Monday, December 1, 2008

Santa Fe, Yay!



For Thanksgiving we decided to head to Santa Fe and see the sights. We left on Thanksgiving day and got back on Sunday. Our first morning there we walked around Old Town Santa Fe where all the buildings are made in the adobe style and there are many shops and galleries. This is San Miguel chapel, the oldest church in the country.

Theses are other interesting buildings and the sidewalk market where many people display their Native American and Mexican jewelry and crafts for sale.








After lunch we went exploring a National Park called Tent Rocks. These rocks were formed by volcanic ash and then eroded for thousands of years. We went on a trail that took us all around the rocks and gave us great views of the cliffs and mesas around us.





The next day we went to Bandalier National Park where there are many ruins and cliff dwellings of the Anasazi people. We were told that they lived here around 1200 A.D. That is when they began to group together in communities and farm the land. Before that they were nomadic and lived in very small groups.


This is a Kiva where they would hold religious ceremonies and other important meetings.

This part of the site was build in a large circle to represent the sun. This was a kind of village that housed many families. The ring was four rooms thick with all the rooms being relatively uniform and quite small.





Along the path there were many parts of ruins and also caves that the people could enlarge by carving. The rock is quite soft because it was formed by volcanic ash. This was a very large cave. It had a domed roof with noches cut out in the wall that were probably used for some kind of storage. The girls, however, used them for beds. It also had a window and a fire pit on one side with two chimney holes for the smoke.

After we did the main loop we went on another hike. This took us to the 'long house' which was hundreds of feet above the ground in a cliff. It once had as many as 22 rooms with 2 stories and housed numerous families. This is one of the many long ladders we had to climb to reach it. Some of you might know that Kyle is afraid of heights. He was not enjoying himself too much and I think he told the girls to go slow and be careful only 3 or 400 times.


After all the long hiking and climbing we finally made it to the top. The round building is another Kiva. It is amazing that they not only lived here but that they were able to build it in the first place. I don't know how they would have carried logs and other building materials up and down the cliffs.


We had to go back to Old Town after our exploring to get the girls some souvenirs they wanted. It was very cold and windy and we forgot Brooklyn's hat in the car so mommy used her sweater as a hat instead.


Emma found this little snuggly place between the bed and the wall in the hotel room. It was just 'Emma size'.

Tubby time



The girls were so cute and having so much fun I just had to take some pics.






Saturday, November 15, 2008

Family Pictures




The last time we had family pictures was in the summer of 2005. Ellie was four, Emma was 23 months and Brooklyn hadn't even been thought up yet. We thought it was about time! Brooklyn was perfectly happy before the shoot, perfectly happy after, but not perfectly happy during. We managed to get a few pictures with her in it and then a few with just the older girls.
















Saturday, November 8, 2008

Ellie's Baptism


Ellie's baptism day was very special. Grandma and Grandpa Lambert and Grandma and Grandpa Sherwood both made the trip down for the occasion. Her daddy baptized her, Grandpa Lambert confirmed her and both Grandma's gave the talks. There was one musical number that was sung by her Lethbridge cousins on video and the other was by Grandpa Sherwood. She had many friends there as well to support her. We are so proud of the choice she made to be baptized and of the young woman she is becoming.





She looked beautiful in her special baptism dress. She received some nice baptism presents as well such as a bracelet from Binny, scriptures, mini hymn book and case from Gr. and Gr. Sherwood, children's gospel dictionary from Gr. and Gr. Lambert and an opal (her birthstone) neclace from mom and dad.


Cute Pics


I felt like I was neglecting Brooklyn a little on the blog since there were only 2 pictures of her so I thought I would add this cute one. She is a darling girl with a cute personality. She is very friendly and loves smiling at people and playing games with them. Everyone loves to talk to her because she is so responsive.



The girls have been to a few birthday parties lately that have had face painters. When they come home I am amazed at how beautiful the art is. These are just a couple of examples.





Two more cute pics of baby girl.










Friday, November 7, 2008

Halloween


This was the first time the girls got to wear their Halloween costumes. It was for the ward party. They also got to wear them for school parties and, of course, Halloween. Ellie was Pocahantas and Emma was Supergirl. Brooklyn was jipped out of a costume this year. I didn't think she would mind too much.







Decorated Bedrooms



For the girl's birthdays we decided that instead of giving them presents we would decorate their rooms since they were pretty bare from the move. Emma didn't have a particular thing that she wanted but Ellie was very specific. She wanted her favorite color, blue, and she wanted circles. No flowers, butterflies or other "babyish" things.







Thursday, November 6, 2008

Park City

Since we have so many friends and family far away, I decided to get over my lack of computer skills and start a blog. I have enjoyed looking at many of your blogs and keeping in touch with your families that way so I am biting the bullet.





In September we met Grandma and Granpa Sherwood in Park City UT along with Sammy, Mackinley and SaraLyn (Binny). It was a great time despite me getting very ill for part of it. We also got to see Grandma Lambert, Maryn, Jamin, Audrey and brand new baby Millie which was fun.







Brooklyn loves to go to "jail" in our house by playing on the bannister. She pulls herself up on everything and loves to put whatever she can in her mouth. She is also getting pretty good at tormenting her sisters by grabbing and breaking anything that they don't want her to touch.