A Weekend of Firsts

This past weekend was a weekend of firsts for the Stansell Family. We had planned to be in Snyder to see our new little niece or nephew, but he or she did not see fit to arrive on the due date. We did not want to sit around the house waiting all weekend so we decided to go visit Aunt Dena at Ceta Canyon. They had received a lot of snow during the week and this was the prime opportunity for us to take the kids sledding.

Our Saturday started with Rachel going bowling with her AWANA group. This was her first time bowling. I think she had a good time after they put the bumpers up to keep the ball out of the gutter. After bowling, we went to watch her play basketball. She made her first basket at the game. We were all very excited for her. It was a perfect basket, nothing but net!!! After the game we came home to eat lunch and load up to go to Dena's to go sledding for the first time. Chris had never been sledding before and the closest I have come is sledding down our driveway in Pasco. The kids were so excited to finally get to go. We have been waiting for a good snow since Dena moved to Ceta Canyon. We got to camp after dark but that did not stop us from finding the nearest slope. Everybody had a great time!! Little dare devil Kate thought it was great fun too until her hands and legs got wet and cold!

Dena and Chris raced down a few times. Overall they finished in a tie.





There was a wipe out but nobody was hurt!!








These were in the dark right after we arrived and bundled up.

We had such a fun weekend that Chris and I are paying with sore muscles. We are so glad everything worked out so we could go. It is a weekend the kids will remember for a long time. Thank you Dena for having us!!

I have several pretty scenery pictures of Ceta Canyon covered with snow. I will post those soon. We hiked down to the waterfall. Everything was so pretty and white.

Embarrassing Moment

This evening at Rachel's basketball practice I had a rather embarrassing moment. When we were leaving Kate was a few steps ahead of me and I paused at the trash to check the bag I was about to throw away to make sure there was nothing important in it, like the Chipmunk toy from McDonalds that I have been keeping up with for over a week now for Luke. I threw away the sack and turned to walk down the hall, but Kate was not in the hall. I got nervous because the first door down the hall was the men's locker room. Rachel's coach was walking in at the same time, so I asked him if he saw Kate anywhere in there. He said yes I believe she is in her. I asked if he could show her the way out for me. He said, "Well actually she is going potty right now." I did not know what to do then. The coach checked around for me and said I could come in and get her. I don't know how she had time to find the potty, get her pants down, and her diaper off before I got to her. She was only about two steps ahead of me!!! Anyway I quickly got her dressed and out the door, and luckily nobody came in while I was there.

Kate got her first hair cut last week. This is the before picture.....

And the after....

We thought it looked real cute on her, but it really has not looked like this since. Christie blew it dry and styled it a little. Kate does not have patience for the hair dryer when I try to do her hair.

More Snow

While we were in Snyder over our Christmas break we got to enjoy the surprise snow they received Christmas Eve and some more a few days later. Snow is a special treat for us! My Aunt Janice and Uncle Robert came for a visit a few days after Christmas and arrived on a very snowy day. It snowed all day long!!! Although the temp was a little too warm for it all to really stick, it was so pretty to watch it fall all day. My Aunt and Uncle took the big kids for a walk in the snow and found enough snow at the school to make a snowman and have a snow ball fight. I was home with Kate because she was sleeping, but Dena and my mom were there to get pictures for me. Looks like they had a great time!!!

Janice, Robert, Rachel, Luke, and Mr. Snowman.

Wonder who won the snow ball fight?

This was a fun memory for Rachel and Luke with their Aunt Janice and Uncle Robert!

Basketball

Rachel played in her first basketball game this weekend. She did so good! We are very proud of her! She hustled and tried to guard her girl. Her confidence will grow the more games she plays. She said she had fun and that is all the matters.

Chris was the photographer while I made sure the team did not have two extra players. He got some great shots it was hard to decide which ones to share.

Happy Birthday Grandad Bob!!!

Happy Birthday Grandad Bob!!! We hope you had a great day!!

Merry Christmas 2009

We had another great Christmas!!! I hope everybody else did as well. To our surprise Santa made an appearance again this year. The kids had a pretty big wish list. Rachel and Luke both got Nintendo DSIs which they have not put down since. Kate got a bike which she can ride beautifully. We even had a special treat of snow on Christmas Eve in Snyder, so we got to have a white Christmas!!! We spent about a week in Snyder. We got lots of visiting in. Chris and I are taking down Christmas decorations today. It is funny how excited we get for Christmas to come and then once it is here we can't wait to take the decorations down and get everything back to normal.

The Kids First Experience Ice Skating

This Saturday Luke was invited to an ice skating party. I was pretty skeptical about 5 and 6 year olds trying to ice skate. Although Luke and Rachel were excited about going, I figured they would get tired of it pretty quickly. After all, they tend to avoid any activity where there is a potential of being hit, pushed, falling, or anything too challenging.

As you might suspect, they started out glued to the wall ruling out any real chance of a fall.

Then all of a sudden Luke got a little brave.... He let go of the wall and did not look back.
He fell several times, but he kept getting back up without complaining....well he did complain that his hands were getting cold from the ice.
Luke did AWESOME ice skating!!!! He really shocked me!!!
Rachel did start to let go of the wall some, but did not venture far from it in case she needed it.
The kids really enjoyed ice skating!! They did not want to leave and can't wait to go back again! I am so proud of them trying something new and challenging!!! They found a new activity they really liked.

Here is a little video of Luke skating across the ice. I did not get the focus right, so it is a little blurry.