Thursday, January 17, 2008

Christmas Weekend

This year's Christmas season made us long for the student days when the holidays meant three weeks of uninterrupted bloungin'. What's with this getting older business? But we still enjoyed a great few days with each side of the Furniss/Riley equation and ate up every minute of it.

En route to Payson, we met up with some of my extended family at Grandpa Furniss' assisted living home to perform a Christmas program for the residents there. Ah, the captive audience... While we were there, I realized this was the first time Noah had ever heard my uncle sing - he has a truly phenomenal voice, it was a real treat to get to hear him sing. And to hear the residents sing along in a different key.

In Payson, we hit up the wicked good sledding hill at Payson High School (go Lions, take state!) and for the second year running, Noah and I were ill-prepared for all things snow sports. Hence, Noah's fancy Carhartt jumpsuit and my lovely getup (I wish the picture did it justice... my pajamas under an old pair of Noah's jeans). Gabe was not to be outdone, however, and he really stole the snow clothes show. Ben and Nat and their little fam moved to Australia last week and didn't want to invest in snow suits before the move down under (rightly so...), so Nat really strapped on the ingenuity and sent her little guy down the slopes in this Elmo costume. Hey, whatever works.



This picture was one of my very favorites. When the Uncle Noie train derailed, Elmo made his big escape.

Jesse, Caysie and the girls were also in town for the holidays, and it was so fun to see their sweet family! Annie wasn't diggin' the sledding so much, but she did create one impressive snowman with a bucket and some sticks.

Another favorite photo from the day - the girls getting sloppy on snow. This picture of all the girls sacked out reminds me of some of the parties I attended in high school (just kidding, Mom and Dad...).

7 comments:

Kari said...

Oh Payson...that's our puppy's hometown. We got her from a lady missing most of her teeth.

Darby said...

I love that Elmo outfit! Ha ha ha! I was laughing really hard at that picture. Very creative indeed. You guys just need to live like Erin does, out of her car. She's got everything in her trunk so she's always prepared no matter what situation she's in. Except to jump her car, I don't think she has jumper cables. Something to work on.

Unknown said...

Hello! I read your BLOG all the time and I told Noah today that I was so frustrated with you guys becuase you have not updated in so long! And to my very pleasant surprise you had 3 new posts today! HOORAY! I am dying at those pictures of Gabe in the Elmo costume, my sister is such a nut isn't she? Anyways, keep the posts coming. You have a captive audience!

Allison and Noah Riley said...

Katie - welcome to the blog! When I finally sat down last night to update this thing, Noah said, "Oh good - Katie was wondering when you'd get to this..." :) Happy to oblige, happy to oblige... Are YOU on blogger, Miss Katie?!

Paco Belle said...

OK, I just gotta say that the solo ELMO cruising is pretty scary...actually, truly terrifying.

Natalie Que said...

Good times, we should have taken a pic of all of the white trash sledding ensemvbles. Though Gabe would have won, Ben in his snow pants made from drapes would have been a strong contender {as would both of you!}

the.kim.peterson said...

Elmo is so cute. So so cute.