Thanksgiving in the Valley of Death (aka Death Valley)

Yet again, Tess was playing in the whipped cream.  She has an awful habit of doing that... 

So the first night of our Exciting Thanksgiving trip to the valley of death

Marta decided to take pictures of almost everybody in the campground's expressions with a camera light flashing in their faces.

Mom, and Dad both completely stunned...

Marta, still looking crazily happy

Me, with my red light on

,and Tess looking pretty much asleep

Then, while we were playing the great Dalmuti (a family favorite) I heard something rustling around near our food so we promptly turned on our headlamps to find Foxy Loxy, as Dad named him\her

Dad and Eliza smiling with their 'cool' sunglasses on

It is I, and one of the many beautiful side canyons on the golden canyon trail hike

Aaahh, Marta taking pictures of herself again, still in the golden canyon

Here's one of the many pictures that my silly sister Marta took trying to show all of you blog readers an idea of how amazing this landscape is

Yet again I was forced to stop and wait for my slowpoke sister Tess.

This picture should show you a scale of how enormous the area was

Me, with one of my strange grins reserved for pictures.  And no, those rocks are not photo shopped- they are really green!

We climbed down many small gullies in the dry flash-flood riverbed.

the giant, or great natural bridge with the family standing underneath it

Tess looking very happy, while Dad looked just a little bit annoyed... they were making eggnog ice cream, by the way :)

one of the many times that everybody chipped in to help clean up breakfast dishes

from left to right me, with my frisbee-halo, Caroline, and Dad picking up the rear

Broski Luke being buds on the sand-dunes with Jacob and Kirsten

the mesquite sand-dunes, that look beautiful but are a pain to climb up

a funny picture of sleepy gals taken very sneakily by Jacob.

Jacob, Aunt Margerie (on the left), and Grandma Note: Jacob never has a straight, or boring face when pictures are being taken.

dad having fun with hot coals and dutch ovens... (pyro)

the first few people getting their camp cooked Thanksgiving dinners

(yams, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, two kinds of dutch oven stuffing)

Cory's dog, Timo,or for correct pronunciation, (Teemoe) he is the Bomb!!

more people getting Thanksgiving dinner, but this time with funny faces

(rolls made by Kirsten, fruit salad by Grandma and Aunt Margarie, Mom's famous cranberry relish, and TURKEY!!!)

these are all the people that came, by name from bottom to top, left to right, Marta, Eliza, Kirsten, Luke, Grandma Houghton, Cory, Me, Caroline, Tess, Jacob, Aunt Margerie, and last but not least, Mom. (and Dad taking the picture)

Luke, giving the camera, and the camera lady a funny look

Kirsten, and Jacob our resident "deer in headlights"

Tess with her "precious" along with Marta, and Caroline

Dad, Luke playing Shuffleboard at the Furnace Creek Resort (Tess and I are really there, just hiding in the shadows on the other side!)

almost everybody hiding at the visitors center behind the over-sized thermometer

This picture taken at Badwater, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere.  Try to focus on the little white line, as you will see it zoomed in the next picture

Yes, I know it is crazy that we are that far below the sea, however as Eliza has said, "some cars have 4 wheel drive, Babe has submarine capabilities"

Cory and Timo, the two bachelors walking around at Badwater.

I told you we were at Badwater- funny name...

Jacob and Caroline, Note the crusty salt in the back-round

Dad looking epically into the distance By the car at Dantes view

again at Dantes view, but this time after a short hike that took you even higher up the mountain

and then, me, Dad, and Marta hiked all the way to the top of Dantes view just before dark to see a glorious view of Death Valley

On our way out of Death Valley, we hiked up to Darwin falls one of the very rare water-features in Death Valley, 

another gorgeous picture of Darwin falls

in the car on the ride to death Valley, with everybody looking pretty pumped

Here's a funny thing that Mom found on facebook; it's totally true in the Houghton family

and finally all of us the night before leaving Death Valley, all feeling very content about our amazing adventure into the desert

Completely Sincerely,and Yours Truly,

Levi

P.S. this is my first time doing a blog post- pretty cool, eh?

We LOVE November!!!

 Tess was having a bit of fun with the whipped cream, which we have in our

house in anticipation of numerous whipped-cream-requiring desserts. . .

like pie.

 So last week, the AFS club (which Marta and Tess are involved in) put on Fall Formal at the high school.  Mom, Dad, and Levi came in and helped put up various 2-D and 3-D decorations.  This rendition of the Parthenon was the greatest achievement of the evening!  Made entirely of old reused boxes, cardboard pillars, some ancient gossamer, and a bit of mylar, some fishing line, some paper clips, and a lot of tape, we worked for 5 hours to put this 9 foot high Parthenon onto the front of a glass case.  I am quite proud.  Also, we didn't get pictures, but within the gym, the 10 foot tall bleachers were covered with about 180 feet of blue paper, and then large silhouettes of the Eiffel tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Roman Colisseum, and other world monuments were taped up around the gym. We were there till past midnight, as you might imagine...

