. Resolving for the New Year to up date our blog more often...let's see how long that one lasts!

Happy New Year to all our friends!