Snapshots of our Jackson Hole vacation

I have been wanting to write about our vacation to visit my parents in Wyoming for weeks now, but have felt overwhelmed by events and the amount of things I wanted to share.  Because of this I have decided to share some snapshots of the fun times we had and will work on posting more details soon.

When we first arrived it was cold (as you can tell from the coats and hats).  It even snowed.  We went out walking around down town and had a nice lunch at the Wort Hotel.

Here we are swinging at the bottom of a mountain.  Behind us is the bottom of the ski lift.  The girls loved to be outside so we went to the park a lot.

This is really the first time they crawled around on play equipment, and they loved it.  The stairs were their favorite, as they were too little to make it up the tunnel.

There is a great children's museum in Jackson that the girls loved.  They had a a special room just for toddlers with a slide and stairs

They had these really fun chairs that Emma loved to sit on.

Jackson has this great square in the middle of the town where people can sit and enjoy the outdoors.  E and C loved crawling around and playing in the dirt.

It was so fun to spend time with my dad and see him spend time with my daughters.

C felt comfortable on the grass and tried out a head stand.

E spent over 20 minutes playing in the bark.  She loved running it through her fingers.

We went to my grandparent's house for dinner one night and took family photos in their backyard.  Yes, this is their backyard!  It is so beautiful.

With Grammy and Grandpa.

I just love this picture of Charlotte.  I think that her face just looks so happy.

The sun came out!

Here are E and C with my grandpa and grandma.  It was so important to me that they were able to spend some time together.

The whole gang (minus my uncle Gerry who left a little earlier)

Again, such a sweet moment.  My dad helping E to walk in the grass.  The background is amazing too.

Here is C and her dad practicing walking also.

My mom, my husband, the girls and I all went to a local burger place to eat lunch.  Here is Charlotte drinking from a straw.  It was probably the highlight of lunch for her.

My mom and I.

Our family in front of the famous elk antler arches at the Jackson Hole town square.

This was a daily occurrence.  C and E love to help unload the dishwasher.

On my birthday (and the last day we were there) we went to a gymnastic gym and let the girls crawl around for a while.  They had a great time sliding, bouncing, swinging, and climbing.

Daddy helping E down the slide.

Daddy helping C down the slide.

My birthday cake!  It was a white cake with maraschino cherries in the batter, pastry cream in between the layers, and chocolate ganache on top.  It was an amazing cake.

Overall an amazing trip.  Well worth the three plane flights to get there.  We are already planning our next trip.  I think we are going to try and drive it next time.

We have been spoiled!

For the last week and a half my family and I have been spoiled by the wonderful visit of my husband's parents and grandmother.  They are so kind and loving, and we had a great time with them.  Here are just some of the ways that we were spoiled by their visit.

E and C got to take to two trips to the splash park in one week.  They had wagon rides every afternoon and lots of individual play time with loving grandparents and great grandparent.  I think both E and C got pushed around in the pink princess ride-on toy about an hour each day.

Here we are just about to leave for our date, dinner and a concert.

I was spoiled in many ways also.  I was able to do my hair and put make-up on at least four days while they were here.  I had help while my husband was out of town which made bed time so much easier.  I had time to run some errands, go out to dinner with friends, go on a date with my husband, and clean around the house.  We power washed our entire house and cleared out a lot of brush in our yard.  I played a lot of cards with my great grandmother-inlaw, which was such a treat as I don't get to play games very often. 



Over all it was a superb visit, topped off by a mother's day shared by three mothers. I am thankful for being able to be a part of this special family and all of the thing that they did for us during this visit. 

Our first trip to the zoo

During my in-laws visit a couple of weeks ago, we took the opportunity to go to the local zoo.  It was the first time any of us had been there.  I was really pleasantly surprised.  Of course, I have been spoiled by the St. Louis zoo, but this one was really nice.  I know we will go back again.  C and E liked being outside and really did look at the animals.  They even petted a goat.  E didn't mind, but it was scary for C.  The best thing was sharing the experience as a family.  It has been harder to get out and do things since the girls arrived, but I sure am glad that we made the effort.  Here are a few of the highlights from that trip.

At the entrance, ready to see some animals!

This orangutan was one of the first animals we saw.  He was very active and climbed out on that log to get a better look at us.  C was very interested in looking back.  It was a warm day for January, but cool enough that most of the animals were very active.

E and her dad checking out the panther exhibit.  He was hard to spot, but we found him.

Watching the beavers.

E and GG were clapping.

Grandma and Grandpa showing E and C the Kookaburras.  I was really excited to see some Australian animals and can't wait to share my memories and experiences of living there with the girls.

A shot with the flamingos.

GG giving C a ride.  As you can see, we were some of the only people at the zoo that day.  Wonderful!!

Looking at animals is exhausting!

Already a Mizzou fan.

Our first experience with a petting zoo.  The girls were a little apprehensive and the chickens scared C.  I am sure it will be more fun when they are older.

I like this picture because I think the dinosaur and E have the same expression.

A Christmas to Remember

It was E and C's first Christmas, and one that I will always hold in my heart.  Yes, there was lots of sickness, and some sadness, but it was also magical to share it with my parents and watch E and C experience Christmas for the first time.  Here are some of my favorite moments from Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve we wanted to take pictures of the girls in their dresses in front of the tree, so we let them play with the presents.

Here we are right before we went to Christmas Eve service at our church.  My mom made the girls' Christmas dresses.

Emma was so close to crawling that I told her if she started she could open a present early.  It wasn't enough motivation, but she sure tried.

They both really wanted the bow on that present.

Everyone was in good spirits as we got ready to go.

Christmas morning we all took turns opening stockings.  E and C went first.

It didn't take E long to figure out how to reach in and pull out what was inside.

Then we had breakfast.  The girls were ready and seemed to pick up on the excitement of the day.

Our breakfast table.

We had a country ham for Chrismas dinner.  Let me tell you, that was an experience.  It took two days to soak in water, changing the water every few hours.  Then it cooked for 5 hours in the oven in a bath of Dr. Pepper.  Then we had to cut all of the skin and fat off and carve it.  The end result was very tasty but I don't know if we will attempt one again any time soon.

The first present the girls opened.  They loved ripping the paper and were more interested in that then what was inside.  Christmas was pretty overwhelming for them and after a couple of presents they needed a break.

A neighbor gave the girls each a sock monkey.  C immediately hugged on it.

E helped her dad open one of his presents.  That paper was so fun!

We gave the girls a Zany Zoo bead maze as their present.  Here they are just after opening it.  It is a hit!

Our Christmas dinner table.  A great ending to a great day.