Well, we spent Christmas in South Dakota visiting my Granny who turned 97 on Christmas day and other family that we haven't seen in many years. It was a nice vacation, the mountains were beautiful, the snow was fun.
took an unplanned visit to the ER in Hot Springs when Eli's fever spiked to 105.5 on the second day. We were worried that we were missing something...he kept complaining that his stomach hurt, had a bad cough and just listless. But after getting checked out, the doc agreed that it was probably just a virus. Either way - not fun!
We got settled and crashed for the night. On Wednesday, Al, Craig and Mandy went up to ski. Eli, Jonathan, Leah and I stayed at the cabin and let the boys play. It was nice to just sit for a change. Eli and Jonathan promptly declared that they were not even getting dressed that day - it was a pajama day! And it was - the boys had a great time. Granny and Pockie joined us on Wednesday evening. We played canasta until all hours of the night.
On Thursday, we all got up and went down to the ski lodge. We attempted to convince Eli to ski, but he just wasn't interested. Granny and Pockie took him back to the cabin and I stayed with Al to ski. We had a good time - skiing is much like riding a bike, it comes back to you if you haven't done it in a while. 
Well, on the last run of the day, I decided to ride the lift with Al to the top of the mountain - let's just say oops - thank God for Kent - the friendly paramedic. I fell and hurt my knee. The jury is still out, but I think I'm ok! Of course, Thomas quickly showed up to get a picture of the injured sister...it was supposed to be a picture of me coming down the mountain.
We returned to Edgemont from the cabin through Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park. It was VERY cold at Mt Rushmore - but good to see the view. On Saturday morning we got up and Uncle Russell gave the kids (and Al) a ride on his rig. Eli and Jonathan just thought it was the coolest thing ever. We played a little more in the snow and headed back to Hot Springs for lunch and to tour the Mammoth Site. We finished the Mammoth site just in time to return to Rapid City to board our airplane back to Denver and then on home. We got home a little after midnight. All in all - it was a good trip and great to see Great Granny and the rest of the family.
Santa came while we were gone and brought Eli a race track and a red motorcycle. Eli had told Santa that he wanted a green motorcycle, but I think once he saw the red one, it was ok that Santa was out of green paint. It has been next to impossible to get him off of it for 4 days now.
We rang in the New Year with a few friends at home. We wish you all a happy 2008 as we pray for peace and new blessings.
