Monday, December 28, 2009

Happy Birthday Jake and Hannah!

From here...

to here...

to here...

See here for many great in-betweens! It feels like just yesterday I compiled these great pics for their 8th birthday tribute and now here we are a whole year later! So crazy!

NINE YEARS OLD TODAY!! You make us proud! We love you both so much!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Merry Christmas!!


The Blatter Christmas Card! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
(Picture and design by Britt)

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Calico

On our drive home from Utah over Thanksgiving break, we stopped along the way at an old mining ghost town called Calico. We parked the camper and went back in time...

to the good ol' days when a spa treatment and massage would cost you 10 cents!

We explored a very cool old mine...


And then climbed up for a view...



to the point of no return...

We saw an American Indian Rain dance (in the rain!) "It worked mommy!" they said as we stood under an overhang for the 5 minute shower!

We rode the train...

We saw a home built of bottles (those miners must've had a lot of down time!)...

And even put on a little show of our own...

Complete with a nail-biting jail scene!

We explored the ruins...


And even handled some heavy artillery...

I would say that it was a successful stop (even with the over-priced fudge at one of the little ol' candy shoppes that I couldn't resist. What happened to penny candies? Some things should never die!)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Dancing Queen

Oh, I'm in love. My little girl actually looks like a dancer...

So dang cute!! If only she could keep that posture in class!
Here's her with her dance team getting ready for the photo shoot...(Hannah's wearing the crazy socks.)


Not sure what's up with this pose!...


Awesome!
Here's the actual photos from the photographer (the before shots with the blue wall were by Britt)


She got some cute action shots too but I didn't buy them (yet?) so I can't post them! My little girl is growing up! Beautiful and scary at the same time!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

White Christmas??

In Danville?
(None at our house 10 minutes away, mind you)
It hasn't happened in 30 years! So, when grandma called we had to go see for ourselves...

Too bad the big kids were in school. Owen got it all to himself. The snow gear hasn't come out of the closet yet, so he wasn't quite warm enough. "I cold mom." "It's cold mom."
He did get some good snowball throwing with Grandpa...



And enjoyed making tracks...

And then turned on his mom...


I'm actually surprised he threw with his right arm as he usually goes lefty.

Fun times at Grandma's house.
'Til the next 30 years!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Thanksgiving in St. George

Mmmm! It was wonderful and I am so thankful. For my dad...

who makes a wonderful, beautiful dinner and makes it seem so seamless.
So thankful to see my brother and his wife and adorable kids who live in Denver and watch the cousins play together....

I didn't get a picture of my brother Steve, but it was so great to see him and I'm so glad he's doing so well and so happy!
The beautiful feast...



The kids' table...

I'm so thankful for my wonderful, amazing, tireless mom who never stopped cleaning and helping and serving the whole time we were there. Hannah brought Grandma a gingerbread cookie kit so that they could make cookies together...



Dad did not disappoint with his Christmas Village. He wasn't going to do it this year, but then he got a call from Hannah saying how excited she was to see it and really...who can resist Hannah??





John found a cool place with Sand dunes for miles and we took all the kids there one afternoon.

They were loving it...


See our camper in the background... (John set up the Wii in there and they played the whole drive! I finished two books!)




Georgia, especially, had a fondness for the sand...

At one point eating it and then later lounging in it and pouring it over her like it was gold. It was hilarious!


Farrah and I planted ourselves on a blanket and talked while the kids ran wild. It was nice.

Grandpa and his girls...

We played tennis and basketball, swam in the indoor pool, ate, played in the yard, played games, ate, read books and magazines, watched movies, ate, rode grandpa's scooter...



and ate some more.
Here's a goodbye shot of darling Graham and Georgia at the airport. It was so fun to be with family for a week of leisure and love!

I am thankful.