Christmas break

Christmas break this year was unexpectedly great. I mean, I expected it to be good, but it was a lot better than I ever could have expected. I got to hang out with great people, eat great food, and do great things. Here are a few highlights, although most of the highlights are more journal material than blog material.

It snowed a lot, so lots of our activities were snow-related. We went sledding down our street:


...and Kristy and I built a snow woman. Brian and I got a little action:

She (the snow woman) wasn't quite as good at standing up as she was at kissing, though:


Not too long after that picture, she splatted over. Poor thing.

I decorated the driveway:


We took a little break from the snow to stay inside for Christmas. Dave and I were looking pretty fine on Christmas morning:


Here are all of the kids (plus Evan, who's one of the kids too, these days):

After our outdoor hiatus, we ventured back out for some more activity. We built pop bottle rockets and launched them with the launcher we made last year:


We headed up to Mt. Hood before New Year's to go snowshoeing. It turned out that the trailhead we planned to go to was buried by plowed snow, so we had to go to a different place, where it turned out that we didn't even really need snowshoes at. It was fun, though:


Of course, we had to do the obligatory (yes, that was redundant) jumping pictures.

Thanksgiving break

I stayed in Utah for the Thanksgiving break. It was kind of a melancholy week, but I got to do some fun things.

I spent Thursday with some of my extended family near Lehi. It was fun to see them, especially my two young cousins, who seem to be twice as big every time I see them.

One of my friends invited me to a Man Sleepover at his house in Salt Lake on Thursday night. I was glad to have some company, since I was feeling pretty lonely. Provo is eerily quiet during Thanksgiving. While I was there, I rediscovered hummus, and I think that it may become a new staple in my diet.

On Friday afternoon, my friend John and I decided on the spur of the moment to drive down to Zion National Park and go canyoneering. We ended up having quite an adventure, the tale of which will have to wait for another post.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving:

My cute little cousins

I love rolls

Ridiculous number of pies

Takin' it easy

Those genetically modified turkeys sure are getting fancy these days.

Rexburg

I went on my hexennial* trip to Rexburg this past weekend to visit my sister Kristy, as she mentioned in her blog. I used to think that Rexburg was too far away, but recently I realized that it's the same distance as Zion, just in the opposite direction. Since I've gone to Zion twice this fall already, I figured that it was time to give Kristy a turn. She's more important than rocks, anyway.

Snake River

I drove up with a couple of friends, who provided good company and some help paying for gas. (Speaking of which, it's down to about $2.50 these days, which is crazy, since I paid around $4.50 most of the summer!) We got to Rexburg around noon. I dropped off Carianne so she could go rock climbing and then headed over to Kristy's apartment.

Idaho at its finest: a poop-flinging manure spreader

Kristy made an amazing lunch for me. In fact, I might have to make another trip up north to get another lunch like that! :) After lunch, we went rock climbing for a few hours. On the way out there, we passed a driving range. I thought that it looked strangely out of place in agricultural southeastern Idaho. However, on the way back, Kristy saw:

• a shirtless, beerbellied man
• a guy with a mullet
  
• a guy wearing a flannel shirt and overalls
  

With golfers like that at it, the driving range didn't look so out of place after all. :)

When we got back, I visited the Rexburg temple, which was completed this year. It's beautiful, and I love how it's set way up high on a hill.

I wouldn't let her down, so she just hung around for a minute

After another good meal (thanks Kristy!) Kristy, my cousin Emily, and I went to the African Childern's Choir concert on the BYU-Idaho campus. I loved the music, dancing, and energy of the kids, and I loved the idea behind the choir. The kids are orphans from Africa, and they tour around the world, raising money to support 30 African schools.

My favorite part of the concert was when all of the children told us in turn what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was inspiring to see that kids who had been raised as orphans in an environment of war and poverty aspired to be pilots (a very popular choice), doctors, engineers (that kid got a big cheer from the audience), and even an optometrist. Although the choir takes kids on tour around the world, they are expected to return home and stay in their countries to make them stronger when they're done.

They'll be performing in Salt Lake this Saturday, and around the U.S. for the next several months. Check the tour schedule if you're interested. I'd definitely recommend them.

I slept at my cousin Matthew's apartment, and it was good to talk to him. We stayed up pretty late talking about life. I got to help him a little with some things on his new Mac, too.

I went to church with Kristy on Sunday, and in Sunday School she beat me at a game that I taught her how to win several years ago. I guess the student is smarter than the master these days.

She's not really that short

During the last hour of church they were teaching a lesson on unity, and to show that it was easy for their congregation to be unified, the teacher pointed out that "We're all pretty much the same here. We all like trucks, girls, video games, and guns." I guess it's good that I don't live there, because I'm only 1 for 4 on that list. :)

We stopped in Pocatello for a few minutes on the way back so that I could visit my grandparents. I only stayed for about 10 minutes, but it was really fun to see them. I have some pretty cool grandparents. :) I'm really grateful to have such a great family.

* The last (and only other) time I went to Rexburg was about six years ago.