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.

Zach's Birthday

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!

Our Family

This is us.

We make cute babies, see? (and our babies chose cute spouses)





This is all of us.

We jumped on the chance for a family picture when Adamdrea were in town for Andrew's wedding. Allison did such a great job, we can't thank her enough! Didn't she do a great job?

Has Beens

We've had a busy weekend. Here are some highlights....

Hiram and the kids had fun at the "Blue Man Group" concert.

Maddie had an accident and ripped off a large part of her toe.

Andrew had another show and did a great job.
If you haven't heard, Andrew is nominated for a City Weekly "Slammy". If you haven't voted, tomorrow is the last day. His category is Mellow Rock and he goes by the name "Aye Aye". You can vote here.

Nick had fun skiing with his dad.

Wife Wars

Nick and Zach always find ways to entertain themselves during church. The "wife wars" are our favorite.

We haven't been posting often, we've been busy. Our family continues to do well. We enjoyed having Adam and Andrea home for Christmas and we are excited to be getting a new daughter-in-law (Trish) in the coming months.

Adam and Andrea are still in DC, Adam starting his second semester of law school. Andrea recently started the paralegal program at G.W. University. We are proud of both of them.

Michelle is busy working. She works at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, as well as Hiram's company, IGES.

Andrew is busy getting ready to release his CD this coming Saturday. We are proud of him and his musical endeavors. He and Trish plan to marry in May sometime.

Patrick just had his wisdom teeth out and he was a trooper. He is getting ready for his internship in Honduras next month. He has also started volunteering at the Guadalupe center, teaching English. He will turn 19 in July when he will begin the mission paper process.

Nick and Zach are both spoiled and well. They have a lot of homework and hang out with their friends a lot. They spend a lot of time on the family "Wii".

We are all happy and healthy (despite last night's late night trip to the ER with Nick. It turns out it was just heartburn and not the WPW Patrick had.) We are keeping busy and we always love visitors! We will try to post something more frequently.

Happy Halloween!

The Family

Cutler Cousins. Aren't they darling?

Hiram's costume was un-popular at the party. He was a Davis Dart.

Don't you just want to eat him?

Spooky!!

Cute Boys

The boys aren't home from trick-or-treating yet. I'll post pictures of them later. On Monday night we went to Mila's Halloween Party. It was so fun to see all the kids dressed up! She had fun games for the kids. We all had a great time. Thanks Mila!

Almost....

This was almost as embarrassing as the time I walked around campus with the back of my skirt tucked into my backpack. Almost...

While the Parents Are Away....

Nick walked into a pole while my mom and dad were gone. He resembles Adam even more now with that giant lump adorning his forehead.

Sweet 3D glasses

My mom and dad have been out of town since Wednesday and I've had to play mom. It was hard! These boys are crazy. The house has been a disaster and I am ready for some serious alone time. Luckily they come home tonight.
We took advantage of them being gone and spent all their money. It was their fault for leaving us their debit card. We went out to dinner and to a 3D movie. They should go out of town more often but next time, find a different babysitter.

A Pin Cushion

I (Michelle) made a pin cushion tonight with help from my cute cousin Allie. The pattern was ridiculously hard to read and I ran over to her house for help. I was able to hold her sweet new baby while she figured it out.

I've really been enjoying all the extra time I have lately. On Wednesday while I was supposed to be writing a paper on the gender transformation of Avalokitesvara, (I linked it so you wouldn't think I made it up) I went to a quilting class on appliqué with my darling Tia Chacha. It was a lot of fun and I am excited to have some new projects to keep me busy. Thanks Chacha and Allison for your help!

Rick Rack and New Sewing Machines

I got a new sewing machine yesterday. Hooray! Isn't it pretty? I ran to my favorite place ever, Piper's, to get a pattern for an apron I've been dying to try. (When I was at the register and the cashier saw my last name, she said "Do you know Edna? She comes in here all the time and we love her!")

The apron is slowly coming along.

I got this sweet material for 39 cents a yard. Isn't the rick rack darling? I seriously think rick rack is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I'd put it on sliced bread if I could.

This is a quilt I've been working on for years. I am hoping that by admitting it has taken me years, I'll try harder to finish it. It is all done by hand and it takes FOREVER.