One last post for 2008

Kimbre downloaded the pictures off the camera and I was suprised to see we had a few keepers in the bunch.

Here's the view out the front of our complex from two weeks ago when all the snow started. It was two feet then. I thnk it has settled out between each storm, but it seems like we have had 2-4" most days since then.

Here is what happens when you take Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off and your co-workers don't. I received a nice little text message on Christmas night with a before and after shot saying, "Now you see it" "Now you don't." They were able to convince the driver of a Bobcat clearing parking lots that it was really a good idea and would make for a great prank. To top it off, after I dug it out my battery was dead.









And finally. We drove by a certain neighborhood in Post Falls today only to see a mound of freshly turned over soil, a concrete truck, and a pump truck. They broke through 1 and 1/2 feet of frozen ground yesterday afternoon and were laying the foundation today. We were told 45 days +/- from groundbreaking, so hopefully come February we will have put apartment life behind us for good.

The Bagel Deli

We went to the deli today to take some pictures for their walls. It was a lot of fun. Everyone is getting together tomorrow to attack the deli and clean it. I'll be attacking it with vinyl. I am rather excited about it. We are enjoying our break. Seth has been baking all week and learning the ins and outs of that. The snow is melting and we actually saw the sun today!

Christmas

Hallee loves the purse grandma and grandpa! She is into the "older things" now. She also got an MP3 player and both girls got disney snow globes that play music.

Richdell gave us a nintendo Wii for Christmas. The kids have had a lot of fun with it. Andra and Trent are bowling in this picture.

Rett and Korbin got more trucks and cars. Rett's cars make noise and light up when they go forward. They are the kind that you pull backwards and they take off. He is all about cars.

Here they all are in their Christmas pajamas. Rett is camoflaged giving Korbin hugs in the middle of repeating patterns.

These are from the sunday before Christmas. Everyone was dressed to kill in red and black.

The girls slept in braids and curlers, which really made for an easy morning. I love to get them all faniced up for church.

It's Melting

Saturday at 3:00am we left for the Spokane Airport with Travis and Kelly. It was snowing as we left and it snowed all the way there. The plows were not out yet and the wind was howling cross-ways. The roads were a mess from Moscow to Pullman and then it really got bad. From Colfax to Rosalia we were drift busting at times and I kept thinking about G & G and Charlie taking this same trip to catch a plane to Denver when Brant and Leslie got married. If I remember it right, Grandma had some rather harsh words for Grandpa and Charlie saw a new side to the Zirker family. I must say, Mom held up pretty well except when I started driving on he wrong side of the road because the show plows had plowed that side but not ours (I wasn't too worried about traffic at 3:00am). Anyway, we got them there on time and then drove to that gas station just out of Spokane and slept for an hour until it started getting light. We headed for home about 7:00am and the roads weren't much better. We made it about 10:30am.

Today the temperature is 40 degrees and the snow is melting like mad. The streets are a slushy mess and water is running everywhere. It's nice to see it melt and get back to some semblance of normal.

We hope you all had a nice Christmas. We enjoyed having Matt, Kimbre, Travis and Kelly. We thank you for your gifts and calls.

Tonight we are just sitting here reading. I asked Mom what she wanted to do for New Years Eve and I guess it will be rather quiet.

We love you all.

Dad and Mom

JUST NOTHING!

This week has gone by fast! This week mom showed me how to play blink so that was exciting! Grammy and grandpa thanx for the sweat shirt. I was excited to see I got it.
BRAXTON

Notice Braxton's Idaho sweatshirt that he adores. Yes, we did get LEGOs again. Although Braxton swore he's "not really into them anymore."
Kevin made this nativity set for me. I try to get one every year, and I was going to save money by not purchasing one this year.

It's hard to see, but I had to show Lacey my vinyl. It worked awesome on the machine. This was Kevin's gift from me.

We had a very Princess Christmas around here. You can't even see the light up Cinderella glass slippers she got.

hello

i am at main 1 in the library with my dad

Christmas

It was a busy day.

New, rare, animals. Found only in north Idaho.

Mom, reading "her book". She started crying before she even got it open.

Eat you heart out in Denver!!!

Do ya think it will start?

We had a great Christmas. We have enjoyed having Travis, Kelly, Matt, and Kimbre with us. Thanks for all your thoughts, gifts, calls, etc. Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas. Travel safely if you must travel.

I got a call at 1:34am this morning that there was low air pressure in the fire sprinkler system in Colfax so I jumped in the pickup and headed out. Nothing had been plowed. It was a little dicey getting there, especially when I left Colfax and headed south to the building. I was breaking snow drifts and dragging the bottom of the pickup in the center. I made it, did a temporary fix and got home at 4:00am this morning. I couldn't get back to sleep so I sat up and watched TV until all the munchkins down stairs woke up.

