Easter!!

We had a very fun Easter! Saturday night, we colored Easter eggs, which was not quite as messy as anticipated. We made tie-dye eggs, which the girls loved! The eggs turned out pretty cool and worked a lot better than dunking them and fishing them out.

Here is Savannah's first egg!


Here is Ashlie's first egg, she loved the multi-colored eggs.

Here is the entire Hood Family Easter Egg collection.(yeah, we know, not all are tie-dyed)

The Easter Bunny brought the girls these cute dresses to wear for Easter. Aren't they cute?

09 International ATC Hockey Tourney in Minneapolis

We had a great time at the ATC Hockey Tourney this year. It was fun to go back to Minnesota, but it was much colder than the last time we were there! When we arrived at the airport, it was about 12 degrees at noon and warmed all the way up to 18 that day. We arrived on a Monday and played hockey Tuesday thru Friday. John scored the first goal of the tourney, about 1 minute in to the first game. Albuquerque won that game 8-2. The standings are based on a 10 points per game system. 1 point for first goal, 2 points for each period won, 2 points for the game, 1 point for last goal. Albuquerque took all of the points for that game, but went downhill from there. Abq finished with only 15 points, but was 4th out of 6th in the division. It really was a lot of fun. Here is a picture of our team, for that day. There were different players almost everyday.

Here we are on picture day! The rink was very nice. It was pretty new and had 8 sheets of ice for hockey.

There is John!

We went to a high school hockey game, it was to see who would go to their playoffs. It was at the University of Minnesota and it was packed! They estimated over 12,000 people were there to watch the game, it was crazy! It was neat because there was a team from Eden Prarie (which is where we lived) that we watched play and they won! Both of the teams brought their bands to play as well.

Here is our gang, Kellie, Mark, Jonah and Thedra. We found seats about 5 rows behind the net. Those kids were amazing skaters!! It was really fun to watch.

Happy Birthday Savannah!!

Savannah finally had a birthday party!! She was sooo excited to have friends over to play and to have a birthday cake. She loved her butterfly cake, it was made out of cupcakes so they could be pulled off and shared easily. We were fortunate enough to get this picture taken before little fingers started poking.
Savannah loved her cupcake, well, at least the frosting.

We played some games in the backyard, it was a very nice day!! Mom needs to work on her running a bit, but she's getting faster! That many 3 year olds is like herding cats, but they all had a fun time.

We even had a pinata for the kids to beat on (it was either that or the other kids). The most amazing part of that is that dad did not end up on "Americas Funniest Home Videos" like everybody else that works a pinata.

We love our little Savannah! She is excited to have a birthday party again, but waiting a year is going to be hard.

2009 International ATC Hockey Tournament in Minneapolis

It is that time of year again! The first week of March is when the International Air Traffic Conroller Hockey Tournament takes place in different city each year. This year it will be in Minneapolis, which we are excited to return there (we lived there for a few months in 2000). Last years tourney was in Vancouver, B.C. and was a blast! There were 28 teams from all over the United States and Canada, Finnland and Russia. It was very cool to meet people from different countries with some common interests: hockey and ATC. The tourney consists of 4 games in 4 days and a large banquet and award presentation on the last night. There are awards for winning divisions, goals scored, best players, etc.. There are also awards for best uniforms and the ever coveted "Horses A**" award, which with all of the beer that is consummed, there are many who are qualified to win, but there can only be one winner! Here are a few pictures of last years tourney and the schedules have been posted for this year at http://www.atchockey2009.com/. Look for the Albuquerque Roadrunners.

The pink team had a clever name, they are from Victoria ATC tower. Their team name was the Victoria Secrets and all the players wore garters as well.

Albuquerque is the blue team being scored upon.

We will post some pics when we get back from MSP.

Sledding in the Sandias!!

We went sledding with Grandma Lee (she didn't do any sledding but she had fun watching). This years sledding was alot more fun for everybody. Everybody had a really good time. I almost hit a tree my first run down with Savannah but got my elbow on a tree stump instead. John said everyone was yelling "bail, bail" but I couldn't hear anything, I was trying to turn around so I could see where I was going. I am very grateful we didn't have to go to the hospital on our first trip down the hill.

Christmas 2008

We finally got to see Santa after waiting in line for about an hour. Ashlie and Savannah had a lot of fun at the ward Christmas party. Ashlie asked for Barbie Mariposa, and Savannah wanted a candy cane.

Ashlie and Savannah got new pajamas on Christmas Eve. They were excited about being able to open a present Christmas Eve. Thank you to the Moss's for their gift, we have really enjoyed it!! Grandma Lee was with us for Christmas this year and we had a lot of fun with her.

We decided to get a bag for Santa to put all his presents in so he can make it to other houses faster. Ashlie helped Dad hand out the presents from Santa. When Ashlie saw the Barbie Mariposa in one of the presents she was so excited. Savannah got a kitchen from Santa and she has been making us meals and hot cocoa ever since.