Happy Christmas

matching cousins

Siena so excited for one of her Christmas gifts

Utah in December

We had tons of fun in the snow this Christmas season! Probably our last Christmas at the family house, since it is going on the market soon. In the meanwhile, we enjoyed spending time with cousins and sledding down the hill (driveway). Siena was especially adventurous!

Ward Christmas Party

Siena singing as part of the entertainment for the ward Christmas party

Full Tithe-payers

I am so proud of these girls! They were so excited to pay their tithing, that they decided to donate the entire contents of their piggy banks to donate! (After I repeatedly asked them, "Are you SURE you want to give EVERYTHING?!!)

What great examples of charity!!

Death Valley

We took a little day trip to death valley. Turns out, the first of December is a perfect time to go! The weather was perfect and crowd were low. There were only a handful of other people on our tour of Scotty's castle (a huge and elaborate castle in the middle NOWHERE, with a great story behind it!), we took the girls to a HUGE crater, only 3 miles away, and traveled back through the ghost town of Rhyolite, where we saw a house made out of glass bottles, an old casino, and visited Panamint Annie's grave at the old cemetery.
On the way back, we drove through Beatty, NV, where we say a little monkey named Hanna (some storekeeper's pet), and of course that's the only thing the girls remember about the trip...

the crater

A house made out of glass bottles.

fountain in front of Scotty's castle

Panamint Annie's grave

back of the castle

back gate

castle gate leading to the turret

another shot of the back

gargoyle fireplace

The main entry

Scotty's grave. If you knew him like we do, I'm sure you;d know he wouldn't mind Siena taking him for a ride ;)

Tessa dog

One of Tessa's favorite foods...

Family pics

getting ready for the photo shoot

the girls begging for "lippy"

daddy love

sister love

Tessa love

I love this girl's sweet and silly faces!