Into 2012!

We started off New Years Eve with some flag football since there was no ice for hockey. I really prefer the snow and ice for this time of year. . . but these pictures are misleading. It was still pretty cold out there.

My fingers were frozen.

Probably could have solved that with more playing and less photographing and possibly some gloves.

So either Azia has on the wrong color flags or she forgot the rules to the game.
Or possibly she just really likes the idea of chasing down her teacher.

Zoran was so excited to play. I heard him talking to Dev before they left: "So last year  I was only six, but now that I'm seven that means I'm big enough to play?"

Unfortunately you don't get to be involved in a lot of the big plays when you are only seven and about 40 pounds and playing with a lot of big people who are much older than seven and weigh much more than 40 pounds. 

He didn't really pout, but you could tell he wasn't too happy with not being more directly involved.

He was pretty excited about the plays he was in on though.

 And he's still talking about that interception he "almost" had.

After football the kids and I headed up to St. Mary's Lake for dinner and sledding.

Lex and Kylie are the group's most unenthusiastic sledders this year.

 St. Mary's might have the best sledding hill around.

And even though it's not that many miles away, it is still like a 40 minute drive in with the snow (yes there's still snow up that high!) and small, slick mountain roads, so there wasn't anyone else around but our gang.

 Which is still a pretty big gang.

We made it back into town before midnight and the kids' had a cousins sleepover.

Complete with superheroes

and movie watching.



 The next day we headed up to the lake for out annual Polar Plunge.

Lex doesn't like sledding but for some reason was excited about jumping in the cold lake? He didn't want to wait for the rest of the group.

It was even warmer Sunday than New Year's Eve– a balmy 34 degrees. . . nothing like last year where it was -7 below down there and we had to walk over the ice to get to the water.

Azia doing a temperature check

Still, pretty cold though.

The gang getting ready to head in. 

I think we had a bigger group with the warmer weather though. Even most of the little kids jumped in. (Not just the crazy, little boys like last year.)

Israel, Daij and Shawncee showing off their muscles

Zoran and Bryce trying to warm up

a picture someone took of me with Israel's phone

and the picture I was taking with my camera:

Afterwards we stopped at Pizza Hut to eat. We basically took over the restaurant. I think someone said there were forty-some people in our group?

And now on to the rest of the year!