Ruth Goes To The Nutcracker Ballet

For Ruth's birthday she received two tickets

to The Nutcracker

from her brothers and sisters.

Our self portrait

Kids from the community played parts in the

ballet.

Ruth's friend was one of these soldiers.

Ruth took most of these shots.

Not bad considering we used no flash.

And it was very hard to catch their movements.

The sugarplum fairies.

Ruth in her new skirt I made for her

birthday.

Perfect for the ballet.

Our attempt to do a ballet lift. Not quite as gracful

as the real ballet!

Overall it was a very good evening!!

Christmas Tree Hunt

This year, once again, we set out into the woods to

find the perfect Christmas tree.

Although, some found it more fun to create a

shelter or teepee!

Very ingenious, but I'm not too sure those leaves

will be much protection from the snow

or the wild animals.

The teepee crew

The award for finding the tree goes to Anna and Steven,

who I might add were not part of the teepee

crew.

The trunk was not too big so

Ruth and

Drew

went at it!

The supervisors!

The whole tree hunting crew!

Emma, Josh, April, Drew, Ruth, Dad, Steven and Anna

Taking it out

Waiting for the vehicle

Tying it on

Putting the ornaments on

Drew, Anna and Ruth

Steven adding his ornaments

April putting up hers.

Ruth all decked out in Christmas decorations.

Last but not least the Christmas tree decorating

Cookies! Yes, they were

good!

November, Thanksgiving

Jason and Karla arrived in time to celebrate the November birthdays.

Ruth turned 11 with an ice cream cake and Steven turned 17 with

peppermint supreme.

I know there are some of you out there saying, "We never

even got to use play guns, what's up with this?"

Yes, OK that is sort of true and yes that is Drew with a real gun!

Ty Saunders was home for Thanksgiving and brought some of his

weapons with him. This is Steven shooting Ryan's shotgun.

Jason shooting.

Ty helping Andrew shoot.

Lots of cooking going on here.

We had a contest as to who could make the best pizza.

I think Karla won!

On family night we had a rousing poker game.

Andrew really took the game seriously and it paid off

because he won!

Nothing like being beat by the nine year old!!

The boys spent a lot of time bonding playing

the gaming system which Jason brought with him in

his packpack!

McCain made a surprise appearance.

Cooking the pies.

Church had a Turkey Bowl Game.

Josh, Ryan, Steven and Drew in this shot.

Drew, Jason, Steve and Josh

The football crew

Bryce, Jason, Karla

Took a drive up to Ouray to visit with the

Maclennans. These are the ice cliffs behind them.

A trip to their new house to check the progress.

Tina has most of the painting done.

Maclennans came down to Durango for an after Thanksgiving

dinner and a marathon risk game.

Saying good-bye to Abby and Ryan

The boys and their macs.