Bearizona

Before we left Flagstaff and the North Pole Experience, we decided to drive over to Bearazona. It was definitely worth the drive and the kids loved it. After we drove through the 

Before we left Flagstaff and the North Pole Experience, we decided to drive over to Bearazona. It was definitely worth the drive and the kids loved it. After we drove through the animals in the park, we ended up going to the part of the park where you can get out of your car and look at the animals. 

One of the shows they put on at the park is a bird show where they have all different kinds of birds fly right over top of the us sitting in the audience.  At one point in the show they had a guest come up on stage and become the "prey" for an owl.  Turns out that Michael was the prey and his job was to listen for the owl flying toward him and then ring a bell to notify us that danger was approaching.  As you can see from the pictures, Michael wouldn't have been spared by the owl, as he didn't hear the owl fly up right behind him at all.  I guess that's just one of the reasons why owls are such great hunters. 

It was fun to visit Beararizona and we hope we can revisit it again in the future.

Until next time,

Angie

North Pole Experience!

One of the highlights of our Christmas was that my sister, her husband and their kiddos were able to come out to spent the holiday with us.  We LOVED getting to see them, since they live in Iowa, it isn't that often we get to spend time.  

One of the things we did to celebrate Christmas was that we took the kids to Santa's workshop at the North Pole Experience.  The kids loved it, here are a few pictures that captured the fun...

Everyone piled into the elevator... as a group of 11 with 7 kids, we were quite the sight!

Madelyn could hardly contain her excitement.

Meanwhile Gabriel was not thrilled he had to sit next to his brother.  Moody teenagers. 

Isabelle was thrilled too!

CHEEZE!

When we arrived through the portal outside of Santa's workshop the kids unloaded the bus and waited patiently for the elves to open the door and let them in!  

Once inside the first room was filled with toys of Xmas past.  Madelyn was interested in scoping out all the toys.

The next room showcased one of the elves who showed the kids a compass that went around continuously from North to East to South to West showing that indeed we were at the north pole.

In one of the next rooms, the kids got to help build some toys.  They helped to dress the teddy bears and build cars for kids.

Isabelle loved the other toys in the room.

And the boys were thrilled too!

In Mrs. Claus' bakery we got to have fresh donuts although she called them something else, and hot chocolate.  I think this was all of ours favorite room!

Here the helpers danced as we enjoyed our sweet treat.

Michael tried to take a picture of the conversation for the hot chocolate.  He was convinced she made the best hot chocolate.

We were then able to go to the mail room where we got to write a letter to Santa.  We also found the books that list the kids on the good and the naughty list.  For some reason Gabriel was insistent he take a picture of the naughty books. 

Here are the kids with their letters to give to Santa.

Before we lined up  to go see Santa, we got to see his loaded snowmobile and see the reindeer walking outside.

Here is the schedule for the reindeer and what they eat.

And then finally it was our turn to see Santa.  After all the anticipation to see him, Madelyn was NOT a fan.  Here is the best picture we got of the kids with the big jolly guy!

A classic one I'll remember for a long time.   Despite Gabriel's fear of being on the naughty list, and Madelyn's unfriendly encounter with Santa, he still came and was very good to the kids.

Until next time,
Angie

Xmas Decor...

I love Christmas and often can hardly wait til the middle of November to get the decorations out.  It usually takes me a week to get everything put up.  Thankfully the boys and Jarrett are a good help.  Here are a few photos of our home at Xmas. 

This year we also received a beautiful memorial ornament in the mail and I wasn't sure who it was from.  It made me think of my grandpa and of  others who we miss up in Heaven.  We later found out Jarrett's mom and dad shared it with us and it became one of my favorite ornaments of the year.  I love walking up to the trees and just admiring the ornaments and the story behind where each of them came from.  It was such a touching gift to have this added this year.

As quickly as the season comes, it goes just as fast.  I sit now in a house that feels empty but also clean and fresh, ready for a new start that January brings.  I will look forward to next Christmas and the feel the house brings when its decorated.

Until next time,

Angie

Zoo Lights!

Another fun thing we did at the end of the year was go to Zoo Lights!  Zoo Lights have become one of our holiday traditions thanks to Debi our friend and some of our other friends Tom and Gloria who have shared tickets with us in the past.  We all look forward to it!  Here are a few pictures of the girls, dad and I.  The night we went the boys happened to have a baseball game and they weren't able to come.  So we just had to have extra fun for them!

the girls were posing for us!

Such a fun night!

And made us excited about the holiday season. 

Until next time,

Angie

2018 Recap... San Francisco trip.

 For the first time in 8 years, I decided to take a break from blogging.  The month of December was so hectic with getting ready for the holidays and wrapping up the year, I decided to give myself permission to take one thing off my to do list, and that was blogging. I"m not going to lie, I felt guilty.  Almost everyday I thought, I should just blog, but then I got distracted by something else and soon enough it was another day gone.

As we begin 2019 today, I think back to all that 2018 brought.  Many great moments, a few hard months but overall more blessings than I can even count.  We continue to have our health, we are blessed with four kiddos who challenge us, push us and make us strive to do everything we can to help them, as we build our lives together.

In my attempt to cover all that was missed in the last month or so of blogging, I share now highlights from the end of  2018...

In early November, Jarrett and I took a quick trip to San Francisco. It was so much fun to see the city, except that the largest fire in California history started the morning after we arrived and it affected the air quality in a big way.  We still had fun visiting the Ghiradelli Chocolate factory, Alcatraz, the trolley cars and even the piers.  We also ran into a few friends, Renee and Stan which made it extra fun.

The curviest street in the world.

The smoke was terrible

Some of the buildings on Alcatraz Island

The prison was amazing and I remember as a little girl watching stories about the people who tried to escape and to be there in person it was even more surreal.  

That's the city in the background.  And it was cold too!

Jarrett riding the trolley car.  It was a lot of fun!

More to come in the next posts.

Until next time,

Angie