Dinosaur National Park

We tried to spend a lot of time showing our friend, Nick, the area! There are so many beautiful scenes in the Uintah Basin! It is quite different from New York, etc. The landscape is completely unique, and at first I didn't appreciate it enough. Now, I have come to love it in a way I never did. I can appreciate the difference in it, and accept the area for all it is. It's not New York, or some of the other places that I have been blessed to live. However, I am finally at the point, four years later, where I can say that I am blessed to live in this place, too.

Peyton's First Performance!

She sung "Silver and Gold," and "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas," with the rest of her class! They also completed a wonderful Christmas poem. We were extremely proud that she got up in front of the fullest congregation we have seen so far, in our church. She was adorable to watch with her friends. They would get really loud on the parts they knew, and quiet on the parts they didn't know as well.

She has such a wonderful teacher, who really treasures her time with our little ones. We couldn't ask for a better person to fill this role in Peyton's life at this time!

McKonkie Farm, Petroglyphs

Park City

Joe's grade school buddy came to Utah, for a visit! We don't have visitors on an everyday occasion, so we are always excited to have company!

We had to show him around Park City, and we had to show him some of the snow in the mountains! He is going skiing on the tail end of his trip! He was excited to get out in the snow with Peyton. Peyton was happy to comply!

The scenery from up here was amazing! Why didn't I take a picture of it?

Trimming the Tree

Sunday, we headed to church! I always love sharing time at our church with my family. This has become such wonderful place to be apart of! I cherish the moments spent there!

We followed the service, out to lunch with great friends! It's always fun to have laughter over food!

Then, we headed to Wally World to spend our gift money for some new Christmas decorations and cookie pans!

We were completely set for our family Tree Trimming!

First, we turned on our Christmas music, gathered our supplies and went to town on our gorgeous tree. Peyton, Addison, and Joe go to pick the perfect tree. It's become their tradition, and then we decorate it as a family. It's important for the girls to establish their specials things with Daddy.

It was nice to have my Mom there to share in the decorations. We have some great memories to hold on to in our future!

Relaxing on a Saturday!

What a great day we had the following day of Holly Days.

We had planned to hit Vernal, again. However, we thought better of it, and had a nice day in! My Mom made her ornament dough that she made when Nick and I were little. They rolled the dough, and cut their shapes. Then, we bake them with hooks, and the girls can paint them later! It's really a fun activity! They especially enjoyed it because their Grammy was with them.

We continued the day with baking cookies, making stove top hot chocolate, and watching festive shows and movies. It is amazing how fast the day went, but we had such a great relaxing day. It was really wonderful.

The kick-off to Christmas, Holly Days.

We were so happy to have my mom in town the day after Thanksgiving, until the following Monday. She had quite the eventful drive home, so we were especially thankful for her efforts to be with us.

We started with Holly Days, the very day she arrived. After driving 8 hours, she was a great sport, jumped right in and had a lot of fun with us. Our town really gets into a festive mood for this event every year. There is free hot chocolate stations, as well as cotton candy, and churros!

They have portions of the downtown blocked off to roast chestnuts on the open fire, ice sculpting, magic shows, balloon twisters, whatever you can think of they really have it! It is a full day of events. We started with pony rides. The girls did extremely well being patient for their turn. Peyton had her turn, and they stopped the rides to give the horses a water break right before Addison's turn. I thought we may be in trouble with a two year old, but she did extremely well, no tears, just understanding. She got on, but she caught her foot in just a way that put a damper on her ride. She wanted off pretty quick.

As you can see, she went on the back of a camel. Peyton didn't even want to get on it. She came close to pet it, however. They enjoyed the presence of their Daddy:)

We went over to an area for Hot Chocolate, lunch, and some rides! Addison is still a bit young to get on some of the rides provided. Peyton got on with a couple of her best buds, and they had a blast! We followed that with a trip over to the trees for charity event! They had so many great looking trees to take a gander at.

The best was last, we went into the local Oilfield owners' company Anadarko Fun House. They fill a whole arena with these massive blow up castle slides, obstacle course style things, and games. It was great! They even have go-carts you can ride. Our church was there to paint faces, paint girl's nails, give them crowns, color, and complete other activities. Addison went right to one of her favorite teachers, Ms. Heather. She came back adorned with a festive holiday crown and painted nails.

I waited in an incredible line for cotton candy. It is not a treat they get on a normal occasion. They definitely appreciated that special treat!

We came home, enjoyed time with my mom, and hit the hay with anticipation for the next day!