Winter Visitors

Rob, Anna, and family have been in Provo for about 12 days to ski and spend time with the extended family. We dropped them off at the airport this afternoon and they are on their way back to Virginia as I type (actually delayed in Denver). We had a great time. The house was bursting at the seams with cousins from morning until night. We cooked and ate tons of food, went to the movies, ate out a couple of times, always with the whole gang. Rob, Anna, and I walked and hiked many miles for the sheer pleasure of it, and to try to balance all the good food we were consuming with some calorie burning. We sledded and most of the Hastings skied (you will see photos and videos on Anna's blog). Rob was a trooper: he took the Ensign cousins and Lucy's friend Malia (sp.?), none of whom had ever skied before. All in all, it was a great week and a half. We are suffering, as we always do after family visits, from empty-house syndrome.

A long walk "up and over"

Revisiting the scene of the kickoff

Auntie Em reading to the cousins

Pasta dinner on MLK Day

Clara eschews the crusts

Another day, another family dinner: quinoa stew

A morning of sledding by the South Fork of the Provo River

Catching some air

Tunneling in the snow

The Hastings

Squaw Peak

An afternoon hike to the top of Rock Canyon

Dickie and Rob pushing onward

Anna and Dickie near the top of the canyon

Delicious dinner at the Bombay House

Meagan in goofy-face prevention mode

On the way to the slopes

Maxwell was pinned in by the gear

Brazilian Dinner

The must like it -- they ate it

Colton and Millie hosting an expanded
Compound Dinner at Communal: fantastic

The troops waiting for a signal to begin

Salt-roasted spuds, roasted brussel sprouts,
steak, salad, and bread

On their way home -- sigh

Thanks for coming kids. We will miss you but will see you in the spring.

OXO

D.

Dickie Days are Done

Kris has gone back to work this morning, I start Winter Semester tomorrow, and Wednesday, Katy returns to Texas. So the holiday festivities are officially finished. On New Years Eve day, Ann decided she wanted to drive to SLC to the Broadway Theater to see The King's Speech, and Katy Kathryn and I tagged along. That was the best film I have seen in ages. Everything you would expect to be well done, was, but most importantly, it was a fantastic story -- inspiring and touching. That evening many gathered for snacky food and games. After midnight, Phillip set off some of Stephen's firecrackers, which, more or less, captured the spirit of Hawaii on New Years Eve.

In keeping with recent tradition, Uncle's family and ours gathered for a Greek feast on New Years night. It was excellent. There was lots of visiting and later in the evening several rounds of Rock Band. It was a fitting way to ring down the curtain on the High Dickie Days.

Excellent!

Lots of good food

Wax lips rule

Ann, Steve, and Phillip dig in

Gun-crazy cousins

The chef and his frau

Rock on!

Noisy celebration

We missed the various groups of cousins who were far away, but will see some of them very soon. Wahoo!

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Christmas 2010

This post is heavy in photos because I have been laid low by a nasty Christmas flu/cold and have not felt much like posting.

Our annual tree-decorating party took place several days after the fact, once Katy had arrived in town. To celebrate having the Ensigns with us for the evening, we opened our present early and had them install our new blue-ray player and HD television. It has a pretty spectacular picture and we can stream Netflix from the internet straight to the TV.

The pre-Christmas season also included a batch of baklava. Katy is quite an expert now and it turned out very well. We were joined on Christmas Eve by Stephen and Ann. We cooked another rib roast and I believe it was the best one ever. We had a slim version of the traditional nativity. The cast was much smaller with cousins in the east this year. The talent show was great, but the highlight was Phillip's impromptu guitar serenade, which was by turn, wonderful and hysterical.

Everyone scored on Christmas morning with lots of good gifts. The crowd at the Ringer's Christmas brunch was small this year, which is a good thing. The rest of the holiday has been filled with games and food and that probably won't let up until after New Years. That's just how it is.

The usual fare

Red-wax lips are de riguer

Auntie Katy working over the Ensign kids

We were so surprised

These two are a godsend for their
technologically-challenged parents

Katy Kathryn adds another layer of filo

The finished masterpiece

In Anna's absence, Phillip has become the rollmeister

Delish

Ensigns and Taylor-Woodburys

The binkers picking at their food

The Christmas pud' with lemon sauce

Jayson thought that Phillip was "very fun tonight"

Phillip performing via Skype for the cousins in VA

The minimal but excellent nativity cast

Lizzy plays a Christmas ditty

As does Ollie

And Meg

Even Max showed a new talent this year

Kris with her new fire topaz

The Ensigns and Uncle Adam (shades of Uncle Tony?)
on Christmas morning

Max is following in Uncle Pippy's footsteps
with his new guitar

Amy, Hansen, and Jeff on Christmas morning

A very noisy game of Pit

That was Christmas 2010. Hope you all had a good one -- we missed the Virginia and Arizona cousins like crazy. We're glad that y'all could be together in Virginia even for just a few days.

OXO

D.