Photo Dump

I will never catch up if I try to separate all of these pictures into individual blog episodes...hence, the blog dump!  We have done alot of activities and a whole lot of nothing during the Christmas break.  Here are the pictures to prove it!

We spent lots of time with the California Cushings...Eating, Playing and celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday.

After a project for our Christmas service we decided to stop at a local fave - Iceberg and wow, they look excited!

 Bowling is an annual must for this crew.

 Even the adults join in!

 Games at the Cushings...lots and lots of new games - some good and some gross (Aunt Heather's contribution...I might add that McKaleigh actually threw up during one of them!)

 It's really tough to get this crew all together - Props to Aunt Katie 8+ months preggers and she pulled it off!

 We even frosted cookies and held a white elephant with all of these kiddos!

 A quick and COLD stop at the Utes football game...

 And an annual Christmas break Hockey game - Go Grizzlies!

 One of my bucket list items was a stop by the Tree of Life in Draper.  It's pretty cool, but it was a very cold night, so we were in and out. The tree is cool because the lights actually sparkle!

 One of the only Christmas pictures we got was at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve.  We were missing Colton Christmas morning, so it was great to have a picture of all of the kids in the shot!

 We have a few more fun activities coming up....so get ready for additional pictures!

Annual Temple Square Trip

Every year we head downtown to Temple Square to see the lights and freeze!  This year we tried something new and ate dinner at The Lion House before heading out into the cold.  It was really yummy and a fun addition to our wintery trip.

 This year it was snowing pretty good when we went out, so it made for a short, quick trip!

Christmas Tree Cut Down

The past few years we have gone back and forth as to whether or not we should cut down our own tree or just stick with the tried and true "lot" trees.  Well, before I knew it, Brett had purchased a tag and we were on our way to find the perfect tree....If only it ended up that way!

We drove clear out West - for about and hour and a half, somewhere, and found the area on the map we were supposed to look for a tree.  Here we are starting out on our adventure.

 We all scouted around...and the trouble with that is that everyone has their own opinion as to what the "perfect" tree looks like.  We found all kinds of strange and "Charlie Brown" trees.  I think we ended up with one ourselves! Ha!

Here is a shot of Alex taking the first few whacks!

 McKaleigh patiently waiting while we chop...

 The kids goofing around!

 We all took turns hauling the tree back to the truck...Funny, bit it didn't look this sparse when we chose it or were chopping it.  I am convinced we lost some branches on the way down.

 Here it is...a little leaning to the left and wobbly, and a lot Charlie Brownish!

 But everyone looks happy.  Not sure we will go on that adventure again in the near future, but it was a learning experience!