Keepin' it Real with the GLORIOUS OUTDOORS - Blake

I LOVE THE OUTDOORS - Boy oh Boy! I think I can live in place where it snows as long as I can get out and enjoy it and not just stay indoors and wish it were warm outside. Jenny and I have had a great time finding things to do this winter! We went cross country skiiing while we were in Idaho and loved it, so when we got back to Ohio, we searched like crazy to find a place to rent skies and go on a groomed trail. IT was tough but we finally found a cheep rental shop at a county metro park in the middle of the woods of Kirtland, OH. Instead of cross country skiing we decided to rent snow shoes and pull the kids in sleds. We left home in the middle of a blizzard, packed up our kids, loaded the sleds and warm clothes and ventured into the outdoors. Unlike Idaho - we didn't see any wildlife, but we did get out of town and into the sweet outdoors! Then we had a three day weekend so we took off again into the outdoors but this time an overnighter! We stayed in a cabin in the middle of the woods (Hocking Hills - OHIO). We got a sweet deal on a cabin rental and took off. We went sledding, sat in a hot tub, watched some NFL playoffs, ate good food, and RELAXED IN THE WOODS!- all the while the snow fell on our cabin and neighboring woods.
I love having a wife that is so willing to drop everything for outings like this, and she loves every minute of it!

SLEDDING AT HOCKING HILLS

CABIN RELAXATION

SLEDDING

CABIN FROM THE OUTSIDE

SNOW SHOEING

CRUISING ALONG!

YUMMY HOT CHOCOLATE

PULLING THE KIDS ON SLEDS WORKS GREAT!

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING BEHIND KELLY'S

SHE IS BEAUTIFUL ISN'T SHE!

Fun with the Davis'

With my family we enjoyed lots of hide and go seek, games, volleyball, an adult night out and tons of hot tub time.

This is my 15 year old sister and I after sitting in the hot tub. The picture doesn't do our smeared mascara justice. We were pretty scary looking.

This is a more natural pose for Davis girls. We just don't look right not smiling.

Hide and go seek at the Loftus house. The kids hid in the closet on all the shelves. They thought of it, but I think Blake helped them climb up.

The kids were pooped at the end of the day.

My family has a tradition to go sledding on Christmas Eve. We left at midnight, so technically Christmas morning and Sledded for about an hour. We just went to a little hill, so we were creative with our sledding. We went backwards, Cindy and I sitting on Eric laying down and all kinds of other creativity. Cindy, Eric and I were the only ones brave enough to go.

Christmas morning!

Mom and Dad peeking at their present.

Mom and Dad's greatest gift ever! Eric and Blake built them stairs to get into the hot tub! It really was to them, but it really benefited the whole family.

Remi and Broden opening presents Christmas morning.

Christmas morning we got to talk to Tyler AKA Elder Davis. He is serving in the Mexico, Merida Mission and will be home in 2 and a half weeks!!! I even get to fly home to see him.

Uncle Eric with the Babes(wrong kind of babes Eric)

Hide and go seek New Year's Eve in the dark with flashlights!
My mom hiding.

Julie and Kyler hiding in the closet.

Fun with the Jones'

We had so much fun with the Jones family at Christmas. The first morning there Blake's mom and I made all kinds of fun Christmas treats while Blake and Garrett went hunting.

Remi and Broden helped Grandma with her make-up, then helped themselves to the make-up too.

Grandma and Grandpa had so many fun toys, of course animals Remi and Broden's favorite.

Playing with cousins after family pictures at the mall.(Hence the matching outfits.) We were quite the site walking through the mall. Blake's mom, Jen(Blake's brother's wife) and I all in matching shirts carrying and towing along 6 kids, all in matching outfits. Fun memories! While we played at the mall the boys all went hunting together. KC(Blake's dad), Chez, Tyler Blake and Garrett. All of them. Probably the first time in a couple years that they have all been hunting together.

We got to go see Santa too. Remi was excited, but Broden was a little scared. Alissa loves anyone who smiles and holds her. Remi told Santa she wanted a horse for Christmas.

I love this picture of our nephew!

Alissa with Grandpa Jones.

Fun with the whole Fam at the Jones' house! We had a party the first Friday we were there with Blake's two older brothers, their wives and kids and his younger brother. It was a blast because the kids are all old enough now that they can go downstairs and play and the adults can actually play games!!!! We played a game where we each would take a turn and draw a name of a Christmas song out of a cup then the person had to draw it on a white board and try to get your team to guess what Christmas carol it was. It was boys against girls. It was a blast.

