Christmas Fun

Over the Christmas break Rob and I went to Great Falls, Montana to spend Christmas at his parent’s house. On the way we stopped off in Kalispell, MT to pick up a Snowmobile and trailer that Rob had found on Craigslist.  Our trip was full of adventures, some of them more challenging than they were fun, but overall it was a great trip and we had a wonderful time with all of his family.  Unfortunately my camera spent more time in my purse then it did in my hand, so I will just have to trust me that we were actually there.  Here are a few of the pics that I did manage to snap.

 

Rob and Alex gassing up the snowmobile.

 

One of our newest Craigslist purchases.  We have a matching one we bought last year. Now we have two twin sleds.

 

Rob and his Cousin Colton.  The jacket Rob is wearing was my Christmas gift to him.  We decided after our day in the snow that it wasn’t the perfect jacket.  After his motorcycle accident he is looking for one to replace the one the paramedics had to cut off.  When he tried it on, we thought this one would, but after a day of use, we decided it was a no go.  When we got home I took it back and bought him a Tool Cart instead to try and contain his ever growing tool collection.

                   Rob’s nephew Alex came out snowmobiling with us. 

               

Me and our new sled.

After our day of snowmobiling Rob and I went skiing with Rob’s sister Lisa and her family.  After a day of skiing we followed them to their home in Bellegrade, MT. 

           Rob’s nieces Abbey and Emily and I.

       Rob’s sister Lisa and I .

    Rob wearing my bright orange neckgator on his head.  No he did not ski like this.

The night before we left to head home, it snowed over a foot in Bellegrade, MT.  We went out that night and played around for a while.  Rob even took the girls out for a snowmobile ride around the neighborhood in all the fresh powder.

     

Maya enjoying the snow. 

     

Rob and Emily on the snowmobile.  She even got to drive a little, even though she wasn’t very good at turning.

Rob and Abbey on the snowmobile.  It was FREEZING that night. 

Other adventures included:

• Chrismas Eve looking at Christmas lights that never were.  We blamed it on the recession. 
• Cindi blowing up an engine on one of the snowmobiles we were using (NOT HER FAULT!) 
• Cindi being pelted with flying snowball chunks as she was towed back to the trucks and trailers after the engine blew. 
• A flat tire on the trailer in the snowmobiling parking lot
• A flat tire on the trailer after we got home from snowmobiling in front of Rob’s parent house
• Driving all over Great Falls looking for a tire store that was open on Sunday
• Alex Cady slamming into another skier, getting a bloody nose, a bitten and bloody tongue, and a black eye
• The Cady family hitting a deer on our way home from skiing (Thankfully no person was injured.  Sadly we can’t say the same for the deer)

We had a wonderful trip and enjoyed time with family.  I big thank you to Bob Samsel for keeping us warm and helping with all of the trailer fixes we had to do.  Another big thank you to Sandy Samsel for feeding us every time we turned around and making sure our every need was taken care of.  Thank you to the Cady family for the countless games of Mario Kart on DS and Clue, and for letting us crash at their place for a few nights. 

We hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas as well!

Craigslist Christmas

So, Rob and I decided that we would put up Christmas lights outside only if we bought the lights on sale after Christmas was over.  It was something that we were planning for next year.  Leave it to Rob and his Craigslist obsession to get the job done this year…

Everyone in our neighborhood puts up lights, even the 70 year old couple across the street.  So we had to “keep up with the Jones” and do our part to make the neighborhood beautiful.  Thank you generous people on Craigslist for giving us free lights and thanks to Rob for putting his life on the line, climbing around on the roof, to make our house look festive. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Ornaments: zero dollars from my generous co-worker.

Christmas tree: zero dollars from my generous parents.

Having our first Christmas tree in our new home…Priceless!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Thanksgiving

We went to visit my parents in Rexburg, ID for Thanksgiving.  We left Wednesday after Rob got off of work and arrived back home just in time for me to drop Rob off at work on Sunday night.  He is a trooper for putting in the long, uncomfortable hours for me to have the chance to go and visit my parents.  I didn’t get a ton of pictures.  If you want to see more about our visit, see my mom’s recent post.

My parents cooked us a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. 

Mom treated me to a Pedicure and Manicure!

We took a picture with Santa. 

We spent the weekend talking, eating, and relaxing.  Mom and Dad wouldn’t even let me help with the dishes.  Thank you both for a wonderful weekend.  We love you!

Sleepover

I had a Friday off of work, so I invited my nephew Jayden over for a sleepover.  We had a great time going to the park, out to eat, and having a friend over to play. 

Jayden and I walked to the park near my house.  He loved the jungle gym. 

We continued our walk to the greenbelt behind the park.  We found this really cool tunnel. 

Jayden was impressed with Rob’s new, free motorcycle. 

We went to dinner at Zoopas.  We probably will never go back there again, but Jayden enjoyed the all you can eat macaroni, and the all you can eat dessert!

General Conference

Rob and I got tickets to General conference in October, so I took a Friday off of work and we made a long weekend of it.  We stayed with my sister Julie and her family and visited friends and family.  Rob got to attend Conference in the Conference Center for the first time.  It is always an amazing experience to be in the same room as the Prophet and Apostles.  It was a whirlwind trip but overall it was worth it. 

Warning: Lots of pictures below.

The message on the board in the room where Rob and I slept.

Halle and I at Connor’s football game.

The Vikings won and Connor scored a touchdown!

On Saturday afternoon we joined Mary and Seth Braun and their family for the afternoon session of conference at their house.  Here I am with Tillie and Finch.

At the park with Parker, Halle, Sherri, Crysta, Lauren, Olivia, Jeremy, Meg, Lexi, Brecken, and Julie (she took this picture).

The men getting home from the Priesthood Session.

Rob and I at conference.  Not the best picture but that’s the temple in the background.  Too many people to push out of the way to get a good one.

Thanks everyone who made time to spend with us.  It was a fun weekend. 

The Bark House gets its First Snow!

Today we got our first real snow at our house.  It has been falling all afternoon and the snow is now about triple that in the picture. Bellevue School District has already announced a 2 hour delayed start for tomorrow.  I’m hoping they just cancel it altogether!  As long as you are not stuck in traffic, there is nothing quite as beautiful as snow in the Northwest.