Thanksgiving 2014

Before we left for Thanksgiving... Ethan had a Court of Honor where he received

four Merit Badges! Now only one more required merit badge and his project

before we have our fifth Eagle Scout! So proud of him!

We were so grateful Linda and Allyn invited us to a beautiful cabin in Park City for Thanksgiving! Their neighbors weren't using it this year and offered it to them.  It was

so beautiful! So relaxing and fun!

Ben, Melissa and Everly were able to come too!

When we got there we heard some awesome news from these two...

Engaged!

Of course, Linda fixed an amazing feast! I wasn't feeling well and missed most of my favorite meal of the year.  But, the leftovers were wonderful!

The girls watched football in the theater room...

While the boys played pingpong

We had to make a trip to the local guitar store, of course!

What a wonderful weekend with family! Missed all those who couldn't be with us!

The day after Thanksgiving, I was able to catch up with my dear friend Michelle who works at the outlets in Park City.  So grateful for friends and family!

Christmas is nearly here...whether we are ready or not!

Everly keeps us in the Christmas Spirit!

Concert!

A few weeks ago we had the fun chance to have Ethan's band "Mainstream"

AND Ben and Melissa play a concert at Muse Music in Provo.

It was so awesome!

It has been so fun as parents to see our children perform...

Tyler started the trend with his band "Exit 282"... Brad with his wonderful voice...

Ben and Melissa with their extraordinary vocals, instruments and songwriting...

Noah with his amazing acting and vocal talents...

and now Ethan with his awesome band!

It was amazing for Ethan to get to perform with his big Brother...

Here are some pics from Mainstream...

They had the privilege to record an "EP" at the same studio that "Imagine Dragons" recorded their first music... Pretty impressive for 14 and 15 year olds! They should be selling their cd

soon...it is so good!

 It was so fun to have cousins come to see Ben, Mel and Ethan play!

Men and Melissa sound amazing... some of these pics are from a concert at

Velour a couple of years ago. We sure hope they get to play more...Ben is working with good friend Scott on a new musical project and Scott played a number or two with them! SO GOOD!

Sure wish I had better pics!

What a GREAT night!

Fall Break 2014!

We had an amazing time on Fall Break this year! We were able to meet Tyler, Kelly and their boys in Moab... then we all drove down to Mesa Verde!

We sooooooo missed having Brad, Cami and Asa with us... this was definitely their

kind of trip! (So proud of them in Missouri in Graduate School!)

ALERT: there are many pictures from this trip...but it was so fun!

Here are some pics from Moab...

 Climbing the ladder...one of our favorites!

 Everly learning it is fun to get dirty!

Rock skipping at one of our favorite places...The Grotto!

 Photo shoot!

 James found a Nebraska Plate for Tyler and a Massachusetts Plate for Brad and Cami!

 We went to Balancing Rock...

 Yes those are MY boys climbing to the top... I was shaking and had tears (in other words they caused their Mother to have a PANIC ATTACK!  I didn't used to get so scared watching them...I must be getting old!) and YES they even went higher before my yells stopped them :) Boy they were missing having Brad lead the way!

 Then we met up with Tyler and Kelly and boys and drove to Mesa Verde...

I have always wanted to see the Indian ruins there!

First we were able to stay inside Mesa Verde National Park at the Lodge...

But they only had 2 rooms--so we put our blow up mattress in between the 2 beds, and had a blast! The kids thought it was a giant sleepover with Mimi and Papa and EJ!

 Noah and Kalvy at breakfast...

 So much fun with Uncle EJ!

 Then we headed off to our tour of "Cliff Palace"... more climbing!

It was so amazing... these dwellings were built in the 1200's! It was amazing to

see how they built their homes, and to see so much of them still in tact!

Lots of hiking...we had such an amazing time!

Ben, Mel, Everly headed home after this tour... saying goodbye to Uncle Ben and Everly!

Then the rest of us went to tour "Balcony House"

I don't even know how to describe this... You can't see it until you climb down a LONG way... 

Rhett fell asleep before we started and slept through most of the tour :)

So you hike down and then we got to climb UP this 35 foot ladder...oh man... 

It didn't scare Kalvin at all :)

 Then Ethan and Kalvin led the troop up and out on rather scary climb out :)

WOW! What an amazing day!!

BUT...it wasn't over yet!

We then took one of the most beautiful drives we have ever seen!

We drove from Mesa Verde to Teluride Ski Resort (on our way to Tyler's outside Grand Junction)

It felt like we were driving through a painting...
(I wish I could say I took this picture...but I found one that looked just like what we saw as we drove!)

 Then we drove in to Teluride...It was like an Alpine Village. 

This was Kalvin's face when he saw the Gondola we would be riding up the mountain!

You ride to the top and then down the other side to this wonderful little village...

where we enjoyed some hot chocolate!

This was an amazing way to end our day (of course Tyler and James still had 2 1/2 hours to drive... and Kalvin kept us laughing the whole drive!

I think this was as close as I will get to my dream of visiting Austria... I even put my arms out and spun around as if I were "Maria" from "The Sound of Music"...as we walked back to the gondola it was sprinkling and smelled amazing... a dream for sure!

I told Tyler he got me as close to my dream as possible and we agreed we ALL need to come back!