Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve might just be my favorite part of the holidays.  We always go to my brother's house where we have lots of really good food and have so much fun with my favorite people.

After dinner we made cookies for Santa.

 Then it's time to open presents.  We make the kids take turns, and I love how they all gather around to help each other open.

Baby Henry

Carly got a makeup kit and she and Zoe wasted no time getting made up.

Brianna loved her collection of hats from Grandma Phyllis and really love her markes and coloring book.

Still doing makeup.

We had so much fun and were so tired when we got home.  We opened up some PJ's and went to bed.

Fall Cabin Weekend

 We spent last weekend up at my Brother's cabin.  We always have such a good time there. 

We went into Vernal for the the day to see the Dinosaur Quarry.

 We went there many years ago when Brianna was 2.  She went around roaring at all the dinosaur bones.

The Quarry has been closed for about 7 years because the building wasn't safe and it just recently reopened. 

 The  whole wall is filled with bones.  It's really worth a visit.

 Grandma came with.

 The girls also got a Jr. Ranger badge.  That is their 7th of the year.

 We also got to see petroglyphes

 And explored a cabin form the 1800's

 More rock art.

 Two sweet girls.

 Last month at a neighbors garage sale Jon bought a raft.  I'm not really a boat person

 But daddy and his girls had a great time rowing around.

We had such a fun relaxing weekend.  We can't wait to go again.

Travel Log days 7,8 & 9

Day 7 we headed into Wyoming to see Devils Tower National Monument.

It is really cool to see it rising up out of the middle of no where, and it was very interesting to learn about he geology of it.

A rare picture of Grandma Alice. What a cute couple!

They got their Jr. Ranger badges of course.

Family Photo.

Day 8 we moved camp then drove into Montana to see Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument.

This is one of the places we went to on our trip 16 years ago and it was really interesting and a little eerie.

It had changed a lot from our last visit. Mainly they have added many things to help honor the Native Americans who fought and died that day.

I thought this was such a beautiful wreath that someone had left.

They added a very big monument that tells about all the different tribes and even the Indian Scouts. It was beautiful.

During the Battle of Little Big Horn all the men were ordered to kill their horses so they could use them as a shield. Over 250 horses died that day. This is the monument that marks where they are buried.

After the battle was over the army came and buried all the soldier where they fell. Many years later they were moved to a mass grave, but they put up a marker in each of those spots. The Black marker in the middle is where Custer fell. Some of the markers just say soldier, some are even for civilians.

As you drive through the area you can see markers dotting the prairie.

Custer's headstone.

The monument where the mass grave is. It lists all the names of those who died.

They got another Ranger badge. 6 total for the trip.

Day 9 we had to move camp again, but our drive took us through some beautiful mountains in Wyoming. We stopped for a bit at the summit and took some pictures.

I Love these sweet girls.

We got to our next camp in Cody,WY, just outside of Yellowstone NP. Our campground had a swimming pool, so we spent most of the day swimming.

I saved the best for last. Still to come Yellowstone!

Retiring

After more than 20 years teaching my Dad retired last week. This is him with his grand kids and his turtles.
He will be missed.

New Years

The best part about this time of year, is spending so much time with our family. This past week we have gotten to do some fun things, the best by far was bowling.


This was the first time we've ever taken the kids bowling. We play Wii bowling all the time so it was fun to go see the kids bowl in real life.

My brother is such a cute daddy and Jack is such cute little boy.

Carly tied to bowl the right way a few times but eventually would just sit down and give the ball a good push.

Bri was actually pretty good.

Friday night we all got together for New Years. Grandma had made all the kids sweaters for Christmas but hadn't quite finished them in time so the kids got them for new years.

Then the mom's and dad's left and the kids and grandma slept over.

We did a count down early but the kids all stayed up till midnight anyway. We had a very happy new year and we hope you do to.

Christmas

We started our Christmas fun on Christmas Eve. We made cookies in the afternoon. Then we headed to my brother's house for the real fun. We ate lots of good food. Then we let the kids get in the hot tub for a few minutes.

They had so much fun!

After they dried of we frosted cookies for Santa.

Then presents!

They both got pillow pets, and couldn't be happier. When we got home, we got to open up one gift, Jammie's, of course. Then set out the milk and cookies and carrots of course.

The girls were spoiled as usual.

They both loved their guitars, Bri is a budding Taylor Swift.

Carly loves her kitty. We also got a telescope.

More gifts.

Next we were of to Jon's parent's house for Swedish pancakes and for presents.

We gave their cousin Courtney a bag of dress up clothes, which she loved.

Putting on make up. Then we headed up for so much needed napping.

We had a great Christmas! I hope you all did too!