Christmas morning!

Christmas morning!

We will pretend you saw this in Person

Merry Christmas

We hope you had a merry Christmas!

A Homevening to Remember.

We have just enjoyed one of the most exciting Christmas events. It was free sing in held at the Energy Solutions arena (formerly the Delta center until the town of Delta just couldn't afford it anymore). They gave us a free hot dog served by an ornery young woman and a Sprite that tasted incredibly like Diet Coke.

It was so amazing to hear all of the people singing carols to our Lord and some carols that just expressed Holiday sentiment. the symphony was phenomenal and with their over sized speakers they were able to drown out most of the missed notes. We managed to make it on to the big Screens and so the whole crowd saw us singing. Afterward we rode the Train back to our car in Sandy city and Beck thought that was one of the greatest things he had ever done. We had been discussing how the recent drop in fuel prices had negated the value of public transit when an older gentleman gave me $20 to spend on Becks Christmas present and that ended the argument because we figured he wouldn't have been able to give it to us on the free way. Lastly someone special has become a master sneak and managed to give us a Twelve days of Christmas gift that is making us feel so happy and full of wonder at the generosity of the season. We wish to add our own fervent wish for all to have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year. Hopefuly Beck will learn to not fear the snow but embrace it since his dad is going to make him play in it longer and harder that even his uncle Sam could. Merry Christmas

Celebrating Escalade

One of the stories related to the Escalade (which happened in 1602) is about the old lady who was making a big pot of vegetable soup for her sick husband. When she heard the French soldiers climbing up the city walls, she poured her big pot of soup out the window over them, doing her part in defeating them. Today we celebrate Escalade by dressing up in costumes and gathering for vegetable soup, bread and cheese. And then dessert is a chocolate pot (called Marmite) full of marzipan vegetables. The oldest and youngest in the gathering get to break the pot, and say something along the lines of "And so the enemies of the republic perished." The chocolate pieces and marzipan vegetable are distributed to all!

We had an outdoor Escalade gathering at Asia's pre-school. Each kid contributed 3 vegetables to the soup. They had the kids take turns walk on a catwalk of little school benches to show off their costumes. Then they held hands and sang songs about vegetables and the Escalade. Then it was Marmite time!

Asia with her teachers

Fashion Show

Cousins

Marzipan!

The glorious marmite and marzipan veggies

Escalade Running

Tom and I both ran the Escalade Race this past Saturday, 8K and 5K, respectively. First a background on the Escalade. It's a local Geneva holiday that celebrates the day the Genevois defeated the neighboring French and retained their independence. I'm not sure why racing has become part of the festivities, but it's a big deal in Geneva, with over 20,000 people racing from age 5 and up. The courses go through the picturesque streets of old town Geneva. There were about 1500 people running in each of our races- we definitely weren't prepared for the stampede and adrenaline rush this made for! But it was still a great experience.

Here is me running the race, and a shot at the end with my cheerleaders.




Tom was a good sport and waited patiently until the evening to run his race. Here's a pic of Tom finished, and with Asia and I.

Evan's Birthday (last month!)

For Evan's birthday, we were in Paris on vacation with my family. To celebrate, we had a Safari-themed birthday party- we played games like pin the horn on the rhino and pass the koala. A lot of the games involved making animal noises, so it got wild fast. Here's a pic of my crazy family. We had ice-cream cake and opened pressies. Cute Uncle Michael and Aunt Carvie got Evan a grocery store bag FULL of his favorite food!

Thanks Katy!

I love having her live here to do my hair!  I am officially a brunette!  Thank you!

Lucy's Christmas Dress

Isn't she pretty?