Brian and Tiffany - Idaho Falls - December 16, 2010

Tiffany and Brian

Dad and Mom Stoddard, Tiffany and Brian, Mom and Dad McCalvy

The parents and the newlyweds - post-kiss

McCalvy Family

The Stoddard Family

Shaundra (cousin), Friend, Tiffany, Friend, Kathleen

The brothers

Brian Tiffany and James the bodyguard

Kathleen Brian and James

The McCalvy men

The brothers and their wives

The brothers kiss their wives

And they all lived happily ever after!

Brian is getting married tomorrow - December 15, 2010...

How can we make sure he remembers his last night as a bachelor?

By short-sheeting his bed!  Sleep well Brian!

Chistmas at Temple Square - December 14, 2010

The one thing that Mom McCalvy wanted to do while in Salt Lake before Brian & Tiffany's wedding, was to visit Temple Square.  So Mom & Dad and Jessi & James went downtown.

The nativity in the reflecting pool in front of the temple.

Dad & Mom on the Conference Center steps.

Jessi & James on the Conference Center steps.

I think the temple is even more beautiful than the trees.

Sitting in front of a fountain in Temple Square.

With the flash.

Without the flash.

Another view of the temple.

And finally, back to our car.  See the TV camera and van and news reporter guy?  They were doing a story about missionaries in Switzerland (I think).  We could have walked behind the reporter and waved at the camera, but we chose to walk behind the camera to the car instead.

Merry Christmas!

Bachelor Party - December 11, 2010

Brian is getting MARRIED!  So James & Brian had a bachelor party at Solitude.

First, teach Brian to wax his snowboard - just love the lamp boxes propped up by the ironing board.  Great set-up!

Scrape off the wax on the front porch.

Took this photo just for the outfits.  Stylin!

Spend the day in the mountains - fresh snow!

Hike a little.  It's not a party unless you can say your life (or your snowboard) was in danger of falling down an entire mountain!

My James!

Good Luck Brian!

Happy Birthday James! December 4, 2010

Open Presents:  This cute travelling car garage and track and Hot Wheels are from my Mom.  He also got ski gloves and headphones from me.  And a cordless drill from the McCalvys.

Blow out candles!  This is just a little piece of his cake.  Chocolate Cost-Co cake.  2/3 of it went to work with James.  We enjoyed the rest for the rest of the weekend. 

Jessi & Mom (yay!  Mom's in town!) & Kathleen went to Tiffany's bridal shower.  Ooh la la!

Jessi, Tiffany (soon-to-be-McCalvy), Kathleen and Kathy.

And then to Justin & Kat's wedding reception.  Wedding cake for James' birthday.  Aunt Lynn, Uncle Glen & Mom & Kyan.

32 years old!  Happy Birthday James!

SKIING! Solitude - November 20, 2010

If you're crazy with jealousy that the Jessi James Gang and Kathleen got to go skiing before Thanksgiving, please read only the blue lines.  That way, we'll still be friends.  If you love us forever - even though you're crazy with jealousy - and want to know the real story, read the red lines.

You really wouldn't want to have been skiing with us.  The wind was blowing like crazy.  The ridges protected us from the wind and then it wasn't so bad. 

Only the bottom part of the resort was open, which means that lift tickets weren't full price yet. 

The limited terrain meant that all the runs got skied out pretty quickly, but it was still fluffy and fantastic and there were always lines along the trees. 

Coverage is still very thin and early season, so we often had to ski through bushes to get to runs that were less tracked out and then the powder was almost knee deep.

Because it snowed overnight and most of the morning, there were no groomed runs - so we skied powder all day. 

The only break in the storm was about noon, when we saw a tiny bit of blue sky.

But after lunch it really started to blow and instead of snowflakes, it was like little hail pellets that really sting your nose - and really filled in the morning's tracks.  Kind of like skiing on the little styrofoam balls from inside a bean bag. 

Because of the storm, the temperature dropped and it got cold!  And sent most of the skiers home early - it was like having our own resort after lunch.

Visibility was terrible away from the trees; it was often difficult to see the terrain changes because of the flat light.  So we skied the edges near the trees and the snow was fluffy and forgiving and fun.

While riding the lift, we had to block our faces with our hands to protect from snow pellets and we got completely covered.  By the end of the day, all the runs skied like freshies! 

At the end of the day we were tired from skiing powder all day.  And we had to scrape off six inches! of snow from the windshield and windows.

Solitude - November 20, 2010

Kathleen

James

Jessi

Happy Thanksgiving!