Travel Journal

We were fortunate enough to travel almost all the way across the country after Christmas. We set out on Friday, December 28th, and drove all night until we reached Longmont/Firestone, Colorado where Aaron's sister Brandie and her family live. We stayed until Thursday, January 3rd, when we left and drove to Belleville, Illinois to visit with my Dad and Stepmom, Sandy. We had a great visit with lots of fun and finally came home on Sunday, January 6th. Back to reality! I'll have lots of separate posts for this trip, including the one below from the fire station - enjoy!

Our Trip to the Fire Station!

My Dad is the Fire Chaplain in Belleville, Illinois (outside St. Louis, Missouri), so we got to go and take a tour of one of the local fire stations. The boys had the best time and even got to slide down the pole (with Daddy's help)!

Christmas Morning!

We had a wonderful Christmas morning - we are all so spoiled! We left out some egg nog and cookies for Santa and some celery and carrots for his reindeer. We also HAD to leave Santa a warning note - Uncle Jared was going to set a trap for Santa so that he could keep all the presents! Luckily, Santa got our letter and replied back that he was very grateful for the warning and encouraged the boys to keep being good to stay on the nice list and not the "naughty" list like Uncle Jared!

Santa's Village

Last Monday night we took the boys to Santa's Village here in Huntsville. They had the best time - they made a craft, decorated gingerbread men, and sat on Santa's lap - again!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

The boys did so well with Santa this year - I think this year will be one of the best for Jack. He talks about Santa all the time, although all he wants for Christmas is a Christmas tree. Hope we don't have to leave ours up all year - it's a real one, so that might get pretty yucky!

Halloween 2007

This Halloween, we went with a Star Wars theme. Sam is totally into Darth Vader and while we toyed with the idea of making Jack Luke Skywalker, when we saw the Yoda costume, we couldn't resist! Here they are with their cousins Austin and Alex, Jack by himself, and then Sam with our neighbor Jacob Jones at the ward party.

Sam's Party

Sam turned five in October. We had a great time playing putt-putt golf. Thanks to all who attended and especially to those who sent gifts - what a spoiled boy! Who's gonna help me clean his room now?!

Aaron and I got to take a trip in August to the Gaylord Opryland hotel. We went to a seminar with Alton Brown (Food Network) and then got to enjoy the beauty of the hotel and its restaurants. It was only an overnight trip, but much needed "Mommy and Daddy" time!