You would think it wouldn't take me a month to post about such a great Christmas, but it did. We went to Utah for Christmas this year. It worked out that Branden only had to take off 4 days from work with Christmas and New Years falling on the end of the week. I will say that it was bitter cold. I think the Fri. or Sat. before we came home it finally got up to the high twenties. I'll complain now, but come summer I will complain about the 105+ weather here. I know I can't be pleased. The drive home was really cold. I didn't like to look at the thermometer and see 12 or more below. I was glad to be in a truck with heat. And of course I got stuck driving the stretch that was filled with fog. I shouldn't complain Branden did drive the whole way on the way up. And there was a lot of black ice. He did amazing. He personally thinks it is fun to drive in that kind of weather. I had white knuckles all the way. One more thing my wonderful husband does well. I got a great one. The kids had a blast and didn't want to come home. They got to sled and go out and shoot Adriana's new 410 shotgun. (Not really new, just to her.) Branden got some hunting in with his younger brother. I just tried to stay warm. We were able to see our good friends Jason and Alisynn Dickson and their kids. So here are a few highlights from our almost 2 week vacation. (That I needed another 2 weeks to recover from.)

I wish that something really exciting has happened, but truly nothing has. I am pretty much done with the Christmas shopping and most everything is wrapped. We are waiting on a couple of things to come in the mail, but other than that we are done. It is quite exciting. Now I just have to get ready to go to Utah for Christmas. That will be the challenging part. I have to transport everything up and then transport everything back down. Yippee!!!

Carsen has a new favorite word, "disturbing." He tends to go through jeans very quickly. He get holes int he knees within the first couple of months. We have tried all sorts of jeans, but he seems to wear them out in the knees quick. (Maybe he is just that spiritual :)) So Branden put a patch in one of them. I told him to put them on and finish getting ready for school. He said, "I don't' like these pants, they disturb me." I had to do a double take and have him repeat that. And yes he said that they disturbed him. It was all I could do not to laugh. That just isn't a word you expect to hear out of a 6 yrs. old mouth. He has really come to like it and uses it a lot.

Emmy still has her fun moments and still does things that make us laugh. Then when we laugh we get in trouble for laughing. "Not funny!" I can't believe she is going to be 4 in 3 months.

Adriana is doing well and is just as sweat as ever. Nine year old girls are a barrel of fun as long as you don't look at her crossed-eyed. She just might start crying. Branden loves all the emotion in our house. Growing up with 3 brothers does not prepare you for emotions of daughters. He is learning to cope.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Branden's younger brother, his wife and 2 kids along with Branden's mom came down. The kids had a blast and cannot wait to see them again at Christmas. It was a lot of fun to have Maria and Mom S. here. They unfortunately had to cut their visit short due to the death of a friend. Maybe some day I will post some pictures, but I haven't really edited them and have been really busy. Oh well. Maybe in the new year. I will do a holiday recap.

I never understood why my parents didn't get a Cabbage Patch Doll when they were huge that one Christmas years ago. I now understand and apologize for being such a brat about it. Adriana wants the big toy of the season Zhu Zhu pets. They are out and will probably be out until Jan. I am trying to explain to her that we are sorry, but it just won't happen. She said that Santa could make them. I had to explain that Santa doesn't make those kind of things and can't get a hold of anymore. We tell the kids that if they stop believing in Santa, Santa stops coming. Problem solved, except when Santa can't get the gift they want. Can we just not do gifts this year?

Branden told me that I needed to explain what The Preserve was since I have mentioned it a couple of times. Living in a rural place gives some interesting opportunities. This would be one of them for Branden. For those that don't know him he is an avid hunter/fisherman, just an all around outdoorsy guy. Several months back got involved with someone who was starting a hunting preserve in the Gila Valley. Branden's dream come true. He gets to be a guide on it. He is getting some great experience and has now moved into training hunting dogs. He is very good at these things and loves to be able to have an excuse to hunt. Although he really hasn't done much of it. So in a nut shell that is what it is. Some day he hopes to be able to do it in Utah. We'll see.

I feel that today has been a semi-successful day. Our den is looking better and better. To be truthful it isn't just a den, it is also a place that puzzles and board/card games are stored. I have neglected my responsibilities of keeping our bills all organized. You would think I would be better at that since that is what I do for people. But just like the home builder's home is the last one on the list to be fixed up (I know this first hand) so is the bookkeepers personal books the last on the list. But it felt so good to shred so much stuff. Over the past 2 days I have shredded 6 Wal-Mart bags full of junk mail, old bills and just stuff I think needs to be shredded. Sometimes I get shred happy. I have also almost found all the pieces to all the games and all the cards to all the card games. That is saying something. I am still missing a few, but I think it will take moving to find everything. I have also gotten to throw a lot of things away. I love when I get to do that. Adriana has caught the bug. She is cleaning out her and Emmy's room of as many toys as she can in hopes that she will get better ones for Christmas. I told them all that they couldn't have anymore toys unless they got rid of alot. D.I. get ready they'll be coming. We have family coming for Thanksgiving and are very excited to see them. I just have to have the house all clean. Branden cleaned the garage yesterday and I am impressed. I wasn't sure that would happen. Now the backyard is next. When you have 4 dogs (one is being trained to be sold) manure is not in short supply. Good thing I like dogs. It is sad that we have more dogs then kids. Sometimes if Branden brings one of the Preserve dogs home we have just as many dogs as we do people. Something is definitely wrong with that.