A Gorgeous Garage

I took these pictures of Mom and Dad's garage while we were down there last weekend. Doug finished the garage floor about 2 weeks ago, and it looks great. We went to the home show at the Expo center last night and saw Doug's cool jigsaw show samples. I think they are going to do well in their new venture.

Bryce and Karen, that is a car parked in the garage. Cars are four wheeled vehicles that the rest of America uses for transportation. Perhaps we can discuss the more complicated idea of a garage if you call sometime.

Moab - Family Bike Ride

On President's Day, we did the Bar-M Loop trail with the Sabeys and the whole family. Soft sand is the enemy of bike trailers, but we all made it through the loop. And once again, we proved that anything you do with the Sabeys is guaranteed to be fun.

 

 

 

Moab - Slickrock Trail

We've been so busy playing for the past couple of weeks that I haven't posted any of our great pictures. So here are a few from our Slickrock trail trip on Saturday.

(Pictures coming soon)

After I wiped out going over this little ledge into the deceptively soft sand below, I decided to pull out my camera and watch the rest of the group come over this spot. You might call it entrapment, but I think of it as opportunity. . . .

Mesa Falls

We went to Mesa Falls with the Sabeys on our New Year's snowmobile trip in Island Park, Idaho. It is about 60 miles from West Yellowstone, MT which made it an all day trail ride.

 

Here is my best attempt to create a map of what it would require to make a round trip from West Yellowstone to Mesa Falls.

Mark's Video

Here is Mark's video from the family reunion. It's 15 minutes long, so had to be cut into two clips. Apparently Mark likes hearing himself narrate.

Madsen Movie

At our recent Madsen family get together over Christmas, we had a fun video making activity. The family was divided into four teams and given a bag of props that had to be used in the skit. This is one of the four videos that were made. Hopefully some day I'll get ahold of the other videos and be able to post them as well.

Madsen Family Christmas Quiz

For those of you lucky enough to make the printed Christmas card list, here is the Christmas Quiz again. For those of you who were overlooked by our bulk mail consultants, here is the Christmas Quiz:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a New Quiz! This year our update is in the form of a test. (Note: there may be more than one correct answer). The highest score (that is reported first) will be greatly rewarded with a free vacation* to where ever we are stationed next year (you may want to opt out of the prize if you suspect we may be sent to Iran—as the winner is obligated to accept the prize). Good luck and Enjoy!

1. Daniel finishes up his radiology residency this summer where he has even been the chief resident. Yet he still managed to find spare time, in which he has:
a) Planed, organized and executed a high tech (and rather mean) joke for his brother to come home to from his honeymoon. (check it out on http://dsmadsen.blogspot.com/ –hit link 10/29-11/05)
b) Spent 6 weeks in Washington DC for a board preparation conference (which he has since taken and passed his boards). While there he spent his weekends in NYC biking or running with his brother-in-law Bryce
c) Hit (but did not kill) an angry charging moose (with his manly mini-van—not his gun).
d) Bought 4 really old snowmobiles that can’t go very fast but are light weight so even the girls can lift them, so that makes them really good, right?

2. Carol has enjoyed staying home with the girls, and for fun
a) She compiled and formatted a cookbook for her church (the irony is on many levels)
b) She directed the elementary school choir for their holiday performance
c) She almost finished the Salt Lake City marathon
d) She likes long walks in the park, feeding ducks and sipping hot cocoa by a blazing fire

3. Our 10 year old Lindsey is an avid learner and tries to impress people with:
a) Spelling her chosen bonus words like lipohemarthrosis
b) Getting and staying up on water skies
c) Taking the calculator away from her teacher to solve a problem that her 5th grade teacher was struggling with
d) Advancing in both piano and violin

4. Kimmer, our 7 year old, is a very bright, kind and socially aware kid. She keeps busy with:
a) Her role in the school play Honk Jr (the ugly duckling) where she plays a cute duckling
b) Water skiing where she got up and skied for a while on her first try
c) Listening to and reading Harry Potter
d) Piano lessons that she added this year to her musical studies which already includes violin

5. Rachel is almost 4, loves preschool, singing, dancing, skipping, on-demand television, doing cartwheels, and making people think she is older than she is, because:
a) She is really good with numbers and can figure out on any day of the week how many more days until her next dance class
b) She expects to get a violin for her 4th birthday (she has asked for this for several years now)
c) She can recognize, write and tell you the sound of each letter
d) She got up, stayed up and even went out of the wake water skiing before she fell

6. Grace, our gleeful walking 1 year old accompanied us to:
a) Washington DC (twice), Pennsylvania and NYC
b) Glacier, Zion and Yellowstone National Parks
c) Utah’s famous Nutty Putty cave (where we went spelunking)
d) San Diego where we fed the bat rays at Sea World

We are so grateful for good friends and family. We hope you have a wonderful, meaningful holiday. We love hearing from you! Merry Christmas!

Love,
the Madsen family