Christmas Vacation to NM

My parents bought a ranch in NM a little over a year ago and the entire family met up there for Christmas. We weren't missing a single person which is a downright miracle for my family. My oldest brother and his wife had been preparing to go to the temple. They were kind enough to make it easy on all of us and had the sealing performed in the Gila Valley Temple which is closest to my parents while we were all together. It was an amazing and beautiful experience to be a part of.

The ranch was beautiful! 80 acres of open range.

We spent the days shooting targets...

Going on tons of 4wheeler rides... the trails on the land were pretty awesome.

 We also did some "ranch work". Jace collected chicken eggs each morning with Grandma. Nate helped chop wood. The guys worked on tractors and dug up dirt (manly stuff)!


 We took Hagrid with us (which by the way, he did amazingly well with a 20hr drive and staying in hotels). He had a great time with all the other dogs. We had 10 total at one point because all my siblings brought their dogs with them too.

We spent an evening making Christmas ornaments. I thought they turned out really cool. Just beads and safety pins!

This one is Jace's

Reagan really took to his Aunt P. It may have been all of the fudge she was feeding him but he sure did like hanging out with her.

We had Mexican Food for almost every meal. It was amazing! That is one thing I really miss about being away from home is all of the Mexican food. I may have gained about 100 pounds while I was there but it was totally worth it!

 The kids opened up new Pajamas on Christmas eve. Christmas morning was fun but it was too crazy to get any good pictures. (try throwing all these families into one room with everyone opening gifts at the same time and yes.... it did get pretty crazy...)

We took some time to take family pictures on Christmas day.

My parents and siblings

The entire clan!

Grandkids

 And... Mom and Dad.

Pre-Christmas-Christmas

Since we weren't going to be here for Christmas, we had a Pre-Christmas night with Grandma and Grandpa Stevens. We had breakfast for dinner and then opened gift from them. We were all spoiled rotten!

Pre-Christmas Activities.

We were so busy this Christmas season. I always try to make it not be busy and stressful but I haven't figured it out yet! We traveled down south to my family's for the holiday so we had to have everything ready a couple weeks early. That said... we barely got our tree up and a few lights outside (trying to be festive ya know...) I was pretty proud of us for taking the time to make a gingerbread train. The kids had fun but mostly just wanted to eat the candy.

Just a few funny pics of Reagan

 We went out to eat the other night and all the sudden Reagan had his shirt over his head. He thought he was pretty cool.

 One thing Reagan hasn't learned yet is how to take small bites :)

He is one happy, messy eater!

Halloween!

We had a pirate theme for our family this Halloween. It was fun to dress up together but it will probably not ever happen again... Nate doesn't like dressing up and said this was the first and last time he would do it. (what a sweety for even doing it once, right?) We kept it pretty low key, just went to the city trunk or treat and then trick or treated to grandma's house. That is pretty much all my kids can handle at this age. Jace was funny though because we ran into another pirate (one that looked just like Jack Sparrow) and the man went "arrrrrrr!" to Jace his fellow pirate. Jace didn't respond... just walked away wide eyed and then said to me.. "I don't like that man.... he is scary!" Nate passed out candy with Hagrid at his feet. Some kids liked it and some kids were freaked out... but halloween is all about getting freaked out right?

White Water Rafting in Jackson, WY

Nate and I try to do some fun get-a-way each year. We have noticed a trend since we have had kids though... the trips get shorter and closer to home... (I'm not complaining... kids are totally worth it! just noticing the trend :0)This year in September we traveled 1&1/2 hours to Jackson and spent the day white water rafting on the Snake River with our close friends (the Barneys). It was tons of fun. I am hooked now!

Jace Starts Preschool

Jace started preschool in September. He was a little nervous his first couple days but now he absolutely loves going and adores his teacher Mrs. Janet. It is fun to see him learning all sorts of new things and I love going to pick him up when preschool is done... he runs up to me with so much excitement, yelling, "Mommy!" It is awesome!

Reagan's 1st Birthday!

Reagan turned 1 on August 5th! (Yes, I am a little behind on posting :) Reagan shares his birthday with his Uncle Andrew so we had a combined celebration.

 He really didn't get too messy with his cake... actually he was a bit of a neat freak about it!

He had a great day... loved his gifts... loved his cake... and loved the attention!