It's (finally) beginning to look more like winter

The weatherman/woman said the chance of snow this weekend was good.  Of course, he/she has said that many times this year -- all for naught.  So this time, we thought we'd "triple-dog dare" the forecasters and head up to the mountains for a few days.


Low and behold, we woke up Sunday to a fresh snowfall of 6-8 inches of fluffy stuff.  Add that to the existing foot or so and you get a wonderland for good girls and boys and dogs.

Oakley playing in front of our cabin.

He eyes the new snowdrift.

Despite Carolyn's warning, he jumps into said bank of snow.

And immediately, he discovers a desire to escape the mound.

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."
John Ruskin

We hope all is well in each of your worlds.  We're looking forward to seeing many of you in Quincy for Easter.  Much love, David, Carolyn, Hannah (she sends a big "hi" from the NW), Oakley and Circa from under the couch down in SLC.

Since we've been on several road trips, we've had requests to share some of our adventures.  These pix are from our January trip to Moab, UT.  The four of us (Carolyn, Hannah, me and Oakley) had an early morning hike before loading up and moving onto Durango and Albuquerque.

Moab is located in southeastern Utah and is famous for its red rock canyons and surroundings.  Since I'm color-blind, it took me a long time (30 years or more) to gain an appreciation for the scenery.  And now I have...

Christmas Fish!

Meet our new additions from last week...

The yellow fish is a foxface lo and the black and white is a butterfly fish

This is my guy... his name is Po, after the character on Kung Fu Panda


This is a lo in camo mode! Her name is Foxylady. She's Bryan's fish.

Thanks Eric and Monica for the gift card! Unfortunately our petco doesn't sell saltwater fish, but we were able to buy Skye's pet food there and in turn use the money we would have spent on that towards these new fish! Win - Win!!

I'll post a video of the tank next time.

I LOVE FISH!!! =o)

I did get it after all!!

Friday Dinner

So Bryan and I invited Sherry and Dale over for dinner last Friday. It's about time we start reciprocating the act, especially when their kitchen is still "in progress" so to speak. ;o)

We enjoyed a dinner comprised of Cheeseburgers, Kraft Mac and Cheese, and chips... dinner of champions! Hehe... Some day we'll make something better, but hey it worked.

After dinner I glanced over near the tv where a certain "electronic game" was placed and thought to myself... I wonder if I can get Bryan and Dale to challenge eachother... Success! Though, failure on saving the video of the final battle.

This electronic game is a game of reflex... You tap the center button which remains red while playing "count down" type of music and eventually turns green. At the moment it turns green you want to be the first to press the button on top of the handle with your thumb. If you press the button too early or you are the last one you get an electric shock. There are 4 levels/settings of intensity. I had a funny video of Dale getting shocked on the highest setting, but sadly it didn't save. He yelled and threw the control out of his hand.

I thought it was pretty funny... so figured I'd share some photos too....

Christmas Eve Fun

Great Grandma Margaret and Great Grandpa Donald sent (spoiler alert!) all of our grandkids cute stuffed animals wrapped around soft fleece blankets. Hannah devised a scavenger hunt, starting with a clue that lead the gang to Chloe's prize, and working up kid by kid. Each clue was a little trickier, based on that child's age. Sam's was in a place Harry Potter once lived (cupboard under the staircase) and Patrick's was "posted,"outside in the mailbox. It was a great way to start the day and to keep the kidlings entertained until brunch was ready to eat and packages were ready to be opened.

Thanks Hannah for the witty clues, and thanks Don and Margaret for the great gifts. Here is a picture of the kids with their prizes and their clues.

Schonarth/ Altgilbers news

Well I finally got around to posting our wish list. I'll start with the Schonarths:
John : size large shirts, wrangler relaxed fit jeans 33x34. Gift cards to Home Depot, Lowes , Walgreens, and Hy-Vee.
Val: I need a 13" sq flat griddle, or a 2-3 qt casserole dish, super size bath towels, a hand operated can opener with a safety edge cut, size large 3/4 sleeve tops, or gift cards from restaurants, penneys, kohls.
Jen Jr size med sweaters, jewelry, gift cards old navy, walmart, amc, bath n body, kohls, bergners, penneys sears, walgreens, hyvee, county market, or gas cards.
James lg tall tops jeans relaxed fit 34x34 gift cards Menards,Home Depot, Lowes, gas cards, food cards.
Callie is a princess. Her current favorites are Rapunzel, Belle and Cinderella. She wears size 4t slim pants with an adjustable waist and a 4t top. Santa is bringing her a 5'8" 4 story barbie house with furniture, so any Barbie would be good.
Cruz is trying to get into a size 6/9 mo.He needs boy long sleeved bibs they can be found at Babies r us. baby boy toys.

on a different note: Leslie You did good! we watched the Simpson College Hallelujah Chorus flash mob and it was fantastic. My daycare kids came running to see what that music was. Here are their comments:

Cole age 3: that's pretty good and it's not scary cause she didn't put any monsters or spiders in there.

Kaden age 5: That's really nice, it could be a Christmas song.

Kady age 3: That's a pretty church, but my church doesn't have any stuff like that.

Claire age 3 : She makes the bestest song, it's really pretty. We sing that in our church, but it don't sound like that.

Ryleigh age 20months: she squealed, spun in circles and laughed.

Cruz age 7 months: he was tired and fussy but when I 0started playing it he stoppped fussing and just watched it ( he did not go to sleep)

I got a kick out of their comments and thought you might like a childs version.

see all of you for Christmas
Val and family