We went on my family's annual pontoon boat trip to Detroit Lake yesterday.  I do love swimming, but always wonder what is lurking under the surface of the water.  I have to specifically not think about the fish and who-knows-what is under there (my niece is worried about dead bodies under the water) or I wouldn't be able to get in the water.  My nephew Braden knows this, and thought it would be pretty fun to swim a long way underwater and pop up when I was not paying attention.  When I first saw him all I noticed was bleached blond hair and goggles emerging from the deep and for a split second I thought it was a shark/robot/piranha/zombie/all-my-nightmares-are-coming-true type of thing.

(He managed to scare me a dozen more times too.)

Oh yes, Christmas is going to fun this year.  For me. 

Oh, it's just Braden and Kiara wearing Tessa and Emma's Hannah Montana wigs.   

(I want my money back!)

My nephew Braden is making a quilt.  He is recycling his old jeans, and using the insert from a CD case as the "pattern" for the size of the squares.  The entire thing is hand sewn.

It is AWESOME!

He carries the quilt and supplies around in this bag he got last summer when he was on a mission trip to Ecuador.

When I saw him with the bag I said, "Nice man purse, Braden!"

Braden said, "Well, I figured if I was going to make a quilt I might as well carry a purse too."

My nephew Braden swims for a local high school and was named in the Statesman Journal newspaper on December 7, 2007!

(Read it here.  The newspaper clipping I scanned is a little hard to read.)

In case you can't read the tiny print in the newspaper clipping I scanned , it says…

"7. McKay

COACH: Jim Wiens, 22nd year.

LAST YEAR'S league placing: Seventh place.

KEY ATHLETES

Braden Larson, jr.: The team's best hope for a placer at the district level."

Braden won 1st place in the 500m Freestyle on December 13, 2007.

Go Braden!

My sister's kids and my family had a Gingerbread House competition.  (My dad bought two Gingerbread house kits from Costco for us to make.)  I had planned to win… but the roof of our house fell in had structural problems, so my sister's kids won.

My house started out okay…

then disaster struck.  Apparently the contractor who put the roof on this house needs to be fired!

Braden and Kiara did a great job!

Wow!

Emma was mad that Braden won, so she sat on him.

We had our Christmas celebration at Grandma and Grandpa's house on December 22nd so we could head to Canada and surprise Rogene's family on Christmas eve.

First we had Christmas dinner.  Yum!

 It is our tradition to have "crackers" at Christmas dinner.

And we all have to wear the paper hat that comes inside the cracker during dinner.  We had 100% participation this year!

Then we opened presents, but not before we made the kids pose for a picture!

Kiara got an ipod!

Braden got blue lights to put under his car.

Tessa got High School Musical Sing It! for the Wii

and a Barbie Island Princess doll!

Tim got a lap top from mom and dad Santa!

Emma got a TMX Elmo (not pictured) and a Barbie Loves Elmo.

And Elmo books!

Rogene got a potty humor shirt at the free Christmas celebration.  Luckily Tim stole it.

See the pile of free Christmas gifts?  Don't take the blue on on the right, it has the yellow star in it!

The yellow star.

Tessa passed out the gifts she picked out, bought (at the dollar store) and wrapped herself.  Here is the list of what each person on her Christmas list received.  (I used all my restraint this year to not influence her what to buy for each person.  It's more fun that way.)  In the picture you can see she picked out pink wrapping paper for the girls, and silver for the boys.

Grandma - plastic hair rollers (because she has curly hair)

Grandpa - ?????

Tim - Car polish (because he takes good care of his car)

Pam - Hair brush (because she has long hair)

Darryl - Key chain/flashlight (because he has a lot of keys)

Braden - Plush football (because he likes to play sports)

Kiara - Lip gloss set (because she is pretty and likes make up)

Emma - Sparkly wand (because she likes wands)

Rogene - Retractable USB cable (because he likes computers)

Me - A hand mirror (because the one she bought me last year for Christmas broke)

Later, after the gifts were all opened, Tessa and Emma sang together and fought over the microphone that came with the High School Musical Sing It! Wii game.

