Christmas!

My post starts with our annual Christmas Tree Sleepover.  This is me, pretending to be asleep.

My face-painting victims.

 

This Christmas, I asked for a flute stand, a locket, a sock loom, some yarn, and some flute books.  On Christmas morning, I found a Christmas dress draped over a pillow (from my Grandma Woodward), and a locket in my stocking.  I got to wear them to to church.

My locket.

We unwrapped presents after church.  I got some yarn, a book of Disney flute songs, a new leather glasses case, some toe socks, and a book about food photography.

Here is a picture I took using advice from by photography book.

Later that day we went to Grandma’s house and did another round of presents.  I got a yoga book and a music stand!

About 30 years ago, Grandma and Grandpa went to Israel.  Grandpa got an ankh ring for Grandma for their anniversary.  It was very special to her, and she always wore it. About three or four years ago, she came to help us bottle pears.  She took off her ankh ring and her wedding ring, but couldn't find them when we were done.  She finally found her wedding ring at the bottom of her purse, but she never found her ankh ring.  So this Christmas, Mom and Dad decided to get her another one.  They looked for a design on the internet, but there was nothing that looked right.  So they made a rough design and to it to John Beesley, a friend of dad’s, who is a goldsmith.  He perfected the design, and made the ring.  He asked them if they wanted anything engraved on the inside.  After careful consideration, they decided to engrave “Keep away from pears!” in it.  Grandpa presented it to her as the last gift of the night.  You should have seen her face when she opened it!!

Priceless!!!

This is what the ring looked like.

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas season, and a happy new year!!

Best Daddy Ever!

I have the best Daddy ever!  Mark and I really wanted to go fishing early in the morning, at the lake by the cabin at Yellowstone, since that was the best time to fish.  We begged Rachel to go with us.  She told us she would.  We tried to go to bed quickly so we would not be so tired in the morning.  Mark set the alarm on his watch for five thirty.  He came and woke me up to get dressed so we could go.  Rachel was sleeping next to me, so I tried to shake her awake.  She woke up enough to tell me that she had gone to bed late and wouldn't be going with us.  I went downstairs in my clothes and asked Mark if we should just go to bed, because I did not feel comfortable to go with out a grownup.  Then Daddy got up and told us he would go with us, but first he had to take a shower and eat something.  And he did!  We got there about 6:15 and fished until 7:00.  We didn’t catch anything, but it was still fun to be with Daddy.  He is the best!  

Yellowstone!

One of my favorite things about Yellowstone was the mud puddles!  On the road to my mom’s cousins cabin, there were two huge mud puddles, each about ten feet long.  They were so deep that you had to drive about twenty five miles an hour to get through them.  It was totally awesome!  The cars were a mess!

We saw a ton of animals.  Among them were skunks, bison, a bear (from very far away), a weasel, and a wolf.  Grandma, Grandpa, Becca, Katie, and I were driving back to the cabin from Mammoth Springs.  It was very late, and I was dozing off, when the car swerved.  I sat up and asked what had happened.  Grandpa said a wolf had run across the road.  So, I didn't actually see it.  But I almost did.

Yellowstone!

This year we are having a family reunion at Yellowstone with the Woodward family (my mom’s family!)  We are going to each have matching shirts and go see Old Faithful, the hot springs, and the animals.  We also get to stay in a cabin that my mom’s cousin owns.  I am so excited!  We are all meeting up at Yellowstone on Wednesday!

Girls Camp

Girls Camp was so awesome!  I will tell about it from the beginning.  On the first day we got there before all the other wards, and set up early.  We set up our mattresses ( really air mattresses and foam pads) and our sleeping bags.  We set up our backpacks at the ends of our beds and explored the cabin.  There is a three foot gap dividing the two cabins and rafters that you can climb on.  I got a bunk under Vickie.  We have so many girls in our ward, and so few bunks, that only the beehives and some of the leaders got a bunk inside.  When everyone else got there we  had a flag raising ceremony and some more free time while everyone else got set up.  After that we went to dinner, and had a very good devotional about applying the Young Woman's Theme.  Then we went to sleep, but I shouldn't call it that, because no one went to sleep, because we were all getting used to it.

On Wednesday we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon then went to flag raising ceremony.  On the way back through a trail in the woods, Tori and I were discussing bears, when suddenly we heard a really loud scream, and something big, brown, and furry charged across our path about three feet away from us.  We both screamed and finally regained our senses as it reached the edge of the path.  It was a deer! 

On Thursday we were supposed to go to the lake, but there have been so many recent deaths at lakes that we went on a hike instead.  It was three miles but it didn't seem that long.  Tori and I taught friendship bracelets to a bunch of girls and leaders.

On Friday we had a testimony meeting as a ward.  It was my favorite part of Girls Camp.  It was so spiritual, and after we went inside we read the testimonies that our parents wrote us.  That is when I started to cry, it was so touching.  It was definitely what I will look forward to next year. 

I got a mobile with the young woman values on them, a stuffed animal dog named mittens, a notebook and pencil with a cloth cover, a book made into a bag, and some really cute hair things. 

Hope you have a great week, and I will try to post more often!

Mesa Verde

This week we went on vacation to Mesa Verde.   It is a National Park in southern Colorado.  There are lots of cliffs there full of crevices that the water has carved out overtime.  When the Indians migrated, they discovered this place and built their homes in the crevices using pieces of sandstone and clay to build huge buildings on the edge of drop-offs. 

Here is of my favorite picture of Balcony House!

To get to the mesa top from the cliff dwellings, the Native Americans went through a little opening in the rock, then up a ten foot ladder and up a series of foot holds that went up a rock that was nearly vertical.  When we went up the rock, we got to use railings, and the footholds had been enlarged.  I can’t imagine how the Cliff Dwellers made it without the changes!

We also went to see Cliff Palace, the largest Cliff Dwelling in the park.  It was pretty spectacular!

 

This is kiva, where the ceremonial things would be held.  They also had a real kiva re-roofed, but other than that is was the real thing.  They had a ladder so that you could go inside and see what it was actually like.  It was really cool!

Right before we got in the car to go home, we went on one last hike.

These are the flowers one a Yucca plant.

A very pretty green and brown butterfly.

A very well camouflaged lizard.

And, since you are supposed to save best for last, THERE WAS A HERD OF WILD HORSES!!!!!

I took this picture.  When Mom and I saw them on the last day we were there, we hiked up to close where they were and got some great pictures, but this one is my favorite.