Bringing in the New Year

Well, we thought we would end this year with smiles on our faces and laughs all around, so we decided to go sledding again! Because seeing a 8 1/2 month pregnant woman trying to get in and out of a sled is a very humorous sight in itself - enough to make even the most serious bypasser laugh... trust me, it happened!

This time we went sledding at an enormous hill at the point of the mountain. This was PERFECT sledding territory! The hill was so long, the ride just seemed to last forever. It was the climb back that was the kicker! I think I went down 4 times, the kids each went 3 or 4 times, and Scottie went more than that - he had the stamina to do it more times than the rest of us wimps! You can see how little he looks at the bottom of the hill in the picture with the one person in it, and how long the sled runs in the snow are - it was wonderful!

The wind was exhilarating...the snow was smooth and made for fast runs...I was having so much fun I didn't bother getting my camera because I wanted to keep playing... it was the crashing part that was the downer of the day!

On my last run, I am not sure what happened, but all I know was I was smiling and flying down the hill at a breakneck speed, then I was airborne and time slowed way down. That's when I started doing face plants in the snow and toppling over myself. I remember thinking of where my head was and how my stomach was the whole time, and was kicking myself because I knew Scott would be watching at the bottom of the hill and was going to flip watching me do my flips. When I landed my first thought was to take inventory, then to make sure I got up really quick so that he knew I was okay. I got up, (way dizzy!) turned the sled the right way again, got back in and finished my run. But that was it for me - I let Scott know I was okay, he had already started running up the hill, and we walked back up the hill together. He told me I did mid-air splits while I flipped, but I wasn't paying attention to that end of my body to remember them. Luckily I was so frozen at that point that I really didn't feel a whole lot in the way of pain. I would have loved to have caught that on videa camera so I could have seen what happened, but no such luck! I would have posted it too, just so we could all laugh together!

We let the kids do one last run, and then we headed to Scott's brother's house where we were going to stay for New Year's Eve. I made sure the baby was still moving okay, and Scott worried a lot about me and Hoppy, but all was okay. I had squished Hoppy Erick enough that he moved from being head down to being sideways - which, when I warmed up, ended up being a not so comfortable position. And my body ached from flipping around, but there was no serious damage. But another evening and night of contractions ensued, well dealt with, but miserable all the same!

In the meantime, my sister-in-law, Suntaree and I made a delicious Thai dinner to celebrate the New Year. She has been teaching me all sorts of Thai, Vietnamese, and Laotian recipes. Tonight my newly learned recipe was making fresh spring rolls by myself! We also had garlic pork riblets, sticky rice, papaya salad, a Vietnamese roasted pepper dressing, and a delicious pork topping for the rice. I was so proud of myself I had to take some pictures of the BEAUTIFUL rolls! I am definitely making these again! They are so easy and DELICIOUS. They are a soft rice wrapper on the outside, and the inside had lettuce, basil, Vietnamese basil, cucumbers, cilantro, and a garlic beef strip. They were like a little refreshing hand-held salad.... yummy! I think next time I will try adding some shredded carrots, or sliced avacado, or maybe some chicken instead of beef. I lvoe playing around with new recipes!

The New Year came and we all celebrated it after we finished watching our movie, and then had a fun paper airplane throwing game for almost an hour, and called it a night. It was a fun evening, the kids loved spending it with their cousins, and the adults all had a fun time together as well.

I hope everyone out there had a fun New Year's Eve as well! May this new year be great for us all!