Relax Time!

We keep wondering when the peace and joy part of the holidays starts,
so we spent the afternoon playing games with the family. A much needed
time, as Tiff and "Cheeks" McIlquham are here demonstrating.

Nativity sets

This nesting doll set was many of our favorites. 30 pieces in all! The
smallest are under glass in the front. Must be the Russian blood in
us...

Nativity continued

Hannah picked this interesting one from Africa as one of her ten or so
favorites.

More Nativity

Amber's favorite.

More Nativity

This was Tiffanie's favorite (aside from our set, which was there too).

Nativity Celebration

This weekend was the annual nativity exhibit at our church. We always
enjoy the music and focus this brings to the start of the holiday
season. Since we each picked a favorite, we thought we would share a
few. This was James' pick.

The Holidays in Branson

We enjoyed a Friday out of school at Silver Dollar City. It was plenty cold, but always festive. We took the kids to the saloon show this time, and as you can tell from the pictures, all were smitten with the showgirls. (That rosy glow around Ben's cheeks isn't from the chill!) Pre-teen boys are sure fun to tease.

Halloween!

The Kennings joined us for some rousing trick-or-treat adventures this year. The kids went for the first time 'sans adults' with gypsy Amber and her cellphone leading the way. It all went just great until they reached that distant street and Hannah the mouse decided she forgot use the facilities. A short drive later and the looting resumed. Daddy tax was good this year.
Be sure and notice Kimberlie's self-made medieval dress!

Kimberlie the Star

Kimberlie spent the whole day today in an all-city honor choir practice and performance. She was great! The place was standing room only.

That's What I Call Family Night!

Time for a break! We needed some time to just play around a bit, so we visited a chinese buffet (every other block in this town) and then stopped by a long time haunt - Fun Acre mini golf. Everyone did very well, but it was Hannah who stole the show on hole 19, where she dropped her ball in the impossible cup for a free game ticket. I've only done that once in my life! Not too shabby for a 5 year old.

Another Anniversary

Number 16 already! We decided it was time to get away for a bit, so we spent the day in Branson trying out some of the sights we have avoided all of these years. We wandered down the Branson Landing, a mile or so shopping strip, visited Ripley's, and just enjoyed a day together. Joe's Crab Shack was a fun experience that was new to us, as was the starring role in a classic movie!

Arrow of Light

Nathan completed all of his cub scout requirements and received his arrow of light award. This is the only badge you can carry over to BSA uniforms - great job, Nathan!

Jim & Sam come to Missouri

We were thrilled to have Uncle Jim and Aunt Sam come for a visit. We ran them silly around the area, and on the hottest days of the year, too! We visited Julie's art exhibition, Incredible Pizza, and Silver Dollar City (the hottest of them all - sorry about that!).

Paybacks!

Last month we were taunted by the Kenning's blog regarding Dunkin
Donuts. Right now we're living it up (or is that wallowing?) in revenge!

Bell

Walkers

Vacation - Day 11 - Ouray

Monday found us down in the little town of Ouray. Its an old mining town that has been turned onto a tourist trap. We love to fall for it. Box Canyon Falls is awe inspiring, and the main street has one of our favorite rock shops (not to mention the ice cream shop)! Tiffanie spent the whole drive photographing the San Juan Mountains.

Vacation - Day 10 - Montrose

After attending Montrose 1st Ward we headed into the wilderness to see some sights. Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a spectacular National Park. There is sadly no way to truly capture all of it in pictures - the depth of the canyon is staggering. To put it in perspective the Empire State Building would fit almost twice in most of the canyon; and it runs for something like 27 miles!

We tried something new this time. We went to the bottom to see the Gunnison River. The drive down was most harrowing. The grade was 16 degrees or more for several miles of road down. Even after shifting to low our brakes were literally smoking when we arrived at the floor. We gave them a nice long break (a brake break?).

We saw several deer at the bottom (notice both of the ones in Amber's picture). The river was very cold, but reportedly has excellent trout fishing.

4 generation cookout

Vacation - Day 8 - Finally iPhone Release Day!

Tiffanie and I took some 'couple time' today to try to brave the crowds at the AT&T store. Not much luck there. Apple apparently limited the number that could be sold at each store. Plenty at the Apple store, but they couldn't fix the family plan the way we wanted. Rats.

Plan B - We went to eat at The Garden Restaurant on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Not a great sandwich but a fabulous view. We then discovered that there are places to visit inside the church office building. We wandered through the church history library, the patriarchal blessing request database, and the 27th floor observation deck. We finished the day with an easy farewell swim and BBQ with Matt's family.

Vacation - Day 7 - The Busiest Day of All!

We started the day with a visit to Heritage Park at the This is the Place Monument. They have opened up a state park/attraction that reminded us of Nauvoo, except for the free part. From there it was into SLC for the Church History Museum, and up to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building observatory. Souper Salad made the perfect dinner, and the tabernacle choir rehearsal as a cap on the evening.