Christmas

 On Christmas Eve we decided to take a family hike. This may become a yearly tradition no matter where we are. If it's snowy we'll go snow shoeing or cross country skiing. But it was sunny so a regular hike it was.
I really didn't think that there would be too many people out because, hello, it's Christmas Eve. They should have better things to do like make a huge Christmas dinner and be with family. Apparently, not in Bullhead/ Laughlin area. As you can see from the picture below, there are quite a few cars in the parking area. Okay, you can only see 3. But there were more then that!

This place was right across the bridge into Laughlin.

 My handsome mountain man. He was so excited to get in the outdoors that he brought along his homemade camp stove and a pan to cook something in. Unfortunately, he didn't get the opportunity to use it. 

 Some of the rocks with petroglyphs on them. Apparently this place is sacred to the native american tribe in the area.

 My girls being themselves which is anything but quite and reverent in the sacred place.

 Kaity and her rock.

 Breanne said that this rock formation looks like a camel. So that's what we'll call it. Camel rock. Do you see it?

 

There is water in the desert! It had just got done raining for the past 4 days so there was a pretty cool little river that ran all the way down the rocks. We had to jump across it several times to keep going up.

 The night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

 and the stockings were hung by the (eh hem) counter with care in hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there.

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Christmas morning!

Hope you all had a fun and relaxing Christmas because we sure did. It was nice to have Cameron home for a few days. We even went out a bought ourselves a BIG Christmas tree during the after Christmas sales. It's 7 1/2 feet tall and about 3 1/2 feet wide at the bottom. With our tree topper on we have taken it right up to the ceiling.

 We also got the girls some fish. This one here is "Watson".

This one is "Sherlock". 

The girls would really enjoy a pet that they can play with but this will have to do for now.

Cameron is really liking the job over here. They have him all checked out in the multi engine aircraft and is now one of 2 multi engine instructors. One of the "big wigs" with the company, Senior, has really taken a liking to Cam as well. He's went flying quite a bit with cam to get him his multi hours so he could instruct in their aircraft (which I guess he doesn't do with anyone) and he gave our family a spiral Christmas ham that was delicious. The company also gave a smaller ham and a big tin of Schwann's ice cream. YUM! On top of that, I bought a 9 lbs ham! That's a lot of ham. So we gladly gave one ham away because who needs that much. Our freezer is only so big.

Holy Night

This Holiday season has been so different for us. I know that Christmas is pretty much the same every year as far as traditions and gift giving, baking and shopping, decorating and tree getting but I've really had a chance to think about the real reason we celebrate. This is probably because usually this time of year we're making plans for 12+ hour trips and how much time we're going to spend with each family and what we're going to do to what days, stressing to get the rest of our shopping done, etc. It's all kind of stressful and, like I said, this year is different.
We just moved and will be having the very first Christmas by ourselves with our very own little family. This is the first year that Cameron and I get to decide what WE want to do with our children and how WE want Christmas Eve and Morning to go. Don't get me wrong. We loved being with our families and sharing those moments with them but at some point we have to start building our own traditions and memories. So this is the moment.
We've known since the second week of November that we would be alone this holiday so I've been thinking about it for a while, trying to find ways to make it special for all of us. I started thinking about what I wanted to teach my girls about Christmas and how I was going to get them to understand that it's more then presents and candy and Santa. Now, all those things are good and fun and the girls have definitely experienced that part of it. The big question was, "What am I going to teach them?". I can honestly say that I have learned more by trying to answer that question then I had expected.
I always have known that Christmas is about the birth of Christ, but I never thought about why. Why is that important? I feel silly writing that because it seems so simple now. We're celebrating his birth because that was the beginning of His incredible life. Because that incredible life lead to that great sacrifice that allows us to overcome death. But more then that, he chose to leave our Father in Heaven, come down and be born as a little child in humble circumstances and endure the cruelty and the unbelief to teach us by His example and to ultimately save us. I can put myself in Mary's shoes. Being told that she's going to bring into the world the Son of God (that I can't relate to) and then doing so, not in a house with a bed and blankets, but in a shelter. Not having a crib, but some hay, to lay her new baby in. I think any new mom or mom-to-be can tell you that this would not be her ideal birthing plan.
Besides all the reasons we have to celebrate this season, there's something else I think we can do. The three Wisemen brought gifts to Christ. Gold, an item back then reserved for kings, Frankincense, an incense used in the temples of those days and Myrrh, something used in embalming, signifying his death. They brought gifts that we meaningful. I've heard from a couple of different people that they are having their children give a gift to Jesus. I think that that's great. I think we all should try and find a gift to give. Something meaningful. There are so many things that we can improve in ourselves, to be more kind, slower to anger, faster to forgive, to think better of others, etc.
My hope is #1 you got through this ginormous entry and #2 that we can slow down this week before Christmas and really get into the spirit. To think about the Christmas Story, read it if you have it available to you(Luke Ch.1). Put yourselves in their shoes, Mary's, Joseph's, the Wisemen's, and Christ's. Share the true spirit of Christmas, the Spirit of Christ.
Since I have had the chance to slow down this year, got my shopping done earlier and had to really think about how I want my family to celebrate such a joyous time of year I've found what Christmas really means, to me anyway. Today, being the last Sunday before Christmas, the lessons at church were all based around the meaning of Christmas and I couldn't hold in the feelings that I felt.
I hope you all have a safe and a VERY Merry Christmas!

