Las Posadas

We had an excelente time last weekend as we celebrated the Mexican Christmas tradition of Las Posadas with our new friends the Robledos and some great friends from our neighborhood. Here's a recap:

The main idea of Las Posadas is to reenact the struggles of Joseph and Mary trying to find a place to stay that first Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. As a group, we traveled to various houses asking (through simple Spanish song) for lodging. We were denied each time (by those inside singing back to us) as we approached the house.
It's hard to believe, but even these stout singers were denied entrance to the "inn."
The kids, who weren't reading the Spanish songs from the sheet, added in some beautiful "oooooohs" throughout the singing. To see what we sang, click here.



A video sample of the angelic voices and strong Spanish accents exhibited during the evening.

After being denied lodging three times, the weary travelers were finally welcomed into the inn, and the festivities began in earnest.

A highlight of the night was some marvelous ponche brewed up by Yadira. It is a sweet Mexican version of apple cider, with the added bonus of fruit pieces! We all had multiple servings because it was so delicioso!



Wil loved the ponche so much he wanted to marry it.


No Las Posadas celebration would be complete without a star-shaped pinata. Maisy donned her official pinata-whacking outfit in order to receive extra swinging strength. It didn't work.



We loved our Las Posadas celebration, and are grateful to our friends the Robledos for teaching us this beautiful tradition. !Feliz Navidad!

Bring on the Bowls!

Please pick your favorite bowl from the following choices:

Choice A:


Choice B:


Choice C:

Choice D:


If you picked bowl "B," you must be hungry. If you picked bowl "D," you must be a college football fan! Whether you picked the correct bowl or not, we would like to invite you to be part of our 2nd annual College Bowl Mania Challenge! (Go Cougars!)



We have a group that will be picking the winners of all the college bowl games coming up over the next few weeks. We are doing the challenge through ESPN.com. If you'd like to participate, all you have to do is follow these simple steps: (Go Cougars!)



1. Go to ESPN.com
2. Find the "Fantasy" tab, then click on "College Bowl Mania" found on that tab
3. If you don't already have one, sign up for a free espn.com account.
4. Follow the directions to create your entry
5. Join the group! The group name is Gus2008, and the password is gus2008.

Once you join, all you have to do is pick which team you think will win each bowl game, and how confident you are in your choices. It's fun, and you don't have to know a ton about college football to do well!

So, sign up yourself and your spouse, and get to pickin, and good luck, and did I mention, GO COUGARS!

Choppin' the Tree

The Gustaveson family has a very memorable and jovial tradition. Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, we go out and cut down Christmas trees on Buckskin Mountain, halfway in between Page, AZ and Kanab, UT. (Check out the embedded map if you're interested.)


View Larger Map


Chopping down the trees, however, is only half the fun. Actually, I (Brett) think the tree finding and chopping is perhaps only, like, 3% of the fun. I like to let most of the others go locate and kill the poor little trees, while I help man the fire (and the hot dogs).

My brother-in-law Todd (pictured above in his EVIL University of Utah hat) is an expert tree wrangler. He found his family's tree, slaughtered it, and had it back to camp in about 8 minutes. That's got to be some kind of record.

Before the find n' chop, all tree hunters receive whistles and compasses in case they get lost. We did get a little bit lost one year, prompting the current safety precautions. The "getting lost" story is a blog post for another day. Remind me at this time next year, and I'll be sure to tell you.

Oh, and a shout out to Aunt Di for the awesome hats. We will wear ours for years with fond memories.


Meanwhile, back at camp, Wil and cousin Megan demonstrate their dog eating skills. Nothin' better than firing up the weiners and marshmallows!



Ace had a great time crawling around and getting messy. He got his first taste of dirt, and he was impressed!

I believe the ring around Maisy's face says it all. The annual Gustaveson tree chop is a fabulously fantastic time, especially for those that stay away from the tree chopping part!

I want to apologize for not blogging for a couple of weeks. The main reason for that is because I was preparing for a trip that included: intricate planning and packing, an arduous and strategic car ride, and sleep deprivation (mainly because we threw a Twilight party the night before we left and went to bed late!)

But it was all worth because we get to be amid gorgeous scenery and we get to be with our wonderful family. They are so so fun and we love them!

Can anyone guess where we are by looking at these snap shots??

That's Uncle Troy with Brett and Maisy.

Chocolate Fever

So we've been involved in a lot of activities this Autumn season. Grammy came and stayed with us for a week. She and Maisy made cookies. Grandpa came for a weekend too--just in time for the trick-or-treating.

Another fun project we worked on was Wilson's pumpkin book report. He had to chose a fiction book, read it, and then summarize it. Then he had to decorate a pumpkin like one of the characters in the story. Just by looking at his pumpkin, can you tell what book he read?


That's right! It was Chocolate Fever. Turned out pretty good, huh? We hot glued chocolate chips on his face for the *chocolate rash*. What really made me chuckle was when he brought his pumpkin home from school. I was surprised to see only one chocolate chip left on his pumpkin.

When I asked him what happened to all the chocolate chips he answered, "Oh, they fell off...and I ate some of them too." Yeah, pretty nauseating.

His teacher told me she saw him casually eating them here and there off his pumpkin. "Don't those chocolate chips have glue on them?" she asked.

He just said, "Yeah, but that won't hurt me." Famous last words, right?

Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We had a great time this year. Thank you to Grammy and Grandpa for your fun visit. Trick-or-Treating was the best.
Wilson was Calvin and Hobbes...
And Maisy was a fairy. Our friend Billy asked Maisy if she dressed up like her Daddy this year for Halloween (he he--sorry Brett.)

*Oh and a special thanks to Brett's student. She did an awesome job painting Maisy's face.*

We were bored one Saturday. Wilson noticed this unoccupied, yet perfectly Ace-sized box. He decorated it and drew a steering wheel inside and well--you can guess what it became. Ace LOVED riding around in his *kart.* From the videos (if you listen closely) you will notice that it was a little easier for Wilson to push Alton around than it was for Maisy!

Get Scared for a Great Cause

As you may know, we are taking a group of Spanish students to Peru next spring. For our major fundraiser, we are putting on a HAUNTED HOUSE for three weekends this month. So come get scared for a really good cause! We have a few students in our group that will not be able to go on the trip unless they are fully funded (and the trip is pretty expensive). So come help us out!

The Melissa Fire Station is the spookiest place in town this month! The haunted house is on the second floor of the fire station. We opened October 17 (last night at the time of this typing), and have seven nights left of scaring, Oct 18, 23-25, 30-31, and Nov. 1. Tickets are $6 in advance (buy them from us! Call us and we'll get you some) or $20 per family. If you buy the tickets at the door they are $8 or $25 per family.

"Rescue Randy" has volunteered his time to the haunted house. We thank you, Rescue Randy. Come see him at his best!

It doesn't get any scarier than this.

If you want to see an article about the haunted house in the McKinney Courier Gazette, click this link.

If you've made it all the way to the end of this post, you've qualified for a special spook deal! When purchasing advance tickets, mention password "Gustavo" and we'll take a dollar off the ticket price. It's a special deal exclusively for "The Good Life" blog readers. Don't say we never did anything for you.

So come to the haunted house, and spread the word to your friends! Come get scared for a great cause!

By the way, if you're too far away to come to the haunted house but would like to make a donation to our cause, you can contact me at brettgustaveson@yahoo.com, and I'll let you know how you or your business can make a tax deductible donation!

Too-da-lee-ha-ha!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! Talk about uncontrollable giggles!

Explanation:

*A list of things to scavenge
*Some unbridled healthy competition
*And boys vs. girls (or more specifically husbands vs. wives)

Need I say more?

Mohawk?

Today, I totally underestimated the innocence of pomade. This is what happens when you leave father and son alone in the bathroom with hair product.
Of course after Brett created this fashion statement--he said, "I don't know if this is appropriate for school. It's kinda distracting." Well, too late now. It's okay I thought to myself. Pomade is great but contrary to what the bottle says--it doesn't last all day. So I sent him off with *heavy metal rocker face* and all.
p.s. I'm not really sure where he learned those expressions. He is capturing them with perfect skill that it causes one to think we listen to Metallica all day long.

Galveston B. I. (Before Ike)

We paid close attention to the recent news coverage of Hurricane Ike, because the storm inundated and practically annihilated our most recent and special vacation spot, Crystal Beach/Galveston, TX.

We were there over Labor Day weekend with our friends the Stentzels. We've planned on going back every year and hope the area can recover quickly. Anyway, here is what Crystal Beach looked like B. I. (Before Ike)

P.S. Hurricane Gustav (bad storm, AWESOME NAME) was thinking about visiting us that weekend, but headed toward New Orleans instead. We're glad.

The waves and sand were perfect for the kids. They had a great time frolicking in the surf.

Maisy, bathing beauty


Maisy and her buddy Carter


Soakin' it in . . .


Heading back to the beach house


Pickin' up some fresh fish


Crazy kids at Bob's restaurant.


Here's wishing the Crystal Beach area plenty of peace in the near future.

First Day of School

So, I know that it's been a couple of weeks since the first day of school, but better late than never--right? (that's what I always say.)
Brett takes Wil to school because it's just down the street in our neighborhood now. Our new school has opened this year and it has just been a beautiful thing.
Well, this is somewhat of a humdrum post, so I thought I would throw in some really cute pictures of Ace.
This is one of our favorites and in fact, Brett says this is probably the cutest he has ever seen Alton. That's a powerful statement because he's pretty adorable a lot of the time.

Daddy and dancing

We recently signed Maisy up for a dance class. It teaches a potpourri of ballet, tap, and tumbling. There is hardly anything cuter than little girls in little leotards, little tights, and little dance shoes!
"Wow! Check out that leotard!" you might be thinking. Well, it's pretty special because her Grandpa Ming picked it out for her. He amazingly has always had an eye for fashion. She just sparkles in it.
Last week, I had to go to the store at the same time that Maisy needed to be chauffered to her dance class. So I delegated this undertaking to Brett. As I hurried out of the house I called out, "Don't forget to pull her hair back! Can you handle that?!"

"Sure, sure," was his response.

When I got home he reassured me that everything went smoothly. "But next time you pull Maisy's hair back, can I watch?" he asked. So of course he received one of my looks and a exasperated *why???* Apparently he couldn't find any small rubber bands and so he used some of my big ones. As you can see in the pictures, Maisy doesn't really have a lot of hair to work with in the first place and that is why the little rubber bands are the only ones that accomplish the task. So as usual, Brett, being slightly clueless threw in a little *razzle dazzle doo* and Presto! just like that, a solution--Brett style.
She is loving the class of course and it is so fun to see her enjoying it.