Preliminary Assignment

How would you like to see any of these things?







Well, if our luck holds, you may be able to buy a plane ticket to Fairbanks, AK, see it while staying with us! The assigning officer said to be flexible, so it definitely isn't for sure yet, but we can hope. If all goes well, we will be going in August sometime probably.


Ryan received his preliminary assignment this past week and we are really excited about it. It will definitely be an adventure to go to Ft. Wainwright.

New Year's Trip to Longmire

During Ryan's New Year's break we decided to drive up to Mt. Rainier and find some real snow. We did. The road up to Paradise was closed, no big surprise there. We played around a little bit and then went for a snow hike that we really enjoyed. After that we treated ourselves to a late lunch in the lodge. Pretty reasonable prices surprisingly. It was a good day and we even got some use out of our snow chains!



Ryan and Kim in the parking lot before going home.


Glade makes the snow look REALLY deep.


More enjoying snow.


The kids enjoying lunch out.

Christmas

Despite the fact that it's almost February, I am going to finish up blogging about Christmas and then press forward into January. I promise to try to do better in the near future.


Grandpa and Grandma enjoying everyone being together (minus Mindy, Scott, and baby Steph).


Fun on Grandpa's 4-wheeler (it's for work, really!). Camryn, Emily, Kimberly, and Brailynn)



Dad and Kim on a horse. Thanks, Uncle Cal for bringing him over.




Mom and Glade


Kimberly in the mittens and hat Grammy Abbott made for her.


Glade enjoying some new bristle blocks on Christmas morning.

Sleepover

We decided that since most of my siblings wouldn't be around for Christmas that we would get together and exchange family gifts on the 23rd. We also planned a cousin's sleepover for the night before since I thought it would be fun to do gingerbread houses. All of the older cousins are girls, so it would have been 6 of them if sickness hadn't struck and kept three home. Kim had a great time with Lauren and Brailynn though. They had a hard time going to sleep all snuggled up in the hide-a-bed together. The next day I made gingerbread for houses and the girls had fun putting them together and decorating them. Everyone made it for dinner and the family gift exchange, except my sister Mindy in Utah with her husband and new baby. My brother Calvin made cute boxes for the kids. They love carrying them around. We are also looking forward to getting the shelf that he stained for us and we enjoyed the salsa Terra Jo made. After that crazy night. Christmas Eve with Grandpa Payne, Uncle Ed and Aunt Jean, and Tara and Karleigh seemed really quiet.


Glade with the fun new box Uncle Calvin made.


Kim with her gingerbread house.


Lauren's house had a few structural issues.


Cute little Brailynn. She couldn't keep her mouth off of her house. She kept licking it.


Reb a deb deb, three girls in a bed.

Family Pictures

My Sister-in-law's dad took some pictures for us while we were in Arizona. I think they turned out really well. We took them down by my Grandpa Payne's house, so it was kind of fun to have backgrounds that I know and love in them. Thanks so much Scott and Joann!

Here's a selection, along with the one of Ryan and I below with the post about our anniversary.

7 Wonderful Years

The day we went to Kartchner Caverns was also our 7-year anniversary. Tara was nice enough to take our kids home from Safford so Ryan and I could go out for a nice dinner and run a few errands.

I am so lucky to have him. He is a great husband and father and I love him so much!

Kartchner Caverns

One of the things I planned to do while in AZ was visit Kartchner Caverns. My Mom and sister Tara and her daughter, Karleigh, came with us, as well as my Aunt LeeAnn.

The caverns were pretty interesting. According to the guide, Kartchner Caverns are in the top 10 in the world for color. I also thought it was interesting how warm it was in there. There goes the accepted idea that caves are cool and damp. Both of the kids were unhappy about the warmth and humidity until I let them take off their shirts. They did a lot better after that.

Two amatuer cavers found Kartchner Caverns on some property owned by the Kartchners. They didn't think it was much at first, but as the explored it, they decided it was really important to save this cave. They kept it a secret for a long time, like 10 years I think before they told the owners about it. They decided the best thing to do would be to get it turned into a State Park. They tried hard to keep it a secret so the caverns wouldn't get messed up. I would pretty well. The caverns were gorgeous and it was a really fun outing.


Kim with the "Mickey Mouse" cactus she found.


No photos allowed inside, so this is as close as you get.


The group of us after lunch and before our tour.


Kim checking out a cactus.


Glade just plain being cute!

New Addition

I am happy to announce that we have a new addition to our family. We FINALLY got a new digital camera for Christmas. Thanks Mom and Dad Abbott!! We have really been enjoying it. I will probably post more now since it is way more fun to post when you have pictures to go with it. We really like it. Here are a few pictures we have taken with it.

Proof that AZ DOES get snow.


Mom and Glade one morning.


Beautiful sunset over Mt. Graham one stormy evening.


Did I mention that we went to AZ for Christmas?

Santa

Here are some pictures of the kids with Santa. We saw him at a Ward Party before we left for the holidays.


Kim and her friend Emma sitting with Santa.


Kim and Glade with Santa.

It's Autumn Time

Well, not really, but I finally got some pictures from October and November. Here are some things that happened.


Kim's Crater Lake tutu that I made doubles as a clown wig. I like this look.


Our little fireman enjoying his candy.



Kim's Crater Lake costume. Not my favorite ever, but at least it was her idea and design.



Ryan's November birthday.


New ties for Ryan's birthday.

Win, Lose, or Draw

We had some good guesses for the answers to the pictures. Here are the real answers.

The first one was the Savior touching stones for the Brother of Jared.

The second one was the Wise Man and the Foolish Man, or more accurately, just the Wise Man.