Winter Fun

Ok, so it has been just about a month since I blogged last and so much has happened. I found out two of my girlfriends are expecting, which is hard for me sometimes but I am so very excited for both of them and can't wait to play with new babies. One will be a second time Momma and the other is expecting her first! Yeah. We have spent as much time as we can find relaxing at home in the evenings and on the weekends but still seem to be pretty busy.
Cute kids at home: Oscar and CeeCee

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We went up to winter carnival in Donnelly last weekend and attended the parade as we try to every year. Cobi drove both ways as I had some dental work done on Friday and was on pain killers off and on all weekend, I slept the whole way up! The weather was better this year as it was sunny and a bit warmer but it is still a mountain winter carnival! We had fun looking at all the sculptures and the parade is always great. Then of course, there's carnival food. :D
Christie and I goofing off:

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This was the grand prize winner, you could walk inside of it and it was really greatly detailed!

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The king and queen inside~

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Looking back at the entrance, yes that's a slide for kids in the foreground! :)

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Here comes the parade:

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Emma and Shelby in the parade excited to be throwing us beads!

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This is a backhoe they dressed up in green tarps to make it look like a dragon. The theme this year was fantasy. :)

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This guy was just chillin in the parade.

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Tropical feelings abound even in these temps :)

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We found a Chargers fan in McCall! Can you believe that?

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The fish who grants the golden wish:

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And one of the coldest Margaritaville's I could imagine~

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Sculpture of Summer fantasy I guess. :)

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This is candyland in snow and ice!

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This one was probably my favorite. It was a giant tree with several trunks with character faces in them that had a very tall castle sculpture on top of it. It was huge!

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the top:

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Some of the faces:

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We've all shared a cold but are starting to mend from it, poor Jordan getting it just this weekend. About a week ago, we received a great gift and are headed to ARUBA in April, (62 days!). We are all super excited about going shopping for swimsuits in a couple of months.
Cobi and I each made pages on facebook and are finding people we haven't talked to in a decade. We're hoping to phase out our myspace page but still have a few friends who don't have a fb and don't want to lose track of them.
Jordan started babysitting this weekend. She watched two sweet kids - a 6 & 4yr old and is watching a 2 & 4yr old next weekend. She did great and is enjoying having some spending money as well as saving for her own pocket money in Aruba.
This weekend has been really fun so far. I connected with my old best friend in high school on Saturday and we went for a very long walk, then had lunch at the house with the family. It was so great to get to talk with her and to redevelop the special relationship we had when we were kids.

The 2009 Winter Special Olympics are in Boise right now. It truly is an amazing event. Friday the delegates from the Jamaican floor hockey team came into my office downtown and we all got to meet them. They are such sweet kids and said it is really cold here, hah! One of my coworkers and I took a walk downtown that afternoon at lunch and reveled in the international feeling our little city has adopted. There were people everywhere downtown. We even met a sweet German woman who is here to watch her daughter figure skate. We took some pictures of her in front of the egyptian theater and city hall for keepsakes.
Cobi, Jordan and I went downtown Sunday to meet up with Eric & Emily and Em's family to watch the figure skating. Outside the ice rink there is an olympic village set up with all sorts of booths with information, pictures and swag about Idaho and the US.
The Olympic flame in the center of the Grove downtown:

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Ice sculpture near the entrance to the ice rink:

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As you walk around there are people of all nationalities speaking all sorts of different languages. It is really awesome. The figure skating was so heartwarming to watch. These athletes give it their all and are concentrating so hard you can feel it. It really is amazing.

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This was my favorite skater, he had so much concentration and determination. He skated great and then was so full of grins when he was done. You can purchase felt flowers to throw on the rink so we threw one out for him, he did great!

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Another skater in the second category up, she was super cute, from Canada.

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As the venue is downtown I look forward to watching the figure skating on my lunch hours this week! We will head to the awards later in the week and also try to catch some of the floor hockey one evening at the fairgrounds.
We hope that everyone is doing wonderful and we'd love to hear news of what you are all up to!
Much love, the Idaho Grazianos.