Our Merry Christmas!

I had to work a few hours on Christmas Eve but was home early enough for us to go sledding. Brandon took his snowboard. So I decided I would give it a try. Ignoring the fact that it is not the correct size for me. I am still for now a few inches taller than him. I think I did ok for my feet hanging off the front. I fell a few times but I think I got a great taste of what it would be like, just on a smaller scale. We all had a great time. I hope we get to go a few more times this season.

Later we had Jeff's Brother Paul & his wife Elizabeth up to hang out with us. We stayed up past 11 o'clock on Christmas Eve playing Pinacle. Fortunately the boys were tired enough to sleep in till about 8 o'clock the next morning. They were so excited! We ate a snack to tide us over till Brunch! Opened gifts all day and enjoyed a nice family dinner later that evening. The boys had a total "Transformer" Christmas. Brandon managed to score a "Rip Stick". For those of you not up to speed in the skateboard world. A Rip Stick is like a skateboard but only has 2 wheels one in front & one in back and then the middle twists so you can turn. Takes more balance & coordination. He loves it though! Tyson got a Remote Control Motorcycle & Ryan got a toy Chainsaw. I got an awesome Mountain Bike, and a Vacuum. Jeff got some car speakers & Bike handles. We enjoyed just sitting around, & chatting. All around we had a great time! We really felt the spirit of Christmas too.

Way over due Happy Thanksgiving...

I'd like to start by saying how "Thankful" I am. I have a great family, extended included. I have a warm house to call home. I'm grateful for great friends both near & far. The men & women that serve for our freedom. The beautiful nature we have to see & enjoy. And for the spirit that blesses all of us. This year for Thanksgiving we made a last minute trip to MOAB! We met Jeff's brother Steve there. The weather reports looked great till Saturday so we knew we needed to make it a quick trip. We arrived on Wednesday around 5 PM. The sun starting to go down, but we had enough light to get our tent setup. Well that is when the cold came in. We have a fire which was keeping us toasty. But when it came time to go to sleep it was FREEZING! I've not seen Jeff get cold, I knew it had to be SUPER cold if he was cold. So needless to say the kids slept pretty well, but I think I may have got about 3 good hours in that night. When the sun came out it warmed up. I cooked our Turkey on Tuesday night and packed it in the cooler. Brought some of the other fixings for a "Thanksgiving Dinner". I think everything turned out yummy. I did miss the warm homemade rolls though. It was nice to talk about all the many things we a grateful for. I think the thing I was most grateful for on this trip was that we decided to get a hotel room Friday night! It was great to have a warm shower and bed to sleep in. Note to Self: No more camping after the month of September, even if it is MOAB! :)

We decided to make a trip through Arches again. We never made it through the whole park the last time. We took the whole day Friday and hiked through what we could. It was so FUN! We really wished we could've hiked right up to Delicate Arch though. It is a 3 mile hike round trip on Slick rock. We didn't think we should take the 2 younger boys just yet. Maybe next year! We did spend a lot of time at "Sand Arch". It was a very cool, you have to hike through a crack in the rock. And when you get to the Arch there is a HUGE sand pile at the bottom to play in.

I saw this tree on the way out of hiking to Skyline Arch, thought it looked kinda neat. We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are getting all ready for Christmas!