New Years Eve

Some of my earliest memories are of my parents hanging out with their best friends, the Ethridges and the Phelps. I'm not exactly sure when they all met, but I "married" Scotty Phelps when I was 5 years old right in front of the church we all attended together. My parents still celebrate every New Year's Eve with these two couples and have probably only missed a handful of these celebrations during the 4-ish decades they've known each other. In fact, one of the reasons I started going back to church 15 years ago after a 7 year hiatus was to find the fellowship that my parent's naturally enjoyed with people they went to church with when I was growing up. I wanted my kids to go to Sunday School and to camp and I wanted friends to hang out with on New Year's Eve. OK, so that wasn't consciously what I was looking for, but I know, in the recesses of my memory, it was very important. I can't actually recall what year we started this, but for at least the last 4 years, we have had friends up to the cabin to play games, sled, laugh, eat and last, but not least, ring in the new year together. We've known the Adams' since Zach and Andrew were babies, the McConaugheys since Jered and Zach were 5 and 7, and the Seideman's since they moved back to Boise in '03 (?). The Long's couldn't make the 2-day drive from Maryland this year for some strange reason, but they've joined us at the cabin for at least the last 3 years. They were in my thoughts all weekend as I remembered the fun we had with them last year. This is the group that celebrated the New Year together last year on December 31st, 2006:

Adams' and Seidemans joined us again this year and I guess you could say I kind of twisted the arms of both Shawn and Katrina since this will be their last chance to join us at the cabin for New Years. . . I hope they didn't regret it!! All three families arrived within 10 minutes of each other and it wasn't long before the kid's threw on their snow clothes and headed to the meadow. I was torn between sledding and joining in the game of Speed Scrabble that was just starting, but the snow called to me and I followed the kids to the nearby meadow. I love this picture of Jered- it looks like he has just conquered a mountain:

These kid's are all friends in spite of their age differences and they all jumped on sleds with whoever happened to be going down. I don't think I heard a single argument.
I only went down a couple of times and then settled myself near the "jump" we created and caught the fun with my camera. Although the end of this video is truly a sad sight to see, there were no lasting negative effects:

Gloria and Elsie:

Corri:

Andrew, Kristin and Megan:

Jered:

Zach:

Andrew literally stuck his head in a snowbank (on purpose!) right before this picture was taken:

Sweet Elsie:

Alyssa:

Kristin is situating Jered's hat whether he likes it or not!!

Jered was nice enough to "let" Gloria sled down with him. She's had a bit of a crush on him for a couple of years and he's well aware of it. Probably because she tells him all the time!

Kristin made several successful runs down the hill standing up on the ski sled that Rob built but this is the one I captured for posterity:

Kristin, looking gorgeous in her faux fur:

"Wipe Out":

Gloria:

Zach, Andrew. . . . . . and Jered:

Lucy had a fabulous time. Emma wasn't allowed to join us on the hill because, as sweet as she is, she turns into a vicious, glove-eating wolf in the meadow:

Andrew and Elsie:

Rob and Kristin:

The deer weren't the least bit concerned about the party going on inside.

They were having a party of their own!

The deer would come right up to the window and peer inside. It's just not a sight you see every day.

When a game of Settlers of Catan broke out, I dropped what I was doing and joined in. I love this game and I was hoping someone would bring it to the cabin. Thanks, Shawn!

I'm red here and the proud owner of "the longest road" card:

I'm really not competitive, honest, so I'm not sure why Christie and I ended up arm wrestling when we both tried to buy and place a road in the same place at the same time!!:

Even though I won the match, she got her revenge by snapping up my "longest road" card just before Shawn won the game.

I have an unhealthy attachment to the "longest road" card so I'd say we're square.

We had a delicious dinner of turkey and mashed potatoes, served up by Katrina and Kristin while we finished up the game.

The next two pictures just crack me up. The first one is Zach, Andrew and Jered this year. . .

. . . and the second one, taken just one year earlier is of Zach, Andrew and Jered last year- it's almost as if time stood still. . .

The kids were great at entertaining themselves as usual. They played games, like Disney Scene It and just hung out together, having fun.

You wouldn't think Andrew would find this fun, but he IS laughing. . .

After the Settlers game, we settled in to a nice, long game of Up and Down the River for the rest of the evening.

Just before midnight we popped the tops of the sparkling stuff and counted down the seconds:

Cheers!!

We gathered together in the same spot as last year, set the timer on the cameras and SMILED!

Here's to good friends and to the year 2008 that will bring physical distance but can't diminish our memories or our friendship. Happy New Year!!


Blast from the past: Here are some pictures from the last two New Year's Eve parties:
Zach, Austin and Megan in 2005:

Jeff and Tracie at midnight in 2005:

Corrie, Ashlie and Alyssa, 2005:

Zach, Austin, Megan, Ashlie, Alyssa, Corrie, Andrew and Jered in 2006:

Wildlife

Several storms had blown through the area in the days just prior to our arrival at the cabin leaving a gorgeous winter wonderland.

Rob's dad has been very faithful to feed the critters every winter with day-old items from Eddie's Bakery so it's not the least bit unusual to find wildlife in abundance everywhere you look.

It could be the creme filled Twinkies that have become part of their regular diet that draws them. Is that bad??

This one may have had one too many Ding Dongs:

There is a family of five raccoons that live right on the property. I don't think they've lacked for nourishment this winter either!

At the end of a much needed, very relaxing day, we played the board game, Titanic.

Have I mentioned that I love the cabin???