Snow Shoeing at Chicken Creek

The boys and I spent New Years at Chicken Creek, near Mancos.

Lauren was sick, so he stayed home...

Which was a bummer, because the boys and I had never snow-shoed before.

Turns out there's not much to it...

And we had a really great time.

I think doing something we've never done before is a great start to the new year. Happy New Year everyone!

Catch-up Blog

Ok, so it's been forever, and I won't even try to catch up on life since August. Here are some pics and you can fill in the blanks:

We got a bountiful harvest from our new garden

Dylan and Riley find a praying mantis

We dress up for a Hurst Family Halloween Party

My mom, dad, Kim and I go to Portales for the first time in 28 years

Winter Solstice Party (Dylan, Riley, and Ben)

So there you have it. 6 months in 5 pictures.

Cruisin' Alaska

I just got back from cruising to Alaska with my mom, grandma Zentner, Lindsay, and Kim. Here we are on the ship's deck near Hubbard Glacier:

Here are some highlights...
We ate:

And ate:

And ate:


And drank:

And drank: :)

Took tons of pics (about 650 between us):

And saw some breathtaking sights:

It was a 7 day cruise, and we visited Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria British Columbia, and Seattle. Grandma Z behaved herself most of the time, we laughed until we cried on several occasions, and had an absolutely fabulous time. Love you guys! Thanks for a great trip!!

Haircut!

Well, he finally did it. After talking about it for months, Dylan finally got up the courage to cut his hair. Here's how he looked before:

He had about 15 inches cut off, and donated it to locks of love:

And here's how he looks now: (Drumroll.........)

Way to go Dylan! You look awesome!!

How Does Our Garden Grow, July Edition

Well, It's been a month and a half since we created our new garden space and planted a garden. We've been eating lettuce, peas, green onions and zucchini already, with lots more coming along beautifully. Here's how it looks today:

Good times...good times.

Just got back from a trip to sunny California. Here are a few highlights:

Day 1, DISNEYLAND!!!

Day 2: The Beach!!! We went to a little state beach area called Crystal Cove. Spent the whole day there. The first pic is of Dylan 2 days later. The poor boy...this is after sunscreening with SPF 50 twice during the day.

Day 3: Knotts Berry Farms. We took Morgan with us, while her family went to Sea World. Had a great time...lots of great roller coasters!

How Does Our Garden Grow

We spent all last weekend creating a new lawn and garden on the south side of the house. Here's how it looked before:

We're putting a lawn in on the top area where Riley's standing, and the garden went in where Lauren is. Here are a few pics of the work in progress:

Here are a few pics of what it looks like right now:

Next step is to plant the grass. We've already planted a few things in the garden!