Christmas 2008

We had a nice mellow Christmas day here at the Alba home. We missed Adam and Andrea who weren't able to stay through Christmas and we missed and felt bad for Trisha who had to work a 14 hour day at the hospital! The rest of us relaxed, read, watched movies and played the new games on the Wii. We also went and played out in the snow for a while which was fun. 

Patrick and Andrew, trying out the babies' new sled down the downhill street.

Michelle being pretty.

Andrew, Michelle and Zachie.

Hiram shoveling snow on the four-wheeler.

Maddie, trying to catch the snowflakes as they fell.

Little Nick coming in from some late night sledding.

We hope you all had a Christmas, we sure did.

Our Famous Family

Our little family has had a lot of opportunities to "model" for church materials. You can see an old one here. Nick had the opportunity to be in another one with his Guelita (grandmother) a few weeks ago. He did his best to ham it up and I'm sure the photographer got some pretty cute photos. They will be included in next year's art packet.

Yam It!

Our Thanksgiving started with the obligatory early morning football game. This was first year that ol' man Hiram didn't get hurt.

We were disappointed that the whole extended Alba family wasn't able to get together but it was nice just having our little family, although we were missing Adam and Andrea (literally and figuratively)

Hiram did his best making his first turkey. He brined it and everything by himself but we all got a good laugh when we tried to carve it and realized we had cooked it upside down.

This was Patrick most of the dinner. He would loudly exclaim "Yam it!" and then laugh himself silly. This "joke" lasted throughout the day as even Nick joined in in the Thanksgiving cursing.

We were glad Andrew and Trisha were able to make it. You can see Patrick perfecting his "creepy brother". We have numerous photos of him doing this.

Baby Nick had nothing to eat but jello (which he made mostly by himself) and got most of it all over his face. His giggle makes the angels smile.

We had a great Thanksgiving and have so many things to be grateful for.

Zach's Birthday

Uvula

Hey guys, it's Michelle.

Did you hear that this pretty lady got her tonsils out last week? Well she did and she's been a real champ. She's heard horror stories about how it's worse than child birth. Although it hasn't been pleasant, she's pulled through just fine and we're proud of how strong she is. In fact, her recovery went so well that as soon as she woke from the anethesia she was drinking Diet Coke (this isn't a joke).

Not only did she get her tonsils out but she also got her adenoids out, some work done on her sinuses and she had her uvula removed.(Remember that kid from high school with 2 uvulas? Ew)

After the sugery we were talking about how they removed her uvula and sweet, sweet Patrick replied "Why did they do that? You've had 6 kids just fine". Ah, the innocence of youth.

No Time Wasted

This is the first thing he did when he woke up Sunday, he was so excited it had snowed.

Way To Go Zach!

Not-so-little-Zach got his black belt in Taw Kwon Do on Saturday. Congratulations Zach! We're proud of all his hard work. We're also proud that he knows not to use it on his brothers.

Here he is beating up a girl.



Patrick's edit: Here is zach kicking an unsuspecting toddler who mistakingly got in the way of Zach's Black Belt

Hiram's 50th

Hiram was surprised with cash for new golf clubs.

These handsome boys were all sportin' the same haircut, although Hiram's was unintentional (bad barber).

We had a small get-together with Hiram's parents for his 50th birthday, which is tomorrow. I can't believe he's so old! We are so grateful for all he does for our family. Happy Birthday Hiram, we love you!

Our babies

We had all of our babies together last night. We had a nice evening together. Here are some of the things we did:

We played games

Took the dog on a walk and played catch at the park...

Played music together.

Pots and pans to play for those who aren't "musically inclined" (Michelle and Jane)
And we ate a lot.

We're going to miss Adam when he goes home tomorrow. We were sad that Andrea wasn't able to be there but we are excited to have eveyone home for Christmas!

Busy Busy

Our family had a pretty busy weekend last weekend. Patrick had heart surgery for the second time around. We're hoping this will be the last. He has a syndrome call Wolff-Parkinson-White. You can learn more about it here. The surgery went well and we're happy he's going to live. (Most of us anyways)

That same weekend Hiram competed in the Spudman Triathalon in Burley, ID. He did so well and even beat some other old guys in his division. Way to go Hiram!

Sly Aye

Andrew just recently returned from touring the West Coast. We missed him but are proud of his talent and motivation when it comes to playing the guitar. He's a sample from his new EP album, as played at his concert at Kilby Court on Saturday.

Baseball

Nick finished his baseball season last week. Although they lost the majority of their games, the team did well and had fun. Way to go Nick!