Christmas Tree Adventure

Well, this year we got to do something totally awesome! We got to go and cut down our own Christmas tree! Seems like an easy thing to do right? Well, it was not as easy as I thought it would be. I thought we would just get there and find the perfect tree right off...but nope. :) The day started early, we were almost to I-10 when we realized that we forgot our tree permit...so we had to turn around and go back home to pick that up. I-10 is probably 15 miles from our house...so that was not the best start to the day.

Then, we went and met Bryan's dad (Glen) because he was coming with us. We were finally off...

We towed the Jeep up there because we knew there was lots of snow and our truck is not 4 wheel drive.

We had originally planned to go up to Woods Canyon Lake area where we usually camp to get the tree...but that area was closed due to too much snow. We were bummed...so we went to the next open section. We drove around and around, not finding many pine trees. All of the pine trees we were finding were more like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree...so we kept driving around and around, not having any luck. 

We decided that we would turn around and go back out the other direction to see if we could see anything on the way back...well something happened (still nobody knows what happened)...and we almost died!! Haha! Yes, I will be over dramatic to make my point. :) We must have hit a small patch of ice or something because we slid and the Jeep spun around...I wish we would have had a camera set up in the Jeep because the look on everyone's faces were priceless...I pretty much thought we were going to die. LOL! We all thought we were going to flip...but luckily, we just spun around and ended up backed into the snow. Thank goodness there were no trees right there or else we would have had some damage. 

WE ALL SURVIVED! :) 

So, on with our adventure...we decided that we were not finding anything good so we would break for lunch. We drove to Heber and Bryan went in and talked with the people at the Ranger's station...they gave him a new map with a section that they had just opened up and said there were good trees out there.

So, we went to lunch and relaxed for a little bit before we had to cram back into the Jeep.

And then we were off again to find the perfect tree...

We drove in and were not seeing much of anything and were getting pretty frustrated, when Bryan, Glen and I all spotted 3 different trees all within a small section...there were 2 on our right and one on our left...YAY!!! We finally found some decent pine trees. So, should we continue looking? Nope, we have found our spot. We got out and shook off the snow and found the perfect tree for us. It may not be the most gorgeous tree, but it was nice and full and looked great to us!

Bethanie loved the snow and we all had a great day. We packed up the tree and drove back to Payson to hook back up to the truck and head home. We were all exhausted but we were so thrilled to have our tree! :) Such a fun adventure! Not many people can say that they cut down their own tree. :)

1st Day of Preschool!

Yep, it's true...Bethanie has started Preschool. She could not start until she turned two, so today was her first day. Her school is called Bright Minds Preschool and there are 7 kids in her class. Her teacher's name is Ms. Joanne and she's very sweet and energetic (I guess you'd have to be to take care of 7 two year olds). I was very nervous this morning when getting ready to take Bethanie to her first day because she was really clingy all morning...but as soon as we walked in the door she was so excited. She loved her backpack and loved the atmosphere there. We went into her classroom and she went right over and sat down at the little table and started playing with the play dough...she was so excited that she didn't even see me leave. She had such a great day. The teacher said she is a doll and a joy to have in the class. :) So proud of my little preschooler! :)

New Tricycle :)

Bethanie got a new tricycle for her birthday. When she goes to the park, all of the kids there ride scooters and bikes and she just stands back and watches in awe, so we decided that she needed something to keep up with the big kids. She got SO excited when she opened up the box and saw a bike in the picture. She was so eager to ride it and waited patiently while Daddy put it together. She got on and wanted to just ride away...but she does not quite get the pedaling concept yet. But, she's working on it. :) She loves her bike so much that she even sits on it to watch TV in her room. 

I was trying to teach her how to pedal and would tell her "Just push your feet." She then leaned over and pushed on her feet with her hands. Haha. Kids take things so literally. :) Love that kid!!