Snow way!

Our 12th anniversary was spent in the company of our favorite people: Dawna, Lawrence, Xochitl, and Jade. Traditionally, Jon and I have ditched the kids for anniversary fun, but we were feeling generous this year. 

On Christmas, Santa left a suitcase full of new snow clothes, a little toboggan, and a giant card explaining that we'd be spending 3 days in beautiful snowy Yosemite! Day One was really just an evening tour of the valley, with one short stop to touch the snow and admire the view and the previously assembled snowman (see above...). 

Day Two dawned beautiful and icy! We even got to use the snow chains we've been storing for a decade! Nice that they felt useful! We drove up Glacier Point Road and found a little turn-off where we could get some sledding in! We were out in the snow for over four hours running up, sliding down, throwing snowballs, playing games... lots of people came and went in the time we were there, but one particularly memorable person came sliding down the hill, stood up, looked at my oldest daughter, and said, "Hey there!" in a somewhat alluring tone. I was about to punch the kid in the face for flirting with a 10-year-old... but then, to my surprise, Dawna said, "Oh, hi Jonathan!" Wait, what?? Turns out that this kid is on the climbing team at The Peak with Dawna. How incredibly random that we ran into him and his family on an unmarked turnout up Glacier Point Road in Yosemite... 

On the way out that night, we enjoyed pizza at Half Dome village (who knew you could get pizza at 8pm in the middle of a national park??) and went to bed dreaming of our next-day's adventure... 

Day Three dawned bright and early as we headed back up Glacier Point Road to the ski and snowboard area. While the downhill slopes were still closed, the cross country and snowshoeing trails were open and groomed and ready for adventure! 

I could write a book about our day out there, but I'll spare you the length and just give you the table of contents: 

The Kobersteins Go Cross Country Skiing! 

Chapter 1: In which there is much giggling and excitement in renting cool equipment! 

Chapter 2: In which it takes a REALLY long time to get ready (snow clothes and bathrooms don't mix...)

Chapter 3: In which Mom and Dad set a way-too-ambitious distance goal 

Chapter 4: In which the skis go on and it takes half an hour to get to the trail... 

Chapter 5: In which we find ruts to put the skis in and actually start moving!

Chapter 6: In which most of the snow clothes go into mom's backpack

Chapter 7: In which we stop for lunch

Chapter 8: In which we go downhill for a while... NOW it's fun!

Chapter 9: In which we have to turn around... and go back uphill

Chapter 10: In which Jade can run faster uphill than the kids skiing uphill

Chapter 11: In which is shouted "I Quit!" 

Chapter 12: In which skis are removed and carried over shoulder back to rental office. 

Chapter 13: In which mom and dad decide to come alone next time...

Epilogue: In which, on the drive home, all the kids decide it was fun after all :) 

(Total distance skied: 2 miles... )

Breakfast with Santa!

 Our elementary school has an annual Breakfast with Santa. This year is the first time the Kobersteins have attended, mainly due to the fact that they asked our Leopard Choir to sing :)

Even though I was a skeptic at first, I was overwhelmed by how much fun it was and even joined in the festivities by getting pictures with Santa (something I've never done before...)

After the choir sang, I stood in line to take pictures... the line was REALLY long--and you can see why... McLoy Photography offered their services to the school and we got some really cute pictures! Sadly, Larry wasn't there (he was at his first day of basketball) so I only have my girls in the pictures with Santa.

This is my favorite picture of the bunch.  Jade's 3-year-old Christmastime has been magical for her. She lovingly embraced the idea of Santa Claus and told him exactly what she wanted: A Rainbow Dash pony... and that did indeed appear on Christmas morning!  I love the feeling of magic around Christmas!

A Little Christmas and Beyond!

 School starts again tomorrow... back to the old grind...
So let's take a moment and review the few pictures I got from Christmastime...

Grandma and Grandpa Koberstein's traditional Christmas gift to the grandkids is a science present. It's amazing that they kept up with the tradition even while on their mission in Japan...

Xochitl was the thrilled recipient of an indoor gardening kit.  She could not wait to put it all together and plant the seeds, which I am happy to report are sprouting beautifully in the dining room window.

Dawna received a solar power robot, which also got put together right on Christmas Day, which fortunately had enough sunshine to make our little dinosaur walk outside.

Larry got a Crazy Flippy car, which runs into walls and flips over to keep on going! Many happy giggly children chased this around the house, but mostly back and forth in the hallway, where it kept flipping over and returning back where it came from

Our kids were surprised on Christmas Morning by a beautiful new sandbox in the backyard, complete with digging trucks! It's been a little chilly since Christmas (you know, CALIFORNIA chilly, all the way down to 45...) but the kids have still loved playing around in their new sandbox :)

December 29, our actual 10th anniversary, previously celebrated with the aforementioned, to be posted about soon Caribbean cruise, we enjoyed lunch at Jon's work together. We thought it inappropriate to be alone, so Emily came along as a chaperone. After lunch we enjoyed a biking tour around the campus. Note Emily's cute skinny jeans and sweater :)

SO much more happened over Christmas Break that is not pictured here, including, by not limited to: Lynn, Weston, and Myra joining us for Christmas day, Christmas caroling around Lansing court with half my siblings and nieces and nephews, my oldest nephew getting a drivers license, surprise baby announcement from Joe and Cami, shopping and shopping and shopping with Emily, and countless hours of fun with cousins! What a year!

Merry Christmas Jammies!

My mom had her traditional Christmas jammies for the grandkids a little early this year: December 23. All the kids from age 1 to 16 enjoyed their cute onesie pajamas and matchin socks! The kids in the picture almost get lost in the colorful patterns!

 Levi and Calder were our big superheroes!

