February Mini Vacation

Chad's is so busy during March and April that he won't be able to take any time off. So the kids had Rodeo break and he took off Friday and we headed up to Flagstaff for a mini vacation in the snow! Apparently it was one of the biggest snowstorms in over 100 years. So a 4 hour trip turned into 6 and a half as we followed a snow plow for quite a ways. And we found out all the roads closed right when we made it to Flagstaff. Heavenly Father was definitely looking out for us! We woke up to 35 inches of snow!!

It was so deep William just had to crawl the whole time which he loved! We found a park close to the hotel to avoid getting stuck somewhere since it was supposed to snow all day. There wasn't really any hills at this park but we did find a little one to play on.

The kids thought all the Icicles were so cool.

While playing our neighbor sent me a text and our house got about 8 inches of snow! Guess we didn't have to drive all the way to Flagstaff.

The kids were worn out from playing so we headed back to the hotel and went swimming in their inside pool. It was fun swimming in the nice warm pool and watching the snow fall outside. The kids laughed and said we were enjoying both winter and summer this trip.

Then they were ready for some more snow fun!

The next day the snow stopped and it was nice and sunny. Perfect day for sledding! We headed to a larger park with a huge hill and wore ourselves out for hours. We had so much fun I didn't even think to take pictures. William loved sledding but climbing the hill was too much for him so Chad and I had to carry him up. And I finally convinced him to go play at the park while Chad and the other kids continued.

We headed back home and checked out some bakery's on the way. One in Flagstaff we were not impressed with but one in Phoenix called Urban Cookies that was super delicious!

Such a fun mini vacation!

January

On new years day the kids were so excited to wake up to snow!!! We had to get creative with gloves since well....we don't own any. But socks covered in ziplock bags work just fine for Arizona snow.

Easton was so excited to make an Olaf snowman!

The snow mostly melted mid day and we went back to our normal lives. Then we woke up the next morning and had twice the amount of snow!!!!

William was not thrilled when he woke up a second time to snow. He says its too cold and stayed inside while the other kiddos played all day in it. Arizona boy....

Grandma Miller made Lydia's GORGEOUS baptism dress and we thought it would be perfect to take pictures in the snow!

Lydia was baptized on January 12th

Grandma Clayton made a BEAUTIFUL quilt in Lydia's favorite color!

William is officially a sunbeam! He was very worried not going to nursery but ended up loving his new class!

We went to a transportation event and the kids got to see firetrucks, tractors, electrical trucks, ponies, garbage trucks and more!

We went to go on a hike and our van acted up so I took the kids on an adventure in the wash by Grandma's house while Chad worked on the van.  They loved climbing all over the rocks and dirt piles.

Clayton Camp Christmas 2018

For Christmas we headed to Oklahoma for Clayton Camp Christmas! It was so fun to have everyone together! We started out at Incredible Pizza.

We went to a park that had a bunch of Christmas lights....

A group of us went Axe Throwing. This was so much fun! Chad and I have decided we are going to set up axe throwing in our backyard. 

Christmas eve we opened our jammies...

And Christmas morning was awesome seeing what Santa brought everyone.

Easton received a new hiking backpack, William a remote control mickey car, Chad rock climbing shoes, and the girls new Garmin watches. 

My favorite part was watching everyone open the family exchange gifts! Apparently so much so that I only took one picture of William playing with his handmade fishing pole and fish from his cousin Amea. So Cute!

The next day we went rock climbing. Chad was excited to try out his new shoes.

We also went to the food bank and sorted bread into boxes to be delivered to families in need. The kids had so much fun with this!

We had an awesome Cupcake Wars competition with a bag of secret ingredients and 1 hour to make cupcakes for the judges! In our bag was spice cake, werthers caramel candies, raisins and a can of beans. 

 Seth's team made a lemon berry cupcake with lemon heads...

Kimberly's team made a chocolate volcano cupcake with Cheeto frosting...

We made a spiced carrot cupcake with caramel sauce.

After much deliberation the winner was the volcano cupcake!

We had so much fun together is was sad to head home. The plan was to get all the home in one day but due to 5 hours of traffic we ended up having to stay in Albuquerque for the night. But we did get to see the temple before we headed home.