This holiday season was a really fun one for us all. Starting with Halloween, which is usually a holiday I don't really like, I actually really got into this year. Our apartment complex had a decorating contest, and since I had nothing better to do, and the prizes were worth the effort (1st -one night stay at a th
emed hotel, 2nd-$35 gift certificate to Winger's and 3rd- $20 at Winger's). I decided to go all out. I mean, if you're going to do anything, you might as well do it well, right? Anyway, here's some pictures. I enlisted the help of my sisters, Heather- who brought all the sticks and helped put them up, and Jessica- who brought her roommate Rebecca to help with the black paper and some extra spider webs they had. I confess I got a little carried away, but it was well worth it because we won 1st pla
ce! Actually, it was a tie --they had two first place prizes, and only then did we realize that it was just a coupon towards a one night stay at the hotel--still, it was worth $60. I was going to trade the 2nd place prize winner for the Winger's card when the other first place winner offered me $35 cash for it and I let him have it.
Not a bad return considering I had only spent maybe $10-15 bucks (that's including the pumpkins) on the decorations. They announced the winners at a costume party, so we had to get dressed up. The pictures are on the slide show, it was a last minute thing and so all I had was a little bathrobe for Ethan and I dressed him up as a prize fighter, black eye, stitches and all. Don't worry I just used eyeliner. I just put on bathrobe too and a showercap and used it as an excuse to give myself a facial, you know- one of those nice green ones. Richard did the old tae kwon do stand by. Anyway, we had an enjoyable time.
Thanksgiving was fun. We went down to Utah for a week. I was able to celebrate my 26th birthday there, and see my friends it was fun. Thanksgiving dinner was really yummy too. T
he greatest part though was using my dad's workshop and tools to make home-made Christmas gifts for the kids of the families we had drawn for Christmas --my brother Jared and his kids and Richard's Sister Melissa and family. We spent all Thanksgiving working on them. We made hand painted wooden ducks for the boys (Liam and Hunter), and real fur purses for the girls (Zoe and Autumn). We also made some lacing cards for Lydia Pearl out of whiteboard type scraps and fuzzy material, but we don't have any pictures of those (they weren't finished until the last minute.) Anyway, it made Christmas so much more exciting for us. I think it might become a tradition.
So, after the semester ended, (with Richard getting a 4.0 I might add, I'm so proud of him!) We bummed around until the 23rd and then went to Boise to visit Richard's Siblings who had gathered there. It was a whirlwind trip, and we were blessed to have good weather as we were traveling, but I had a cold so it was still tough. We celebrated Christmas eve with Richard's brother Steve, and his sister Melissa and family which was super fun. Then we spent Christmas day with Richard's sister Andrea's family, and I'm so grateful to them for letting us share that with them (kids make Christmas so much more fun!). Then we all got together at Andrea's (poor girl, with a new baby and all --bless her) when the grandparents came and had anothe
r round of Christmas presents that night. It was a lot of fun, and the
house was very full, but it was worth it. The next day, the 26th, we headed down to Utah. We ran into a little bit of weather, and it took us a while to get there, but we did eventually. We celebrated yet another Christmas there with my parents, two younger sisters, and my older brother Matthew and his family. It was a lot of fun too. Ethan just loves watching his cousins as they run around, he just wants to follow them. While there, (and I'm sure this is due to watching his cousins, and his grandma's tutelage) he finally figured out his jumper. He loves jumping! Of course, it makes my life more difficult in Relief Society, but the exercise is good for me. My arms are getting really buff! Ethan's favorite part of Christmas of course was the wrapping paper, but the presents we got from Todd and Jen, and Matthew and Holly were all just wonderful.
While there in Utah, Richard went on his first elk hunt. There was a depredation hunt going on because the elk herds are getting too large there, so my dad got a tag for a cow elk and took Matthew and Richard with him. It wasn't the overnighter kind of hunt because the herds were pretty easy to find from the road, but they still did a lot of hiking. My dad and Richard hiked to a ridge above the herd
with Matthew staying below to scare the elk upward toward them. By twelve o'clock they had their elk, a nice medium sized female, and after gutting it and tying it with ropes they dragged it through the snow down the mountain to a little forest service road. Richard was amazed at how heavy those animals are, and though it was difficult, at least it was mostly downhill. Richard's job at times was to be the anchor so the thing didn't get away from them and go sliding down into the bottom of the canyon. My dad was glad to have the help of two strong young men, it would have been impossible otherwise. When they finally got down to the little road, they put the elk on the back of a four wheeler and took it to the truck. Richard was fascinated by the whole process, and learned a lot about the right way to do things, and gained an appreciation for hunting. It's kind of comforting to know where your food has been, how it's been handled, and that the animal at least had somewhat of a more fulfilling life than most things we eat. Richard also felt a sense of accomplishment after all that work, and is happy to have a freezer full of good healthy meat for his family.
We stayed in Utah through New Years, and had a lot of fun taking it easy, playing games with the family, and getting to visit with friends. We learned a new game from Matthew and Holly which we stayed up late playing a few times. I got to go out to dinner with my two best friends, and we pulled out all our old notes from high school and had a good laugh over them. It was interesting to see how we've changed, and how in ways we are still the same. Overall, it was a very good holiday break!
