Christmas in New Mexico

This year we had a really fun and exciting Christmas!  We had Grandma Polly and Aunt Krystal come for the party!  Christmas Eve was full of surprises.  We had Chinese food for dinner (Panda Express a family favorite) and then we divided into groups and put on a Lip-sync Show.  It was a really great experience!

The first group consisted of

Daddy, Grandma Polly, Chloe and Mason. 

They performed Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

We shall say... "It was really rockin'!"

 Our own little Karen Carpenter look-alike!

(Isn't she adorable?)

 Grandma Polly really rockin' out!  She loves to sing and dance

so this activity was perfect for her!  Check out her cute

poodle skirt pinned to the front of her pants.  :)
(It's the same one I wore for a dance recital when I was young.)

 I am not exactly sure who the cat drug in here...

but well, he was quite a site. 

Love the hippy wig and especially the man in it!

 They're still rockin'!

Mason was having a really fun time rockin' in his

green vest with the pirate jacket over it.

Gotta love dressing up!

 Wow!  We didn't expect this finale! 

The leather jacket hid a bare belly to shock us all!

Way to be Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!

(Did you take notice of the mini-tree in the middle of the

floor that they were dancing around?)

 The next group was

Aunt Krystal, Mommy, Carter and Josie.

They performed Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
by Martina McBride.

We were really hoping that the snow clouds would hear us and

pour out white blessings for us to wake up to Christmas morning.

We also performed Must Be Santa because Chloe was

singing it for her Kindergarten Christmas Program at school.

Carter plays the part of Santa and

Krystal is his cute little elf.  :)

Josie had fun playing on the "stage" and getting bumped around.

 Who laughs this way, "Ho, ho, ho?"  Must be Santa!

The camera had major red-eye, so this was a terrible attempt at

getting rid of Carter's red-eyes.  They look a little creepy...we just

opted out of editing the rest of the red-eye pictures. 

Carter, you are a handsome Santa!  :)

Christmas Eve, we opened our traditional Christmas Eve present.

Nice warm Pajamas!!!

What is Mason doing?

Oh, Daddy's "bare belly move" must have left an impression.

I guess I better explain. 

Matt's brother Mason loved his belly (his own, not Matt's)

so he always showed it off by lifting up his shirt and rubbing it.

He knew it made people uncomfortable and so

that is exactly why he did it...often!

Mason passed away 4 years ago, so Matt had to

do it "in memory" of Mason.

Kind of ironic that our little Mason

(who was named after Uncle Mason)

is now doing the bare chest/belly thing.

After putting on our pajamas, we all piled in the car for a traditional

drive around town looking at all the Christmas lights

and singing Christmas songs.  Fun times and memories! 

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas morning we got up early, of course

and the kids were thrilled to open all their presents.

Here they are with all their loot.

Josie

(Look at that wild hair!)

She's loving that sucker ring and she loves all her stuffed animals!!

I made each of the kids a scarf this year.  Aunt Krystal also made

each of the kids an adorable fabric bag for all their books!

Mason

Notice his boots?  All the kids wanted boots this year. 

Josie got fancy red shoes instead of boots.

Chloe ~ Our little cowgirl!

All she really wanted for Christmas was her own cowgirl boots!

(We ended up having to take them back and exchange them

for "red" instead of white.)

Carter

Notice his boots as well.  We had to exchange them

also.  Darn Santa!  He can't get anything right!

I believe someone tried to touch her stuffed animal!

I am sure they are re-thinking their decision about now.

We had a wonderful Christmas and were all spoiled again.  It seems like every year we try to "downsize" more and more, to no avail.  We had someone leave a big box of presents for the whole family.  It included toys and a couple outfits for each of the kids, presents and gift cards for Matt and I to Kohl's Dept. Store and a Walmart gift card.  We felt really grateful, but unworthy of such gifts because there are so many people in the world much less-fortunate than us.  We continue to be amazed at the generosity of people in the world.  We have an incling that it was a great family from the Rivers Edge Ward.  No matter, it was truly thoughtful and we feel so blessed.  We really felt the Spirit of our Savior this Christmas being surrounded by family, an accomplishment of a college graduation, our first child's baptism, a 12 year anniversary and the charitable acts of love and service from those around us.  We truly are blessed!

Merry Christmas!

12 Years Celebrating in Durango

This year Matt and I celebrated our 12 Year Anniversary.  We were married December 20, 1997.  We had much to celebrate!  Matt graduated December 18th, Carter was baptized December 19th and we have gratefully survived 12 years of marriage on December 20th.  Since we haven't gotten away together alone, once the children started coming...we decided it was time to get away! 

