Skiing!

From this picture, can you tell I'm a little behind on blog posts? No snow on the ground now!

A couple of weeks ago, we went skiing at Chestnut Mountain in Galena. My siblings and I went skiing back in December for first time in 9 years. It came back to us pretty quickly, and Melody and I decided we needed to make a return trip!

We're not experts, but we were much more confident this time.

A good number of friends went that day making it extra fun!

Greg and Dad

It was a lovely day! The sun was shining, and the temperatures were fairly warm.

Looking across the Mississippi River into Iowa.

With so many friends there, we never lacked for company on the ride back up the slope on the ski lift.

This was the first time the Kalebaugh girls had ever been skiing, and they did great!

Crystal, Becky, and Mel

Melody and Rachel

The camera wouldn't take a picture at first, and Melody finally had to come to stop right in front of me. It was kind of her not to run me over. ;)

Rach

There were no major mishaps, and a fun time was had by all!

Twin's 18th Birthday

Our friends, the Kalebaugh twins, recently celebrated their 18th birthday.

Crystal decided to throw them a surprise party.
For something different and fun, she requested that all the attendees do silly or strange things with their hair.

Mel was Crystal's beautician.

Melody had alot of fun with her hair. No, that's not permanent dye. She colored her hair with washable markers. Jason even helped her out; it's not often you get to color on someone's head.

It washed out very easily with shampoo and water. I think the artist in her really enjoyed the different colors.

For my hairstyle, Mel took some fake hair and added it to my own. The colors matched pretty well.

The twins came home and were surprised to find 12 extra people waiting for them. It didn't take them long to get in on the fun!

For the third time, Mel played beautician.

I'm not sure if Becky was a little worried how her hair would end up, but we all thought it looked pretty cute.

Zoe and Gabrielle did Rachel's hair.

Quite the style!

The birthday girls

...and their sis (with Zoe in the background)

Technically it was a girl party, but Sawyer was happily admitted by everyone.

Who wouldn't want an adorable baby to hold?

He was probably the most popular person there!
Group pic

Crystal made three kinds of cookie dough (without eggs), and we had our choice of mix-ins.

Sugar, oatmeal, and chocolate dough with butterscotch, peanut butter, and white, semi-sweet, and milk chocolate chips. It was delicious!!!!!

We tried guess each person's baby picture, and it was pretty difficult with two sets of twins there.

For the second part of the game, we played the memory/match game using the baby pictures and a recent photo of everyone.

Sisters

Happy 18th, Becky and Rachel!

Inexpensive Entertainment

Proof that we are easily amused!

These spools were remnants from the ribbons that we used to decorate Jason's mall display during the Christmas season. Jason and Alyssa invented their own homemade version of Jenga!

Pull one out....stack it on top...how tall can you go before the tower collapses?

Hmm...which spool next...this one?

AHHH!!! Nope! Wrong choice!

Alright, how many can you balance on your head?

Concentrate...Don't move...Balance...Not bad!

I must say, the evening was full of laughter and the entertainment was cheap!

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, Melody and I had an invitation to the Bluedorn's house. It was a costume party this year, and we had fun going through our costume boxes to decide what we would be. We had lots of options with all the skits and plays we've been in throughout the years. I wanted something comfortable for the evening, and that helped narrow it down.

We decided to be a doll (or little Bo Peep who didn't have any sheep in the first place!) and Zorro

I knew Ava was going to be Zorro as well, but neither of us knew Greg would show up as the man in black too. I think people had to look twice a few times to make sure who it was.

Ben and Helena also came in Spanish attire.

When we were first posing for the picture that appears at the top of this page, Ben decided to get in on it.

More than just a hand in. ;)

Helena, the lovely Spanish maiden, and I

Greg had an interesting guest. A bit of an air head, but fairly likeable!

We played a number of games. This one always produces alot of laughs!

Our time of singing was accompanied by Hans.

The evening ended with Scum. I think Doug was the "Queen" for this round, thus the unique head attire!

We didn't get home and to bed until 3:30 in the morning, but we had a wonderful evening. What better way to ring in the new year than with good friends? :)