Top 10 of 2008 - #9 Mesa Verde National Park

More on the Top 10.....Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park is a way cool place. We went in June on the way home from Albuquerque. It was awesome to go see, but it has to go in #9 because it is absolutely NOT a place to take children. We were practically the only people with kids there at all. There is a lot of hiking in the mountains and lots and lots of steep drop off on the sides of the trails. So, we really had to watch the kids closely. Max was in a stroller, which helped, but even that was a lot of work to push up and down the hills.

But, it is really an AWESOME place. Mostly what we saw are cliff dwellings that the Anasazi Indians built and lived in thousands of years ago. It is incredible that they even still exist. It is also amazing that they were built at all. Most of the cliff dwellings are on the side of the cliff and are incredibly difficult to get to - and that is with marked and paved trails. I can't even imagine how they were built to begin with.

One day, when our kids are older, it would be awesome to go see again. It's really a great place for camping and backpacking.

This is called Cliff Palace - it is the largest dwelling there. We didn't get to go see this one up close. It had a 15 foot ladder to climb, so there is no way we could have taken Max. You can tell how huge it is compared to the group of tourists. The bottom picture is the other half. All of the circles in the ground are called Kivas. They think they were some kind of religious room because they all have an altar on one side.

"I was not made for winter!"

We woke up this morning to a fresh blanket of snow. I was so excited because I had serious concerns as to whether we would even get a white Christmas. I knew that Bria would shout for joy when she got her first look out the window.

The kids immediately wanted to go play outside. I held them off as long as possible, but by 9:00, they couldn't stand the excitement. As soon as I gave the go ahead, Bria grabbed her coat and ran right outside. Meanwhile, I got Max ready and sent him to join her. In the time it took for me to get my coat and grab the camera, they were both done. It was soooo cold....nothing like running around outside during the summer. Poor Max wouldn't even pose for a picture. So, we all came in for hot chocolate. (I secretly wonder if they didn't really just want the hot chocolate and used whole the going outside excuse as a means to an end....)

Later today we watched I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown. In one part, after playing outside in the snow, Charlie Brown's sister Sally screamed "I was not made for winter!" I just thought that was an appropriate expression of how the kids felt after playing outside today.

Well, I'm excited anyway. It's the end of the day and we still have the snow. Maybe we'll have a white Christmas after all.

Top 10 of 2008 - #10 The Ice Cream Truck

I keep wishing I had started blogging earlier in the year. We have had a very busy year! So, I decided it would be fun throughout December to post our top 10 memories of 2008. I don't want them to be holidays, since those happen every year, but something new that we did or discovered in 2008.

So, the #10 Memory is about the Ice Cream Truck that came through our neighborhood. To fully appreciate how special this is, you have to first understand that we don't live in the city. Our house is in a subdivision, but we live in the country. There has never been an ice cream truck drive by our house since we have lived here.....well, really any house that we have lived in since we were married. So, of course, we had to let our kids buy an ice cream cone.

Bria was the first to make it to the ice cream truck - she ran ahead barefoot. The truck had gone almost around the block before we decided to get ice cream. Luckily, it is such a new subdivision that the kids could run through the back yards to get to it.

Max's little legs couldn't quite run fast enough. At least he wore shoes - although those are Bria's shoes he has on.

The kids were super excited about which kind of ice cream to choose from. Good thing mom was there to distract the kids from the $4 ice cream cones. (I know! The ice cream man cost a little bit more than I remember from my childhood).

Bria's favorite flavor for everything is Bubble Gum, so of course that is what she got. Max got a Snoopy Ice Cream. Almost the whole neighborhood bought ice cream that day. I seriously thought we might see the ice cream man come through more often since so many people came out. But, no....

It seems like one memory for every child should be buying ice cream from the ice cream man.

A Few Things Christmas

We have had a crazy week. We started out the week with 3 of us getting the flu at the same time. It's not so easy to take care of sick kids when mom and dad don't feel good either! Hopefully we are done with our fair share of being sick for the year.

Other than major recovery of both our bodies and our house that got neglected for several days, we have been doing quite a few Christmas things this week. I think it is so fun to spread Christmas all month long. Here's what we've been up to:

The Friend Magazine has sort of an advent calendar this month that is really cool. It is called "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus". Each day of December until Christmas, there is a different story about Jesus that you read and then you can color in the little scripture to mark that days reading. If you have a gospel art kit, there is a picture that can go along with each days reading. (somewhere on the church's website, they have all of the gospel art pictures). We've been having so much fun reading every night after dinner. It's a fun way to remember why we are celebrating Christmas. We've been enjoying it so much, I might want to make this a yearly tradition.

I am the primary chorister in our ward (I know....obviously a calling of desperation, but we'll save that for another day). Anyway, our primary got asked to sing at the ward Christmas party this year. We are singing The Nativity Song. I got up last Saturday morning and had this perfect vision of the kids holding up posters of the nativity as we sing about that part in the song. So, I found cute pictures, projected them on to the wall, traced the images onto poster board and started coloring. 6 1/2 hours and a halfway colored wise man later, I knew I was in way over my head. Luckily, my very talented and generous friend/neighbor came to my rescue. She took half home and brought back these beautifully finished posters. Then, as if that weren't enough, she came to my house and helped me finish my half! They really turned out great. I can't wait to show the primary kids! They are going to be so excited! (Thanks, Brittany - you really saved me!)

Bria has also been up to some good deeds this week. http://www.northpole.com/ is a way cool website. It has these good deed calendars that you can print - it helps kids know if they are doing enough to make it on Santa's good list. We started a little late, but Bria is doing incredible! She washes her hands probably 5 times more than she normally does. Last night, instead of the 2 hour song and dance (literally) that she does before bed, she went right to sleep. I am seriously impressed! It's working so well, we even added our own little extra incentive - a piece of gum for every 2 days of good deeds. If all goes well, we may have a very smooth ride this December! (hmmm..famous last words...)