New Years Eve - 2018

Last day of 2018! We had fun skiing the last few days of 2018 and the kids had their first Home Series of the year. 

Bill in his awesome nordic attire. 

Race day! Claire.

So fun to see them out in their race suits!

Ellie.

Claire

Charlie

Anja and Claire. 1st and 3rd place finishers! 

Ellie jumped in too! 

Claire on the podium! 

Ellie got 7th! 

So proud of them! 

Charlie and Adam tied for 4th! 

We had a fun NYE and a great recovery day at home the next day! 

Post Christmas Winter Schweitzer fun!

We loved having Nolan and Theo and Avery hang out for a few days post Christmas. 

The kids had fun reading together and drawing on those boogie boards. And Claire was entertaining us with this balloon. So much spit was sprayed around. 

I am so thankful for the time, energy and resources my parents put into teaching us to ski. It is always fun to all be together skiing again. Just wish we could do it more frequently! 

nana, jennie, tom, me, dan, charlie, claire, g pops, ellie (bill taking the pic). 

Love our Snow Ghosts! Charlie and Bill went out alone for a few runs and Bill grabbed some great shots. 

Walter is still here - being fluffy and growing! 

of course the day after my family left - we had a BLUE BIRD day and fantastic snow! We are skiing with Ann, me, Amy, Addi, and Eric.

Big highlight for Bill this winter - skate skiing (read that very saracastically). It has been great having him along, but not sure he LOVES it yet. 

Tom and Laura got their thank you cards and I just love that the girls wanted to send a picture of them with their cameras in the cards. 

twins having a battleship round! 

ticket to ride adventure. 

Claire out skiing with Bill on a very foggy day. Tough cookie this one. 

This just shows that playing battleship with claire isn't always fair. Bill called a ship and she just said "no" (most likely not on purpose, but because she still counts over the number of points versus just using the coordinates). 

Winter break was so long this year! We had 2 full weeks. So we went back on New Years Day for Bill to work for 2 days and then we headed back up to enjoy a 3 day weekend, which was awesome! 

Butz Family Christmas 2018

Christmas at Schweitzer! My entire family made the trek to one of my most favorite places on earth and that alone was the best Christmas gift! 

My brother Dan and his wife Meg and their family (4, 3, 2 - Nolan, Theo, and Avery) traveled for a LONG time to come from Milwaukee. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but we were having too much fun. It was a blast being together. 

Ellie, Claire and Charlie were thrilled when Walter showed up Friday evening. 

Saturday my mom went to Spokane to meet Dan and Meg and kids who flew in super late Saturday night. They slept at our Spokane house and then came up Sunday to ski and play. 

Don't worry - they also brought the stomach flu....

But here are the boys sleeping peacefully in our bunk room with the other kids. 

Grabbing some delicious nachos and tots at Pucci's before heading back to the crazy kid filled condo. 

Actually, my kids were so helpful and awesome with their cousins. It was great having Charlie, E&C around to help read and play with the kids. 

Theo taking some candy from santa!

Charlie taking the cliff. 

The brave and partly ill family! 

But look at that cute Theo! When he is smiling he is irresistable! 

Our very FULL living room for Christmas eve presents! (My parents rented a different condo for all the adults to sleep in, but we did all the fun stuff at our bach). 

It was so much fun being together for the craziness. 

Theo, Ellie, Claire, Nolan, Charlie, Avery.

Christmas morning - with Meg! I'm wearing my new ski pants! Bill got skate skis this year, which is sort of exciting for him and really exciting for me. 

The boys loved skiing. 

Bill doing his best drawing with the girls. 

Ellie.

Claire

What a very Merry Christmas indeed. So thankful for the birth of Christ!