We love you all.

Dad and Mom

Merry Christmas!

Can you guess what I got for Christmas??? I am so excited, it's a Nikon D60 D-SLR. I've already taken over 100 pictures, mostly of Weston and random objects. Weston got this fancy car from Santa. He also got the fat lip from the laundry room door after he tripped over Ned's leg. We're still getting snow here. They've never seen this much snow in Seattle. The kids went sledding yesterday and had a blast. If only I had had my new camera... We have over a foot of snow and it isn't going anywhere. Just imagine all the hills in Seattle, plus inexperienced snow drivers. So far, only the Jones's truck has been rear-ended. A girl slid into Ned when he was driving home from work, nothing too major. The city of Seattle only has 27 snow plows so the roads are terrible. Our Focus hasn't left the driveway since we got here and I'm pretty sure it's snowed in. That's about it. Hope everyone is having a fabulous Christmas.

Crusin on Lake Coeur d'Alene

Our "vessel" as we are leaving the dock (actually, I took this as we were dis-embarking) Our group standing on the bow of the boat at the dock

Mom

Me

Yesterday we drove to Coeur d'Alene to take a cruise on the lake. Mom had been wanting to do this for years. Some of you may have done it for your senior party. Anyway, we met at the dock (right beside the Coeur d'Alene Resort) and boarded one of three boats. The docks there are all decorated with winter/Christmas scenes in lights. Then we headed out across the lake and suddenly arrived at a beach front that was totally decorated for Christmas. There was Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus and the boats just pull up and stop just off shore as Santa talks to the kids. His conversation is piped throughout the boat. In the end he reads a list of kids names (the parents can sigh a register as they board and that list is conveyed to Santa). Then we weighed anchor and headed back to the dock. The whole thing takes about 45 minutes. The temperature was about 10 degrees and they had just had about 30" of snow three days ago. Everything was pretty but cold. Matt, Travis and I ventured up on the top deck but it was just too cold. The main deck is enclosed and much warmer. The high-light of the evening was when I ventured around back of the main deck and discovered the doorway into the two Volvo, diesel engines that powered the boat. The door was unlocked but I didn't want to be discovered and thrown down in the "scoopers" of the ship never to be see again. All-in-all it was a fun experience.

Aimee (sheep) and the shpeherd
Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus(who was soon replaced by Rett)

The heavenly hosts

Three wise men

Merry merry Christmas!

We had our Zirker party Friday night, complete with Broccoli Cheese soup and a nativity. The narrator got a little long winded so the kids were a little antsy. But it was fun to get together. Hope everyone has traveled safe, and you can keep the snow. WE're just fine with our 40 degrees!

....and Deeper!!!!

It is 6:45 Monday morning. It's sure nice to have Travis home.

It's Getting Deeper

I think we are going to have to rule out making smores for a while.

We have received about 6" today and it is still snowing. It is nice to have Travis who is out shoveling the driveway and sidewalk at this very moment. We'll keep you posted. I think we will have a white Christmas.

Gettin Ready for Christmas

Looking out the front window at a couple of the neighbors enjoying a good meal.
We had a good week. Mom finished teaching, I got my buildings as ready for winter as I could, and now it is snowing. The week was really cold. Down in the zero to minus 1 or 2 degrees. I got a call Wednesday night that there was water pouring out of the ceiling at the institute. Last year a pipe froze and broke so we repaired it. This year a furnace went down and it froze and broke again. Mom went with me at 8:00pm and we sucked all the water up and set fans out to dry and by morning it looked pretty good. We had it repaired by 7:30am and when students started arriving you couldn't even tell it, except for the dozen or so ceiling tiles that had fallen out of the ceiling. Now I am worried that it will happen again. Each time I think we have it protected and it freezes again. I hate cold weather.

Mom and I drove to Spokane this morning to get Travis and Kelly. Their plane was right on time and we made it home without mishap. We did see one accident right in front of us out by Colfax but he missed us.

Travis and Kelly and Matt and Kimbre are going with Mom and I on a cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene to see the Christmas lights tomorrow. Mom has been wanting to do this for several years. As cold as it has been we could probably walk on the lake and not get wet. Then Matt and Kimbre will come down for a few days and have Christmas with us.

Seth, Lacey and family made it to Seattle without problems. Seattle now has 6" ++ of snow and they are all going nuts. It is snowing here in Moscow and we are probably working on 10"++. All I want to do is get under my favorite blanket with a good book and let it snow.

