Jamito

We have some neighbors from Burma and the little boy often comes over to play. He doesn't speak particularly clear English, but they have fun together and seem to understand each other well enough.
His name is Jamito (not sure on the spelling) and to help my mom remember it I told her to think of "jammies" (what she used to call our PJs) and "toe." One of her few areas of weakness is remembering names. The next time he came over she said, "Oh! Hello, Pajamafoot!" It still cracks me up.

Wheeler Farm with Grammy

 We finally got a pass to This is the Place Park. It's one of my favorite places.

 We always do the pony rides.

 Viv hugging a goat.

 These guys would love a herd of their very own goats!

 Snuggle!

 Leather stamping is another favorite stop.

Roald Dahl, Sam and Grammy

Epic Goblin Valley Birthday

 For his sixth birthday Sam requested a camping trip with the whole family. Grandma, Grandpa and Abby loaded up and drove down from Idaho and Joey and the boys came too. It was such a fun weekend!

 I spend a good portion of the trip chasing after Viv with my heart in my throat. She is bold as a mountain goat, minus the sure-footedness :)

 Glamor shots taken by Clay :)

 Squeezing into tiny caves and racing down rocks.

 It was harder to get pictures of Sam because he was off with Oliver and Finn most of the time and never wanted to hold still for the camera!

 The three musketeers!

 I love this one of Clay and Viv.

 Where's Vivi?

 Sam spent a good amount of time at the camp site perfecting his axe skills. He was pretty careful :)

 

Christmas Morning!

It's a blurry picture, but you get the idea. The kids and I snuggled in bed and waited on Christmas morning while Clay went downstairs to get the heaters going and turn on the Christmas tree lights. We waited for all the grownups to assemble downstairs before I brought the kids down. Seeing their faces is the best part of Christmas morning :)

Candlelight Christmas Eve

We all went over to Uncle Jim's church for a candlelight Christmas Eve service. It was really lovely and sweet. The kids from the congregation dressed up and did a nativity play, there were sweet musical numbers and then everyone stood in a circle and passed a flame from one candle to the next until everyone's was lit.

The kids were so pleased to be able to hold their very own candles.

Smorgasbord!

I look forward to our Christmas Eve smorgasbord every year and this year did not let me down!

The Beauty of Ice

Every time I experience an ice storm I am awestruck at the beauty and intricacy of it. It never gets old.

The ice highlights every branch and twig, turning it into this incredible, sculptural work of art.

I will marvel at it until I am old and gray :)

Sparkly Seashore Christmas Tree

So I got this crazy/brilliant idea to decorate the Christmas tree all with seashells and red berries. Mom suggested adding sprigs of baby's breath. We didn't end up getting the red berries. But we created an assembly line and mod podged and glittered a bunch of sea urchins, sea stars and sand dollars.  I got one HUGE sea star for the top.

And I couldn't resist this mermaid. I love it so much!

The amazing thing is that if you positioned the sea urchins just right over the Christmas lights they glowed! So beautiful!