Happy New Year!

2008!!!

we toasted to the new year with freshed squeezed apple cider... :)

Family Photos...

1983

1987

1988

1990

1992

1995 (I think)

1997

2000

2005

2006

Present Day... Christmas Picture 2007

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas...we certainly did!

Like always there were lots of gifts...

Lots of food...

Lots of snow...

Lots of games...


Lots of visiting...


and lots of people for Sylvia to get comfortable with! ;)

Our month of December(quickly coming to an end) has been full! From Cousins coming from Alabama and Florida, to two brothers coming home from college, to Aaron bringing his fiancee home, and having some of her family here for a short time(it was fun to have you both here Mrs. Carden and Jonathan)...

It was a great Christmas season!

Aaron and Jennifer...

Everyone has fully approved of Jennifer! She has already become a much loved new member of the Olmstead family! :)

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;



The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;



The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap...

Railroad bridge...

Yesterday afternoon we drove and hiked out to a railroad bridge over the St. Croix River...
Here are the guys!

and the girls...

after seeing the bridge, everyone agreed to another visit to Stillwater for coffee...


This morning Byron, Colin and Caleb left... thanks for coming guys, it was fun to have you!!

Byron, good choice on the camera! _ I like it and your tripod! ;) Thanks also for the help with our Christmas picture!!!

Family...

Yay!!!! The whole family is together once again! :) (for a short time)

On Monday we went out sledding again! Lots of fun...

Exciting News...

Last Friday Aaron proposed to Jennifer... they are now engaged!!!

Waiting for Abram, Aaron and Jennifer....

On Sunday evening while waiting for the arrival of the boys and Jen, we did some dancing!!! :)
Byron, Colin and Caleb learned to do the Virginia Reel, some Waltzing, and a little of the Hustle - we had fun! :)

Everyone did some dancing, even Asher and Tovala joined in the Virginia Reel! :)

Sunday in Stillwater...

On Sunday afternoon some of us drove into Stillwater for coffee and to enjoy the beautiful winter day.

We visited the fudge/candy shop...(really good fudge, btw)

Joel attempted to buy Caleb and Colin a ride on the horse... but, sadly enough it wouldn't work! :( I think they still had fun though... ;)

We all had a nice time in Stillwater!

Cousins...
On Thursday evening Caleb, from Alabama, and Byron and Colin, from Florida, came for a visit....

Yesterday was a nice full day!!! First we went sledding...

Everyone got very wet and cold!!

it was a lot of fun!

and this picture was suppose to go first... but because I don't feel like changing it, this was on Friday evening when they first got here. We took them on a hike so they could begin to get used to the cold weather!

(back to Friday) After lunch almost every one went up to the skating rink and went Ice Skating!

And before dinner Caleb and Byron fixed Caleb's computer!!! (only a three hour job)

Last night we, Nathan, Hannah, Eli, Joel, Byron, Colin, Caleb, and I went skiing! We left at 10:00 p.m. and got home at 3:00 a.m. and it was very cold! The weather gage said -6 but it felt more like -15 while skiing down the hills! We all had a lot of fun - despite the cold!!!

The Nutcracker

This morning Dad and Mom took all of us to the Nutcracker display at Macys...

Entrance Scene: The Christmas Eve party guests had begun to arrive. "Welcome! Happy Holidays!"

Scene 1: Young Clara's Godfather Drosselmeyer brought mechanical toys to entertain the guests.

Scene 7: Midnight. Now what's that stirring beneath the tree? "Mice! Oh, dear! Please, someone, make them go away!"


Scene 9: Like magic, the Nutcracker and his soldiers sprang into action to battle to wicked Mouse King.


Scene 16: But of all these wondrous scenes, Clara loved most to see her Nutcracker Prince dance with the Sugar Plum Fairy.

I didn't take pictures of all of the scenes...but you will just have to read to the book, watch the movie, or go and see the display for yourself to hear the rest of the story! :)

We all had fun, but I think Tovala probably enjoyed it the very most!!!! She liked it a lot! :) :)

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

After church today, we went to get out a Christmas Tree... Here it is all decorated!

We went to a place just north of us(where we always do) and found a perfect tree!

We rode on the horse drawn wagon out to the field to find it! :)

After decorating the tree, rearranging the living room, drinking apple cider, listening to Christmas music and all that good stuff...we watched The Little Drummer Boy.

It was a fun day!

Gingerbread Houses....

Yesterday we made gingerbread houses... The big one was made by all of us! and Noah, Mom and I made the little one for Mom(w/o sugar)! :)

We had great help! Behn helped me put the snow covered chocolate chips on the roof, Asher helped me with the licorice around the door and windows...


Seth helped with the snowman...

Hannah made the m&m sidewalk...

Tovala helped me put gum drops all around the house,

we all had a lot of fun! and the gingerbread house doesn't look too bad! :)

Snow....

I found a couple of geese who forgot to fly south and got stuck in a cold stream...

We have snow!!! and it is very pretty!

This afternoon we went on a walk in the park the snow was very pretty...

Well taken care of...

On Sunday when we arrived home Nathan, Eli, Joel, Noah, Seth, Talia, Behn, Tovala, and Asher had dinner all ready!!!

They did a great job!

Twice baked potatoes, very tasty chicken, and biscuits...

Good job guys!

Hannah is Home!!!

This past weekend Dad, Mom, Sylvia and I drove out to Colorado to get Hannah!
The day before we were suppose to leave to drive home 40 inches of snow were expected... thankfully it was just warm enough that there was not quite that much - just a lot of slushy rain!

On Thursday while Hannah still had classes we drove to Durango and enjoyed walking through town!

On Friday morning Hannah was in charge of making breakfast for everyone, so Dad fried the eggs, Mom set the table, and Hannah and I worked together on the biscuits and gravy.

Sylvia was very pleasant to have with!!! She is about as sweet as she could be!

We took a hike up a mountain to see the sunset... it was beautiful!

Friday evening was the graduation... here are all the girls after getting all ready for the evening...

After dinner everyone cleaned up!

Dad and Hannah

Hannah and me

During the whole semester Hannah learned to dance... a variety of dances - swing dance, walts, virginia reel, and others - so on graduation evening we danced! it was a lot of fun!

Despite the fact that we got mostly rain....there was still a lot of snow, especially on Wolf Creek Pass...we went about 10 mph over the whole pass! It was pretty slow progress getting home!

It is snowing! Sorry for the lack of posts Yetta is gone picking up Hannah, they will be back tomorrow then there will be more posts.