Mary and Joseph

This is our second year of the awesome Nativity play. Sam once again was Joseph (due to the fact that he's the only one who fits in the cool Saudi Arabian outfit that Gary brought home for Jared from a business trip when he was a little boy...). The odds of him being Joseph are also skewed in his favor as on both sides he has a little girl cousin very close in age to him. This year, he's a whole 4 years old and is learning more about being a man. He very carefully and gently guided Mary to Bethlehem... when Mary was Lizzie...

and the next day when Mary was played by Cumorah.
Seriously, how adorable is that? More to come... I just have to process those pictures...:)

Snowman

Pearl is kind of a wimp. We all know this, and perhaps, love her even better for it. She absolutely refused to go sledding, instead, coercing Lizzie to hide in little snow depressions by the trees and pretend to be bears. But, Lizzie, being the daredevil that she is, wanted to go sledding, so that left Pearl with nothing to do. Lucky for her, her Aunt Mara was needing some help with the Snowman!

That smile on Mara's face is so genuine. She was so excited about her big snowball!!!

Max was sincerely wondering what everyon was standing around looking at.
This, of course! The master creation! He eventually ended up with a wife and a cat as well, lucky guy!

Sledding

There was a big hill and Sam was nervous to sled down it. He finally consented to go down with me. I'm not sure that was a good choice, as it was my first turn down and we fell 3 times and we forgot to put our gloves on, but it was fun! He went down again with Uncle Tim, and they had a better trip:)

Snow Cave

We went to Tahoe with my family to play in the snow after Christmas. We ended up only staying one night, but everyone else was there three. (I know, we're the party poopers... but we have too many kids, not enough sleep, you get the picture). Jared was on a mission to build a snow cave. As in, super dedicated out in the snow by himself until dark with my mother remarking that he should be a scout leader kind of cave. Here he is in his super stylish chi-com hat that he got on the great wall of China. It's missing the red star... he was sad about that.

Here are the boys. Once the cave was finished, it basically became a place for the kids to hide while the dads threw snowballs at them. Sam wanted a window, which turned out to be not such a good idea for him as the dads used that point of entry to aim their snowballs.
I left Max there for a bit while Jared was building, and all of the sudden, I turn around to see this...
He kept scooping down in the snow then raising his hands so joyfully, we think he thought he was throwing it in the air (as opposed to it snowing on him:)
Fun times were had, and we were so grateful that everyone had good snow gear, it kept the whining to a minimum!

Snow!!!

If all of the snowflakes were hershey bars and cupcakes, oh what a snow it would be!!!!

Standing outside with my mouth open wide....

PS this may be no big deal to some of you, but I just upgraded my photo editing software and now I can easily brighten just the face without brightening the whole picture - a must in these snow pictures. It is so fun and exciting!!!!!

Family Pictures

The last picture of all the Hulbert siblings was taken 10 years ago. It was time.

A friend of the family took pictures of all of the Hulbert clan this Christmas. Thanks, Ryan, you did a fabulous job!

Christmas Cheer

I have been a camera SLACKER this month. How does life get so busy? I get so tired, I don't even want to think about processing pictures, but when I do, I remember how much I like it, especially when I get that perfect shot.

So, I've been feeling badly about not taking enough pictures of Max as he's changing so much. So, here are a few I took at my nephew's birthday party that might make you smile. They sure make me smile!

A break.

Jared and I snuck away this week to go to Mendocino. It was fabulous. It was amazing. I was pretty sure I never wanted to come home. Thank you, Brianna, for taking such good care of the children. Thank you, Jared, for being the love of my life and someone I can lounge around with for three days and not get tired of talking to. I love you so much!

I printed out a picture of the beach, two 16x20's side by side that create a landscape picture (thanks for the idea, Ashley!). I can't wait to put them up in our room to remind us of the peace and togetherness we still feel when we can actually be alone!

traditions

Pearl and I went with our friends the Snyder-Oases and the Larsens and the Yoders to dinner and a play tonight. I think this is the 3rd play we've seen with some variation of this group - so much fun. It is fun to watch the girls get older, and I'm so grateful to have a daughter old enough to do girls night out with! I'm totally bummed that NONE of my pictures turned out, oh well, in my mind's eye I can see Pearl with her pin-curl pigtails and silver wrapping ribbons:) Thanks ladies, it was fun! Let's do it again!