December 2011

Yes, I know that it is February.  That is how much of a slacker I am.  But because I am a slacker and I feel compassion for anyone who happens to look at this blog, I am going to give the condensed version of our December, the part after Britton's birthday.

We didn't get anyone snow until the week before Christmas.  Then we had two days of snow, five inches each day, and so we ended up with more snow for Christmas than Idaho Falls had.

 I was right, we have an awesome sledding hill for a backyard.  You have to make sure that so stop before you hit the fence but the kids have enjoyed the fact that we don't have to go anywhere to go sledding.

 Oh the excitement.  The kids were able to sled a couple days, then the dirt started showing through.  Luckily it snowed a second time so they were able to go sledding with Brandon's family.  We managed to not take any pictures of that.  Brandon's dad got some really great ones.

Brandon's family drove out to see us for the holiday.  They managed to make it in between storms.  Not that we were getting snow, but neighboring states were.  The kids were very excited to have Grandma and Grandpa Isle, Uncle Don, Aunt Haley, and Paul at the house.  Because we were having people over, I decided that was as good an excuse as any for making treats.  I figured the more people we had over the fewer treats there would be for me to eat.  Of course I also sent treats with Brandon to work a couple of times.

 From left to right: chocolate peanut butter rice krispie roll, fudge- one kind made with regular marshmallow cream and the other made with peppermint marshmallows and candy canes, Reese's peanut butter bars.

 Mary and Joseph from our own little nativity.  William wasn't very excited to be Joseph, I had to break it to him that he was the oldest boy so he got to do it.

 Our angels.  The angels were a little jealous that Mary got a baby and not them.  I'm not sure why the big angel is wearing a super cape but there you have it.

While Brandon's folks were here his Uncle Terry and Aunt Cara and family drove down to visit and were lucky that Brandon was taking one of his holiday days.  So we headed out to Garden of the Gods.  There weren't as many climbers this time around.

 Bradley is not real happy about being in the backpack.  But doesn't he look cute?  I made the kids some hats this winter, practice for hats I was making for Crystal's kids, that had ear flaps and tied under the chin.  When Bradley played in the snow the flaps would get wet and irritate his cheeks so I made him a monster hat.  Of course then I had to make all the others one.  I will have to take a picture of all my monsters together.

 Now he's happy.  He loved looking in our little rear view mirror.

 Some of the family walking around.  Not everyone because of course we split up and met back up at the cars.

 William wanted to play some minute to win it games, so he came up with a few and they had a lot of fun.

 We went out to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings with the family.  We were able to look around and the kids enjoyed it, I think.  Behind the kids is a replica of the ovens that were used by the Indians long ago.  The sign said that the oven would fit 30 one lb loaves of bread at a time.  That's a lot of bread.

Brandon's family stayed for a week, and yes we took a lot of pictures but I'm not going to force all of our pictures on you.  December ended with another trip to the zoo, we purchased a membership so we can go a lot this year, and it was really cold.  The kids were pretty good about it, but they were glad to head home.

The Meerkats didn't look happy.  After the zoo we spent New Year's Eve with Brent and Cami, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that.  The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and we enjoyed visiting with Brent and Cami.  The New Year's Fairy (Dad, if you read this just insert Spirit of New Year's) made it but unfortunately we didn't get any pictures this year.  

So there you have it, December set down for posterity.  Hopefully January won't be far behind.