Family Pictures 2013

January Happenings

For my birthday/Christmas, Corey surprised me with a Nikon DSLR camera. I've wanted one for awhile, but have been pretty happy with my Sony point and shoot cameras for years. I didn't want the extra expense or weight or responsibility that came with a fancy camera, but it is amazing the difference in quality of photos. I love it. 

Moonrise through one of my favorite arches in Pioneer Park. 

Lots more sunset photos.

Winter morning moonset.

This was a stunning sunrise. It looked like a storm of cotton candy blowing in.

Stairway to Heaven.

Sam scaling this red rock. These red rocks are really fun to climb. I'd love to learn more about the geology of this area. 

Gila Trail hike above Snow Canyon with Tessa and Sam's family. 

I loved this sunset. I hoped it would get more color, but this was the best shot.

I really don't know where she learned to pose like this.

Trying to decide between these two boots. Corey says, "They look the same, but one is wrinkly, but that's the style, right?" Lots of help! I kept them both. :)

Little pixie!

I'm good. I like this one. Snow Canyon is one of my favorite places.

Johnson's Trail in Snow Canyon

Me at the top of Little Black Mountain. It is 500 feet, with not much of a trail. Beautiful views from atop. 

Christmas 2013 (Finally!)

So I finally started feeling guilty about it being February and not having posted anything since before Christmas. Here we go!! Look at these angels! I am so in love with their little cherub faces and sweet personalities. They were both so cute around the holidays this year. We went to the Jubilee of Trees and Temple Lighting here in St. George to get in the spirit. It doesn't seem as much like Christmas in the warm weather, but we actually got quite a bit of snow and cold here this year. Something I noticed about St. George is not that many people put up Christmas lights. The majority of homes in Texas seemed to have lights and decorations up. Usually I love driving around looking at Christmas lights, especially the night before my birthday, since my mom and dad were doing that the night before I was born, but there wasn't much to see around here.

 The kids loved playing with Nana and Papa in Idaho Falls.

 Zoey and Zachary peeking out the window in search of the cousin's arrival.

 They also loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa Alexander. My favorite holiday story this year was when I left them with my mom while I finished some shopping. When I returned, she said they went skiing. I am mad that she didn't get pictures, because instead of using skis, they used these big foam strips, and tied them onto their shoes with those giant stretchy rubber exercise bands. HILARIOUS!! Classic Grandma Nettie fare!! She is so fun!!

 Recognize Santa? Rachelle is a huge fan!! LOL!! This marks the year that she had it with Santa outshining the Savior, and outed him to her kids. Haha!!! 

 These kids were inseparable.

 Every Christmas Eve, Santa comes to deliver PJs to Nana's house. I don't like Santa being worshiped over Jesus either, but will give the kids a few more years before I break their spirits!! 

Zach and Zoey have always loved Santa.

 Poor James, I mean Santa. 

 Zoey kept calling her cousins, "My two girls." She kept asking me, "Mom, where's my two girls?" She had the greatest time with them! 

 We love having a Christmas Nativity pageant. I bought these costumes a few years ago, as it was one of my favorite childhood traditions to act out the Bible story with cousins on Christmas Eve. I think those are the 3 wisemen on the couch watching football through the pageant. ;)

 Zoey is in awe of the giant pile of gifts Christmas morning.

 They loved all the thoughtful gifts they received. Zach got a huge Batman hideout, a minion, and many other toys. Zoey loved her Cinderella doll, which is what she asked from every Santa she visited, and also her "iPad" Tinkerbell tablet and Dora doll. She was all about opening presents this year, and wanted to open everyone's!

 Ummmm. Just look at her! 

 Then we got to head back down to Utah Valley to celebrate with my siblings. Here is beautiful Meadow with precious little Noah.

 Cutest kissin' cousins ever! Noah and Ruby.

 Since Blogger makes it ridiculously difficult to move photos (or maybe I am just ridiculously illiterate in this program), I am rewinding to tell of our snowy winter and little family Christmas here in St. George. So it rarely snows here. But of course, this year, all records for the last century were broken when it started dumping snow on December 8. To quote the local paper: "Since Saturday morning, St. George has experienced the most severe winter weather the region has seen in living memory. Record snowfalls and record low temperatures have driven residents indoors and area stores can’t keep up with the sudden demand for sleds, snow shovels, and ice-melt. Just how unusual has the weather been for Southern Utah? Meteorologists say that you’d have to go back around 100 years to see anything quite like it....Eight inches of snow would have made Saturday the third heaviest snowfall in St. George since 1919. Even 6 inches of snow would have been more snowfall than St. George has seen since Jan. 1974."

 Funny thing is, I can't find a published measurement, but Corey says he heard it was 12 inches, which seems about right. We made a tiny snowman in the morning because we were worried it would melt before we got the chance, but just a few hours later, we easily built a 6-ish foot snowman and topped him with out Cowboys 10 gallon hat! The kids loved it!

 Snow angels.

 It was beautiful, as much as I don't care if I ever live in a snowy climate again. The crazy thing was that instead of melting the next day, as everyone expected, it stayed for weeks due to the record low temperatures. It is estimated that up to 60% of our beautiful palm trees will not be revived. :(....

 The day we left to Idaho, we had a mini-Christmas with our children, as we have the past few years. PJs, clothes, shoes (Santa is practical like me), books, a large Optimus Prime Transformer toy and RC helicopter for Zach and a Disney Princess keyboard and "Zapunzel" dress for Zoey, along with a few other toys. I knew they would be showered with gifts from grandparents, and this is one of the last years they will not really know or care what friends at school are getting, so I will keep it simple as long as we can!

 Oh. I forgot about this incident until I saw this picture. Zach has been a little bit of a hellion since about his birthday in November. We had a few reports from his teacher that were not great, and were very uncharacteristic of him. He kept asking Santa for a "Batman Wii," whatever that meant. I am not buying any video game equipment for as long as I can possible hold off. He is already completely addicted to games on my phone, the iPad, and the computer, and completely freaks out every time I turn them off. So anyways, all through the season when he would misbehave, I reminded him Santa was watching, and so was I. He was happy with the toys he got. But I left him a letter from Santa saying that Santa had really wanted to bring him a Batman Wii, but because of some of his behavior issues, he couldn't. Ummm. I thought it might be a good idea at first, so he would behave well on the Idaho trip for a second chance or see that there really was a consequence for his decisions. He started reading the letter all excitedly, but then when he got to the behavior part, got all sullen. I felt so bad!! Parenting fail!!! Good thing kids are so resilient though! It's not like I told him Santa didn't exist or anything right-out mean like that (LOL-JK Rachelle!!). He got over it, and probably doesn't remember it now. Or else maybe he is scarred for life and hates Santa now. Oh, my sweet little Zachary! Sorry I wasn't a supermom for Christmas! But at least you didn't get coal!

We had a great Christmas, surrounded by our loving families, and are so grateful for the many gifts we received, but mostly for the gift of our Savior- for his humble birth, spotless example, and the mercy, grace, and unconditional love he offers us all.