welcoming in a new decade with nothin' but good ol' fashioned fun!

Spending New Years in the Basin was relaxing, fun, and soooo wonderful!

Mom and Dad were brave and took on Halle in Kings in the Corner, with the Arizona rules, of course. (Dad, loved watching the western with you, and Mom, thanks for the scrum-diddly-umptious food, particularly the PORK CHOPS WITH GRAVY!!! Do you still have leftover rice? Next time I won't make the mistake of doubling the serving size!) There's something about going home that is so relaxing. You just feel so comfortable and at ease. If the kids were entertained, you could find Brett, Mom, Dad, and Myself reading our books. I finished "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie", and it did not disappoint. Brett finally wrapped up "The Lost Symbol" and Dad enjoyed John McCain's autobiography. Last time I checked, Mom was working her way through about 3 different books! Maybe she'll finish sometime before Easter! ha ha

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We also enjoyed watching "A Christmas Story" on the big screen at the Vernal Theatre (great idea, Nickole!).

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This was our second time spending New Year's Eve at the Red Canyon Lodge with Mike & Fawn--that place is so great and fun! It's like having the accomodations of a simple motel in the rugged backdrop of the mountains next to a wood-burning stove! We laughed because two years ago when we did this, Fawn and I totally overdid it--the food was delicious but WAYYYY too much in quantity (shrimp, crab, steak, you name it). This year we decided to simplify and just do fajitas, but both Fawn and I forgot so much of what we needed (OK, she forgot one thing, I forgot everything!). Still, we managed to have an abundance of great food and an even better time! We even found the perfect sledding hill--fast enough the older kids had fun and mild enough the smallest kids felt brave enough to go by themselves!

Thanks guys, for another wonderful New Years!

See you in 2012???

This was so nasty, disgusted, and just plain WEIRD.

Natalie cut into the tomato only to cut a spider that was INSIDE the tomato in half! The spider was still wiggling it's leg even after it was cut. From the outside the tomato looked pretty much unblemished, except for the teensy-tiniest little healed-over pin-size hole that no one would have even noticed had we not been looking for an entry point. Talk about heeby-jeebies!

Nice face, Bert!

kind of hard to see, but can you make out the baby to the

right of the doe? so sweet! and the mama stepped in front

of the fawn after this picture was snapped to protect her

baby. i loved that!

Paige & Natalie gave Halle a little makeover

just in time for the countdown.

Hmmmm...