More Snow pics as promised

The kids were very excited to get snow...okay, maybe Jami & I were just as happy. I know its not much compared to other areas of the country, but 5 inches was plenty to build a big ol' snowman, sled down the hill and have a snowball fight. Jenny came over and helped us have a great time. Here are more pics from the web album. I downloaded 400+ from the camera, these are just a few.

A Little Snow for Us....

Just a quick post to show we do get snow here on occasion...more snow fun later!



Click any image to enlarge

Family Camp 07

We had a small group at family camp this year. It was a lot of fun. Sitting around the campfire at night, telling tall tales, avoiding the smoke inhalation. Lots of food and fellowship.
The theme seemed to be motorcycles and quads this year. Out of the four families up there, Jami and I were the only ones without something motorized other than our Yukon. The kids couldn't ride until they hauled 10 buckets of water each from the creek, to keep the dust down. Then off they went. Riding the trails or going up to the cinder rock pit.



We got the kids a pinata to beat on. We figured they would like the work for the candy. We went youngest to oldest, and when the last oldest went, we let her finish off what was left of it. Then we formed two lines, young ones, then the older ones, and let the younger go start gathering candy before the older ones got in there. I think it faired pretty good, because each kids take was approximately the same amount of candy.
All in all a great time out having a family vacation away from the hustle and bustle of the work week. We look forward to next year.

Snow Camp '06

So I never posted the crazy fun Sean, Thad, Steve, and I had last year camping in the snow. After looking at the pics I have, we missed a TON of things. We didn't get nearly enough playing around in the snow, (hard driving sending up snow showers), or shooting the .50 cal desert eagle. We did have great fun, and next year will prove to be better documented. Maybe even a video or two. Enjoy these few pics.



Let it SNOW!

Sports and guys

There are some of us guys out there that like sports. For me, its my competitive spirit. I happen to like baseball and football. Some like that left turn car thing NASCAR, hoping to see a crash, or root for some sponsor on the hood of a car. Some watch hockey, I think mostly to see if a fight breaks out. I guess that inst much different than some of the plays in baseball and football. Here is a hit that I saw in a game between the Titans and Colts this year. OUCH...



How about this stiff arm...



Or this awesome college football catch (poor quality)



Anyway, I don't spout off much about some of my pastimes, but I thought I would give a little variety to this blog.

Enjoy the playoff games this weekend!

Jeremy

The New Year

We are now into the second week of January, the tree is down, the decorations put away. Its time to get back into the routine. School, work, exercise. Yes, the new year always brings those resolutions to get fit and eat healthy. We joined the racquetball club in town and Jami and I have been playing when we get the chance. They have a mini gym there as well, so we can hit those if we feel like we need more of a workout after running around the court. Its pretty fun. The eating good thing? Well, we still like food, so...
Ana still does gymnastics as stated before, so we included a few pictures in this set. Jami was only able to get a few that turned out. We are not sure what Jorryn will be into this year, other than swimming. Time will tell.
The dogs are ready for some good weather again. I think they are tired of being wet and cold outside. We are going to see about getting them some better shelter this week, and something more permanent next year.
House plans are in the works, and with many, many revisions, we are getting it down to what we think is the best options for us. Adding on to an existing home, and trying to incorporate all the things we want without completely gutting the place is more of a challenge than we thought. All in good time.
Posting some misc pics for the time being. More to come later.




The Von Ruden clan...

Christmas

Christmas Eve.

So Christmas Eve we went to my folks house for dinner and opening presents. We pigged out on great food, turkey, ham, potatoes, candy, ugh...food is good when moderation is involved. Isn't it that way? What is it about Thanksgiving and Christmas that we have to pig out? Well, whatever it is, I am thankful for it, moving on...
All was well Christmas eve until about 10pm. Jorryn is not a night person, so he usually hits the "wall" sometime about then, and needs to get to bed. He is an early to bed and early to rise kid. So when he started feeling groggy and sluggish, we thought it was just the late night getting to him, but alas, it was worse. Lets just say he let dinner visit a second time. Poor kid. Not the best for celebrating, but it was an overnight bug and he was raring to go in the morning to open presents.




This was our second year having a tree at home. Normally we aren't home to enjoy it, so we only put up our Christmas houses, etc. But I think we are going to be home for the holidays from now on since our extended family moved over 20 hours away from us. Kinda sad, but we support them!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning came to early for me. We stayed up pretty late the night before, so sleeping in was the priority, well, for the adults anyway. The kids, yeah, the same thing in every household across America, get up and open gifts! We had a late breakfast after the presents and then headed back over to my folks for leftovers and games later that evening. It was a pretty relaxing fun day, and all was good.

Enjoy the pictures and the new year!

Jeremy, Jami, Juliana and Joryyn

The Gingerbread house

We all had a GREAT Christmas, and more to come later, but for now...the candy house.

The kids had been asking and asking to build a gingerbread house, but Jami and I didn't want to do it from scratch. I know, we missed the "experience" of doing it all ourselves or something like that, but it was an hour long project even with a kit. No that didn't include cleanup. Ana and Jorryn were squealing with excitement as the materials were delivered to the table. What do you think the first question was? That's right, "Can we eat it?" That question was throughout the whole building process.

Daddy helped lay the foundation while mommy read the directions...as in, "Lay the frosting in the preformed tray, not to much...there we go, you missed a little there...the gumdrops go here, hey, you put the roof on upside down!" Yes I did. You can see it in the picture. Hey, I was in the groove, slapping this thing together.

Then we each took a side and started adding, a little frosting here, a little there. Pretty fun.


The Little Christmas tree was given to us after I bid a job. The guy owned a Christmas tree farm and he took me out to the field and cut one down for me. It had to be small because of our lack of space at the moment, but we had a blast getting it decorated. We ended up having to trim the top because the star wouldn't stay upright!

Okay, more Christmas pics coming soon.