Skiing Anyone?

At the end of January I got to go skiing again with my parents and two sisters (Erica and Katie). We thought Chris wouldn't be able to go because of school, but it happened to be during his winter break. This is a picture of most of us at the top of the hill (Erica is taking the picture).

Katie, Dad, Mom, Jamie, and Chris

Chris and Jamie
(The weather was probably the best skiing weather I've ever enjoyed. It was gorgeous!)

After his second day skiing Chris announced that he's done with the "green" pass and he's ready to take on the blues (moderately difficult runs). I agree. His athletic abilities make him a very capable skier. I was excited because I got to ski some blue runs with my parents and was able to keep up with everyone (I'm a more tentative skier usually and have less practice than the others because skiing is EXPENSIVE! so I don't go very often).

On our last run of the day (the lifts were closing), Katie wanted to ski it slowly and enjoy the scenery, so I asked her to take a few pictures of me (Chris was already half-way down the slope!). These really are action photos, even though they don't look like it. And this hill is steeper than the pictures looks (really).

England Birmingham!

My little brother Ryan (who isn't so little anymore) recently got his mission call. He wanted us to go to his college dorms to open it and I was surprised how many people from his ward showed up to support him.
Here he is opening his letter (with Christa on the cell phone since she was at work). The funniest part was that as he was reading the letter (out loud) my mom peeked over his shoulder and let out a huge grin (she read ahead to find out where he was going). That was the funniest part. He's going to the England, Birmingham mission. My mom is really excited because it covers part of Wales where our ancestors are from (and I've even been there!).

My niece got so involved with the excitement that she joined the clapping.

Ryan with Mom, Dad, and Lauren.

Chris and Jamie with Ryan.

I'm so excited for Ryan and know he'll be a great missionary because he's a good brother and works hard. It's a little weird for us though because he'll be going to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in England. Both of my other sisters went to the MTC in Provo, Utah and it was cheap to send them packages! :)

(For those of you who aren't familiar with Mormon mission calls, when you want to serve a mission, you basically apply to become a missionary and send in the paperwork. Then the apostles determine where you should serve for two years (18 months for women) and you get a letter telling you where you'll go.)

Happy Birthday Alisa!

This is a bit slow because I got sick, but here are some fun pictures from Alisa's birthday party. She's coping with a new baby and a sick 22 month old, so she's rather informally dressed, but we had fun!

Jamie with our new niece.

Chris with both of our nieces. Although big sister is sick, she still loves to play with her new little sister.

Big sister playing with Aunt Christa.

Happy Birthday Alisa!

Strep Throat - Yuck

Last week I thought I had a cold (and was definitely miserable) so I stayed home from school on Monday. I still wasn't feeling any better, so I also stayed home on Tuesday (definitely NOT normal!). By Wednesday I decided that staying home wasn't doing me any good, so I went to school. I must have looked pretty bad, because (I co-teach with another teacher who had also been sick) when I was teaching the other teacher came up a quietly said, "What if I teach and you just sit down and let me know if I'm doing anything wrong." I guess I was pretty miserable. I decided to go to the doctor to try to get some medicine so that I could sleep. They did a strep test (which I thought was a waste of time) and it came up positive! For some strange reason I didn't have a fever (until AFTER they put me on antibiotics - go figure!), but I was sure sick. The doctor told me that I had to stay home again on Thursday. I was so worried about what was going on at school with me gone. I got the funniest welcome back from one of my students: "I'm so glad you're back! I want to learn something new! I'm sick of doing review worksheets!" I had to laugh at that. I guess I was missed. :)