Christmas

My next few posts are going to be out of order, but there are a few things from the past year I would like to share and I decided the order isn't important, as long as I get them posted.
Christmas this year was a lot of fun. My parents rented a cabin for all of us to go to for our Christmas present this year. We had never done something like this, but we talked about it, planned it, and it actually worked out really well! We had a blast and it was so much fun all being together away from home. We went to Island park (near west yellowstone)and the cabin was awesome. We didn't have snow at home, but there was sure a lot of snow there! And we all enjoyed having a white Christmas.
This is a picture of the first night we were there. My dad was playing a game with the grand kids--which was surprising because we have to beg, and beg, and beg him to play a game with us adults--we probably just aren't as fun :)

The kids had a blast playing outside in the snow, and it was COLD! But they stayed out for a long time before they would come in from being cold. The cousins don't get a lot of time to play together, so they really took advantage of being together:)




We went into the town of West Yellowstone on christmas eve, there was hardly anyone else out and about, but it was fun walking around a bit. This is a picture of us at the Idaho/Montana border.




Also on Christmas, everybody got new jammies. My brothers were warning us that they had gotten speedo-type jammies, trying to scare us. And we were scared, believe me! But when they came down, this is what we saw...

They were actually footie pjs. How they found their sizes? I don't know, but I'm glad they did because we all laughed for a very, very long time! And the kids were glad that Santa and his elves decided to show up :)



A few pictures of christmas morning, lounging and opening presents.

Since all the guys got the same gift, they had to close their eyes before opening them.



We also went sledding later in the day.


Easton had fun whether he was sitting watching, or going down the hill with one of us. He was just happy to be there.


And finally, on the way home we were able to get some pictures of Josh's favorite scenery--The Tetons. Seriously like every 3 seconds he would ask me or the kids, "can you see them now?", "look over there girls, do you see them?" "Sara, do you see those big peaks?" "YES dad, we see them, ok???" Pretty funny. The pictures aren't great, as they were out the car window as we were driving, but they are beautiful.


Before we left, we had some pre-christmas fun with our family in Pennsylvania. We skyped with them so the kids could open their presents and talk with them a little. We miss you guys so much!



We hope everyone enjoyed Christmas as much as we did! We wish everyone the best in this brand new year :)

More Family Visits

We were lucky to have Uncle David (Josh's Brother) and his girlfriend, Jodi, come and visit us for a week. Although I didn't get a whole lot of good pictures, we did have a lot of fun.
One place we visited was Hardware Ranch to see the elk. There were a lot less elk there this year than what we have seen in the past because we have not had much snow. But there were a few, mostly cow and only a few spike. But it was a fun ride.


We also were able to go skiing with them! All except for Easton, he's still a bit small. But it turned out to be a nice day and we had fun. We did this last year and I thought I would have remembered how hard it is to help someone ski while snowboarding...pretty much impossible. However, somehow I thought that this time I would be able to do it, despite my fruitless efforts last year. Well, I just have to share this because it is so funny. I get to the top of the bunny hill, and decided that if I'm going to help, I will have to walk down the hill holding onto them instead of trying to snowboard down. I decided I would have to carry my snowboard with one hand and hold onto Alma with the other...not my best idea. Halfway down the hill I stepped on Alma's ski and made her fall, then I gracefully fell over her. Luckily we came up laughing :) Another time, I was waiting for Josh to get back from the big runs to help us and the girls were done waiting and ready to get back on the hill. So, we went up the magic carpet, (the thing you ride to get up the bunny hill) --me without my snowboard this time- and on the way down I held onto the back of each of their coats and tried to help on the way down...we all ended up tangled on the ground..again. But no one got hurt and we all got (another) good laugh out of it. And finally, my last shining moment of the day, I had just snowboarded down the hill and was trying to walk back over to go back up and I look down and my snowpants are halfway down my legs...luckily I had pants on underneath, but still embarrassing. All I can say is, I hope everyone had a good laugh because I was sure trying hard to get one :)

Saralyn's favorite things to do while skiing: Making snow angels and eating snow :)


Josh was very patient with Alma, and after a few runs with help, she was able to do it all on her own. Good Job Alma!

And Saralyn's other favorite thing to do? Go into the lodge and get snacks :)

Thank you Jodi for successfully helping Saralyn down the hill a few times.

We also went to Lava Hot Springs and Park City while they were here. I didn't get any pictures, but it was fun. The hot springs were especially relaxing :)
On the last night we went bowling. We were the only ones in the bowling alley and it was alot of fun.
Josh--this is funny because I told him to wait so I could get a picture, and when he went to throw his ball he almost fell! He said it was my fault of course because I made him nervous. This roll didn't turn out so good, but besides this one, he did get quite a few strikes!

Saralyn

Alma

Easton

David

Jodi

Sorry some of those bowling pictures are blurry, I don't think I had the flash on. And I am realizing that I need to make a better effort at getting more pictures when we do fun stuff, or even just everyday stuff!

Anyway, we all had a great time and are so happy that David and Jodi were able to take some time off to come and visit us. It is always so much fun to have visitors and it mixes up our routine a little, gives us an excuse to have a little fun too :)