Year of the Ox

     Happy Chinese New Year!!!  Even though that event has come and gone for most people, the Irvines just barely decided to celebrate.  2009 is the year of the Ox, but each of us at the party had to figure out what animal we are and read the description.  I don't have the exact reading that Karen had, but here's what I found for the year of the Rat (1984).  "The Rat is respected, and considered a courageous, enterprising person.  People born in the Year of the Rat are clever, bright, sociable, and family-minded.  They have broad interests and strong ability in adapting to the environment and able to react adequately to any changes.  They are gifted in many ways and have an easy going manner.  They are active and pleasant, tactful and fantastic, and are able to grasp opportunities.  They seem to have interests in everything and hope to participate in doing it and usually do it very well."  Quite the flattering description, though I do remember in the one I read yesterday that Rat people like to gossip and are easily angered.  I guess we can't all be perfect, but thanks to Buddha, I know what I need to work on.  =)  I thought it was cool that the rat was the first of the twelve animals to show up to say farewell to Buddha before he departed for good, so the rat begins the twelve year sequence.  Since I know you're all dying to know the order, here it is: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and finally, the Boar.  We had at least one of every animal except for the dragon at the party.  Never a dull moment with the Irvine/Stevens/Mitchell crew!!!

Decorations are a must at these get-togethers.  Karen always goes above and beyond.

This is Paul (a Ram) - greatest uncle ever!

Introducing....Beth!  The Chinese version is just as adorable as the English version.  I'd like to claim her as my niece, but technically, she's my cousin Alison's daughter.

These are the Mitchell children - Michael, Beth, and Megan.  They keep the rest of us entertained at these parties.

Almost all of the grandkids - only Jarom and Kai are missing.

I have no idea why I am so enthralled by Michael, but this kid is sooooo ADORABLE and insanely HILARIOUS!!!  I'm just barely beginning to understand what he is saying when he talks.  He definitely speaks his own language, but he is all smiles, so it doesn't really matter what he is trying to say.

One reason why I hesitate to get my hair cut - when it's short I can't do cool things with flowers and sticks and other random accessories like I did for this party.  Happy I can finally do crazy things again - it's been awhile.

     That takes care of Sunday, but this whole weekend was full of adventures with the family.  Paul invited me, Stevie (his son-in-law), and Cindy (his daughter-in-law) to go skiing with him at Brighton on Friday.  We all had a blast in the freezing weather, but were happy to exchange the ski boots for normal shoes after five or six hours of skiing.  We found out while riding up the lift that all of us had tickets to go to the U of U gymnastics meet that night.  When I showed up at Hire's to meet my parents for dinner, lo and behold, the whole extended family was there too!  The meet was really fun (it didn't hurt that the U won), and we even snagged some life-size posters of Kristina Baskett (which we gave to Megan and Beth at the party).  We did a re-enactment of the picture below, and that's when Steve decided that a real person is much more fun than a mere representation.....

And besides, Kristen is a much better name than Kristina...