Life In Dallas

The week between Christmas and New Year's was spent having fun with family - playing games, eating, and enjoying each other's company.  A few pics to remember the week.

DODGEBALL - we added this to the tradition and it was really fun.  I hope it sticks.



Some of the mudbloods



Scramble for the balls



Yes - that is me getting pelted with balls....



Kelsey, hipster Crazy Uncle Patrick and Jordyn



Midnight bowling - only the cool kids got to go....



Kelsey and Shelby



Steven and Kelsey - blue steel



Joe T's  - a Fort Worth tradition!



Mark and Jeehae

 We ate too much, laughed a lot and realized how grateful we are to have such an awesome family!

LFFG

Also known as the Linford Family Football Game.  My family is as competitive as I am - many of them even more so.  We have played a family football game for years now - it is officiated by my father so he can try and keep people from killing each other - ALTHOUGH, there was this one year my new brother-in-law clotheslined his wife, my sister....  We knew he fit right in (after we made sure she was OK of course).

This year saw the mudbloods battle the purebloods.  It was cold, but fun.  Eric was not there and we missed him - but I did play.  I was not a huge contributor - but I did touch the ball more than once and I did my fair share of smacktalking.....  Fun was had by all, and the only injury was my jammed finger....  Photos by my mother.




Allie warms up




Cointoss - Josh for the Purebloods, and Allie for the Mudbloods.



Not sure who this one is going to....



On the line - very serious stuff...



Josh all air - way to sacrifice the body - would have been better if he caught it, but amazing attempt.



Who is that old lady with the ball?????



My brother Mark's gf Jeehae with the run!

 The Mudbloods prevailed - it was not even close.  I was on the Pureblood team.  We had many of the now aging members - and I think it showed!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning dawned - not that early...  We did not get up until 7:00!  Go figure.  It was bound to happen sometime.  We were able to open presents, hang out for a little while, then drive to Dallas to eat Christmas dinner with the Linfords and Skype with Ryan.  I have to say, the skyping with Ryan was great.  Eric is not sold on the whole skype instead of talking on the phone thing....  I like to see his cute dimples, watch his expressions, and see how he interacts with everyone.  We only have 1 more holiday to go until he is home!

Anyway, some pics from Christmas morning....



Christmas Morning before the kids hit...



New bbq - dad surprised us and it was a big hit!



Post present destruction...



Christmas Eve

Since we did not have our boy around for Christmas Eve this year, we invited our local missionaries to fill in.  We had our traditional waffles, piñata, and the opening of the PJ's.  It is funny- my kids almost look at the opening of the PJ's as something boring - mundane.  It was so sweet to see the Elders get excited about opening Christmas PJ's. 

The piñata made it all the way to Elder Robbins - the second missionary to take a whack at it!  Pics of the piñata



Caroline is first up to bat - and yes we used a level as a bat...



Allie takes a turn



Sophie does not break it open



Kelsey tries - and misses



Elder Robbins with success



Elders Jepson, Miller, Maughan and Robbins



Yes, they are just 19 and 20 year old boys!



Pearson Family with Elder Robbins and Miller



Pearson family with Elder Maughan and Jepson

 It was not the same as having Ryan here, but it did make me feel good to help these great young men enjoy Christmas Eve.  I don't know what I will do when the kids decide they are too old for a piñata - but luckily I think I am years away from that.

Gingerbread Houses

I am not sure how this happened, but somewhere along the way my kids decided it is not Christmas without gingerbread houses.  This year I made Kelsey and Sophie bake all the gingerbread - which made them think this was maybe not such as great tradition....  It also made for some interesting houses.

We always have a few extras who join us - everyone had at least one friend.  Sophie and Catherine made their the day before, so they were not captured in photos.



Deep in Creation

 Finished creations - or at least finished houses!


MaryEllen Pratt shows off her design - complete with hot tub in the backyard.



Allie's house - notice the A on the side?



Caroline's house - complete with snow...



Brooklyn Bodle - her house was the most "Martha" like.



Kelsey's house



Last but not least Julia's house - it was the "hurricane" house.

