Miller Ski Trip 2012-13 (#3)

 

Now, my dad has a crazy sense of humor. I may have inherited a bit of it, but I tend toward the sarcastic.  This is totally my dad!  He found these crazy hats at a truck stop and decided that his grandkids would thoroughly enjoy them.  And, they did!!

Our family trip wouldn’t be complete without pictures.  So, first it’s Grandpa & Grandma with all the grandkids.  With this many, it’s hard to get a bad picture …or a good picture depending on how you look at the scenario.

The headbands are a little big for the littlest Golden Acre Grandkids, but they persevered.

 

The Lahlum Family…and another of the headband conquers baby pictures.

 

My parents, to whom we are thankful for giving us life and these wonderful family memories.

 

I didn’t include all my sibling family photos, but I have to include my brother Eric.  He has a great sense of humor, too.  He was replicating the Karate Kid in the above shot.  I have no idea where that came from…

now, this…I take complete creative credit for the idea that began it all.  I made an offhand comment to Anna, my sister-in-law, that, “I think they should make NDSU.”  Said sarcastically, of course!  And, from there we have the following fun…we ladies stood up on the balcony and directed the guys into proper position…and LAUGHED and LAUGHED!

Don’t worry, the guys do get better with practice.  From scrunched up on the carpet…

…to rolling up the carpet and moving some furniture..

…to the best we could do with this many people and this little space.

Then, the guys had to have their own brand of fun!!

Happy New Year!  Go Bison…a few of the group will be headed down to TX at the end of the week for the championship football game.

While the snow cover on the mountain was sufficient, the night we left…on into the morning of our departure…it snowed A LOT.  Wish we could have stayed to ski one more day. 

I should note that I chose not to ski this year.  Getting all the kids to lessons and having a 4 month old baby would have made it challenging.  And, I did want to relax.  In addition, there was ‘baby weight’ and I had no desire to shop for post-pregnancy ski pants!  This was the year to ‘take a break.’  I enjoyed visiting, reading my Kindle, watching the kids in their ski lessons, and playing Scrabble with my brothers (they actually used a timer!!).

This is the view out the balcony door on the morning of our departure.  We left for home on Jan 2.  We drove all the way home.  Thank goodness traveling wasn’t affected by the snowfall.

Overall, another excellent Miller Ski Trip.

Miller Family Ski Trip 2012-2013 (#1)

This year, the Miller Family traveled to Terry Peak, SD for their every other year ski trip.  It was a LONG drive.

Zeke received a donut maker from Grandma & Grandpa Golden Acres for Christmas.  We brought it along on the ski trip so he and Grandma could test it out.  We ALL tested the donuts and declared that the donut maker should make the trip for each and every future Miller Family Ski Trip!

Grandpa Golden Acres spending time with Marcus.

Eric (on skis) and Louis making their way back to the house after Louis ski lesson.

Uncle Pat giving Graham a ski lesson outside our rental house.  It was great to be able to see the kids right from the house.

Uncle Eric took time to go tubing with Louis.  He had a blast..though one time he went over a retainer wall and landed at the base (about 4.5ft drop).  Louis was fine, but everyone else about had heart attack from fright!

 

The kids could go sledding just outside the back of the rental house.  The little guys had a great time!

Above:  Eric & Zeke on the ski lift.

Below: Grandpa Golden Acres & Graham on the ski lift.

My mom sewed souvenirs for everyone – grey headbands & gloves for the guys, pink for the ladies.  All embroidered with ‘Terry Peak 2013.’  She brought her sewing machine along to finish up while on vacation.

My brothers made use of the hot tub…

Angelina, above, and Dash, below.

Dash and Grandpa do this pose every year.

Angelina & Zeke take a break from sledding.

Part II coming up…

Christmas 2012

 

Dash, middle, with his Lahlum cousins.  They get together at least once each year and always have a good time goofing off together.

Zeke, Angelina & Graham at G&G Green Acres’ home for Christmas.  Graham below, waiting for Grandpa Green Acres to read Wilbur’s Christmas Gift by Rodney R. Nelson.  It’s one of my favorite’s by a ND author.

Tante Lori with Marcus.  We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres’ home.  Audrey always makes an amazing meal.  Afterwards we listened to Grandpa read and then opened gifts.

 

Christmas morning, we went to church and came home to open our own gifts.

This was Marcus’s favorite…Sophie giraffe.

Angelina (above) & Greg (below).

Zeke (above) and Marcus below.

Louis had a fun time opening his gifts.  He received an NDSU football outfit from Grandma & Grandpa Golden Acres.

All the youngest Miller grandsons received the NDSU football ‘pack’.  They were all thrilled!

Louis made gifts for everyone this year.  His sister is so good at doing crafts with him throughout the year.

Zeke is pretty impressed with his donut maker!

Dash helped Marcus open his ‘big’ gift.

The kids have ALL been playing with Playmobil the last couple months.  There are a lot of little pieces, so not sure I’ll leave it out once Marcus is mobile.  But, it’s been a great toy for our kids.

Merry Christmas!

Marcus’s First Christmas.

P.S.  I should note that I’m writing this up in APRIL during a BLIZZARD.  It doesn’t really seem odd to be talking about Christmas because it’s snowing to beat the band outside and this storm will most likely dump more snow than we’ve seen from any other storm this past winter.  We are in the 10”-12” snow-band.  What a crazy ‘Spring’!!