CrEePY

Okay, so it's Tabetha's job to do the dishes after dinner and when I came into the kitchen the other night after she had gone to bed this is what I found.  At first, I was quite happy that she had taken that much pride in her job to make sure she had gone above and beyond what was expected to make it look so nice and orderly.  (Which isn't always the case.)  But, the more I looked at it the creepier I thought it was.  To me it looks like a surgery tray.  I was a bit worried she might be preparing for a late night surgery and that I might not wake up with both of my kidneys.
Maybe this is her subliminal way of getting out of doing the dishes.  Have I mentioned before that this girl is smart.  Maybe too smart.

Pancakes Saturday Night

Pancakes Saturday Night from Kim Lowry on Vimeo.

Who knew pancake batter tasted so good!

Family New Year Predictions

 With all of the predictions that people are making about the upcoming year we thought it would be fun to make some predictions of our own.

Jarom:  "Someone in our family will break a bone."

Logan:  "Dad will go bald and mom will go gray."

Katie:  "We'll get a million dollars."

Hannah:  "We'll get a horse."

Mya:  "Katie will get in trouble."

Tabetha:  "We'll get to have chocolate chip cookies for breakfast."

Dad:  "Daddy will get a new truck."

Mom:  "Daddy will not get a new truck!

New Year's Eve at Our House

This year, I kicked New Year's Eve off right by sleeping in, and was it ever nice.  

While I was sleeping Shawn got up and took Jarom to the church at 9 a.m. so he clean the building with the other young men in the ward.   Isn't Shawn the sweetest for letting me sleep in.  He is always doing wonderful things like that for me.  

For breakfast, I made the most wonderful egg sandwiches on whole grain english muffins with homemade guacamole.  MMMMMmmmm!  If I do say so myself.

At 5:30 we went to our friends house to celebrate the New Year with fireworks and hot chocolate.

We now interrupt this blog post for an Alaska Living Lesson

Alaska Living Lesson:  In Alaska we don't really do fireworks on the 4th of July because it is broad daylight all night, and so... it really isn't that much fun.  Because of that, New Year's Eve is the big night for fireworks around here.   The good thing about doing fireworks in the winter is that by 3:30 in the afternoon it's dark so you don't have to wait until 10 p.m. to light them off.  The bad thing is, however, that it is cold on New Year's Eve, really cold.  And when I say really cold I mean like -32 degrees cold., because that's how cold  it really was last night.   We were dressed head to toe in our winter gear with only our eyes poking out, and even then we were shivering after 5 minutes.   So, while the children did enjoy lighting sparklers,  most of them didn't last very long outside and opted to enjoy the majority of the fireworks from inside.  

After the fireworks, we said good-bye to our wonderful friends and headed home.  Shawn took Tabetha into town to the youth church dance and then stopped off at the store for chips and dip, because, as Logan informed me, chips and dip is now a New Year's Eve tradition at our house because that's what we ate last New Year's Eve.  Our favorite dip is a block of cream cheese with salsa poured over it.  Really healthy... NOT, but it tastes really good.
We spent the rest of the evening playing games.   Apples to Apples, and Pitt were the starting attractions, because they can be enjoyed by all.   At 11:30 we sent the little girls off to bed and then the big kids (Shawn and I included) played cards.  Our card game of choice, back alley.  Shawn and Jarom won, but Logan and I put up a good fight, especially since it was Logan's first time playing.
After our card game was over things got  really silly.  We started  making jokes and saying things like, "I'm going to bed, I haven't slept a wink since last year," and, "are you going to eat that.  It's so old it's from last year," or, "the little girls have been asleep since last year."  The one that really got me laughing was, "Wow, we started this card game last year, and we just finished."

Fact:  There is a genetic defect in the female line of my family that makes everything said seem 10 times funnier if it is said after 12:00 at night.  This defect partially explains the extreme amount of laughing that was done by me on New Year's Eve.  

Happy New Year everyone!

P.S.  This year I'm not making New Year's resolutions I'm doing this instead.

The Ice Park, Moments 144-150

We had a wonderful time at the ice park on Saturday, thanks to some great friends of ours who invited us to meet them there for the free admission day.  The weather was cold, but not too cold.  We were able to enjoy ourselves and not turn into popsicles.
The days are short here now and getting shorter.  When we got to the ice park about 2 it was fairly bright, but by the time we left around 3:30 it was already pretty dark. Crazy!

144.

