Christmastime!

Trips to Rexburg are always very refreshing for me.

Our trip begins with a 7 hour drive, and surprisingly this is a great beginning to the relaxing experience in Rexburg.  Somehow we managed to get four excellent young travelers (knock on wood!).  I quite enjoy listening to them entertain each other in the back seat.  Logan and I had an enlightening conversation with the kids about how cell phones work and what telephone lines were for.    We also have a rule that the kids can watch one movie on car rides.  This is great for planning the times when I want kids to stay awake so that they don't fall asleep and ruin bedtime. :)

(Insert unrelated car story here) The other day we were waiting for Logan outside of Heartwood.  Jackson was a little bit distressed because he said he was scared of the dark.  Evelyn immediately kicked her feet to make her sparkly shoes light up and she said, "Jack can you see the lights? That means I am up here and will take care of you when you are scared of the dark." After Evelyn spoke up Adalie said, "Jackson- I will sing you a song so that you can hear me and not be afraid of the dark." She immediately started singing (Maren began singing nonsense happy words as she always does when someone starts singing) while Evelyn was making her shoes light up.  Jack was cured of his fear and I was very proud of how my kids take care of each other.

Back to the story....  

As soon as we arrived in Rexburg we were greeted with a whirlwind of activity.  Grandma, Grandpa, Allison, and Courtney were constantly playing with at least one of the kids. Among all of the coloring, painting, cooking, puzzles, and other at-home activities we also went sledding, bowling, shopping, fish-feeding at Warm River, visiting with Cambria and Ty, and car sledding to name a few.

Christmas

As Christmas approached this year I came to the realization that I had pretty much everything that I wanted.  The thing that would mean the most to me is time.  We used this idea as a focus for our Christmas gifts.

Logan and I decided to buy gifts that were centered around activities we could do with the kids.  We bought a few family games, puzzles, and craft gifts that we could make with the kids.  So far we have taken advantage of all of these gifts and we have had some fun times together.

For my Christmas gift to Logan I decided to rent a yurt for a night at Harriman State park.  Logan and I rented cross country skis and spent all day Monday together before our night in the yurt. We had some great conversations, and plenty of time for cross country skiing. We now know how to start an amazing fire in the wood stove... It took a few tries to figure out, but we finally succeeded! (the next morning we found laminated instructions for using the stove) We had a wonderful, quiet, relaxing, fun time together. I sure love Logan!

During our vacation I was able to spend a lot of one-on-one time with each of the kids.  Let me tell you that this is MUCH easier when the other kids are occupied and entertained.  Overall we had a wonderful vacation.

During the course of our trip Logan and I made a family New Years resolution to go on a family trip. We realized that whenever we go on family trips it is always to another family members house.  It is time to get out and bond with each other on a crazy family road trip! Our destination is yet to be determined. Please share your ideas with us.

I have to mention that our kids are at a great age for playing games together!  For Christmas we got Sorry, Trouble, and a story cube game.  Some of our other favorites are Uno and Go Fish.  This whole new world of fun has opened up to us now that the oldest three can understand the rules and play their own turns.  The only trick is to distract Maren because she definitely wants to get in on the action.

Overall we had an excellent vacation; lots of family time, focusing on the Savior, fun alone time, activities, great food, and great company.

Now for the huge photo dump.

Our kids have always been fans of reading books.  This vacation did not disappoint! 

Yes, Maren's head was stuck between the bars. Yes, she was distressed. And yes- I did make her wait so that I could get the camera out of my pocket.

Hooray for dress up clothes!  All of the kids are big fans.

Here is our little winter yurt.  We didn't manage to get a picture of both of us together.

We have a Hazard New Years tradition involving our tree and a bonfire in the backyard.  Here are the before and after pictures of this fun event.

Does any one have any idea where these floating bubbles are coming from?

No it was not snowing when we took this still photo.  What on earth happened between dumping the pictures into Picasa and uploading them to our blog?

Papa time with one of Jack's new Christmas presents

Adalie and Jackson came up and informed me that they were playing the Princess and the Frog.  Hmmm. Imaginative?

We went to Q'emlin park to go hiking.  Evelyn discovered this HUGE sheet of ice and wanted to explore.  It was really cool.

We took a hike at Q'emlin park and ended up on 'The Icy Trail of Death."  Jack had his hands in his pockets when he slipped... He didn't even put his hands down when he landed head first on a rock. Poor kid!  He took it like a champ though.