wHaT tO dO WhEn It'S CoLd

What to do when it's cold outside:

1. Go to Tahoe

and...

2. Shovel snow!

When and if you find a home under all of that...

3. Check out the icicles
and...

4. Go skiing!

The lake may be shrouded in clouds,

yet, it's blue

and beautiful

above!

And after having your fill of fun,

it might just be time to venture home,

to...

5. Check out the pogonip!

(It's white. It's frosty. It's beautiful.

BUT...

I surely like it best when the sun pokes through

and melts it into oblivion.)

Oh, WoW --iT's fInAlLy A lOnG-aWaItEd PoSt!

Do we have a bit of catching up to do--

so grab a drink and a snack, and maybe don your pajamas.

(You just might be here for a while.)

As you recall....

we last left you in November awaiting Thanksgiving Day, where....

Brandon and Cami, Easton, Lily, and Talon came to visit.

And, the first, Great Schank Pumpkin Pie Chase was held!
(It was a 5k beginning and ending at our home
while running the slopes of Rattlesnake Hill.)
Above please see the illustrious runners displaying their amazing prizes.

Blink, and we now fast-forward to Craig's birthday
celebrated at the conclusion of Fast Sunday and just prior to
the First Presidency Devotional.
(And, might I add, a good time was had by all.)

Time for Christmas already, so let's take a quick trip down to southern Cal to visit
Gma Mathews where...

Several attempts were made to refinish a carousel horse for F.D. Aunt Chris.
(The verdict is still out whether we were successful or not. Craig was our best painter.)

Fun games were played (Gma has a Wii!), and ...

yummy meals were eaten.

The latest in Christmas Eve pjs were modeled.

Chels donned her "designer Christmas shirt"

(most certainly destined to be a one-of-a-kind!)

Santa brought N8 a 22,

and Chels a ring--not a ring tone.

('Still no cellphone for that one.)

And good, ole Scout got a coat!

We love Gma Mathews!

On the road home

('Need we say more?)

Returning to Fallon, guess who got her drivers' permit?

'So what are doing now that we are home?

Well, making snow burgers, for one thing

(Thanks to Chef N8).

DaRn Us!

So, the week went by.

Did we do anything fun?

Yes!

Did we take any pictures?

No!

Darn us!

We are slackers of the very best kind!
Hence, we'll just tell our story....

(and use some very old pictures!)

On Veteran's Day....

(This is Gpa Earl Leslie Mathews who served in WWI.)

N8 and his buddies worked on their Deciduous Forest Biome Project.

(But this is not the group that he worked with. These are his dungeons and dragons buddies.)

And,

Mom raked leaves*.

(*These are last years' leaves--not to be confused with this year's leaves.)

The following day was Friday.

It was originally supposed to be a furlough day but got reinstated.

Craig had the day off so ...

we took off to Tahoe,

and went hiking!

Come on--would such cute, innocent-looking kids play hooky???

Then on our way home, we went to the Reno Temple.

('Yep, you're right.

That's the Nauvoo Temple from our '06 family reunion.)

Saturday morning, we went to the World Wide Leadership Broadcast.

(You can actually watch it already online if you like.)

Afterwards we...

raked more leaves!

What else?

(Remember last year's amazing amount? I think we matched it.)

How many leaves does a tree produce????

Then, we burned them.

(This is the pyrotechnic crew from a few years back.)

Saturday night, Chels, N8, Mom, and Gma went to a play.

(The above is a picture of Chels playing Marley in the 4th. grade production of "Scrooge"--ooooh, scary!)

On Sunday, Mom took off to visit the last 2 Primary Sacrament Programs in...

Silver Springs (which is about 30 miles southwest of us),

and

Fernley (30 miles west of Fallon).

(They are always fun.)

So....

that's what happened last week!

(From, us slackers.)

Have a very happy (and grateful) Thanksgiving!

NeVaDa DaY wEeKEnD

Well, here's a recap of last week:

The regional cross country meet was held at San Rafael Park.

Chels ran in the 3A meet.

We then hurried home for the Ward Trunk or Treat Party...

where N8 played for the talent show portion.

Since Friday was a state holiday (and even Craig was off),

our family drove up to Reno...

and excitedly painted the trim on Der & Marie's old home.

Ta da!

How's it look?

'Needing some R and R, we spent a night a Tahoe, but...

we came home...

so Chels could be a princess

for the Stake Dance.