Snowboarding

The second half of Christmas Break we were lucky enough to have Justin come hang out. 

We tried to plan a bunch of fun activities

 (even though it seemed like all the boys wanted to do was lay around).

One of the goals Brent had was to take Justin up snowboarding.

We have a bunch of extra stuff, since we often take people up snowboarding who have never been. Everything we had fit Justin perfectly except the boots. 

Justin has bigger feet than our extra size 11 boots.

On the way up the guys stopped at a consignment store and were able to find a pair at the same cost as renting them! 

Lucky ducks. 

I stayed home with August because he would have been done after an hour...

I sent my water proof camera with them to take pictures. 

To my delight and surprise I actually got some pictures and videos!

Mitch and Bray have been up before, but they all stayed on the beginning hill where the lift is free.

So these are the boys up at Mt. Bachelor as Justin gets a taste of boarding.

 I made them a super good lunch so they were able to stay up on the mountain a long time.

Which is a good and bad thing for beginners who are spending most of the day falling down.

 Brent said it is hard to explain to people "how" to snowboard. He said it is a lot about just "feeling" what you are supposed to do.

I would have to agree. After taking lessons in high school, and once on Hoodoo the best teacher really is doing.

Unfortunately, that is not very comforting for people who like to know what an experience is supposed to feel like. When they want a black and white explanation of how to accomplish something. Brent said Justin did well, but did not like the feeling of not knowing what to do...

 I like using a smaller board, because I feel like I have much more control. I am 5'1.

I can't imagine how Justin felt being so high off the ground...

and more wipe outs...

Brent wants to go up again, but I think Justin has a sore left side...

At least he knows the joy that is snowboarding on Mt. Bachelor

Holiday Cheer, and Dog in Snow

A few thing just needed to put out there for documenting purposes.

First off:

The boys school performances. 

Mitch had his Middle School band concert while Grandpa was in town.

 I was able to take pics while Grandpa video tapped. It was very nice. 

Especially the part when the entire band and audience had to wait for Mitch

 to walk all the way back over to his music stand, 

grab his music, 

and then walk all the way back to where he was supposed to be standing.

 Then what does Mitch do? 

He starts flipping through his music book.

 Causing the band leader to again pause and wait for Mitch to stand still...

 We stayed for the whole concert. The high school band and jazz bands played to. 

This gal sang Santa Baby...

The next day we had Brayden's Holiday performance. He was less than enthusiastic the whole time. He rolled his eyes and had a smug face. It was painful to watch. 

I was trying to get him to smile. We had gotten there "just" in time. So there was no seating. We had to stand out in the foyer of the gym. Luckily we were still able to see Bray (and his faces...) and I brought my zoom lens.

This was our view from the hallway...

Secondly:

Just wanted to mention how much Cosmo loves the snow.

He is such a funny dog. He goes crazy out in the snow. I tried to take some pictures of him running from one side of the yard to the next...

 This is when Cosmo is inside, and the boys are outside playing in the snow...

One sad puppy.

 Our handsome boy!

And the last thing I wanted to document...

We AGAIN spent Christmas in Portland, instead of here at home.

It doesn't bother us too much.

As long as we are together it really doesn't matter.

That being said. We put a small tree up at the apartment to help it feel like Christmas.

And we needed somewhere to put the presents. Last year we had purchased our little tree when we spent Christmas at the Shilo Inn.

Haha! Our kids are used to just rolling with it, that's for sure.

Brayden and August had a great time decorating.

Whew!

I'm kind of ready for the New Year.

Hello 2014