 It does take a while to do, but the girls love to make these each year.  I know I will look back someday and wish someone wanted to make gingerbread houses again.  So, this will remind me of the crazy fun times we had making houses in 2010!

Deck The Halls

We were finally able to get the ornaments on the tree - getting the tree out and the stuff out has been a week long process.... We have been on the run and it has been hard to find time to do it (that is one of the down sides to Thanksgiving out of town in my book).

Anyway, Sophie grabbed my camera to capture these memories... It is always fun to look back at ornaments past and remember those times.

Allie with her favorite tigger ornament from when she was about 3.

Caroline showing off her ornaments.

Ryan's bear in a raisin box I threaten to throw away each year - Sophie wanted to take a picture of it in the garbage to send to Ryan....

The view from above.

We also had a basketball tournament for Sophie this weekend in Magnolia.  The took 2nd behind a very, shall we say, ghetto Peet team.  They were happy and starting to come together as a group.

2 weeks left of school - projects, finals and then we might get to relax and enjoy Christmas!

Weekend Fun

I feel like the last few weeks have been crazy - and they have.  Between work/pleasure trips, kid stuff, and the basic maintenance stuff, I am running like a crazed woman.  I have been gone the last 3 weekends.....

This weekend was Sophie's region Orchestra concert, and the Galveston 1/2 Marathon.  This was the first ever Galveston half - and since I did not get into Houston, stupid lottery, it was my only local chance for a race.  Many of my other running friends are committed and running a full marathon in January, but I could not get on board with that (well I was sort of on board until Houston screwed me...) 

Anyway, our nice cool November run was really a hot and humid and really crappy run for me.  I wanted to quit at mile 3.  And I passed my car at mile 4 - so it was just mental to get me to the finish in MY WORST TIME ever.  The company was great fun, however.  I crashed the Brenner Family event, and ran with Sarah, Debbie, Jonah (brother) and Josie (SIL).  Debbie's husband ran as well, but he is really fast and beat me by over an hour.  Jenny also ran, but she is a prancing pony and took off at mile 1 with her running wife Lynn and we did not see her until the finish.  We stayed together as a group until about mile 11 when I begged them all to leave me.  Jonah stayed behind and finished with me.  The good news, everyone finished and for all of them it was their first 1/2 marathon!  Picture below stolen from Debbie's blog.


Debbie, Helmut, Josie, Jonah, Jenny, Sarah and me.

 I had to rush back, wet hair and all, to Sophie's concert.  There were five percussionists, and she was able to play the triangle (don't laugh) , tambourine, wood block, chimes, snare drum, crash cymbal and suspended cymbol.  Here are a few pics - the one is really bad, but it is her in action.

These concert uniforms are the most sexless things I have ever seen.  Eric always calls her a boy when he sees her (nice huh?) 

Kelsey could not miss out on the action - and had to jump in front of the camera.

That is all - then I came home and went to bed where I proceeded to be sick (some kind of bug, don't know what).  Now just need to get better so we can go to Dallas for Thanksgiving - turkey and a soccer tournament.  Fun times!

She Plays Basketball Too

Our dear Sophie tried out for the basketball team at the junior high school.  She had never played - well that is not true.  She played one game at the church.  

She made the B team.  So, she has added basketball practice to her list of what she is doing!  She had her first game last night.  Not only did she start, she played the whole time!  Go figure.  She also had the most fouls from her team.  She did not foul out, so all is good (although listening to her talk about wanting to blatantly foul a member of the opposite team at the end of the game did give me pause...)

They lost - big time.  But it is a place to start, and she had fun.  Here are some pictures of her basketball debut...



Defense - not afraid to get in her opponents face.




Dribble a little high....





This is to show a size differential.  Do you see that very large girl under the basket - she is twice Sophie's size.  At one point Sophie was defending her - it was pretty stinking funny.



Watching her dad in the stands





Kelsey there to support her sister and make faces at the camera



 

This was new for us - cheerleaders.  None of the other sports the girls have played have involved cheerleaders - of course they were there for Ryan's football games.

My overall take on basketball - I like inside sports that are done in a bout an hour.  It was fun, and I think it will be a fun season for Sophie.  And yes, this makes me think she is more like my sister Megan everyday (Megan also played basketball in Junior High...)