Showdown!

Dustin, Jeff, and Henry

Henry, all by himself

Maddie

Jeff, drinkin' hot chocolate

Henry and Jeff had a big day today- Dad took the boys to Showdown Ski area for some winter fun. This was Henry's second time and Jeff's first. Henry went down the beginner hill over and over all by himself. He even saw his friend Maddie (Who happens to be the granddaughter of our friend Carol from Moody) from school. Jeff took turns going down the hill with Dustin helping. The biggest adventure of the day came when, on the way home, the truck got stuck in a ditch and Dustin spent about 3 hours digging it out. Good friends came to the rescue with more shovels, gas and a ride home for the boys. Thanks Goodwin Family!

Merry Christmas from the Douberlys!

Hello. It's been a busy week since Miss Jenna broke her leg. She's doing great and we all had a very wonderful Christmas Day. These photos are from Christmas Eve with everyone sporting their (surprise!) new jammies. Christmas was spent opening presents, having a yummy lunch, going sledding, eating dinner at our friend's the Clark's and coming home and crashing. Now we have 6 days with Dad home although coming off a 12 hour mid shift (6pm to 6am) is proving difficult for Dustin. He woke up at 3 this morning and is sleeping now at 10am. He's got another month of mids so I guess it's better he stay on schedule. Anyways, we all got spoiled and the kids are busy playing with their new things right now. We have lots of great plans for 2009...we can't wait for it to get started! In February, I am going with my parents to Hawaii and will be acting as driver/tour guide. Dustin's mom is coming for the week while I am gone to help Dustin. In June we have an extended family vacation to Bryce Canyon planned with Dustin's aunts and uncles and cousins. We will probably be heading home to Portland in July. My brother Dennis will be there for his 20th! High School Reunion and we haven't seen him in over 2 years. What's neat is that this summer is my mom's 50th reunion, my brother David's 30th reunion, Dennis' 20th reunion, and my sister's 10th! They all gratuated in '59, '79, '89, and '99 respectively! Pretty cool! Well, I hope you all make the best of this last week of 2008! Best Wishes!

It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt...

That somebody is our princess Jenna, aka Tiny Tim in honor of the holiday season. Last night our boys were playing "monster", meaning one boy runs and hides while the other one is the monster and tries to get them. Well, Jenna got in the way and one of our boys came in and jumped on her. Since Dustin and I were both downstairs we'll never know which boy it was but the trama fractured her tiny tibia and she'll be in a full leg cast for the next month. I think it is so sad. She's taking it pretty well. After a few days we can help her learn to walk on it but until then she is my little monkey attached to my hip. Neither Dustin or I have ever been in a real cast so it's hard to believe Jenna's got one at just 2 years old. I'm very glad that her holiday photos have already been taken. My next assignment is to see what clothes she can wear. Considering it's 0F outside right now shorts are defintely out of the question!

A new gadget!

Hi all! I love adding new gadgets to our blog. Since I am always writing about Great Falls' fabulous weather, I searched out a gadget that would post the current weather conditions. Voila! There it is on the top right hand side of the blog. I think it's pretty nifty! The only problem is that right now it's showing -13F and it's 4 in the afternoon! Gotta love Montana!

Wow, we are super busy!

Here is a photo of Henry's Holiday program. He did a great job! One thing I love about living in a conservative state is that they still do all kinds of Christmas things at school. This year Henry even got to learn and sing "Away in a Manger" for his program. They also learned a few other Christmas songs and one jewish song. (Like you know how to spell that holiday!) Anyways, it's nice that they can celebrate at school what they celebrate at home without all the political mumbo-jumbo. That would never have happened in my home state of Oregon where it was Winter Break etc, etc, etc.

It's beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas...

Here at the Douberlys we have a tradition on the Monday after Thanksgiving to decorate our Christmas tree for FHE. I love putting up the tree and going through all the ornaments. Each year, I choose a new ornament for each member of the family that has something to do with what that person accomplished over the year or some character they are really into or some memory I have of them. This year, Dustin got one commemorating the marathon, Henry one for T-Ball, Jeff got one for the stuffed dog that now seems to be attached under his arm, and Jenna got one showing a polar bear coloring because she LOVES to color now. Anyways, the tree looks GREAT. Jenna had the honor of putting up the star this year. She looked so cute way up there. So, enjoy the pics while I give you a run-down of Great Falls weather!

Balmy. That's what the paper called our weather earlier this week. There was a whole article on the increase of families in Great Falls who were putting up Christmas decorations in the warm weather when normally it's just too darn cold. We even hit a record high on Monday at 62F. How quickly things change in Great Falls. I just sent Henry out to the bus stop and here are the current conditions...

Great Falls, MT: 2°
Clear
Wind: 7 mph / 11 km/h from the SW
Dew Point: -1 °F / -18 °C
Pressure: 30.73 in / 1040 hPa
Windchill:-11 °F / -24 °C
Humidity:88%
Visibility:10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
Updated: 7:53 AM MST on December 04, 2008Observed at: Great Falls, Montana(KGTF)

Yeah, that's negative folks! Dustin joked if that was child abuse- us sending our little out in weather like this, but school only closes if the power goes out and we know it will get colder- this is just the beginning. Our balmy days are over. Great Falls looks great for Christmas lights though and I can't complain about the snow when it's December! Christmas really is better when it's white outside!