This is how we slide on New Years Eve!

We "Truesdell's" really know how to have fun on New Years Eve! This year, those of us who were in Utah (Celeste's family, Tricia's family, Janna's family and mine) met at Soldier Hollow in Heber to go tubing!!!

Our group consisted of 16 kids and 6 adults! (We left my mother at our house to watch our two babies, Cohen & Bentley, and Tricia's youngest, Izzy).

The lines were a little longer than we remembered them being in the past (it took about 5-10 minutes to get to the front of the line); once you arrive at the front of the line, you sit down in your tube, a worker fastens your tie onto the rope pull and you get to enjoy a lazy 5 minute tow up the hillside.

Here's a look at what part of the hillside looks like.

At Soldier Hollow there are 6 groomed lanes for tubing. The lanes are pretty wide so large groups can all go down at the same time if they desire too. This picture only shows a quarter of the length of the tubing lanes; they're actually pretty long and steep. Tubers catch A LOT of speed sliding in these lanes (not your usual speed you get on your average hill at the local park) and the ride lasts any where between 1-2 minutes.

Here's a good shot of some of my nephews zipping by on their tubes...  
Luke (or maybe it was Jake, I honestly can't tell the two of them apart, they're identical) is trailing behind,
 in front of him is Christian, Alec, Idrese and Eli is the goofy kid riding in the front.

I LOVE this shot below of my two oldest nieces, Alauna and Rayanne...

true to form, the girls were trying to shield their faces from the wind and frost.
Heaven forbid that their makeup get ruined!

Tubing in the right lane are my nieces Paresa and Kirsten...

 

 
Below is my brother in law Victor with two of his boys; Daniel and Jake (or maybe it was Luke)...

Those are my nephews again!
They were having a good ol' time!

I love the expressions on Kirsten and Paresa's faces in this following picture...
b.t.w. that "free spirit" with her arms raised in the air is my other niece Tori (Tricia's daughter).

You were probably worried that Spencer and I  didn't get a chance to go down the hill...
No worries though,
we indeed DID take a turn or two tubing...

...with this little guy. 

Ian.

Ian was our little trooper out there on the slopes! He rode and rode the slopes, time and again until I decided it was just too cold for us to stay outside any longer. Spencer rode down the hillside once with Noah in the very beginning but Noah HATED the ride! After wards, we were able to trick (yes, I said trick) him into riding down the hill again with us; but after that, he refused to even stay outside in the snow and insisted on waiting and watching from inside the lodge. Killjoy! (just kidding).

Actually, I probably would have done the same thing if I wasn't the one responsible for organizing this family event. Few people know, other than my own husband who LOVES LOVES LOVES sledding & tubing, that I am in fact absolutely terrified of it! I LOVE to snowboard, but sledding and tubing is another story! I've suffered one too many injuries on a sled or tube; it scares me to death! Don't believe me? Just watch this video Spencer took with our little Flip camera. You can't always see me, but if you turn up your volume you can HEAR me... SCREAMING!

Eventually that afternoon, I started to enjoy tubing; it WAS thrilling, but I kept to just one lane. I didn't want to ride in any of the other lanes for fear that they might be faster or steeper than the one I was already familiar with. I used to consider myself as an adventurous person ("careless" probably better suited me though), that is until I became a mother and had the responsibility of caring for my little ones. Now I prefer to elude any cRaZy adventures I may have once before willingly taken part of; I get enough adrenaline pumping through my body daily just chasing after my 4 boys!

The following video was one that Victor took with our Flip camera...

VERY funny stuff!

After the kids were finished tubing that evening, everyone gathered in the lodge at Soldier Hollow to enjoy some chili and hot chocolate. (I made the chili in a crock pot; BEST chili recipe EVER! I found it on this website; I just added garbanzo beans to the kidney beans to make the meal even healthier.) It was the perfect treat after hanging out in the cold for two hours. I'm pretty sure some of the other people at the lodge wanted to sit down at our tables and grab a bowl of chili or a cup of cocoa; we had lots of S.H.R.s (that's short for "stare hard retards". How is it that so many people forget to think about what they look like when they're gawking??? Someone needs to tell them they look retarded! Case in point; I prefer to call them S.H.R.s.).

Christian and the twins, Luke & Jake.

At one point during our meal

I looked over at Spencer

to see him feeding my niece Bella some cheese like a little birdie...

... and after feeding her some cheese,

he ate some of his own...

Those two make a great pair!

While the kids chowed down on dinner...

...the men discussed sports and work (of course)...

...and the women checked their phones for missed calls, texts & new emails.

I nearly forget to mention how ridiculously cute the little kids looked in their snow suits and boots!

What isn't cute though is getting them in and out of their suits...

What a hassle!

Bella  and Kyse.

After our little romp at Soldier Hollow, we all went over to Tricia's house for the evening to play games, talk, snack on more food and countdown the hours and minutes leading into the New Year (my mom and the babies joined us at this time).

The kids painted each others faces in preparation for the celebration.

Alauna practiced her make up skills on her little brother...

no one informed me till that night that the party was actually a masquerade! (just kidding).

Bella was a kitty cat...

...one of the older kids made Kyse a clown!

...one of the adults at our party

told all the kids that she had heard

it was good luck to start the new year with $$$money$$$ in your pocket...

so that of course set off a hysteria in which all the little kids were running around the house,

digging through purses, pockets and drawers looking for $$$.

My pockets were empty.

I sure hope that isn't any implication of what my bank account will look like by the time 2010 is over!

I understand that at most New Years celebrations champagne is the choice beverage for the evening,

but

NOT AT THIS ROCKIN' PARTY!

Tricia busted out the Welches sodas for the kids to drink

and Martinellis for the adults...

Look at that grin on Noah's face!

He looks like a frat boy at a frat party doesn't he?

Only this frat boy likes to drink soda at his frat party.

So the adults drank Martinellis,

the kids drank Welches

and the babies dabbled on some milk.

CHEERS!

(my sister Celeste holding Cohen)

Before we knew it,

it was midnight!

Time to celebrate!

BOY did they celebrate!

b.t.w. Don't mind the time on the big clock in the background...

the time on it was wrong.

I have to laugh looking back on the night...

when midnight finally did arrive

Spencer was off in a corner of the house changing Ian's poopy diaper

and I was making a baby bottle for Bentley.

We're a pretty exciting couple huh?

Too busy and occupied to even steal a New Years smooch.

That's life as we know it...for now.

(let's hope that subsequently in the years to come

we won't always be stuck in corners changing messy diapers).

4 kids in 4 years.

They govern our lives

It's fun and exciting.

It's stressful and tiring.

But we wouldn't have had it any other way!

2009 was very good to us;

2010 will be just as good, if not better...

so long as we've got each other!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!