145.  Riding in Santa's ice sleigh

146.  Logan and Hannah sledding on the ice slides

147.  Mya got to spin in an ice bowl

148.  Ice sculptures

149.  Getting a ride in Santa's train

150.  After our ride we were treated to free hot dogs and
 hot chocolate.

Would you like to join me by recording your own moments of joy? 
Share your own moments of joy by posting your moments on your blog each Tuesday and then linking below.  
To link up, click on title of your blog post, and then copy and paste that link below. Please include a link to this blog in your post.  Thanks,  I can't wait to see your moments joy!

Elf Yourself, It's A Family Tradition

I know this is the moment you have been waiting for all year, the Lowry Family Elf Yourself videos.  

Okay, maybe you don't look forward to them all year, but I do, and my kids definitely do.  This year we elfed my sister-in-law and her family first and we laughed and laughed.  It was funny to see the new baby breakdancing and to see Grammy hip-hopping to the beat.  By the time we got to our own family videos last night, we were all pretty tired so it wasn't as hilarious as it usually is, but we enjoyed it none the less. 

Hahahahaha!  This year we decided to add our dog Shelby, and my brother and sister-in-law's dog Winston, whom we are presently dog sitting, to the videos.  You may remember Winston, he has been here before.  

These videos will be watched no less then 849,029,380,598,029,830,950,293,850,982 times by my children in the next 30 days, guar-an-teed!

Summer Vacation Moments 91-101

While we were in Utah this summer, we went and visited Uncle Paul, Shelly and little Bailey.  Uncle Paul, was Shawn's mission companion for 8 months while they were missionaries in Orlando, Florida.  Last time we visited Uncle Paul he told Hannah and Katie, that they could have his horses Smokey and Denny, but that they had to stay there so he could take care of them.  Hannah and Katie have talked nonstop about Smokey and Denny for two years.  They were both so excited to be reunited with "their" horses.   

The older kids had never met Uncle Paul and Shelly before, and were excited to finally meet the famous horses they had been hearing so much about for years.  

The first night we were there we went to the local rodeo.  What a fun time for a bunch of wannabe cowboys and cowgirls.    

91.  Hannah with Denny

92.  I almost skipped over this picture without noticing Logan holding Mya's hand.  It makes my mother heart melt. 

93.  I bet Smokey can beat Denny in a race.

94.  I win!

95.  Wait up!

96.  What a sweet brother!

97. Chill'n by the stream

98.  And Check out those cowboy boots.  He just had to 
have them for our trip to Uncle Paul's.  He wore 
them everyday for weeks after he got them .  

99.  The riding teacher said that Jarom is a natural on a horse.  

100.  Love those beautiful eyes

101.  Happy to be back in the saddle again.

What have the Lowrys been doing lately?

Just a bit of


this

and that

and a little of this

Oh, Yes! It's That Time of Year Again!

It's that time of year again, when we give thanks for all our many blessings, we stuff ourselves on turkey, and then we elf ourselves!  Few things around this joint get us as excited as our annual elf yourself videos.  Here are this year's favorites.  Enjoy, and then Elf Yourself, too!

Easter Egg Fun!

A good friend of mine invited us over to her house last week to color eggs. 

We all had a great time

And I enjoyed not having any of the mess at my house.

I don't know which they enjoyed more, decorating the eggs or eating them.

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve 
Gee, I wonder what those gifts could be?

New, pajamas!  I never would have ever guessed.  (That's so everyone looks presentable for pictures Christmas morning.)

Santa Came!

and, he brought new bikes!

What?  Is it really time, finially, to open our gifts?

My bike's the coolest!

No, my bike's the coolest!

Mine is the absolute coolest!

Hope your Christmas was as merry as ours!

It's a Thanksgiving Tradition at Our House

to make peanut butter balls, and guess who is helping this year.




It's me, Mya, and I'm so cute!





All you need to make peatnut butter balls is:
1/2 cup of peanut butter
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 bag or chocolate chips





First, mix the peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar together.





Then roll the mix into balls.  This is 2 times the recipe.



but, we usually make 4 times the recipe, cuz they're so so good.





Next, you melt the chocolate chips over very low heat, and dip the balls in the chocolate.





MMmmmmmmmmm!  They're good!





Don't believe me, just ask Hannah.





They are so good that later when everyone was getting ready for bed, I sneeked into the kitchen and helped myself to a few more.

You Know Christmas is On It's Way When...

..The Lowry Family posts their Elf Yourself Videos.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Now go Elf Yourself too.  We want to see you look as silly as we do.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards