Freezin's Greetings!

Hello from cold Jamestown!

This is day two of double digits below zero. The two previous days showed highs of 36 - now that is a temperature swing! We are mostly staying indoors and are sure to warm up our cars before going out. Not too different from other winter days, except the kids are complaining about not being able to play outside.

Sara waits with great anticipation each day for her friend Samuel (our daycare provider's son who is in 5th grade) to get home from school. Sara thinks the sun rises and sets around him. This may be partly due to the fact that he takes her sledding every day. Now with the cold weather, she is missing her little play date. However, this week she is keeping busy as Chef of the Week; making snacks for her friends. Here she is making dough for individual pizzas that the kids will top to their liking.

Last week, Ben had the opportunity to go to ski school at Big Sky. To hear him talk, he was dropping out of Kindergarten and joining this alternative school. He had a great time (he made it to Green Dino) and is ready to go again. Trent didn't get to do as much skiing as he would have liked, but is glad that now he and Ben will be able to do this activity together. Sara and I stayed behind so I could continue to bring home the bacon as well as prepare for my Grandma's birthday party.

My Grandma turned 87 last week, so we celebrated with an open house at the Pingree Community Hall. My cousins and their kids all came home so we were able to take 4 generation pictures and catch up with each other. We are a small bunch, but are rarely all together. My cousins' children are the same ages as ours, so they had fun playing together. Grandma also had the pleasure of visiting with the entire group of Steele nieces and nephews (her sister's children) and some of their kids and grandkids as well as many other friends and family. Fun was had by all.

Congratulations to Priscilla and Mylo! Sorry we missed your special day (also our anniversary!). Please post some pictures. We would love to see them.

Hope everyone is healthy and warm!

Tonya

Bits and Pieces

Well, after almost 2 months I am finally able to access the blog from home....I found out that our cookies had to be a bit higher on the scale for internet usage on a blog.....And I thought you could only eat cookies!

Sounds like Russell and Sharon are really enjoying Texas....truely relaxing!

Are the Wattenfords all settled now? Two houses in one.....Is all the carpentry done?

There really is not much news here.....It's cold, sometimes windy.....two hours a day on the road driving! Take a pill and go to sleep.

We've started a new Bible Study on Monday nights...Stepping up to the Psalms of Ascent....a study of the songs the exiles sang on their way back to Jerusalem...It has been VERY interesting and entertaining so far. 17 women......Lisa Person's who is a great neice in law to Gordy Persons who used to live behind Dorothy and Harvey on Elm Street in Fargo....any way....she is the other facilitator....Gordy Person also is a pilot and so is Lisa's father-in-law....so, of course, Terry has that connection.

My confirmation class is going to take a lot of time in Feb.....We are making three HUGE banners for the front of the church. They are also making stoles.....Where are those quilters when you need them!?!?! Luckily there are only 6 confirmands and hopefully their mothers will help A LOT. We are up to listing 65 names for God....Every Sunday we name 5 more......

Tonya's grandma McIlonie is going to have a big birthday celebration this Saturday....Terry and I plan to go up if the weather is decent...Trent and Ben just got back from skiing....Ben went to ski school....his first time skiing. They didn't go skiing the day it was -25. Trent learned to ski at -30...no wonder his hair stayed red!

Dorothy, Russell, and anyone else that remembers Andy Rehor "Andy Apple" on radio. He just died. I don't know any of the details....I got an email from Karen Anderson.

Well, I'll be anxious to hear from all of you....time to correct confirmation tests! The hardest question for them was "What do you talk about in school?" They thought it was a trick question.

Love you all. Susan

Snapshots from Boulder

This first picture is of Signe and mom at rehearsal with Solveig in the background on piano. I may be biased, but I think they sounded pretty good!

Next is a picture of Micah, James, Signe and Patrick on our hike in Chataqua Park on the afternoon of the wedding. James is squatting down to be the same height as the others, something Peter said he doesn't often need to do!

Thirdly, a picture of Signe and Kate on top of a big fun rock that we stopped at before we went back down the mountainside.

Lastly a third generation cousin picture. I don't know why, but I think we missed taking a second generation picture!

Looking forward to a few pictures from others (hint, hint, Priscilla, Mom, Mary!).