Impromtu naps.

Normally my kids don't take naps. Samantha is in school now and just doesn't take them anymore. Erica has never really taken very good naps and most days she just does without or maybe she'll snag a 15 minute nap in the car traveling between places but that is about it. However, Christmas and all the activities that go along with it sure has worn them down because today they both decided to put themselves down for a nap. They had been playing really good together but when I went to check on them, this is what I found.

Samantha, the responsible one, climbed into bed.

Erica, the athletic one, litterally climbed up onto the shelf and passed out.

It's hard to get upset with her when it's just so darn cute!

Look I'm skating!

So I have to say...this was an awesome christmas party and another first for both of my kids. They were both very brave and gave ice skating a try. Samantha didn't enjoy it very much but Erica did a lot and kept shouting at the top of her lungs "look I'm skating!" to anybody that would listen.

Mom and Dad did most of the work (our backs were killing us the next day) but she did really well at staying calm and keeping her skates straight so she could just glide along.

She was really upset when it was time to leave. But then again there isn't anything a green cupcake can't fix! =)

Hiking for Christmas Trees

It's that time of year again! We managed to get my whole family to take a hike up the mountain on my mom's property to find a christmas tree to cut down, bring home, and give lots of love too. It's better than getting one from those Christmas tree lots because of all the bonding moments and memories. Plus it's free! Unless you count the gas it takes to drive there. But speaking of memories the girls sure looked cute sleeping in the truck and even holding hands.

This is one of those rare moments amongst all the normal childhood bickering that I'll treasure forever. I'm glad the camera was ready and waiting at my feet.Here is all of us with our trees. We found some really good ones this year! Normally, as is to be expected in the wild, they are a bit lopsided.

It was bit cold there as you can see from Erica being all bundled up in her coat plus mine...but the traditon is to roast a hot dog after we have our trees. So we gathered around the fire to stay warm. I actually preferred the short roasting stick this time. =)

And the story doesn't end there. Samantha sure was excited about decorating our recently acquired tree and so us girls had it done in record time.

See what I mean about them being lopsided. =) It's still cute though and they smell so good! Merry Christmas everybody!

Hangin out with Grandpa D.

So we like to go camping at Grandpa D's. It's just as good as going up the mountains. And this time we actually got to use the cool new accessories for our trailer since we weren't camping in a snow storm.Look how peaceful the girls look. They slept right thru Cameron and Brent fixing our leaking pipes.

We had a lot of fun hangin out with grandpa D the weekend before Thanksgiving. We played Phase 10 same as always. He is really good at that game and therefore Grandpa D is the only person who gets called a cheat more than I do. =0)

Then on Saturday we all had a football party and watched the BYU vs. UTAH game. Erica and Grandpa each enjoyed a short nap before kick off.

We also have a new pyromaniac in the family. Cameron didn't have to give Whitney any encouragement in order to get her help burning up all the leaves in the ditch. You can barely see her behind those huge flames!

We also stayed up late playing the best game ever, Settlers of Catan.

All in all it was a great trip. I think Grandpa really enjoyed himself too.

Mom's Little Helpers

Sam and Erica went outside to play and it was all to easy to put them to work.

I thought they looked way too cute with their little rakes.

It's too bad this is only the first few leaves to fall from our popplers. We will have a ton more before they are done.

Halloween Fun

Our house was "the best on the block" thanks to Cameron's awesome decorations!

The Costume contest was a sucess too! The so called "party poopers" even showed up in costume and they had such great ones that they won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

The bearded nun took first place and won two movie tickets.

The corpse bride tied for second with the man in the zuit suit.

This guy took 3rd place but he had to take his costume off because he was scaring all the children. He even spooked a few of the trick-or-treaters.

We ate, played games, and got a few more people addicted to Rock Band.

I hope everybody enjoyed themselves as much as I did.

Pumpkins

We though it would be a fun family activity to each carve our own pumpkin to put on the front porch.

Erica and Sammy drew their own faces on with pencil and they both made a good effort to clean out the insides of their pumpkins.

Cameron carved Erica's for her but Sam did try to carve her very own with just a little help from Dad.

First Campout in the New Trailer

And Boy! was it cold! We got there Friday night and when we woke up there was snow! We got up and had a classic camping breakfast: eggs and baccon. Then the kids wanted to play outside, but they only lasted about 5 minutes and wanted back inside. ReyAn and I didn't sleep well cause the wind was blowing all night, and it never let up Saturday, so we left. It was a short trip, but still fun and a good tryout for the trailer.

Last Camper Campout

September, 2008

We finally got the camper into the upper part of Baldwin's property! We only had to make a new road to get it up there. Luckily, our old tent spot that we had flattened out a couple years back worked to level out the truck too.














We spent the weekend digging up rocks and boulders out of our new road and clearing a new flat to use as a kitchen area.














Everyone helped out.













The finished product.


This is the outhouse we built earlier this year...that got shot up by the neighbor's 22. That was a big project, but so worth it. Not too bad for being made of pallets.