Thanksgiving with the Butikofers

My sister Rebecca and her husband came to visit us Thanksgiving week.  They had never been here, so we had a lot to fit in to their visit to see everything. 

 We hiked around Tear Drop and the ruins the first day. 

 The second day we went to the River House, I guess you will just have to refer to previous posts for that one because we really don't have any pictures, except this new addition, someone made a swing by the river.  The boys loved it, hopefully it will be there for Huck and Naya when they float the river this summer.

 On Thanksgiving morning we finally conquered the slot canyon.

 Surprisingly there was no water in the place where Devon waded up to his waist a month before.  We bought a telescoping ladder that stretches to 12 ft from only 3ft collapsed on itself.  We were glad for it because all of the rain from the summer changed the canyon quite a bit and made it even more challenging than before.

 Not too surprisingly Spencer fell in one of the only remaining pools of water, luckily on the way back so he didn't have to freeze for too long.  Another plus, the weather was the best this day.

 This is a cool rock in the field of Petrified Wood on the way to the canyon. 

We had a great dinner with Rebecca and Jason and both sets of missionaries.  the next day we went to Salt Lake to meet up with my baby sister Natalie coming home from her mission!  We had a fun time all together and got a massive family photo.  I spent a week in Idaho with the kids, it was a good break and we didn't get sick the whole time, although Carrie threw up for 10 days after we got back.  She is healthy again now- knock on wood.  Hopefully she's just getting it all out of the way.
We have a cool ladder now, so come explore the slot canyon and petrified wood with us!

Christmas Tree

We went to the mountain by Blanding to cut down our tree the weekend before Thanksgiivng.  Last year there was so much snow that we decided to go early.  I thought there was no snow, so my kids were not properly dressed, but it was an adventure.  the Johnsons and the Senior missionaries came with us.  We all got great trees.  I think this is the best one we have cut so far, but it also took us the longest to find.  Poor Spencer wore his crocs with no sock through the snow, he was miserable by the end.  Hopefully he will remember next year, because I don't always remember either.

Chicken Pox

Poor Carrie got Chicken Pox, and a pretty bad case of them even though she has a vaccination, I guess now she is super safe.  She was so miserable, they were everywhere, even her hands were swollen with sores.  Not she has lost 2 fingernails and may loose a few toenails because of how badly she had them on her fingers and toes.  But beyond that not lasting scars-that's a plus.  You may want to zoom in to see the full effect.  She must have been almost better because she is smiling in these pictures.  We missed her smile for a few days.