Enjoy the holidays. Mom would like to have you let us know if and when you get the packages she sent so she knows they have all arrived safely. An e-mail would be fine.

Smores Anyone?

We tried to make smores at Thanksgiving and I guess we just never got around to putting things away for winter. Maybe we'll try again for Christmas.
More later. We're on our way to Spokane to get Travis and Kelly.

Kevin Zirker Family Christmas Letter: Pilot post

We're opting for electronic distribution of our Christmas letter this year. Most of you probably received an email from us. This post is a trial run before we post the letter on the other family blogs. Let us know if you encounter any issues in viewing the letter.

Somethin's Missin'

Last night at the ward Christmas party Kanyon's tooth started to wiggle. Right before he was to sit on Santa's lap the tooth was at about a 30-degree angle. I didn't have time to pull it right then so he gave a closed-mouth grin for the camera. Once we got in the hallway I pulled it. Kanyon is going to take it to school tomorrow for show-and-tell. I'm sure he's not the first to do so, right Mom?
Brant and I were able to finish installing the sprinkler system yesterday at the landscape project we're working on. We barely beat the weather. Yesterday it was 50+. Today the high was in the teens and it's supposed to be cold all week.
I've been blessed with some freelance graphic design work, and other landscape stuff. So far, so good.

It is cold!

Currently, it is -15 at the airport and falling. They say that with the wind chill it feels like -30. I am very grateful for a warm home tonight!

If you get a chance, check out Straight No Chaser's version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. It is amazing. The kids love to listen to it over and over.

Brant

Not much new here.  We're just doing the usual pre-Christmas rounds and getting ready to go to Moscow next week.  We had a good time with Dad in town last week.  We went out to eat and then took a lap around Temple Square.  Kelly was able to feel her toes by the time we reached Sandy after she froze them walking around Temple Square.  

Kelly is done with classes for the semester and just has finals this week.  My job has calmed down a little bit because they don't schedule any refugees to come for about three weeks during the holidays.  

We got  a little snow here yesterday and I went for a hike up Rock Canyon in a driving snowstorm.  In the afternoon we went with cousins Jen, Blaine, Ryan, Diana and Manda to the temple and did a whole bunch of sealings from family file names that G-pa had prepared.

Congrats Mom on your graduation!

Anyone have big plans for Chistmas?  

We are still alive

So, I guess we better reply when grandpa is asking if we are still out here! Just a few of the many pictures from our trip, and a quick run-down.

Thursday-Thanksgiving day-Flew to Orlando, ate Thanksgiving Dinner at Denny's (so Gross)

Friday-Epcot center and Zirker red T-shirt day. We also went to a crazy pirate dinner theatre thing-with all 30 of us.

Saturday-Magic Kingdom and blue day. The castle looked like it was covered with ice that night...as shown in the night-time picture above. It was cool.

Sunday-attended a ward in Orlando. The kids went to primary and came back amazed that they sang all of the same songs as we do! Also-a tornado warning and very rainy. Lots of adventures.

Monday-Animal Kingdom (green shirts) the Zoo Disney style-Hallee and Trent rode a huge rollercoaster that goes backwards for part of it. It is called Everest. Not for me!

Tuesday-Each family did their own thing, we went to the magic kingdom for half of the day and then headed to the beach. Erik insisted that we touch both oceans. Pacific when we were all in Portland and now the Atlantic. It was quite a bit warmer this time! We collected sea shells and played in the sand and water.

Wednesday-Magic kingdom again. (yellow day) We all went on splash mountain, except for Rett. Korbin screamed and cried and is forever scarred by the experience. What were we thinking? I do not even like drops like that.

Thursday-Back home. We got on the airplane in 75 degree weather. What a shock to land in a freezing cold, snowy, windy 18 degrees. Kids-put on everything that you brought! So good to be home though.

Friday-Send the kids off to school, try to get unpacked and somewhat put together for Trent's Baptism.

Saturday-Trent's Baptism. Everyone kept commenting on how nice for us to have so much family in town for the occasion-which is funny considering all who were there actually live here. We missed you grandpa and grandma. It was a nice day. Do these two look like a couple of missionaries or what?

So there it all is. So far we have spent the last week still trying to recover. The kids have four more days of school, and then will have 5 1/2 weeks off. Erik has been plowing snow. Twice so far. The first time he left at 11:30 pm and returned at 2:30 pm the next day. Last night he got the call at 2:30 am and made it in time to meet us at the church where we brought his suit and he changed in the mens room. Lots of fun. He is off again at a meeting.

I am just hoping that it will NOT snow on Christmas eve or day. No white Christmas for me this year.