We've Landed

So sorry for the long delay in posts. I called to get the internet on the 1st of December and the lady kindly told me the soonest available time would be the 10th of December (inconvenience #11). Anyway, on to what happened on the way over here if I can remember that far back...

We decided to leave Friday afternoon instead of Saturday because the roads were looking bad EVERYWHERE. I'm talking Southern OR, Northern Cali, Northern NV (inconvenience #1). So Friday it was. We stopped to get gas before actually getting on the freeway and on our way, of course, but we had trouble with getting the gas in the moving truck (inconvenience #2). Got that taken care of without too much hassle and we were off. The weather was alright on our way out of WA besides heavy rain and slush. We stopped off in Oakridge, OR around midnight. Saturday we drove in snow all day. The Willamette Pass had lots of snow but the truck and the car did just fine. The other drivers on the other hand...Cameron was driving in front and saw a semi slide off the road and flip onto its side, breaking the windshield. Everyone was fine and the cops were on their way and so were we. Just a little farther up the road we find ourselves in a very long line up of cars. Through the grapevine we find out that there was an accident involving a semi and another accident involving 2 cars. That kept us waiting for about an hour or so (inconvenience #3). It gave the girls time to get out and play in the snow. We were going to try and make it to Reno that day but as we got closer to the pass there were weather warnings and chain restrictions. So we turned back and stayed Saturday night in Susanville, CA. I have to tell you that if you ever find yourselves driving through Susanville you NEED to stay in the Best Western. It had THE BEST beds I've ever slept on in a hotel. Just had to put that in there. Sunday we made it through the pass and Reno with no problems. That night we stayed in Las Vegas. We woke up Monday morning ready to get to Bullhead City, AZ. It took us about an hour to get there. Our travels were finally over! Yay! But it turns out our troubles were not.

We filled out all the paperwork for the apartment but they forgot to tell us that we needed to call and have our electricity and gas turned on before we could move in (inconvenience #4). They let us move in anyway, but we were still without power and heat. We walked to the apt and it was dirty. The carpet and linoleum were stained (inconvenience #5). It just wasn't what I wanted to walk into and I about had an anxiety attack. We walked back down to the office and they sent us to another apt that was MUCH better with brand new carpet and linoleum. The apt was still smaller then both of us had thought but it was taken care of. We had to go get the power and heat for it. I don't know if anyone else in Bullhead has internet because everyone and their dog was in line to pay their bills. I had to wait for a customer service rep first because I couldn't get a hold of anyone on the phone. I think I waited for 20 mins before giving up and driving down there (inconvenience #6). The gas company wasn't any better (inconvenience #7). Again, a line full of people waiting to pay their bills and one lady to do the job. The electric co. would turn our electricity on the same day but I would have to pay extra. We had been in the car for 3 days. Needless to say I pay the extra. The gas co. could fit me in on Wednesday...the day I went in there was a Monday. That means that we were without hot water for a couple days (inconvenience #8). By the time we got done with everything it was about 4:30 and we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. We didn't get a hold of anyone from the ward to help us move in before we got here and we couldn't get a hold of anyone that afternoon so Cam and I started hauling stuff ourselves, to the 3rd floor (inconvenience #9). Now, I'm strong...but hauling a dresser up three flights of stairs strong? I don't think so. We gave up when it got dark and decided that we'd pay for an extra day on the truck and do the rest tomorrow. Luckily, we got a hold of the church and they would come the following evening. By this time things were starting to look up. Cameron and I hauled out what we could and waited until that night to get the rest of the big stuff in. That was about 9:00pm. We had to get the truck back that night because Cameron had to be at work early. We were about to be completely DONE with the move, but no. It couldn't go quietly into the night. It had to give off one more little hiccup. The truck wouldn't start. The battery was dead. We jumped it and got it back to the drop off location. END OF TRIP!
Now that we're here things are settling in to place nicely. The town is small and has a large population of old people and "country folk" (PC term I guess). The weather is better then what we left and I can pull out my flip flops so that makes me happy. We're getting geared up for our first Christmas by ourselves and I'm kind of excited about that. Our ward seems very nice and very eager to have 4 new members. I think we increase the ward by 35% (just kidding...kind of). Cameron is really enjoying working for this company. They're laid back and appreciate the work he does. I think we'll be okay here. So I'll end this very long post by saying:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from our family to yours!