Valynn won!

Valynn won a coloring contest, here is the link to the page.
http://www.dsgkidsclub.com/winners/winners3.asp

Also, if anyone would like some Girl Scout cookies, Valynn is selling them, let us know and she'll hook you up.

Snow

The kids were able to get outside to play in the snow before it melted this weekend. We had a very relaxed weekend. Valynn had a playdate over on Saturday. We finally got Kyra's Christmas gift, a Thomas the train table, set up for her to play with. Mason's getting better at Connect Four every time we play. Sunday after Sunday School we headed into town to buy a few needed supplies. It was 65 degrees here yesterday, so all of the snow is gone. Valynn and Mason are back at school. Mark traveled to Rockford last Friday and had to go back today. I'm still trying to get caught up on all of the housework and other odds and ends.

Minnesota

After Montana we went to Minnesota for 3 days. All of Mark's siblings were home. We had a going away party for Lloyd, he left for Afghanistan today. Right now he thinks he will be overseas for about 2-3 months but that can always change. We made sure we got some pictures of the whole family. This is all 19 of the Rinkel's. We got back to Illinois on the 30th. On the 31st we did an impromptu dinner at Brad and Chantel's across the street. The kids had fun playing together and we called it an early night. Today we are tying up loose ends before we have to head back to work. Valynn and Mason don't go back until Monday. We hope everyone has a great year.

Christmas Eve

After a day of skiing and our traditional Lutefisk supper we headed to the Mountain Village for the torch run. A group of skiers ski down the mountain at night carrying torches. The last skiers is none other than Santa himself, he left the reindeer at the top of the mountain. This year Santa showed his athleticism by snowboarding. After they came down the mountain we went to a restaurant where the kids received their gifts from Santa that had been delivered there earlier. Valynn and Mason were so excited when they heard that Santa was snowboarding down the mountain. They were even more shocked when Santa called their names and handed them their gifts. Kyra didn't care, she fell asleep while waiting for her name to be called. Ty also received a gift from Santa. After Santa passed out the gifts we went back to the condo to open our presents there. Santa also stopped by again that night to deliver the rest of the gifts.

Montana

After Lignite we drove out to Whitefish, Montana. We stayed at a condo on the mountain and had a condo full, Grandma and Grandpa Larson, Paige, Adam, and Ty, and Brady. We had beautiful skiing, it was cold enough that the snow didn't melt but warm enough that you didn't get too cold. We also had snow everynight. Valynn and Mason took ski lessons. The surprised us with how quickly they caught on the skiing. Mark and I would ski the mountain in the morning when the kids were at lessons and then ski with Valynn and Mason in the afternoons. They loved riding the chair lift.

Lignite

We spent two days in Lignite. We were able to visit with friends and family. The kids also enjoyed playing with the John Deere Gator that Grandma and Grandpa bought.

Holiday Train

As we were traveling to Lignite we got an unexpected surprise. We pulled to the side of the road to watch the Holiday Train as it passed. It was wonderful. The next day we went up to Portal to listen to the singers on the train. The singers were great. Santa walked around and gave the kids Candy Canes. At the end all of the kids got a train whistle, thank you Canadian Pacific. The whistle ended up getting lost for awhile.