Christmas Eve we ate a yummy dinner at the Valentine's house. They are family friends. Blake's Grandma Jones(Grandma Great) joined us this year along with Patty, his aunt. We ate, talked and played Jeopardy.

Opening presents Christmas day with Grandma and Grandpa Jones.

Playing with presents with Grandma and Grandpa.(I think Grandpa is enjoying the toy the most:)
Remi got the coolest barbi. You can comb color into her hair. It is like you are straightening her hair but it makes color streaks. It works on our hair too. She tried it out on Grandma:)
We enjoyed a cross country ski trip with Blake's parents up by Kelley's Canyon Ski Resort. Alissa won't take a bottle so our trip was narrowed down to someplace close to a babysitter. Tyler and Jen live about 20 minutes from Kelley's. So Jen watched Alissa for us. Thanks Jen. We skied for about 2 hours and saw 3 moose. It was amazing and we enjoyed being in the mountains again.
Remi and Broden fell asleep together in Uncle Garrett's bed. Aren't they cute.We ended our trip with a visit to Blake's Grandma Webb in Utah. We enjoyed our visit with her, then headed to a hotel for some swimming and dinner before flying back to Cleveland the next morning.

Pre-Christmas dinner

Some of the kids at the dinner

The week before we left for Idaho we had a dinner with some of the young families we have become friends with since we have lived here. There were 9 adults and 9 kids. It was a blast! I cooked a turkey, rolls and pies and everyone else brought sides and appetizers. It was delicious and we got to enjoy turkey sandwiches for a few days and now we get to enjoy turkey soup from all the frozen turkey we have. Turkey soup and homemade bread bowls is one of our favorite meals.

Saturday when we were getting the house ready the lights in the upstairs started to flicker. The they went out. They came back on for a few minutes, then went out again and wouldn't come back on. We checked the breaker, checked all the wiring to the outlets and lights and switched out the breaker in the box. NOTHING would work. Not one light or outlet would work upstairs. So we took an extension cord and plugged it in downstairs, wove it through our hand rail to the upstairs, attached another extension cord with multiple outlets and plugged in our 2 lamps. So that was the extent of our lights upstairs for the rest of the week.

I felt like a pioneer carrying my lamp with me from room to room when I was packing. I would carry it from closet to closet gathering clothes, and to the attic to get the luggage, then to the bathroom to get ready and on and on. It was kind of a pain. We didn't want to deal with it before we went to Idaho, so we just left it.

We dreaded coming back here after Christmas and one of the main reasons was because we knew we had a huge project waiting for us which involved possibly tearing out our kitchen ceiling to get to all our electrical to find the problem. Not fun! But when we got home Blake flipped our breaker back on (He kept it off while we were gone) and everything upstairs worked except one outlet in the bathroom! What a huge blessing. I would consider that a miracle in our day. I'm not even going to try and find a reason it happened or excuse for it. I'm just considering it a miracle. We will try to find out how to fix it though, so it doesn't happen again, but for now we are enjoying lights and electricity.

Making Christmas treats

Broden dressed as a shepherd for the ward Christmas party.

Decorating gingerbread men.

Countdown to going to Idaho.

Making gingerbread men.

I'm just catching up on everything I haven't written about. We started getting ready for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I told Remi in September that we were going to go home to Idaho for Christmas. She wanted to know when Christmas was, so I told her when it snows. So at the beginning of November when it started snowing she started asking if we were going to get on the airplane every time we got in the car. So we made a sign with candy hanging from it to count the days until we got to go home for Christmas.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went out to a little Christmas tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree. It was so much fun, but of course I forgot our camera. When you get there they take you out on a horse drawn wagon to the area with the kind of trees you want. Then they give you a saw. You pick your tree, cut it down and carry it to the wagon and they take you back to the parking lot, where they shake off all the dead needles, put it in netting and carry it to your car. Then they have a big barn with a fireplace where you can cook hot dogs, smores and have hot chocolate. You can also get your picture taken and the next year when you go you can take the previous year's pictures. It was a blast! We even went back outside and rode on the wagon a second time, just for Remi and Broden. They loved it. Anyone who lives in Ohio, we would deffinately reccommend getting your tree here!