27 February 2011 - Madeline's Birthday

On Monday, I was working quietly in my office at the college. A storm was brewing outside. By about 4 o'clock, large snowflakes were falling at a rapid pace. I gathered my things to head home before the roads got too bad. Right before I shut down my computer, I got an email from the Young Men's president in my ward. He works for Google (center in the picture below) and they were having a ski day the next day at Seven Springs, about 50 miles east of my house. He invited me (on right), and our Gospel Doctrine teacher (on left) to go with him. It wasn't Utah skiing, but it was excellent nonetheless.
Many of the slopes were ungroomed, so we found lots of powder to fall down in.
For several years we've had a very comfy Poang chair in our basement. It was always the first chair occupied when we went down to watch a movie or play Wii. The pad finally wore out, so we went to IKEA to get a new pad for it, and ended up with one new pad and three new chairs -- two little ones and another big one. Now I don't have to fight for a comfy chair anymore.
Lest we lose track of the most important event of this week, Madeline turned 7 on Thursday. She got more presents than she needed, but thank you to everyone anyway. This is a crystal set she got from Grandma.
She also got Toothless. A stuffed animal never fails when it's for Madeline. This was from the girls.
Mommy made Ho-Ho cake. Super yummy.
Here's Madeline opening her card and gift from Grammie. When she saw the money in the card she grinned mightily and and said: "Oh! Grammie is soooo loving!". It gave us a good laugh.
On Saturday, she got to have a friend party. Joanne had a really good idea for a craft. She had each of the kids decorate a place mat and then laminated them for the kids to take home. (Joanne's a laminating fool.) The party's theme was Disney, mostly Mickey Mouse. I guess our Christmas trip left an impression.
We played pin the tail on the Mickey donkey. I don't think Mickey would have appreciated being turned into a donkey -- kind of reminds me of Pinocchio.
I have no idea how many of these Mickey Mouse cakes Joanne has made in the past couple of months.

Madeline was very excited about all her presents. She passed some time on Saturday by working with her crystal set.

Happy Birthday to Madeline!