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.

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.

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.

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!

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?

Dear Patrick

Dear Patrick;
I am sorry I waited so long to get you out of this pot. I couldn't find my camera but I knew that one day we would look back and laugh at how funny it was that you fell into this pot and couldn't get out. That day is today.

Love,
Your Mom

Patricio

We love and miss this kid.

Patrick is staying in Honduras until the end of March. He's having a lot of fun working with the missionaries and the Cause for Hope offices. You can learn more about Cause for Hope here.

We hope his Spanish improves while he is there. Here are some examples of when his language skills could have been helpful;

1. While Patrick and Hiram were driving one day, Patrick noticed a billboard with the words "Jesus Saves". Patrick quickly asked Hiram what "Hey-Soos Saw-vase" meant (writing the pronunciation is harder than it looks). We all got a good laugh. Sometimes he tries too hard to speak spanish.
2. While in Honduras, Patrick is staying with a man and his young family. One of the young daughters asked Patrick if he would like to play a game called "Uno". Patrick immediately translated the word and was imagining a game of "one" having no idea that it was the game he's played in America growing up.
3. And lastly, while the whole family was in Honduras, Patrick was really sick. After being in bed a few days, he finally felt better and ventured out with the rest of the family. After trying to speak to a few people, Patrick finally responded "I was feeling really confident in my Spanish until someone started talking to me."

We love and miss you Patrick, good luck with your Spanish.

Patrick's Court of Honor (Circa 1973)

Following the tradition of his two older brothers, Patrick earned his Eagle Scout the night of his 18th birthday. His scout leader flew back into town at midnight and Patrick was waiting, with his last paper to be signed. Despite his procrastination, we are still proud of Patrick. For his Eagle Project, Patrick collected shirts and ties for missionaries in Honduras. He collected, packaged and ironed almost 200 shirts to be distributed to future missionaries. We're proud of you Patrick, congratulations. Andrew in the "Eagle's Nest".

The Bros.

Like Father like Son.

Brothers.

Patrick didn't realize he no longer fits into a size 28 pant.

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.