 Little boys sported different colored camouflage while the little girls donned colorful hearts!

The funniest part was the next morning when Larry woke up... with a very concerned pouty face, he said, "but... the stockings are all empty still..." Every year of his life up till now, he's gotten his new PJs on Christmas Eve... so he just knew that it should be Christmas... sorry buddy, one day early :)

We enjoyed our traditional caroling around Lansing Court and rowdy retelling of the Christmas story with all the grandkids and cousins!

Wishing you warm fuzzy happiness!

Christmas stockings

Yes, I know I'm behind in posting something about Christmas, but hear me out... 

I've now made a grand total of three Christmas stockings! My first victims were the members of the Evans family, who graciously accepted and even used my hand-knitted handicraft for Alex's first Christmas! The candle design for Brooke's stocking came from Grandma Frances's collection; the candy cane design for Jon's came from an internet search, and the gingerbread boy design for Alex's originated from a cross stitching pattern that I sort of adapted to knitting. Each stocking has its own unique toe shape since I experimented with a different toe finishing pattern on each one... but all of them held onto Christmas goodies just fine :)

Thanks, Grandma Severson, for spending the hours with me at the family reunion last summer to get me started, and thanks Brooke for making me feel like I did I good job :) 

just another week in Newark...

This was a somewhat uneventful week, but just a quick couple of thoughts...

"My" choir sang for the first time today for ward conference!  They were quite amazing! I had silly nightmares about the choir all last night (nobody showing up, the chapel being unrecognizable...) but nothing weird happened and my singers were all exquisite! They make it fun to be the choir director! 

This was our homeschool check-in week (it happens every other week) where we see Mrs. B. and turn in all the homework we've done and Dawna shares her favorite assignments.  Were were pleasantly surprised when we got there to see that Dawna had been chosen as Decoto's Student of the Month!--complete with certificate and a gift card to McDonalds!  All the kids come along with me when we go and Larry and Xochitl build with the amazing blocks they have there.  One of the High School students there asked Larry what he was building (in the picture below).  Larry said, "A BART station." The teenager said, "WOW! That is Magical!" Larry got a kick out of that! 

 Our winter garden is coming along nicely, notwithstanding the lack of rain... So far, we've harvested broccoli, cauliflower, kale, plenty of parsley and rosemary, and NEW this year: Romaine Lettuce!! It was an easy one to grow, as long as you keep the bugs off! We lost a couple heads early in the season to snails... gross... but we still have one big head to go! Our Brussels Sprouts are coming along nicely also--they look good now, but we'll have to wait and see on the flavor...

 And yes, these pictures are from Christmas... long time ago... but I just found them and had to share how much my mom is the Grandma Pajama Queen at Christmastime! It makes me wish I was a grandkid... Warm matchy pajamas... sigh...

Yeah... 27 Grand kids in one house... can we say crazy???

The Big Granddaughters: Balance, Grace, and Fuzzy socks...

The Little granddaughters...sweet, sassy, and Fuzzy socks...

Rob and Levi WISH they were so adorable!

The boys and their planes! 

Piano Recital and Aircraft Carrier!

This was an amazing weekend! Saturday morning started out with a momentous occasion: Larry's first real piano recital! He and I played a Christmas duet: Jolly Old St. Nicholas! Dawna played piano and played violin for the first time in recital! She and Marisa did a great job together!

The poor students had one little difficulty... the E and F notes on the piano would stick down when played and not come back up... it was a bummer when it caught them off guard and made the duet-playing more difficult, but on the whole, they handled it well :)

Dawna and Marisa played Jungle Bells together! It took a lot of practice to get Dawna ready to play with the bow for the recital, but I think she did great!

After the recital, we had an exciting evening planned: Jon's work party was on the USS Hornet--the old WWII aircraft carrier/ museum in Alameda! It was quite a fancy affair! Jon rented a tux and I got much-needed fashion help from Brooke... so we looked Good!

At the party, we enjoyed many delectable dishes such as horseradish mashed potatoes (Jon's favorite),  Sesame beef (my favorite--served in mini take-out boxes!) shrimp, sushi, hot apple cider, ice cream bar, and butternut squash ravioli! I LOVE all the good food!

Also, we got to ride the flight simulator, which was programmed to simulate a Desert Storm strike. It was made in 1991 with cutting-edge graphics... which means the group of brilliant software engineers we rode with were making hilarious remarks through the entire ride... it was awesome...

 Out on the flight deck, where it was FREEZING COLD--by the way... I mean actually freezing, not wimpy California girl is freezing...the puddles were ice!--there were old fighter jets displayed and there was also a fireworks show over the bay set to a medley of James Bond music... awesome...

We got to ride the jet lift back down to the main level, which was also amazing! It felt like the floor surrounding a group of about 200 people just dropped 30 feet... woah...

And after being disappointed by the lack of effort put into my EANABS (Equally Attractive Non-Alchoholic Beverages), I requested a "beautiful" drink from the bar tenders and got this awesome pomegranate/lime/ginger/mint drink... it was beautiful :)

Our night finished off with exploring the Apollo museum--The Hornet was the ship that picked up the astronauts from several of the Apollo missions. It's actually an amazing historical place... we want to take the kids back there to tour someday... Thanks to Mom and Dad for letting us get away for a late night party! 

Christmas fun

For all the fun things we did over Christmas break, I took almost NO pictures!

We went to the Lawrence Hall of Science, Sunset Beach, had a birthday party, went Uncle Ralph's house and Sacramento... And just played and played with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents.

For all that fun, all I got were two pictures... One of Larry exhibiting his hair obsession (which hopefully aunt Elizabeth didn't mind) and one of Zoey playing with photo booth.

I guess if you're too busy to take pictures, you're having a good time :)