skiing / boarding monarch

We took the kids skiing / snowboarding for the very first time! Everyone was so excited to get to go do that together as a family. Dallon had been once before, the other two had never been.  It was much harder than Aaron and I expected to help them all learn.  After just two runs on the bunny hill we knew we had to put them into lessons because we realized we were not going to be able to teach them.  I hadn't been in probably 12 years or so.  So, I barely knew what to do and I was scared to try again myself.  Both Dawson and Easton took lessons and Dallon, Aaron and I went on some runs together during that time.  After lessons, Dawson was getting the hang of it.  Easton...  well he still has a long way to go.  Even the bunny hill is too much.  It's really hard teaching a little guy. I know he was really scared at times but he kept trying and never wanted to quit.  I was so proud of him.  We had fun.  We left feeling really exhausted...  and also really glad the first time was over.

Christmas morning

We spent Christmas morning in our new home.  We moved in just 2 weeks before Christmas.  It made for a crazy busy Christmas season... but it sure was exciting having a home of our own again!

A sweet gift from Easton to me.  Love it.  There were many gifts like this one under the tree.  He wanted to give everyone lots of gifts... so he would go to his room and pick something out for someone. And then wrap it in whatever paper he could find.

Santa

Dawson, Easton a I went to the mall to see Santa and have a lunch date.  It was a nice break from all the work of moving in.  It felt so good to get out and have some fun!

Our New House... Moving in!

We made the move to Colorado at the end of March 2012.  There wasn't a home we liked on the market at that time so we rented.  We knew we wanted to buy, so shortly after moving into the rental we started looking at homes again with our realtor.  There was a very low inventory of homes on the market which made it hard to find something.  After a few months, (at the beginning of the summer) we decided to build a home, we had a builder, and even went under contract on a lot.  Dealing with the builder was hard.  We had been over promised by the sales person that worked for the builder before signing on, and long story short...  that summer dealing with that builder was a nightmare!!!  I have never been so stressed out!  By the end of the summer, after investing a lot of time with the builder we knew we had to pull the plug on building.  Which wasn't as easy as it sounds.  We had a lot under contract in a dream neighborhood, and floor plans for a home we would love.  We were emotionally invested as much as financially invested.  But we just didn't trust the builder and knew we couldn't start such a big project with him at that point. Several more months passed.  We placed offers on two more homes but didn't get them.  And at the beginning of November this home came on the market.  We saw it the second day on the market and made a low offer.  The owners were really motivated to sell and we were able to negotiate a good price.  We closed fast because the home had been vacant for months.  We were able to move in after the first week in december.  We love the house!  We are so happy to have the house hunt be over.  And it feels so good to feel settled again.

Next are a couple pics from my phone of us moving.  The moving truck.  And Easton in the truck.  All of the boys wanted a ride in the big truck!

Thanksgiving 2012

We made a road trip to Mammy and Pappy's new home in Sherman Texas for Thanksgiving.  Jenna and Jared, and Jaron and Em and their families also made the trip.  It was the first year in many that so many of us have been together for Thanksgiving and it was so much fun.  The cousins all had fun playing together.  We got to see Mammy and Pappy's new home and new city they live in.  We had fun going out on the lake in their boat, the kids played lots of Chess, and had a good time trying to ride the goats, oh and us girls and Dad got to go see the last Twilight movie together one night... (which was one of my favorite things of the trip!)