Ruidoso - Part 4

Our last day there, we took the kids to the tubing park and the guys went with the girls to the big chutes while Erin and I hung back in the little kid area with the boys.  Owen and Cameron loved it. Once again, Colby wasn't a fan, so I held him the whole time while Erin helped send the bigger boys down the hill.

Ruidoso - Part 3

When we got back to the house later that evening, we put together a Valentine's Day party for the kiddos. We had pizza, cupcakes, and candy.  The kids really enjoyed it and so did the adults.

Ruidoso - Part 2

The second day, we went up the mountain and let the kids play in the "real" snow.  They had a great time going up the lift, throwing snowballs at each other, and falling down in the snow.  Colby wanted nothing to do with it, of course. We ate lunch at the restaurant at the top of the ski lift and the headed back down. On the way down, we saw a huge sign asking a girl to marry a boy.  It was really neat!

 

He's giving it a go, just in case he had changed his mind overnight.

But no, still not a fan =)

"Pick me up, Momma!"

I love this picture!

Ruidoso - Part 1

We drove to Ruidoso, New Mexico to spend Valentine's Day with the Huberts and see some snow.  We promised Tanner that this would be the year that she finally got to see snow, so she was beyond excited. We rented a house there, and the view from the back deck was spectacular.  When we first arrived at the house, Clinton noticed an elk sitting just below the house. I walked down and got a few shots of him.  It was so beautiful, and it was so neat that he let me get so close.

 After that, we walked down the street to a patch of leftover snow from earlier that week and let the kids play.  They had such a good time, even though it wasn't super cold outside and Tanner had to remove her long sleeved shirt by the time that we were done.

 Her first snowball.

 

 Colby wasn't a huge fan of the snow.  So far, he hasn't been a huge fan of water, sand, snow, or pretty much anything else that most kids love!

January iPhone Randomness

Cameron and Colby came in my bathroom one morning and this is what their sister had done to them. They didn't seem to mind!

On New Year's Eve, G-Paw came and spent the night with us and brought fireworks.  Tanner got to do the sparklers in the back yard, but the boys had already gone to bed.  We saved the big fireworks for later when we went to Amy and Clifton's house in the country.

Playing hide and seek.  This is as good a hiding spot as any, if you ask me =).

We took Tanner, along with family and friends, to see The Lion King at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio.  This was the third time that Clinton and I had seen it, but it was just as good as the first!

 

Sefies before the show started.

 

Valentine's Crafting

The kids had a good time doing a Valentine's Day craft using paint and a toilet paper roll.  Yes, that is Spiderman again.  He frequents our house and our pictures a lot these days.

The End of 2014

The day after Christmas was very emotional.  That morning, the doctor's told my aunt that she had an ulcer that appeared to be on the verge of rupturing. We had planned to meet at the hospital as a family that evening to have our family Christmas, but my aunt requested that we all come that morning in case something happened that day.  We each took turns as a family exchanging gifts with her.  We gave her a photobook with all of the photos that we had of her with our little family. She gave me an authentic, antique kimono that she had had for years and wanted to pass on to me. She also gave me a beautiful butter yellow pashmina.  The last present that I opened from her was a beautiful mercury glass bowl that she had on her coffee for as long as I could remember. She knows that I love that mercury glass and that this particular bowl was one of my favorite things of hers.  I cried when I saw what was in the box.  For me, it signified that she would no longer have use for this beautiful bowl, which meant that the end was near.  It was a reality check, in a way.  She had wanted to create a piece of art for each of the girls, but had been unable to so she took each one aside and apologized to them that their Christmas presents weren't ready.  It was heartbreaking.  Throughout the rest of the weekend, we all stayed at Haley's house awaiting news on her condition.  Her ulcer ruptured that Sunday, and she ended up having surgery as a last ditch effort to prolong her life.  It worked, against what the doctor's had predicted, and she ended up stabilizing. It was an extremely emotional time, but we were thankful that she made it through so that we would have more time with her.

The kids really liked looking out the hospital window as we waited in the waiting room.

Colby LOVES his G-Paw

The boys got this spiderman tent from Gammie and PawPaw for Christmas, and they all love it!