Bowling!

During Winter Recess we told both Jared and Lauren to pick something that we'd do as a family. Lauren choose to go play racquetball at the Schenectady "Y", which we did on Friday. Jared choose to go bowling. So Saturday night we went to Burnt Hills bowling alley.

Jared was a very creative bowler.

Bowling twice in a couple of months is amazing for us.
We usually bowl once a year on New Year's Day and that's it.

On her second game Lauren did really well.

Glen beat all of us on his first game (just like he usually does).

But check out the scores on the last game we bowled.

That's right EVERYONE beat Glen.
He probably had the worst game of all time - for him at least.

Snow Finally!

Tuesday of Winter Recess it snowed so Jared went outside and made a snow pyramid. He used a large round bucket to make the "bricks". He said that each one probably weighed around 50 pounds, and that getting the last one on top was hard.
Lauren went x-country skiing around the yard until she and Jared got into a snowball fight.

A week later it's snowing again and this
is what the snow pyramid looks like now.

And Lauren once again decided to do some x-country skiing!

BYU-Provo, here I come!

This is one happy boy! Jared just found out on-line that he's
been accepted to BYU-Provo for Fall 2010.
He's calling Erin to let her know.

I'd checked earlier today, but when I went on-line again,
there is was,"Accepted Fall 2010"
It feels like we've been waiting forever to find out.

Way to go Jared!!!!

2010 BHBL Follies

This year Jared and Lauren once again participated in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Follies. It's the annual school talent show. They both did great. Considering that he was battling a nasty cold, Jared did fantastic. It was fun to watch them perform. Now you get to watch them too!

Plotter Kill Hike

Today we decided to enjoy the outdoors. It was only in the 20's today, but around here in February that's as warm as it gets. We decided to take a short hike in the Plotter Kill nature preserve. It was a cold hike but we got to see some people climbing the ice on the waterfall. We also got to hike up the frozen river a little bit. It was interesting to hear the ice creak under foot and hear the water running under the ice where we were walking. After we left we stopped by Jumpin' Jacks to look at the ice that was stacked up on the Mohawk River there. It was pretty impressive and fun to climb around on. Here are some pictures.

And here's a map of the ground we covered.
It looks green and lush in this image, but trust me, it was all white today.


View Plotter Kill in a larger map

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY GLEN!

I can't believe that it's Glen's 50th birthday!
Where have the years flown?

I didn't want to go with an "Over the Hill" theme.
I'm hoping that is still far in the future!
So I went with something "cheery" instead.


Jared gave Glen some new white shirts and a new tie.

Lauren doing "Heavy, heavy hangover". Does anyone else do this? While holding the present you are giving over the person's head you say: "Heavy, heavy hangover thy poor head. What do you wish with a bump on the head!" Then you proceed to bump them on the head with the present you are giving them. They don't get the present until they have wished you some fantastic (usually impossible to fufil) wish.

Lauren gave Glen a new pair on pants and some shirts.

Glen also got an I-Pod Touch. Lauren had gotten one earlier,
and Glen was always teasing her about taking it for himself.
So we thought we'd get him one of his own.

Erin gave him a bunch of pictures and videos to put on his
I-Pod Touch along with an I-Tunes card.

This year Glen deviated from the traditional cheesecake that he's had each year since we've been married and asked instead for chocolate mousse for his birthday
(A great choice, if I do say so). Notice the "50" done in chocolate!
And one candle for each decade.

That's the look of a happy man! Happy 50th birthday Glen!

May 5th!!!!

We just got word from the Birmingham England mission office that Brett will be returning home on Wednesday, May 5th. That's so exciting! Less than four months to go.

Ironically, Glen just joined a project at GE and is headed to - guess where? Gloucester, England this coming Monday. Gloucester is in Brett's mission - a little over an hour away from his mission home in one direction, and about an hour and a half away from Brett who is in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. It's also about two hours from the town of Brooksby, where the Brooksbys are originally from.

Who knows what Glen will have time to see, but he is going to take over a package for Brett for his 21st birthday on March 22nd.

I can hardly wait to see the pictures!