Friday, January 9, 2009

Dog Sledding!

Monday Dec 29th
Thank you Sharron! Every year she sends Granny and grampy money so we can all get together and go do something. This year mom set up dog sledding. It was really fun! The weather was great, lots of snow and sunshine. They had a sled hooked up to a snow-mobile, and a sled with dogs. We all took turns mushing (or hikeing) the dogs - Heather, and even James got to lead them!



Little Autumn with her boots on backwards. We were a little worried to leave her on the sled all by herself, no seat belt or anything, but she did good!






They did not have a suit that was Jame's size, so ended up in a grown-up suit - he looked like a little marchmallow! It was really funny to watch him walk.



Grampa Moose ended up flipping the sled shortly after this picture was taken – little Autumn went flying, Heather skidded along for a bit, then rolled off, luckily no one was hurt, and everyone got back on after making snow angels on the side of the trail.



Horse-back riding.
Camille and David took Heather horse back riding on “Dancer” while we were there, which was very special. It was windy out, so we went to the indoor arena. Dancer did really well, following David around like a little puppy dog, until another horse came in. Both horses were trying to show off for one another, and Dancer started “Dancing” a bit, Heather lost one of her red cowboy boots that Grampa Moose had picked out for her, but she held on tight, and did not fall off. Later she got to give Dancer some apples, and brcuh him down, see inside the barn where all of his stuff was kept, and where they can give the horses a shower. Dancer had a funny haircut – what they give them so they don’t get too hot while riding. Heather was really really excited as she really really likes horses.





We spent one day with Kent, got stuff for a pic-nic lunc and went to the park by their house. It was cold, but a really nice park. Kent has this huge train set at their house that James remembered from last summer when we came that is a lot of fun. He also has a little terrier dog that the kids chased around all over the place.






Mom and I went after-Christmas sales shopping, got a bunch more toys (the toy store was going out of business :( ) and a few outfits, it was a fun little outing.
We spent a day with Travis / Angie / Seth. We spent 2 hours at a McDonald’s playland talking politics while the kids played. Then we went to the butterfly pavilion. Everyone (including Autumn) held the big tarantula spider, and we got to see their daily butterfly release. We were going to get some ice-cream afterwards but all the stores were closed as it was new years.







For new years we stayed up watching Gilligan’s Island, woke Heather up at midnight to go out on the front porch and blow our little horns and do our poppers. It has been a wonderful year, and a wonderful trip.

Dorothy and Harold watched the kids so we could take dad out for his birthday dinner. We went to a Mexican place that made fresh guacamole at your table. It was fun but sad at the same time as it was our last night there. The next day mom and I tried to take the kids for a little hike in Golden Gate – James was not in the mood for it though, so James I just walked around a little pond in front of the nature center while Nammy took Heather and Autumn. Then we went and met dad for lunch at Lion’s park in Golden. Dad took Heather and James on a little motorcycle ride before we left.







It is always sad to pack up and say goodbye.

Museum!

We spent one day in denver’s Natural History museum with Nammy and grampa Moose. It was nice to spend a day with dad, he had to work a lot of the time we were there. Mom got tickets to the IMAX show and the planetarium, we ate lunch there, saw the dinosaurs, and all the animal dioramas. Little James talked through the entire dinosaur IMAX show, he loves dinos soooo much. I love the animal dioramas at this museum, they are better than going to a zoo. We went up to the top floor and took a picture of Denver.





After the museum we drove around downtown looking at the Christmas lights. We drove past 16th street, the civic center (we parked and got out of the car thinking, along with a bunch of other people, that the light might come on at 5:30 – but they did not, so we drove around again until they did come on). It was nice to see they still had a nativity display out!




Merry Christmas!

After we got home Heather read us “Twas the Night before Christmas” and we let the kids open up PJ’s and a book. It was pretty hard to get them to go to sleep. Nammy had a little dancing candy cane in their bedroom that played a wiggly song, and all the kids were jumping on the bed with the candy cane. I ended up sleeping with them in their bed so I could turn them around, keep the covers on them, try and pin them down during the night. I think I almost like Christmas Eve more than Christmas.





