Snow

We had a blizzard this week and got 10" of snow! It was so bad we even had to cancel church!
(click on the pictures to see them better)

We had a lot of fun putting up our Christmas tree this year. Last year, we had gotten a new tree after Christmas but since Christmas was over we didn't put it up. So this was our first time setting up our new tree. It looks really pretty!
And we only broke on ornament in the process :)

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Grand Canyon




*K* by the lookout tower

You can see the lookout tower here above on the right.



This is by the Tusayan Ruin Trail at the Grand canyon National Park.




This sign sure made us watch where we were walking. Praise the Lord we didn't see any snakes, although I think some of the kids were hoping to see one.

More pictures from our vacation

This is our view of the Rocky Mountains as we traveled through Colorado




The next four pictures are from our drive through the Canyonlands in Utah

Lions and tigers and SPIDERS! Oh my!

While we were in Arizona we saw the biggest spiders EVER! The first one is a wolf spider, the one in the middle is a black widow, and the last one is a tarantula! Dad, "K", "A", "J", and "R" found them when they went "bug hunting" on a walk near the Jacob's house and got great pics. You click on the pictures if you want to see them close up.

The Jacobs were really nice and we really enjoyed getting to know them. They were a HUGE blessing and a great encouragement to us while we were there in Arizona! Dad and Mr. Jacob were already good friends, but now both of our families are great friends. We are looking forward to seeing them again, maybe they'll come visit us. (that's an invite if you guys read this)

Our Stay in Arizona

Our first two days in Arizona we spent at the Grand Canyon. The first day we drove our car around to different overlooks, and we saw the watchtower. The second day we took the tour bus to some overlooks and hiked some of the rim trails. The first trail we hiked was with everybody, and it was 1.7 miles. the second trail was 1.4 miles but only Dad, "E", and "R" hiked that one. It was a lot of fun and we took some great pictures!

Next we visited Montezuma Castle in Camp Verde, Arizona where they had some ancient cliff dwellings of the Sinagua Indians.

Lastly we traveled to Tucson, (Oro Valley) Arizona, and got to visit and old friend of Dad's.
We also got to visit the Sonora Desert Museum where we got to go into a humming bird exhibit with the humming birds. (Click on the picture) They would come right up to you! that was really neat!
We also got to explore a really neat "loop" cave. There were also scorpions, snakes, and some really neat beavers!

Family vacation Day 1

On Monday, our first full day on vacation, we woke up in Blue Earth, Minnesota and drove to South Dakota where we visited the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. Rather than one person writing the whole post, everyone in our family is going to tell us what their favorite part was so we can get different perspectives.



"J": I liked the rocks with faces, and I liked the ranger badge I got from the ranger station at Mount Rushmore.







Dad: I’m really thankful for the incredible weather God has given us. Just one week ago Mount Rushmore was so foggy; there were two days the faces couldn’t be seen. Every major visit on our trip has had perfect weather!




"E": My favorite part was driving through the Rocky Mountains. some of mountains were over a mile high! I also liked watching the snow melt off the mountains and run down the side like mini waterfalls!

“R”: My favorite part was driving up the mountain in Blackhills National Park, in the dark! The road was really winding and it had a lot of hairpin turns! We even saw a sign that told us to stay away from the Bison as they could be dangerous.

A: I loved seeing all the prairie dogs. They were in the fields all along the road we traveled through the badlands. We fed them some grapes, It reminded me of my little hamster "Dazzle", I left her at home with "Mrs. T". I know she will take excellent care of her.

Mom: It is reallly hard to narrow it down to just one thing that I enjoyed. We really were able to see some beautiful things that GOD created. My favorite thing He has created is...

MY FAMILY

Check back in a few days and we'll have some pictures from our trip to the Grand Canyon. Thank you all for your prayers for our safety, our travels have been very smooth with wonderful weather.
On a side note, ask dad, AKA Pastor if he forgot anything????