Beginnings and Endings

I have just spent the last 30 minutes catching up on all the blogs that I have missed for the last 2 months it seems like. I have the usual excuses for not blogging, and not reading blogs, but I guess it just comes down to giving myself a "time out"! I just needed to take a break. But I'm glad I'm back, and it looks like life is good for everyone. If I am going to get back into blogging, I have to just dive in and post. So here it is. I hope you enjoy catching up with us too. Some of the things might be self explanatory, others not so much. But oh well--they are blogged, and that's all I care about at this point.

Apple Hill 2009--We have tried to make it a family tradition it visit Apple Hill at least ONCE during the fall. Some of our favorite things to do are measure the kids at the same tree, ride a horse, get lost in the hay maze, and of course eat chocolate/carmel covered apples, and chocolate covered marshmallows (Emma).

Jamie and I took a spontaneous trip to Oklahoma to pick up a new truck that we bought (don't ask!!). On the way back we stopped at a few American iconic spots--Cadillac Ranch, Route 66, Giant legs, and the Grand Canyon.

I work in Grant's preschool class once a week. On one of my days in October I took the kids outside to jump in leaves. All the kids had brought a bag of leaves to school, so there was a pretty good pile. It was so awesome to see the fun and enjoyment that a big ol' pile of leaves brought to these little kids faces!! There is something to be said about the simple things in life:





This was Emma's drawing of our Thanksgiving dinner guests:



The kind of thing that melts a mothers heart (her kids playing together-peacefully):


Jamie was a Watch Dog (Dads Of Great Students) at Emma's school. He spent the whole day at school with her. He visited all of the 1st grade classes and helped out, went to lunch and recess with her and helped with drive thru drop off. He was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day!! (Grant had to get in on the action too):


December was filled with lots of fun activities. We had Emma's Daisy Troop over to host their 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange. Emmas was insistent that we make old fashioned sugar cookies that she could decorate--so that's what we did. And Grant went to the skating rink with his preschool class where a special visitor came to with them a Merry Christmas. (Notice the upper left corner. We brought Emma's old princess skates, just in case they ran out. Grant was more than happy to rock the princess skates--and he even found a little girl in his class that had the same ones! He is very secure in this masculinity!!):

December also included gingerbread houses and choir concerts:

In December we took a trip to the snow too. The snow was great, we took the snowmobile and quad. Jamie drove the snowmobile, and he talked me into driving the quad. It did really well, and I'm getting a little more comfortable driving it in the snow (but it still scares me too). We like to go to an old ski resort area. Once you get up there it has a great open area for tubing, where we spent most of our time. But Grant wasn't feeling well, and fell asleep on the snowmobile. So I ended up going back to the car with him while Jamie and Emma went out for a wild ride (they were gone like an hour--hence the goofy pictures to kill some time):


And here is Christmas Day! We had a nice relaxing holiday. Grandpa and Papa Redfearn came over in the morning for presents, then we spent the rest of the day relaxing. I would say the highlights would be Emma's DS, and Grant's fishing pole:



This is all for now, but I promise there will be more to come!! I realized I haven't' done Halloween, Emma's birthday, Grant's birthday................