Christmas Morning
James finally got to open up the present with the race car tied to the package. He as been speculating all week about what is inside this one! HEather got the sewing machine she wanted, little autumn got a vacuume cleaner that she graciously shared with her brother.







After breakfast at Grannies we took a little nap, and then went to Dorothy’s. She had candy and crackers for all the kids to make gingerbread houses, then Christmas dinner, read the scriptures, and open presents. It was nice to get all the Turner’s together at least once while we were there. Doug got to spend some time over at greg and Katie’s at night, but I did not want to impose with the kids, so this was really the only time I got to see them. We were able to see a little bit more of Kent and the girls.








We were able to take the brood over to say hi to Don. Don took doug out to eat and gave him a Jar-Jar Binks mask to carry on the tradition of goofy Christmas presents (like the framed autographed picture of Chris Tucker).



Anjie with her grandson - I can't believe they are now grandparents!!!!

Almost Christmas!

Dec Fri Dec 19th 08
Drive to Colorado! We had quite a trip – went to a truck stop to get some sleep, it was really windy, Doug got out to get some blankets out of the back, and some stuff blew out of the car. We thought it was just receipts etc, and did not bother to chase them down. 3 hours down the road at the next gas station we discovered that one of the things that blew out of the car was Doug’s wallet!!! We drove all the way back to the truck stop, and thankfully, there was Doug’s wallet, laying on the street on the side of the road. Also, our gas gage was sticking. We thought we had 50 miles to empty, decided to wait until the next town 30 miles away, half way there on a hill the gas gage started plummeting, pretty soon we were down to 8 miles to empty, then 5 then 2 – I thought we were going to have to walk to get gas, and we were next to a federal penitentiary facility! We coasted into the gas station with it reading 0 miles left. I guess we really lucked out twice! Then we got to Colorado, and that morning there was a big plane wreck at DIA – a plane that went between Denver and Houston. Considering all the things that could go wrong, it is a miracle that any endeavor ever succeeds.



Sat Dec 20th – Wed 24th
For the first part of the trip we stayed at Dorothy’s.



Here we are trying to get pictures of the kids on Sunday morning before church. I guess I need to learn how to Photoshop them together if I am going to get any good pictures of them!







It was fun to go to the Golden ward and see everyone again. The student ward overlapped, there were only about 15 people there. They had a little Christmas program with snacks, it was fun.

Kids in Dorothy’s back yard playing in the snow.





Tuesday Dec 23rd
Grampy’s 90th birthday party!



We all went to the white fence farm, lots of people there. We let the kids have their own little table, had to tell the waitress no more bowls of corn fritters for the kids! Autumn ate I don’t know how many. Mom had everyone stand up and tell who they were and how they knew grampy. Joe was the loudest of course, saying everyone should have an uncle like Jack. Granny and Grampy looked really good considering Granny’s fall and Grampy’s little surgery (he got the stitches out yesterday). It was great that they can still get out and do this kind of stuff, that we had this time together.








They had the place all decked out for Christmas, a Santa and Mrs. Clause, very exciting.





Wed Dec. 24th – Christmas Eve!
For Christmas eve mom found a spot where we could go have a bonfire / horse hay ride. Everyone brought food etc. It was really fun. Tony and Jeanie brought a really good potato / chili soup, and there were hot dogs, marshmallows, etc. Everyone looks the same as last year except for the kids, Emily is taller than her mom now.






We sang songs – horribly off key and without a conductor. Anjee I think knew the most words to the songs, Ellie introduced us to a few new songs.

This one can be sung in a round:

WHY DOTH NOT MY GOOSE


Why doth not my goose
Sing as well as thy goose
When I paid for my goose
Twice as much as thine








Nammy said autumn gave the horses some great BIG kisses

Roasting Marshmallows – Seth had quite a torch out of his!