Target practice

It was a nice sunny day, so Chad decided to take Jordan shooting. Well that turned into all of us going, even grandpa. The girls thought they were super cool when they got to ride in the back of the truck to the top of the hill.
Look out...Jordan is ready to go! Doesn't have a clue what she's doing, but she looks dangerous :)
Tori we don't even think was looking down the site of the gun. But she finally got to hit a bottle with some help.
Morgan just wanted to be like her sisters. She was happy just playing in the dirt and with the bullets. She and Tori set up a store in the back of the truck and we had to go buy our ammo and targets.
Even mom got in on the action. I was only willing to shoot the .22, not those LOUD shot guns Chad and Grandpa were shooting.
Dad and Grandpa skeet shooting. Unfortunately for Chad, grandpa had a shot gun and Chad had a rifle so the clay pigeons were all shot down by grandpa...afterall, he had the advantage.

We all had such a good time that we went out again a few days later. Everyone did much better at hitting the targets, but it was windy and getting cold so we didn't stay as long.

Snow, Snow everywhere you look!!

The snow began to fall on our way to Washington and didn't stop the whole time we were there. It was a winter wonderland! I must say there is nothing like the beauty of fresh fallen snow clinging to the trees.
I didn't know what to do just sitting in the house seeing all that snow pile up so I got a trusty garden shovel and cleaned the sidewalk. That was as far as I cold get...then I was wiped out! I really needed an honest snow shovel. But it was actually kinda nice to get out and enjoy a few minutes of sunshine, before it started snowing again!

There was even snow on the beach!!!

When it was time for us to head back south, we had to unbury the car. Let's just say it was a big silver popsicle! It took us about 30 mins. to uncover it, then nearly an hour to get it out of the driveway.
Despite all the snow and cold, we all had a very enjoyable time relaxing in Washington.

Christmas a little late...but better late then never, RIGHT?

It was a FREEZING the day we went to get a Christmas tree, but we were determined to go cut one down.
Our fearless tree cutter! Thanks Chad for braving the thorny berry bushes to go get 'just the right tree' for us.
Jordan trimmed the tree to get it ready for the stand. She was happy when dad came along with a saw to trim the branches since the bush clippers weren't working to well.
Morgan was delighted to see santa twice this year. She hasn't gotten to see him for a few years, but she was brave and sat on his lap.

Chad got a new sleeping bag...not sure he will have much need for it the last few months on the island, but hey he's prepared for that cold front to come in :)
Jordan was so happy to get a camera! A shutterbug in the making, just like her mom

Tori didn't let the 18" of snow on the ground keep her from trying out the slide they got. They can't wait for summer to add the water feature to the slide.
Everyone got involved in making cookies for santa. Cookies were brightly decorated and full of SUGAR!!!

Cache Valley how we love thee

We started out our Christmas vacation with a visit to Cache Valley and the Rood family. It was a welcome sight to come over the mountain and see the beautiful scenery of the valley that hadn't yet been covered with snow.
Chad and I enjoyed an early morning trip to the temple before the snow started falling. We also had a lot of fun at Kiersten's basketball game and Paige's swim meet.

Saturday morning we woke up to land covered with snow. It was like we went to heaven over night, everything was covered. Thank you Rachel for being able to outfit the girls with snow pants, boots and gloves. Two years with no snow makes for over eager girls wanting to get outside! We couldn't keep the hat on Morgan, she was having such a good time playing and sliding in the snow.
Saturday afternoon we had a kick off to our Christmas holiday with a treat to see our favorite accapella group "Voicemale". Richard was kind enough to get us excellent seats and all the girls went home with autographed rubber duckies. (Richard, I know this is a super old pic of the group but it's what I could find). We all had a good time singing and dancing along with the music. I think we listened to Voicemale christmas and kidstuff cd's all the way to Washington. Thank you Richard for being such a good friend and helping us get in the Christmas spirit!

As we left Logan and headed north west to washington we got to see the beauty of the sunset on the mountains. It's such a gorgeous sight to see the setting sun on snow covered mountains.
This was the beginning of our endless days of snow until our return to Nevada, nearly two weeks later.

Land of Twilight

It just so happened that Chad's parents live in Forks, Washington. So on the way there we were all quickly reading Twilight so we weren't clueless as to the places of interest in town.
We found Bella's truck right away!

It was a very cold, rainy and windy day at First Beach so we just stayed in the car and took some pictures.
Dr. Cullen has his own parking space at the hospital, but for some reason he is never there :)
Next on the tour was Bella's house. Her room is the upper right window, she didn't come out to greet us. Guess it was just to cold or she was on vacation.
We stopped by the high school, but of course it was Christmas break so we couldn't go inside.

The Cullen house was nicely decorated for Christmas, with a message saying the Cullen's were off skiing for the holidays. Dang, we missed seeing them also! :)
Jordan got all four of her Twilight series books signed by Chief Swan (who just so happens to be her soon to be uncle). We are looking forward to going to see the movie as soon as she's done reading.