Thirty years of pool

and wedded bliss. Okay maybe not so much pool. Lonny and I have been married thirty years today. Jenny and Emily made us these marvelous cupcakes while we were out for dinner last night. Geoff is still asking why all the pool balls have the number thirty on them. He is such a smart boy I am sure he will figure it out soon enough.

Winter Wonderland

We had a Christmas Eve blizzard the likes we had never seen before. Whether you were dreaming of a White Christmas or not you got it. I briefly wondered if we would be sorry we didn't have sleds and snow boots wrapped up under the tree. Thank goodness we got this hill for the kids some ten years ago.

Jon shoveled a trail to the summit.

Kirsten can scream like a little girl. And she did all the way down.

Eric and Jon came down in a puff of smoke. Or was that a cloud of snow?

Jon smiling while missing his socks.

The shovel protects the face from flying snow and errant fences.

It's as if he hasn't seen snow in a week?

Oops, someone forgot the windshield.

Day two. The lighting has deteriorated but not the sledding. Alayna makes her first attempt to survive the Townsend's backyard shenanigans.

Geoff waves to the spectators

just before he goes over the edge. His favorite stupid trick.

Sledding for now, it's still too cold to sit on the porch.

For unto us a child is born

and then they grow up. I had my children draw a picture of the nativity when they were each five years old. What began 23 years ago is now stitched, framed and hanging on the wall. Finally. I think it was worth the wait. Justin drew the picture above. He looked at a picture that had originally inspired the project, but Justin loved to draw and his interpretation has been a Christmas decoration around our house for many years.

Jenny's picture improved on Justin's and hers has also been around for years.

Geoff's may be the most realistic rendition but only exists through labored persuasion. The inclusion of only the bare essentials of the three required individuals reminds me of his stubbornness even when asking just for simplicity.

Eric's is authentic overachiever. The stable, the star, the manger, the stacked stones. . . the stones? We don't know what they are either.

Emily put in everything but the kitchen sink, the lamb is even talking. Her Mary does appear to be related to a teenage mutant ninja turtle, however.

Random things

from the last week or the last century. My mom is now 77 years old. Happy Birthday mom. This is her college graduation when I was probably 11. Hello, I am on a journey to tower over my older sister. I bought the pink dress from the Sears catalog. I loved it so much that when they didn't have my size I ordered the chubby version. Should I be happy I appear to be wearing a potato sack?

Jenny came last week with the kids and a friend who also brought her two kids. The unrelated little girl started calling me grandma which I thought was cute. And then the realization. . . is it good to look like you should be called grandma? Jenny arrived just in time to see Emily in The Nutcracker on Friday night. Emily was the Butterfly Doll. She had a solo dance while everyone on stage (and supposedly the audience) watched. The dance was lengthy and just really adorable. We were thrilled to have Jenny, Kirsten,and some neighbors and friends attend because. . .

Houston had record snow last Friday. Flights were canceled, including Lonny's return flight to see Emily dance. His boss eventually chartered a plane to come pick them up, but it was too late. We are hoping with all the other audience members that came to see her the likelihood of her eventual therapy is lessened.

Bowling 101

I don't normally consider bowling a spectator sport but all three boys are at BYU and they have been taking a class together this semester. (I guess Quantum Physics was full.) I had to make the trek to Provo just to see it for myself.

Look at that technique Geoff. Wait, look at all those orange bowling balls. What is wrong with them?

There was also an extraordinary amount of time watching the boys play Wii Golf when the brother from the other mother drove in to town. Jon had gone skiing over the weekend. Emily and Jon hiked the Y. The annual Turkey Bowl was a family only event. Lonny and I walked past all the apartments we once called home in Provo. Just kidding. That would have taken all day. We needed the exercise though,since the rest of our vacation was spent eating out at all our favorites like Five Guys, In and Out, Cafe Rio, and Brick Oven (those Provoans sure no how to eat).

And who knew Cosmo also eats at Brick Oven after going to the BYU football game? I can't wait to tell you about my new favorite (or least favorite, I haven't decided yet) Provo restaurant.

And don't forget Thanksgiving dinner where we stuffed ourselves and yeah Geoff, you give me the pose and I run with it. At least Kirsten thought you were amusing.

Good thing we finished up with a round of "real" golf.

Nobody wants to play with me again. I made three hole-in-ones. I was just making up for the time I got a twelve or some similar number.

Goodness Gracious.

Wasn't it just last week when I mentioned Eric has a counselor in his stake presidency that went to law school with Lonny?

On Sunday, Geoff and Alayna went to a fireside put on for engaged couples by his stake presidency. One of the counselors asked Geoff his name. Then he asked him if he knew a Lonny Townsend. Geoff said he's my dad. He told Geoff he had gone to law school with Lonny. Then he told Alayna that she was marrying into a great family. I think she was wondering and you just can't buy endorsements like that. Thanks G. Brinton.

I really like this new service BYU is providing to parents. First you look here and read about the devotional and then you can see if your kid attended.

Mormons win!

We won our first valedictorian trophy last night. We attended a school fundraiser where we played a version of Are you smarter than a Cascia hall kid? Our friends kids go to Cascia, a Tulsa Catholic Prep School and they dared us into playing along. You know, if you think you're so smart, prove it. Okay, maybe not exactly. At the conclusion we had to walk up front to be announced as the winners and claim our trophies. There were gasps and shouts of "the Mormons won" which is not the venue I thought I would hear that remark.

It will go down in history as the first trophy for some of the participants. I'd like to thank our Catholic friends, they are the best, and such good sports, for allowing us this opportunity, which is how I was going to begin my acceptance speech, but nobody wanted to hear it.