Matt's mom Polly, and sister Krystal came for all the celebrations and then stayed with us through Christmas, so we had free babysitters for 3 whole days!  We hopped in the car and didn't look back!

Three hours away, we found ourselves in the Winter Wonderland of Durango, Colorado.  It was a perfectly beautiful time to make our first visit there.  We think it is our new favorite place! 

We arrived mid-day and checked into our cute little 1920's hotel and then walked downtown to get some lunch.  It was snowing gigantic snowflakes and the atmosphere was so peaceful amongst the busy Christmas shoppers rushing around us.  We came upon a little place called Carver's where we enjoyed a delicious sandwich. 

After lunch, we headed for the RAPP Corral where Matt had arranged our own Private Sleigh Ride.  That was simply amazing!  As we sat all bundled up on the sleigh, there were even more thick flakes of snow quietly making their way to blanket the earth.  Everything was covered in white. 

This was a couple coming in from a ride.  The fancy lady had a fur hood on her coat and it was frozen solid.  Question:  Who wears a fur coat in the snow? and Why?

Here we are with the owner lady.  She was a sweet and hard-working woman.  It was fun to visit with her and learn of her business.  We would definately refer her as your guide.  She was a great driver!

                                       Some really neat photos we took on our peaceful journey.

Look at the snow on this picnic bench!

Here is the Rochester Hotel.  It was like going back in time!  Matt wishes

 we lived in the 20's!

They have a couple ladies who cook breakfast every morning.  There is a fresh fruit and muffin bar every morning.  They also come and take your order for a special homemade breakfast.  It consisted of something like scrambled eggs with asparagus and swiss cheese.  Delicious!  They had homemade granola and hot chocolate also.  Sweet ladies and very good cooks! 

They even suprized us one evening with homemade cookies.  Yummy!

After the sleigh ride, we went to dinner and then to the movie Blind Side.  Very Good!  After the movie, we went home and it was such a quiet night, we decided to take pictures in the snow.

The next morning we went on the Durango-Silverton Train.  Read all about it here.  It was a 2 hour train ride to where we stopped for lunch.  It was a gorgeous day for train ride.  It was a clear day and because of the snow storm the days prior, the scenery was amazing!  We have hundreds of pictures to prove it.

We loved looking down at the river and seeing how the snow and ice was covering it, but the water still carved its way through.  BEAUTIFUL!

This is where the train had to stop and refill with water.  The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is one of the World's Top Ten Train Rides.  It is one of the few Steam Powered Locomotives. 

I think this is one of my favorite shots.  It is the chain that connects the boxcars looking down at the rail on the train track.  It is blurry because we were moving.  Great explanation, huh? 

Great picture, terrible description!  :)

The base of the train tracks were only 3 1/2 feet wide because of the narrow mountainside.  There were parts of the trip that we could reach out and touch the mountain rock wall.  Of course we didn't, because we're just not that stupid!  But we could have, and that's the point.  Same goes for the drop off on the other side of the train.  We literally felt like the mountain dropped off right underneath the train going straight down sometimes.  I definately didn't get too close to that side!

This is also the same train that takes the kids on the Polar Express during the holidays.  We hope to do that sometime with our kids.  You have to book tickets almost a year in advance though, but it would be a great time!  So, much fun!

The coal.

On the way back from lunch, we stopped and got off the train for a Snow Mobile Tour.  It was so much fun.  Matt and I rode together and we had fun laughing with and about the people we on the tour with.  There were these 3 older siblings.  Two brothers, who wanted to torcher their sister.  This lady should not have been allowed on a snowmobile alone!  We were all in danger!  :)  Thankfully, she agreed with our previously mentioned thoughts, and told the tour guide he had to ride with her.  Keep in mind, he was young and relatively attractive, so a wise choice on her part.  He consented because he knew she was dangerous.

Had to grab a quick shot of this cute little lady.  She really was hysterical!

Ok, this lady was a little obnoxious as well!

After returning home from an exhausting day, we took some pictures of this pretty little pink tree that was outside of a fancy little Yarn Store.  We fell in love with the little frozen drips on the leaves.

Then we had dinner at this Italian Restaurant called Mutu's.  It was really tasty!

Here is Matt the last morning eating breakfast.  What a great place to stay!  We loved the Rochester Hotel and will hopefully have the opportunity to stay there again!

Durango.  Our New Favorite Place.