...and the next day, we went to the Oakland Temple!!!!!  After the temple trip, Mom and Marta zipped home to get ready for formal, while Tess hung out and waited until it was time to go to the Saturday Night Activity (youth dance) in Modesto, 

and Dad, Levi, and Eliza went home.  

Back at home, Marta got all spiffed up with some help with hair from Mom and makeup from Eliza, and then was off for the evening.

 Marta went with her date Andrew Blazzard, a friend from church, 

and had a grandios time!

Shhh!!  Don't tell anyone, but Marta turned 17 on November 12.  

Dessert was... pumpkin bread pudding, served over a bed of vanilla bean cream thing, 

with caramel shtuff drizzled on top, and whipped cream to top it off.  

Eliza is a really exciting chef, and it was delicious!

 BTW, the best part of this picture is really Levi's face in the background.  

We love that boy.

And per-request from said birthday girl, we had a Harry Potter marathon, 

although we only actually got through 4 movies...

Harry Potter is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread...

 So we also made some apple sauce...

 Thirty-two quarts.  We feel like squirrels settling in for winter.  

 Some recent humor we've enjoyed--

This is Dad's favorite picture from Eliza's favorite website- Sanitaryum...

Aaanndd this is our a favorite video for (some of) our family.  "It's literally contagious!!"

Love,

Marta

P.S. You know you want to do the sloppy swish...

Sorry Patti, We're Staying In Today

Have we mentioned that we are a family of swimmers?  We have been truly blessed to be part of the Tuolumne County Aquatics program, which exists in large part because of the efforts of Patti Scott-Baier.  Here she is. 

 

Okay, it's Halloween and her 60th birthday, so she is dressed as Cruella DeVille.  She doesn't usually look like this.  But she is a task-master--checking up if we miss workouts, and making sure we're swimming our best.  Even though she doesn't coach the kids, she keeps an eye on them too!  Her expertise, personal caring, and high expectations have helped us all to be healthier and stronger people--both physically and emotionally!  Thanks Patti, and a belated happy birthday! 

But today it is snowing.  Did you notice, the pool is outdoors?   

And we're sick.  Really.

And we have a cozy "first fire of the season."

So, sorry Patti, we won't be swimming today!

Denise

Yo

#3
(Houghton Code-number for "It's been a really busy month")

As is our tradition in the month of October, we celebrated the fall-ish season with caramel apples :)

We all broke our teeth on the delicious yumminess...

Tess decided to be a bit contrary and turned her caramel into a car-mole especially for Mole Day (a mole is 6.2x10^23, so the Chemistry classes at our school celebrate it on October (10) 23, from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02  p.m.)

In the mean time, Marta and Tess both finished out some great water polo seasons- (Marta is very sad that it is over, and Tess looks forward to next year)

 Levi and Dad spent some time in the mountains, fishing and camping.

 Mom and Eliza (and Marta) spent a LOT of time cooking up tomatoes into salsa and spaghetti sauce. (Mom was given the tomatoes by 3 different friends who had accidentally gotten more than they wanted at the tomato farm in the valley)

 Dear Tessy celebrated her 15th birthday (contrary to Dad's belief that she only turned 13) and received gifts ranging from sunglasses to swimsuits to mascara.

 Eliza made dessert- some sort of chocolate lava concoction- it was delicious!

 As is our tradition on Tess' birthday (Oct. 29th) we carved pumpkins into some awesome jack-o-lanterns! BTW, another tradition for birthdays that we have, is to put pictures from the scrap-books of the birthday child all over the table (and cover it with a plastic, clear table-cloth)

These were the finished products- from left to right we have Mom's "Goofy Jack", Levi's "Cyclopes", Marta's "Eye of Sauron" (you can see the back of that pumpkin below), Tess' ...pumpkin (which I think looks surprisingly like Luke), and Dad's "Frito Bandito" aka Wario. 

 On Halloween we attended the annual ward "Trunk or Treat" with costumes (from left to right) Siena (Marta's friend) as a Jester, Marta as Legolas, Tess as Flash, Levi as a Dead Kayaker, and Eliza as a Vulcan.

 Aaaannnndd, here we are again!

Marta and Tess also participated in band in the last football games of the season (last one ever for Marta).  Above are friends in the tuba section (and Devon with the saxaphone) at the grand rivalry game- Oakdale vs. Sonora.  

Last home game, with susaphones, in uniforms.  Smile!

Other Shtuff:

• Marta and Tess have been working with the AFS club at school to put on Fall Formal
• We've been chopping and stacking lots of wood, and winter-proofing the house.
• Luke is shocked to be losing G-2 pens at an unprecedented rate- he has now used up approx. 12, and suddenly his stash does not look nearly big enough...

• Eliza is working 3 jobs as music instructor at Belleview Elementary, Cafeteria worker at Soulsbyville Elementary, and Social Services Provider.
• I think that's about it...

But wait!!!

 Dad's been around too, he's just usually the dude behind the camera...

And Luke dressed up as the Crocodile Hunter for Halloween 

And Now, we are done.

Love,

Marta