A Nastalgic Christmas Eve Day!

I'll start by saying that I took 289 pictures over the holiday break, so I'm doing really good to only share this many with all of you. This is only Christmas Eve day though, so more to come! : )

Our family's first day in the mountains was full of fun and adventure. It really was a Christmas present in itself. Thanks Dad and Mom for pushing to get us all out on the mountain!

Although it was the day before Christmas we all went to cut down our own Christmas tree. The adults chose a tree that Danina said would fit perfectly because it was only about as tall as one of the guys and someone could actually hug half of it with their arms spread out! For those of you that have never cut down your own tree this is a great rule of thumb. Trees in the wild look much smaller outside than they look once you try to put them inside your house!!!

Here is Katy, the youngest sibling, happily preparing to take her first swing at our tree.

Joshua, the second youngest, took the next swing (if I remember right). I think he may have hit the same place on the trunk more than once!!!

John (he's an "Add-on" to the family as we called them this year! He took a nice swing!
Amy, our tough Hee-Woman sibling really swung that axe!

Danina, the oldest sibling, doesn't look like she's going to swing very hard does she. She has such a sweet smile on her face!

I tried to look tough before I swung. Josh was kind of laughing at me in the background though. Yea Josh, I caught you on camera. Not nice! : )

Billy took the final swing (from the opposite side of the rest of us) and TIMBER! He picked it up to show us how big and tough he still is at 32 years!

The kids all took their turn swinging the axe too in order of birth. Here is Taylor-man holding his prize above his head too! You're so tough holding up that humongous tree Taylor!!!

Here are the son-in-laws or the official "add-on" men! Aren't they handsome! We are so glad to have them all!

Here the guys dog-piled John!

We ate Chili, Hot Dogs and Marshmallows over a fire. We heated water too and had home-made hot chocolate. Nothing more like a Colorado Winter than this!Cheers Mom! Good hot chocolate!

Here's Amy & I. I know you cannot tell we are 5 1/2 years apart, but yes she is older than I!!!

Josh took Isaiah on a sled ride down the big hill! Isaiah does not look like he's enjoying it at all does he? : )

Here is Kacey and Alyssa on a ride. Alyssa loved the snow!

So much, that she decided to eat it. She really wanted to know what other snow she could eat. Pink? Yellow? Green? We, of course, said nothing but white "un-walked in" snow!
Kacey joined in on the snow eating too! I think Taylor was there, but I missed getting the evidence!

Isaiah tried snowboarding and was pretty good at it. He has great balance!

Here are the "originals". It was so fun to be together!