Christmas in Montana

We've been meaning to post about our wonderful Christmas for awhile, but have been busy getting back to work at school. This year, we had the privilege of hosting Christmas with my family for the first time. My parents and Amber and Shawn and Lacy and Steve all flew out and we celebrated Christmas here in Montana. We still haven't moved into the new apartment which we were disappointed about, but the big house worked out well with all of the guests. We had a lot of fun playing pool and board games at the house, and going skiing 3 times while everyone was here. Even my parents got out and skied.

The first day skiing was a disaster. The place we went was not great for beginners, so after everybody else did the lesson on the bunny slope, we took off up the mountain. I'll spare you all of the details, but there were many funny incidents, including a pile up at the bottom of the ski lift ramp when Amber fell, then mom missed the spot to stand up and ended up jumping from about 3 feet in the air, followed by dad who also fell. The three of them ended up in a pile at the bottom. I'm sure they didn't think it was funny at the time.

We tried again a few days later at Big Mountain, one of the best ski resorts in Montana and had a great time. The beginner skiers were able to buy only a beginner area lift ticket, so there was no danger this time of getting somewhere and not being able to get down. Everyone had a really good time that day. My mom did end up with a black eye however, when she fell on her ski pole. I talked to her today and she said it is almost healed. I'll not embarrass her by putting a picture on here.

On New Year's Eve we went to the church party and brought in the new year with prayer with all of the staff and kids from the ranch and some of the people from town. It was a good time as well.

We really enjoyed having everyone here and can't wait to do it again soon. If anyone else wants to come visit, we have plenty of room and we can take you skiing!