Quickest Tree Adventure Yet

Our Christmas Tree Tradition has been to go out into the snowy mountains, hike and play in the snow, drink hot chocolate and then find a tree.  That tree is usually bigger than the height of our ceiling and we have to make some adjustments, but over all it is an all day experience. 

This year we changed that tradition --slightly.  To get a tree tag from a ranger station is quite a drive from here. We didn't want to drive a super long ways because of one particular reason.  The trees -in the forest- are WAY different!
They are more like this:


Ponderosa Pine

With needles like this: 

 

So I went looking for Christmas tree farms....the next best thing...

 

There aren't any!

 

So I went looking for a Christmas tree lot.

 

There was ONE!  With a couple of bushy-Grandma Gibb type trees.

 

Hmmm...so...for our family night --in the cover of darkness--...we went here: 



They had a couple varieties to choose from. And so we went with a more 'traditional' looking tree, the noble fir.  Actually we bought two.  The small second tree is for our outside entry. 

 

It holds two strands of lights --compared to 5 to 6 from previous years.

And it was done in about 40 minutes.  Compared to a lot more in years past. 

It smells great and looks pretty cute---such a tiny little guy!

It is downstairs this year.
There is a great little room off the
family room.

Here are some pictures of our simple ideas of holiday cheer in our home.

Upstairs family room.

Entry:  The felt  tree to the right is our thankful tree.
Joel's idea:  we will 'decorate' it with things we
are thankful for.  Smart boy!

Downstairs...

Bottom of the stairs:  Kid art...nothing can top it!

Grandma Grangers stitching adds great color!
Downstairs



update

Driving --officially now--
Can you believe they got him to do
this? A whole day at school?



talking up a storm...
loves Buzz and Woody



Growing like a weed
Still conquering the world

14...taller than mom
 ...Best 'movie-quote-r' ever!

Losing teeth  and still dancing around

December 1st

I don't really know where we went today.  We left about 11:00, took a lunch and headed into the mountains.  The area isn't too far from our home...kind of... it was a 2 hour drive.  We went out to find a trailhead or two and 'explore' the area for future camping and hiking adventures.  It was great!  We saw a river!!  You may think...yeah, so what...Alas, we don't see rivers here.  Maybe a stream...maybe...a dry river bed --yes. So it was so refreshing to see a largish river with Anglers doing their thing.

We also saw the aftermath of a forest fire. We do not know when it happened, but there are not many 'baby' trees around there yet, so the landscaped look naked. 

We drove and drove and drove and then stopped to have lunch and explore.  You know, it really doesn't take much for kids to enjoy themselves in nature.  I think the hard part is getting them out in it.

 

Sean doing his thing



Keno, Kameron, and Kaleb...cooking?

Sadie drawing...of course

4-6 inch ice...must try to break with rock!

First attempt...take a guess

gluten
Crossed out...   eliminated...     moving on...    'it's not you, it's me'...  looking back isn't a good idea...

It started when I was pregnant with Sean.

Now it is just better to stay away from all those things I loved... 
--homemade bread and butter, fresh out of the oven
--crackers
--warm toast with peanut butter and chocolate chips
--gravy
--most things you love and didn't realize has wheat/gluten in them.

So sad...

I tried making ________________ with the substitute flour from Bob's Red Mill -- don't forget the Xanthum gum.  (I had no idea what Xanthum would even look like...gum?...liquid?)  Turns out it is an extremely fine powder that leaves your pocket book smaller than it started out.  About $13.00 a pop for an 8 oz. bag.

I have not jumped into the gluten free world of breads, cookies, crackers, etc.  I have just kind of avoided it.  Tried some blueberry muffins...4 muffins for $5.00.  I eat only 1/2 a muffin at a time. It is nice to actually feel full. 

We'll see where I go next.   If you guessed that they are cookies...you are right! They did taste pretty good.  I think it helps to have the best, big, milk chocolate chips in them.

