Ski Day

I love skiing with this little family of mine.

Christmas Eve

 Christmas eve was rather quiet. We went to see the new Star Wars movie with my parents and a couple of family friends. I had to cover the kids eyes for a few scary parts but they mostly enjoyed the movie. We just finished watching the first six.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with my side of the family at the Lake House this year. I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with these people.

Red Fish's Baptism

The dress my Mom made for Red Fish

 Today my oldest daughter chose to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was a powerful and emotional day for all of us as she took this huge step in her life. It was the first of many decisions that she will face in her life. She wore the same dress that I wore when I was baptized which made for a special tie between us. My Mom sewed her a dress to be confirmed in.

We had a lot of support from family and friends. It was such a great day to share with the people that we love. We had a gathering at our house after the baptism.

Her paternal great grandparents were too ill to attend but they sent a set of scriptures for Red Fish that I know will be treasured always.

12 Years

 We spent the weekend boating. Red Fish is a total maniac on the tube and laughs the whole time.

Two Fish and I have been married for 12 years. Best choice I ever made.

Yellowstone Day 4

We went to the towers waterfalls and drove to Rosevelt. We ate at the Rosevelt Lodge and went on the Yellowstone stage coach as a special treat from MeMine and Pop Pop. Asia was bummed they wouldn’t let her ride on the top of the coach but you had to be twelve.  In addition to all of the bison we saw up close we saw a Yellow bellied marmot, which Asia loved. Asia was trying to catch herself a Clark’s Nutcracker. Every place we go, Asia is sure she is going to catch a bird. Hopefully the birds continue to stay one step ahead of her.

After the stage coach ride, my brothers needed to get their babies back to the campground so the four of us continued on to Mammoth Hot Springs. We got to see a grizzly bear close and a gray wolf. Asia has always wanted to see a wolf in the wild so she was freaking out. We saw otters and a sandhill crane and a barrow’s goldeneye duck on the lake on the way home. Asia likes me to keep track of these things. I was never interested in all of these animals until Asia became so interested in animals. Now I love keeping track of everything we see.

The next day we packed up the camp site and went to Norris and ate lunch in West Yellowstone. We drove to Helena, MT and stayed the night and we all got to have a shower!

Marmots

Mammoth Hot springs

Gray Wolf

Merry Christmas!

Blue Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, New Fish, One Fish

Another Ill Fated Trip

I think we should just stay away from down town this season!  All of our Christmas outings seemed to be rather ill fated this month.  There was confusion with the Christmas concert my brother got us tickets for and our seats were filled so we ended up watching it on tv.  As you can see from the picture New Fish was pitching a fit and we trudged through freezing rain.  Maybe we should stay home until New Years!

Thanksgiving

 We spent a couple of days up at the Lake House with Grandma, Two Fish's brother V, his wife L and their awesome kids. The girls loved being with their cousins.  There were games played, puzzles obsessed over, movies and plenty of food.  We couldn't have wished for a more relaxed, fun couple of days.

 My niece E made the turkey with some help from her Mom, L. It turned out awesome as did the rest of our meal.

 New Fish got carried around all weekend by E. She adores her cousins.

I love that my kids get the experience of being the "big kids" on my side of the family and that they get to be the "little kids" on Two Fish's side of the family. It means so much to me that their big cousins will spend time with them and make them feel special.  I know it means the world to my kids. E, E, I and N have set a really great example of how I want my kids to treat their younger cousins and my kids love them to the moon and back. I really hope that this is one of the things they remember most about their childhood, all of the people who treat them with so much love. Cousins are built in friends that my kids will carry with them for life.

5 and 90

 We celebrated my grandfather, Bockum's 90th birthday with my extended family.  It was more family than we have had together in years.  We had a big BBQ in the backyard with everyone.  New Fish shares a birthday with Bockum- they are birth day twins with an 85 year gap.

 There was a little bit of swimming.  Two Fish was kind enough to get in the pool with the kids while I finished putting up decorations.

 We ate dinner and chatted and relived old memories.

 My cousin K has her birthday the day before New Fish.

The birthday twins did a little tap dancing since Bockum is a tap dancer and New Fish just started taking lessons.  I hope I can tap dance when I am ninety. If I could pick and choose what my children remember about their childhood, these are the kinds of things I want them to remember.