I don't know how good these will come out when I

post them, but this was yesterday at the Air Force base.

What you see on the trees is not snow, but hoarfrost.

It was so foggy that the fog was freezing and building

up on everything in site. It was beautiful, but made

driving a real hazard! The wind was blowing and in the

last picture you can see how it was building up in a

"blown" pattern. Half of every thick tree (evergreens)

was white with this blown frozen frost and every

skinny branched tree was completely covered. Very cool!!

While the snow has been a true pain in the ass this winter, these pictures of the backyard when the sun came out were too good to pass up. It looked like a million sparkles had been dumped on the trees. It hurt your eyes to look at it! This is what I love about winter!

Ok! Ok! Ok! I have heard that there are actually interested parties reading this blog, do I will try and be better about posting. I always feel like it should have pictures and I don't take all that many anymore.

I have been doing my best with this busted knee business. I am going to physical therapy (evil people!!) and trying to get the knee straight. It was bent in the brace for so long that the muscles and tendons have atrophied (sp?) So now I spend an hour or more having every kind of hideous contraption ever invented attached to my knee to try and help it along. I am loving the shock therapy - especially when he said "I'm turning it up now, let me know when you can't stand it." So when the tears are squeezing out of my eyes and I say "ok, thats it!" he turns it up 2 more notches... SADIST!! I have to work on it at home also, so every day I am doing some painful exercise or stretch 3 or 4 times a day.
NEVER TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR HEALTHY KNEES!!!

Maddison wants me to say something about her in this blog, so I will tell you all that she is a sweet daughter and she is the coolest kid ever! She is getting great grades in school also! She and David are working hard to get the bikes ready to start racing this spring. I think her first race is in the last week of March. I never realized how much there is involved in getting the bikes ready each year. They take them apart and put them back together with new this and new that on them (I couldn't tell you what all there is, I don't even understand what they are saying most of the time. I just say "mmmm-hmmm" and nod my head, with an occasional "Wow, thats cool" thrown in.) All I know is its good that she is the youngest, because I would hate to spend this much money on multiple kids! It makes me wish for the over-priced traveling teams again! :-)
Speaking of traveling teams, Hayden has been asked to join a traveling team for basketball whose goal is to go to Nationals. We have never played to that level before, and I think it will be fun. We gave a tentative yes, but are waiting to get a baseball schedule from the High School to make sure it doesn't interfere. We have to have him play baseball in case he never reaches 6'2" which is really the minimum height for college basketball. To be any shorter you have to be really phenomenal! I would hate to limit his options. His basketball team for high school is still undefeated - I think they are 11-0. His grades are coming up nicely (thanks to the fact that he can't get his licence unless he has a 3.0 or better :-)
Justine is 30 days away from leaving for boot camp! I think she is still excited for it, and maybe a little apprehensive. This will be a huge step for her, and we really hope this ends up being her niche. She got to go for a 3 day trip to schweitzer ski resort and had a blast and she is in Pullman visiting friends for 3 days this weekend (at WSU). She is going to visit Mimi and Papa in 2 weeks in Arizona, and then she comes back and leaves 3 days later. She is managing to squeeze in alot of stuff into this last month for sure! Lucky Girl!!
Ok, so I will post more on this site, but maybe not all with pictures. I do have a few that I will post next of some of the weird weather we have been having. These last 2 winters have been odd for sure! Nothing like ice storm year, but different. I am hoping all the new transplants from milder climates will give up and go back where they came from. Keep the 208 small!!

As promised, I am posting a few pictures of the Fam on Christmas. As you can see, the Guitar Hero World Tour was a tremendous hit!

Christmas 2008

Well, we survived another Christmas season and the kids were absoloutely thrilled with everything they got (and then some). The girls are still playing Guitar Hero World Tour and Hayden has given up on singing and has started the Wii up and is trying his hand at The Bigs (a baseball game that is all the rage with his friends) with David. We woke up to another 6 inches of snow and it has snowed all morning, so we are taking a break before the shoveling has to get done again! I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast and the Turkey and ham are in the oven, so I have a few minutes to try and post.
I started walking on my knee on Thursday and it is a kind of freedom I will never again take for granted! It made doing the Christmas thing soooo much easier! Just getting the stockings filled and putting presents under the tree without help was wonderful! I have been making trips up and down the stairs for all my own supplies and getting lots of exercise on this sore, stiff, uncooperative leg. The doc said the more use the better. So I am using the hell out of it! I can go up the stairs like a normal person but I have to take one at a time on the way down. Weird. I should be back to a semi-mormal state in 2-3 weeks.
We made cookies for the neighbors yesterday and for the Coeur d'Alene cops. They were a big hit and now all the extras are getting eaten by us (well, Hayden and David :-)) We all did our usual Christmas Eve night with appetizers for dinner and we played cards (phase 10 - sorry Sydney, we played without you :( )and all 3 Scene its. We missed watching Kaden open his presents because we were in the middle of the card game which made me very sad! I was soooo looking forward to watching him on the webcam!!
O.K. next I will post some pictures so you can see a little of out Christmas!

More of the same!

It seems as though old man winter has decided to dump our allotted share of snow for the entire winter in these last 5 days! We got 4 more inches of snow overnight last night and about 3 more this morning. We are expected to have some clear weather through Wednesday and then there is supposed to be 8 to 10 more inches on Christmas eve!! I couldn't get the car up the street (low clearance bogs it down and then you get stuck) so the entire Ezzell clan spent the day inside watching TV, playing on the computer, and playing cards. By the end of the day we were quite tired of "family time" :-) We haven't spent that much time confined in a long time. With our busy schedules, we hardly have time to eat dinner together. I have to tell you, I loved it!

So I can get used blogging, I am going to post pictures, although they won't all be new.