More sledding & a Mother/Son Dance (February)

Let it be known, that Nathan Larson lives and breaths sledding at this time in his life.  Honestly--I don't think he thinks about much else.  A few months ago he started planning a massive guys trip to go sledding on the longest sled run in the world in Gimmelwald, Switzerland.  He organized the lodging and itinerary for 40 people that weekend--and did a great job of it, might I add!  I think almost all of the men in our ward were there, plus a few sons.  It started off with a trip to the Bern temple, and then some night sledding.  Sadly, the lower portion of the run they were planning to do the next day was closed (the snow has been lame this year!), so they had to go to plan B.  Still got lots of sledding in, though.  Nathan used 'map my ride' and figured they traveled about 24 miles with a top speed of 25 mph.

Nate also had the opportunity to go into some of the classrooms at Ramstein Elementary and teach dental health (including Sawyer's!).  He loves to do this kind of stuff and feels like a rockstar when all the kids recognize him later on ;).  Sawyer's class was so cute and they wrote thank you cards on 'tooth' shaped papers, which Nate then hung over the main desk at the dental clinic.

And the other thing Nate does, besides sledding and fixing teeth, is he goes camping.  Though it is part of his calling and not always the most exciting thing for him, he loves it when he gets to take his kids along.  This particular campout was in our village, so he even let Violet come along this time.  I was worried about her, as it was still pretty cold out, but she did great and loved being a part of it!

And finally, I got to take Sawyer on a little date.  Their school did a Mother/Son dance as a fundraiser so we got dressed up and rocked out.  Well, mostly Sawyer rocked out with his friend, Austin.  I was totally happy watching this crazy man on the dance floor though!!  Such a hoot!

And some random pictures from the month of February...

January

We had originally booked a place called Landhaus Schiedhof, in Austria, for the Thanksgiving break.  We learned shortly thereafter, that the sledding hills we had wanted to ride weren't going to be opened until later in December.  So we changed our booking to a week in January instead.  We went down with two other families and had a huge chalet all to ourselves.  It was really great.  Unfortunately, there still wasn't enough snow for them to open the super long sled run (much to Nathan's disappointment), but we were able to find some others that were lots of fun.  It was a great few days in Austria.  I think everyone had a blast.  

 We even managed to get the whole family on skis.  We found a bunny hill with a pulley system that was pretty cheap and just went up over and over again.  Well, Sawyer and Nate and I did.  Violet went down once (and did great!) but then decided she'd rather play in the snow with her friends.  Isla was just on skis for the picture, haha.  The rentals were free for the kids so we figured, why not!?

This next picture is just hilarious.  Don't know if you can see it very well, but Isla is not afraid to go outside in the cold with little clothing on.

Nate has had the opportunity to be on our local AFN (armed forces network) radio station several times now.  He usually goes on there to promote and advertise some dental campaign that is going on in the community, like Little Teeth Big Smiles (free exams for kids), and things like that.  He is really great at it, too.  A natural.

Nathan took Sawyer out of school one day and drove about 1.5 hours to an indoor ski facility in Metz, France.  The two of them had a great time together and Sawyer seemed to really be getting the hang of skiing.  Now Violet's been asking for her turn to go with daddy, so we'll have to make sure that happens soon.  Good thing they are open year-round!

December

December was a busy month, as always, but filled with many wonderful memories...

Violet had a little Christmas program that she did with her Joy School.  It was fun for them to have all their daddy's and siblings come watch them perform.  She did great singing songs in front of everyone, but when it came time to deliver her line as the innkeeper "no room"...she completely froze.  She cracks me up.

Nate had his Dental Christmas Party, which was Casino Royale themed.

Star Wars was a big theme in our home throughout the holidays this year.  We decided that, with the new movie coming out, it was time to educate our kids.  We spent several weeks watching all 6 of the Star Wars movies, in preparation.  The kids LOVED it.  They have really embraced all things Star Wars, much to Nathan's delight.  So then Nate and I went and saw The Force Awakens.  We decided that Sawyer and Violet could handle it, too.  So the next day, he took the two of them to see it.  They had a blast!  They also had dinner at the BX and wrote some cards for deployed servicemen and we filled a stocking for wounded warriors as well.  

This picture was from the Med Groups Christmas event.  I was glad to only have to stand in line for a few minutes to see Santa.  Unfortunately, the line for balloon animals was four times as long! Where was Grandma when we needed her?!?

We only did 2 Christmas markets this season.  The first was the one in Vimbuch, that my Tante Gabi helps out with.  The second was one we'd been trying to go to for the past couple of years--St. Wendel.  They had a live nativity performance with real animals.  The kids thought the camels were pretty cool.

We had quite a number of elves this year, and the kids woke up each morning, so excited to see what mischief they'd been up to during the night.

Violet was the best little cookie helper this year!  I was amazed with her patience and her desire to help!

Isla's cookie...

 I asked my sister, Sydney, to help me with our pregnancy announcement.  It seriously turned out cuter than I could have imagined!!  I'm a little obsessed with this illustration...

 We were excited to be able to do fires again this year.  Last year, we were so worried about Isla touching the hot glass so we never used it.  But she was old enough this year--and she LOVED them!  Everytime Nate would get home from work, she would ask him to make a fire.

Christmas Eve...

We even got some dental visits in before life went back to normal.  Isla's first official visit and she did fabulous!!!  Poor Violet had another cavity filled and oral sedation--never a fun experience for her!