family Sunday funday

Where else would we spend a Family Sunday Funday..in the dirt of course :) We went w/ some friends to take a little jeep adventure and the desert was just beautiful! 

It says there 188,000 open acres but that is not the case anymore =( 

have to stop and check out the cabin.. its really nice that everyone who visits keeps it in good condition... still in decent shape for being built in 1932

we signed the wall at our first visit when Heather was only 1-1/2.. it doesnt seem that long ago.. 

our friend Tim's cherokee w/ the Ivan man paint scheme :) 

The happy jeeps! 

Heather had so much fun playing w/ her go-pro.. it has some really cool features on it :) 

I like yucca trees..

had to go exploring and found some tires to jump on :) 

can you imagine waking up to this view every morning.. 

not sure when this was built.. probably late 60's?? but I can only imagine it was great back in the day.. they had two garages and a pump house and a huge orchard

it was a great day adventuring..

Daddy's little helper

Whatever project we may have our little helper is always ready to jump in and help.. 

helping Daddy prep the area for the weld 

making sure Daddy is ready..

my cute little welders :) 

it is HER truck so she knows how to work on it :) 

practicing some skills w/ Daddy

Its always fun when you have a good helper .. and oh so stylish too :) 

Its so nice that we have actually had a winter this year =) I love seeing the snow covered mountains and even enjoyed the rain we had. The kiddos liked the rain too, it didnt rain over the weekend but it did sprinkle and they loved it! 

If you could read her mind right now she would be saying "crazy kids!" 

They piled in the truck and drove around to check out where the sprinkles were landing

I just love all the different expressions here..

Nothing stops these kids from having fun! 

Here comes Santa Claus

Every year Heather and I get super excited about having a girls day and seeing Santa! She picks out what she wants to wear and off we go :) And believe it or not you can get a fast pass to visit Santa :) 

Santa remembered Heather and her love of boots and even noticed she had some teeth missing. Heather tried to whistle :) She asked for a hug for her and for Great Grandpa to help him heal from his fracture hip.. I just love her huge heart! 

Great Grandpa is doing good and re-cooping well.. thankfully he's strong willed, he keeps walking and exercising every day! I hope Im that good at 99! 

 We had the Hannah side of the family Christmas over the weekend too which means we got some extra Marissa time.. Heather is just in love w/ her little cousin! 

Auntie Cheyanna :) 

It was also Gary and Cheryl's 30th anniversary :) 

These two cousins are great friends and always have fun! 

it helps they are both a little crazy :) 

Merry Christmas to all!!! 

Daises at the police station ..

Our little Daisies learned what it means to be courageous and strong and what better way to show and example than by visiting a local police station :) Thanks to Detective Hadan (aka Ellie's Dad) we got a personal tour of his station and it was awesome for all of us! 

They got to meet the shift commander and check out all of the cameras that cover the city 

they even have an indoor shooting range.. how cool is that! 

Detective Hadan showed them some bullets and the tire parts piled in the back that catch the bullets and clay discs 

the toothless besties :) They got to check out the cars and use the lights, loud speaker and a quick blast of the sirens 

Thanks Detective Hadan for making our tour even more amazing and teaching our little Daises how our courageous and strong police force keeps us safe. 

A Thankful Weekend

Every day there is something to be thankful for :) It was a beautiful weekend for Thanksgiving! We went to Kevin's Mom's house this year (we go every other year) and the kiddos had some fun playing in the front yard and as long as you were in the sun it was nice! 

the trees are perfect place for climbing, sitting and just looking really cute in :) 

Love this face! 

Heather and Daniel were playing hide n seek w/ Mordu the bear :) 

We found some snow over the weekend too.. it was cold! but lots of fun! 

it was a little impromptu adventure and we forgot gloves so not to many snowballs were thrown but it was exciting when it started to snow on us :) 

Found this really cool stump 

the scenery was gorgeous

found some great trails 

the sunset was amazing! 

the extra long weekend was wonderful! Someone lost a tooth on the Monday back to "normal" schedule :) the tooth fairy made a special visit and brought Heather a cute teddy bear charm to add to her tooth fairy charm bracelet .. she was sooooooo excited! :) Now she can sing "All I want for Christmas is my 4 front teeth" hahaha :) 

a weekend in the dirt

What can I say.. we love dirt! Heather has been doing good on her quad in the back yard so we made a weekend with some friends to go play in the desert and let our kiddos play and practice on their toys. It was chilly at night but during the day it was beautiful! 

the dry lake bed is very pretty 

she was ready to ride.. very proud of how well she did 

she took Daddy out for a ride too

had to come in and check the fuel.. she rode a full tank out! that's a LOT of riding

off to the trails 

Heather and Emily taking a little snack break 

The Daddy/ Daughter ride 

she was very proud of herself for how well she did.. that makes us so happy ! 

yes, of course Dingo kept an eye on her too :) 

We did go for a family ride which I have to admit it was so nice to be out riding again! 

Seeing the missile out in the desert was amazing!! trying to catch it and all its glory in a picture was tough because the huge glow around it was to faint for the distance I couldnt capture it 

I had written a note in Heathers little journal (she likes to write poems and songs) well..she found it and wrote back :) that makes my heart smile!