Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Because we were in Salt Lake for Thanksgiving, we were a week later getting our tree than normal. Mom and Dad looked around at Home Depot and Lowes and they just weren't happy with their choices and didn't want to pay $80. Uncle Steve and Aunt Becca had cut down a tree while Steve was hunting and Aunt Rachel and Uncle Troy always cut down their tree so Mom and Dad decided this was our year to do it!

And of course, it was a CRAZY, BUSY Saturday that we chose. Mom worked out at Red Mountain in the morning and then Dad had a cello performance at the Dickens Festival. We had never been to the Festival and we have all voted we won't go back. It was awful. So crowded only one way in and out. But Dad's music was fun and we got to see giant version of the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. 

So finally just a couple hours before daylight was gone, us big girls loaded up in Steve's borrowed truck with his borrowed saw and we set off. It was a classic Christmas Vacation scene in that Cara was crying because she was frozen. It was really cold and we couldn't find a great tree until the last second! It was hard work for dad using a broken saw, but he got it down!

We have never had this particular kind of pine before..it's a pinyon pine and it was really pokey! It was almost impossible to decorate. Mom and Dad had little scratches all over and we had to be super careful about where we hung the decorations or the branches would just slump. But we have loved it.

And it only fell over ONCE. Ha! And luckily it was before Mom and Dad went  to bed so they quickly repaired it.

Big Things!

Oh my goodness. I think time just doesn't stop moving! The end of November blurred right into the beginning of December (as they usually do!), but there were a few big things that happened for us.

But first...some silly photos. Our dogs have been enjoying the colder weather because they get to be inside. Here they are cuddling with Dad! Can you see that there are TWO dogs in this picture?

Grandma also bought one of those silly games with the mouth pieces...we could hardly talk when we first tried. We were laughing so hard we cried!

Okay. On to the big things! We FINALLY got a new computer. Mom was waiting to find out if Apple was going to be updating their iMac which they didn't and so she finally bit the bullet and bought a new one during Black Friday. Funny enough...she didn't even get a discount because of Black Friday but somehow that just ended up being the day she bought it. We love our new computer. Our old one was limping along. It had its hard drive fail TWICE and it didn't have enough memory to do a lot so it was SLOW. This one is so great.

The really neat thing was that we were able to just migrate over all our old data. We had to hook the two computers to each other and it took a couple of hours, but it was PERFECT.

I think Mom threw this photo in because of how similar Sam and Iva look in this photo. Never mind that Sam is in a pink chair. The life of an only boy. 

The OTHER HUGE thing that happened for us was that our Grandpa had spent all of November hiking in the Himalayas. He summited the peak Baruntse. We enjoyed getting the occasional text message from him or the even more rare FaceTime. It looked incredible...but COLD. REALLY COLD. We were so happy to have him back. He brought us Nepalese hats.

It is really quite difficult to take a picture with small children.

Sam has always liked Grandpa best so we were anxious to see how he would react. (Sam was still battling an ear infection at the time, but we didn't realize it). His reaction was not to be scared, but he wasn't super loving either. He seemed a bit unsure.

Sam got this awesome Sherpa down coat!

It took another day, but then Sam was jumping for Grandpa again. Unfortunately, Grandpa tore his rotator cuff taking a fall on a glacier so we have had to be kind of gentle with him. If you want to read about his adventures this is his blog here: Gordon's Blog The pictures are AMAZING. We are still in awe!

And one more quick shout out to ME. I gave Uncle Marty a night of baby sitting for his birthday (actually I gave him a coupon book and I think I included like 30 nights of baby sitting..hahaha!). Mom helped me since there are the twins and baby Logan, but I did pretty great!

Thanksgiving

Wait. Before I do Thanksgiving. I should at LEAST mention Dad's birthday. He had a birthday. Right smack in the middle of Joseph and the same day he picked to have a recital with his growing cello studio. It was a VERY busy Friday. But Mom made sure he had some fun. He happens to share a birthday with his boss and so Mom and his wife decorated the office with a BUNCH of balloons. They let us help!

We love listening to his cello students. Sam especially!

Okay. Now. Thanksgiving. It was a Romney year which meant we headed up north on Wednesday afternoon. We were supposed to leave later that night, but it was going to be the only evening Dad's friend who lives in Missouri was going to have free so we rearranged it all and left early. 

If only we could have left just a half an hour earlier like we planned! The drive up was great! Until about Nephi and then this happened. Can you SEE that black line?! It was crazy.

There was lightning and thunder and snow. Never really rain. It seemed immediately to go to slushy snow.

The traffic was pretty slow going starting in about Lehi. It was slightly miserable. (Add in the fact that Dad REALLY had to pee and it was almost comical.) But we eventually made it. We dropped Dad off at a restaurant and we headed to the Preslars.

The whole Romney family was able to be there for Thanksgiving. That's a first. We think. We weren't quite sure. Aunt Rachel did a BEAUTIFUL job on the turkey.

These were our appetizers. I think Mommy ate non stop.

Buddies

The outnumbered boys! 

Girl cousins rule!

We valiantly attempted a family photo. Sam was sleeping and our youngest girls seem to make it quite hard to actually find a good one where we were all smiling!

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We of course went to the zoo SEVERAL times since we were up in SLC for such a long time. We had to dress warm, but not too warm it turned out! The sun was shining and made it pleasant!

We originally thought that the Preslars were going to be leaving to go to their annual Christmas Tree Hunt, but in a miraculous turn of events they got their weekends mixed up and they got to stay! Mommy (tricked?) talked Aunt Rachel and the girls into coming to City Creek on Black Friday to meet Santa look at a few stores and then be present for the lighting of Temple Square. We also spent time looking at the candy windows at Macy's!

Look another zoo trip! This time the men joined us too!

It was kind of a colder trip and Iva insisted on taking a photo with every statue, but still very much fun. Hogle Zoo has a new male orangutan and he's HUGE. We loved getting to watch him.

There was another storm predicted to come through on Sunday so we packed up and headed home Saturday night. It was a smart decision as the storm looked awful to drive in when we checked the news the next day.

We actually spent that Sunday playing hooky from church and staying in our pajamas watching Christmas movies and decorating the house. It was so awesome.