A good time was had by all!

Tessa and Emma (with cousins Braden and Kiara) right before our Christmas celebration with my side of the family.

Last Saturday afternoon (while we were yurt camping with Tessa's school) we went to the beach.

Rogene made a sand castle with Tessa.

Emma did a face plant in the sand and got a sand mustache.

She also liked showing off her sandy "beet".

Braden went boogie boarding (is that what it is called?).

Kiara and her friends Danielle and Jazmine went body surfing.

Meanwhile, all the adults sat around.

At one point when we were building sand castles and playing in the water Tessa said, "When are we going to do something fun?"

Emma was having so much fun she didn't even notice this…

We had a blast… check out these smiles…

Tessa

Emma

Rogene

We went yurt camping last weekend at the beach.  There were about 140 people from Tessa's school there.  We had so much fun! 

Highlights of the Weekend…

The view out the skylight in our yurt.  It is so nice to have natural light during the day and be able to wake up and see the stars in the middle of the night (but still be inside and have a heater and electricity).

My dad trying to give me the burned pancake.  He always tries, and I always catch him.

Emma eating in her high chair… in the woods.  Because camping without a high chair… that is just uncivilized!

Party at my parent's campsite Saturday night. We had six or seven families come eat dinner with us around the campfire.)  Looks like we might have to put Braden and Andrea on "social"!

Kids slept all night the first night.

(Thanks kids!)

When we arrived my dad had just made chili… and it was the best camping chili we've ever had.

(Sorry, no photo available.)

Our yurt.

My sister Pam in her yurt.

Tessa LOVES the bunk bed.

Tessa riding her bike.

My niece Kiara and her friend Danielle.

We set out from the dock on our annual family pontoon party boat trip.  Grandpa is driving the boat.

Soon after, Emma takes over driving the boat.  She doesn't yet have a boating license so we all have to watch out for the boating cops.

It is possible that we might have brought too many floaties.  What do you think?

Kiara has to hold on to the big colorful star floatie so it doesn't fly off the boat.

Tessa isn't so sure about boating.

Braden, right before he had to jump into the water to retrieve Grandpa's hat.  (Grandpa's hat blows off every year and we have to go into the water to get it.)

(Video of Braden retrieving Grandpa's hat… the hat is the white thing in the water.)

Rogene plays the guitar to entertain everyone.

Tessa and Emma got into the raft with me.

Pam and Kiara go swimming.

(Video of Pam and Kiara right after they jumped in the lake.  I think they may have had some regrets about jumping in.  What do you think?)

Emma LOVES the water.

(Emma and me swimming circles in the water.)

Tessa decides to see if she can fit in Emma's floatie.  (Pretty brave considering she told me at least 100 times that she was NOT going in the water).

(Video of Darryl, Kiara and Pam chasing Tessa and I through the water.)

Tangled up in the floaties.

Braden entertains Emma while she floats in the raft.

Rogene relaxing on the boat.

Grandpa staying out of the sun.

All this fun is exhausting!

Creepiest part of the day… when the tree stumps crawled out of the water up onto the beach.  Yikes!

Highlights of the day…

Rogene, Tessa, Emma and I taking a little ride in the raft.

Pam and Kiara jumping into the water and then scrambling to get back out of the water because it was so cold.

The look of pure joy and discovery on Tessa's face when she finally got into the water and realized how much fun it was to swim.

Swimming under the pontoon boat with Kiara, who kept telling me she saw a fish because she knows that gives me the creeps.

Swimming Emma around in her floatie boat and listening to her laugh.

Watching Braden dive into the water to retrieve Grandpa's hat.

Trying to trick Grandpa into thinking we forgot the sandwiches. (Inside family joke.)

Waving to the other pontoon boats on the lake and making it look like we are REALLY partying on our boat.  Why this cracks me up every year I do not know.  But it does.