Thanksgiving -- 65 degrees

Thanksgiving was spent in St. George Utah with my brother and his family.  It was our first time on that section of highway so it was interesting...most of the time.  Big...Huge mountains...stunning red, white and black rock...very impressive plateaus...and some flat land, too.

Palm tree by the front steps

St. George Temple

We visited the St. George Temple, Brigham Young's Winter home and Zion National Park. It felt like we went back in time a month and half.  The trees still had leaves and were beautiful gold and red. The grass was still green and it was about 65 degrees.  Not bad for the end of November.









 

All the kids on
 or by a huge tree

All together we had 11 children to keep track of - ranging from 16 years to 10 months. Are we crazy?  Maybe! They all played nicely together and they had a fun time.

View of the temple from the back
with an amazing old and huge tree.

The St. George Temple is the oldest operating Temple in the Church today.  It is stunning white and was very simply landscaped. The palm trees kind of through me off, but I love their look!

Kaylee, Kaleb, Sean, Josh,
Rachel, Emily, Reed, Kameron

Lower Emerald Pool

Beautiful Towering mountains in Zion National Park





Zion National Park--We drove through all that we could and then we stopped and took a bus to a trailhead.  It was a 3 mile hike, round trip, to an area called the Emerald pools -- lower, middle and upper.  We all made it the whole way with only Sean and Sarah needing to be packed.  We left late in the afternoon and so when we made it back down it was nearly dark. While we waited for the bus to come back through and pick us up a herd of deer walk past us--about 15 feet away.  The busses stop at 6pm, and after that you are stuck in the park.  We had a plan, if that happened,  Kam was going to run back to the Suburban and drive it back to rescue us.  The whole time the kids were amazing...little complaining or bickering...and it was pretty chilly in the canyon without the sun. 

It was a great trip!  We loved sharing the holiday with Reed, Jessica and the whole Gibb crew! 

THE Caste Rock

THE Castle Rock of Castle Rock, CO

 There is a park just outside our Rec Center. The kids were playing around and I saw this very creative picture frame of THE Castle Rock.  The cowboy boot is a bird house and each of the flowers, butterflies or bugs that you see are actually ceramic.  The background and tree are painted. It really makes you want to touch it! And I did...


Pikes Peak in the Distance
South West

West



 

We finally made time to hike up to the bottom of the Rock.  It was an easy hike, 1 mile round trip.  But the view and sunset that night were awesome! We are noticing that there are a lot of striking sunsets in this area!  It definitely helps me to lift my eyes upward and take notice.



Devil's Head in the far distance

North West



Sadie found a great
 place
 to see the view!

Our Budding Artist

Keno's work had a fun idea for their Christmas Card this year.  They sent out an invitation to the children of the employees-- of all ages-- to design and draw a picture based on the theme 'Winter Wonderland'.  The winner's picture will be featured on the Slalom Christmas card for all employees and whomever they send them to. 

So Sadie and I sat down and talked about what she thinks of when she hears...Winter Wonderland. Then we looked through old projects she had done from school and such.  She picked a ballerina dancing in the snow.  I got out MY good watercolor paper and some cool liquid masking for watercolors and she went to work.

Ballerina in the Snow

 

 

If you know Sadie then you it is obvious that her dress would be rainbow colors and in the correct order, too --red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, too.  And the ballerina would be a princess and have a crown.

 

We sent it in and I think she forgot all about it...with Halloween coming up and all who wouldn't?!

Keno got this from Slalom a few days ago...

"I wanted to let you know that Sadie's design will be featured on the cover of the Slalom holiday card. Everyone loved her painting and we are very excited about the card. We were also able to feature designs from 11 other kids throughout the card, but Sadie's painting is the featured image on the cover. Please let us know if you are ever in the area, we would love to meet her and give her a tour of the studio. You have a budding artist on your hands, good luck with that. :)

 

Please extend a big congratulations to her from all of us at the studio!"

 

...I was driving when I got Keno's email, so I had Kameron read it to me.  I nearly cried!  I was so shocked and happy and amazed and excited!  

 

Way to go Sadie! 

 

Bring on the budding of our artist!!