Beautiful Skies

I do love Nevada skies. We have a lot of clear sunny skies, we get some fabulous clouds and the girls and I love to decide what they look like. I have really come to love the night sky too. Because we have so many clear skies we get to see the stars almost every night and of course the beautiful sunsets. Heavenly Father has given us such a wonderful, beautiful earth.

Bryanna's gift from Santa

For Christmas Bryanna wanted horse riding lessons from Santa. She got a promise note saying she would get one and so we worked on setting it up. A local rancher hosts horse camps pretty regularly and she had one open last week before the kids went back to school. Bryanna was more than excited to go. It was a four hour camp so I knew I wouldn't get to stay and take all the pictures I wanted but I did get a few. The kids started out cleaning the stalls. Bryanna was an excellent raker of "apples" and she looked pretty cute in her cowgirl hat and boots! She told us after they cleaned they got to groom the horses and then ride for a long time. She rode on her own and learned a Posting Trot. It was a great day for her and I'm happy that she had that experience. Of course she wants to do it again and thinks we should buy a horse in the near future!

Bryanna next to Rudy the horse. We liked him because he has the same name as Grandpa Kirk.

New Year's Eve

We are not hard party people but we partied it up Marlatt 5 style. I made a bunch of yummy snacks and we played games and let the kids watch the ball drop from 2011 (oops!) on youtube because we didn't want them to stay up until midnight. At about 9:30 Bryanna and I went outside to bang pots and pans (tradition in my family) and then it was bedtime. I was so sure I was going to stay up until midnight but Derek fell asleep early and I was pretty bored so I just decided to go to bed at 11:30..We woke up to a New Year and 9am church. We are looking forward to what 2012 has to offer and are grateful for all our many blessings.