Christmas Break

Christmas break was another fun chance to make it back out west. We were able to stay in Utah for a week and in Washington for a week. It is always great to be able to see family and friends. Mostly everyone just wants to see Denzil though :). We sure wish we were a little closer.

Christmas lights at Temple Square with Jenny's family. It snowed a little but we stayed warm.

This is a great little toy store called Blickenstaff's in Provo. Here's the little guy making the rodeo look easy.

Denzil loves playing with balls, especially like this at the Children's Museum. He had a fun time with all the little exhibits they have to play on there.

Picking out some good fruits and veggies from the Farmer's Market at the Children's Museum.

Hiking up Millcreek Canyon on Christmas Eve.

Hayride and caroling in the neighborhood with the all the families.

This shirt was Denzil's gift from us. It's tough to read, but it says "I'm going to be a Big Brother." It's true, starting in July.

The weather was a bit wet for the week in SLC, but Christmas Day was beautiful. We headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon and went snowshoeing up to Willow Lake near Brighton. It wasn't too long, the weather was great, and the snow was wonderful. Jenny's dad came with us.

Found a soft spot when we were pulling out. Had to dig for a few minutes then we were able to drive right out.

Multnomah Falls, OR. The tallest waterfall in Oregon (620 ft combined) and the 3rd tallest year-round waterfall in the US. We went for a drive to see the Columbia River Gorge.

This is the Portland Children's Museum. Denzil loves the water and couldn't get enough of the water area that they have.

Jenny and Jaxon (our nephew) on our first geocaching adventure.

We were driving in the mountains near home and Jaxon asked if we could stop and have a snowball fight. We accepted the invitation. What a fun day.

Richmond

We drove up to Richmond, VA for a quick trip. We stopped at some Civil War sites and visited Geof and Darla, some of our friends from Washington who are living in VA now. The weather was great and it was a fun trip! We stopped at a park and took some family pictures.

A fun little Japanese garden with a bridge that was perfect for photo ops.

Random Late Fall Fun

D learning how to tame a wild bronc.

He also likes to play at the playplace at the mall, which is nice when it is cold and wet.

More fun at the park.

You don't have to look closely to see that he was not happy about being with Santa. Even with the support of his pal.

Amazingly even mom couldn't calm this one down.

Halloween

Ok, I think that I am caught up on my blogging after this post. For Halloween this year we went to our ward Chili cook off/Trunk or Treat and a few days later we went to our friends party too. Kris was a cowboy, I was Pippy Longstocking, and Denzil was Frankenstein. My favorite part about my costume was that the young girls had no idea who Pippy was but they liked that my hair stuck out.

Nana came to visit!

Kris' mom came to visit us for a week in October and we had a great time. Denzil decided then that he loves horsey rides courtesy of "mama horse."

We went to a little farm place that had a hay ride with multiple destinations. There was the petting zoo part (Denzil loved all the animals being so close but they were a bit out of control if you ask me...probably because we were the only people that came that day so they were hungry;), then we went and did a hay maze, a little fairy land thing, and finally we got a little pumpkin at the end. I think Denzil had a blast and we did too just watching how much fun he was having.

Denzil held a wooly worm which peed on him because he was just a little rough;)

We went to Mrs. Hanes Moravian Cookies bakery and watched how they hand make all the cookies. They said it takes them about 4 months to figure out the texture that the dough needs to be and how to roll it out and such. The lemon ones are my favorite.
We went to the Biltmore Estate. Denzil did pretty well in the backpack but he was pretty upset when I wouldn't let him down to play on the piano there.
He also got upset that I wouldn't let him get into the fountain.
We travelled to Colonial Williamsburg, VA. In the cabinet makers shop they were nice enough to let Denzil play on the harpsichord that they had made as a replica. He was a lot easier to handle after that.
The Capitol Building

Uh oh! Luckily no one had rotten food to throw at us.



This caterpillar has become a great toy. Denzil loves to be "caught" by it and wrapped up in it. He had a great time with Nana and we were all glad she could come and visit us.
Denzil had a full head haircut. We did a trim on the back in August because it was getting mullet like but he was in need of a full haircut. He did really well until the hair started to tickle his face and make him itchy. Kris did a great job and there are only a few long hairs around the ears.

Denzil has started to like the bath again so we are all stoked about that one.

But he isn't a fan of having the hood on his head.

The Great Smoky Mountains

So, Denzil and I ventured to the Smoky Mountains to meet up with some of my pals from my growing up years. We had a blast despite the chilly weather. It was near 40 at the top of this mountain and Denzil was cold. I hope I learned my lesson to pack warmer clothes when camping in the middle of October in the Smokies. It was beautiful and I was able to set up our tent most of the way by myself and I took it down myself. I realized how much I rely on Kris when we go camping but we managed.

I "Zorbed." If you don't know what it is, I didn't either until we got there. Apparently there are only 6 zorbing places in the world and this one is the only one in the US. They put some water in the bubble and I slipped in and off I went down the hill. It was pretty fun.
But, Denzil wasn't too happy about me leaving him at the bottom and having a wet mom that wouldn't hold him tight when I was done.
Thanks for inviting me to come along and have some fun Ryan & Scott. Let's meet up again sometime! It's kind of crazy that we met there in the first place because Scott lives in Cali and Ryan in Minnesota. It was a blast from the past;)

Kris' 31st Birthday & Apples on the Blue Ridge Parkway

For Kris' birthday we had dinner at home and a delicious yellow cake with chocolate frosting and don't forget the candle with and airplane. I am so glad that Kris was patient enough to wait for me to grow up and that we get to grow up together, I mean, grow old together. He is a fabulous dad and Denzil just LOVES him! He walks around saying "daddy" all day long.

Denzil and I went to get apples in Virginia and then take a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway with some ladies in our ward. Denzil did really well and was very excited to be able to move around when we stopped. The apples were delicious and quite cheap so it was definitely worth the trip and who doesn't love being with great people too?!

Mabry Mill along the Parkway.