Hesselgesser-Filled Weekend

Just wanted to quickly post these couple pictures from our weekend we had with Paul's sister, Tami, Todd and TJ about a week and a half ago. They came over from Selah on Saturday for a track meet TJ had at the UofW. They arrived at our house by dinnertime. We had a great weekend with them, enjoyed having them join us for church. TJ also came with a project for the girls to help him with. Apparently he was doing some sort of skit at school on Tuesday and he was in charge of creating vegi-tales costumes for himself and two friends. Here are the finished projects: Brianna is modelling the tomato, TJ is the cucumber and Kenzie is the asparagus. -- Sure wish we could have seen the skit:
On Monday, MLK holiday, the Hesselgessers joined us at Stevens Pass for a ski day. The day was BEAUTIFUL - with blue skies and great visibility. Unfortunately the snow was less than great - pretty ICY. My children have far surpassed my skiing abilities by now. All can do groomed black diamonds if the conditions are right, except Kenzie - she's a pretty solid intermediate skier and I'm a fair-weather intermediate skier. Here's one shot of us at the top of the Hogsback lift at the beginning of the day: me, Tami, Carly, Kenzie, TJ, Todd, Brianna, Aaron and Paul.

Not much else has been going on around here. Enjoying a bit of calm for the moment - but I'm not saying that too loudly. There were layoff announcements at Microsoft last week, but Paul and his group were not affected this round of 1400. He's feeling fairly alright about his position - but you just never know. Being prepared is key in this world! Hope all are enjoying life out there - have a great day!

~We Didn't Drown~

Not sure if any of you have followed the weather news about our area this week. Brianna's government teacher told them that they have now had 3 - 100 year floods since 1996 - 2 of them in the past 2 years. Imagine that... Remember all my snow pictures? Well, there was WAY more snow in the mountains and then it started warming up enough for it to start melting - with a vengeance - and add to that LOTS and LOTS of rain non-stop for DAYS and DAYS and it was a recipe for disaster in the lowlands. During times like this, our local Snohomish River often becomes Snohomish Lake - especially when there are breeches in the dikes. So with a couple breeches, plus just WAY more water than the river could hold, here is what happens. On Thursday, the kids who lived on the other side of the valley (the flats by the river) had gotten released from the high school 2 hours early before the river was breeched and they had called for seniors who wanted to help sandbag during 2nd period, Brianna said. I picked up Brianna and Kenzie from school and we went over to see where the waters were rising and to take pictures for the yearbook.

This is at the soccer fields. The partial house and deck on the left of this pic is the soccer house (typically has a 10 foot clearance below that deck you see.) Off in the distance is a garage about 10 feet under with the white concession trailer floating next to it:

Closer up:

A lone soccer ball floating in the fields:

Stranded cows:

Kayakers preparing to take advantage of the new water recreation available in the area:

This is normally dry ground and pavement: Aren't they tricky? This sign is typically at a normal height on the road - approximately 10 feet up:

Notice houses on the left engulfed by water:

As we head home from the town of Snohomish, we travel through another lowland area as we head to our own area of Machias. The roads along the right of the road have the Pilchuck River (which flows in to the Snohomish River) in their back yard. The waters were rising and surrounding a number of these homes: These couple pics are taken from the bridge over the Pilchuck River, a few minutes downhill from our home (this river's about twice as wide as it normally is):

There is normally at least a 15+ clearance under this bridge. It was running extremely fast:

School was cancelled on Friday and highway 9 is currently still closed and so is highway 203 that Paul typically takes to work. I can somewhat fathom how it all happened in the days of Noah a bit better now...

I Promised You More - Don't Want to Disappoint...

After the Christmas morning festivities were complete, most headed outside to play in the snow. We were well over 2 feet now and it was calling our names. Lots of pictures ahead, prepare yourselves. We'll start with this one of David - love those beautiful blue eyes:

Sarah and Kenzie:Sarah going solo:
Aaron giving upright a whirl:
David and Brianna:

Chris:

The snow was quite sticky on this day. The first number of runs were essentially people snowplowing the path. Chris was really good at it:

We actually got Nathan out here to give it a whirl. I think he ended up having a pretty good time, what do you think?:

The beginnings of a train - Nathan, Brianna, Jon, Chris, Sarah, David and Kenzie:

The middle of a train - they're all still in there somewhere:

The end of a train:This time it was David, Kenzie, Nathan and Sarah - SMILES all around!:

Carly after a sweet run:

Aaron in a cool series of three shots:

Aaron and Jon:

Aaron laying down on the job of climbing back up the hill:

After a while of sledding, the adults (well James, with Kara's encouragement) took it upon himself to get a "group" project going. The snow was ideal for snow fort building and that's just what he set out to do. We had these handy dandy brick makers that worked amazingly. The beginnings of a masterpiece:

A second layer going on - Nathan joins in and soon gets assigned "Head Architect" position:

In the meantime, sledding continues. Jon, Brianna and Kenzie:

Not the prettiest landing, but a blast nonetheless:

Some pictures just say it all. Snowbound cars and boogie boards that do double duty in the winter. These babies have boogied their way from the warm waves of Hawaii to the chilly waters of the Oregon coast to the wintery hills of Snohomish, WA:

Back to the fort builders, others contribute their efforts during the process:

A view of the inside in process:

A window under construction:

Carly thinking that it's tough working so hard:

Paul fine tuning his craftsmanship:Finished snow fort - complete with tower, two doors and a window!

Nathan and Aaron pleased with their finished product:
From the other side:

Then it was back inside for hot chocolate, showers, music and games. It's nice when the cousins get together and play piano and violin. Nathan, Jon and Brianna:

And the Leavens Family traditional game of PIG - it's like spoons on crack. These are the final four:

So, in spite of the mishaps (forgot to mention a few power outages thrown in the mix of all of this - yeah for generators!) it was one of our favorite Christmas' to date. Thanks to the Hannas for making the trip and joining us - it's sure to be a Christmas that all of us will talk about for YEARS and YEARS to come! Thanks to everyone reading for joining us on our Christmas adventures. Hope we didn't overdose you with too many pictures, but they really do tell the story well.