Christmas and December Activities

We decided this year to sell our family chocolates on a grander scale and did really well! We ended up meeting our goal. We got to be a vendor at a friend's Christmas shop and the girls did a great job helping.

We went to Winterhaven on a very cold night but it was nice since not very many people were there.

We went for a little hike in a wash and found a tortoise friend. 

On Christmas Eve the kids opened the gifts they got for each other before heading over to Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house.

After dinner Santa showed up and left presents and William's mind was blown that there was foot prints. Easton determined that Santa had to have flown up to the roof since the footprints mysteriously disappeared.

Christmas morning was so nice. It was the first year we got to calmly sit and the kids patiently waited their turn to open a present. Grandma and Grandpa Clayton came over and enjoyed it with us!

Chad had some time off after Christmas so we went on several hikes! First we hiked in Sabino Canyon in the rain and completed the junior ranger program.

The next day we went hiking in Saguaro National Park.

We made 4 miles which is a family record with the youngest of the bunch. Lydia and Chad went further then that. It was nice to hike in cool weather and bonus there was water running in the canyon!

And to finish out the year Easton harvested his purple cauliflower!

November Hike and December Birthdays

In November our family hiked to the top of A Mountain.

William turned 4!

I told him we could wherever he wanted while the kids were at school and the only thing he wanted to do was bake his cake with Grandma Miller.

He also enjoyed watching Grandpa run his new train!

He had so much fun and loved baking with Grandma. He loves hawks and says all of the hawks in our neighborhood are his. He still loves to pretend to be a puppy and can't decide if his favorite color is orange or yellow.

For my birthday we got to celebrate early since Chad had to go on a work trip. I got a Camelbak which was so exciting!!

Lydia turned 9!

Lydia made and decorated her own cake. She loves sewing, crafts, and baking. She is always such a peacemaker with her siblings and always willing to jump in and help. Her favorite colors are red and purple.

October

For the kid's fall break we went camping to the Mogollun Rim in Payson Az. We did something crazy and found an old canoe someone was selling and bought it!

On the way up we stopped at Bass Pro Shop to pick up some paddles.

We loved camping near Willow Springs Lake. It was beautiful and we had so much fun in our new canoe!

We enjoyed several days of hanging out by the lake and Easton was insistent on figuring out how to fish. He found bait, string and a hook and dutifully dragged the line behind the canoe. He was sad he didn't catch anything but sure had fun trying!

We checked out the Mogollun Rim of course.

Chad made these cool telescoping poles for our tarp over our trailer and they worked great!

We had so much fun it wore William out.

We finished our garden for Easton's plants and Lydia also planted a grape vine!

Sophie turned 11! So crazy she will be in young women's in January.

She got to have a friend birthday party this year and decided to have a scavenger hunt and decorate cupcakes. She planned the party all by herself and did a great job.

She is so grown up she has decided she didn't want to get too dressed up for Halloween and wanted to help pass out candy instead of trick or treating.

The kids got to enjoy two trunk or treats and regular trick or treating so we have a lot of candy. But they had a blast!