Owen's 16th Pictures!

The day before Owen turned 16 we went to JCPenney's for his birthday pictures. 

 

They had a new outdoors looking background he wanted to try. It gives that shadow effect! 

 

He has grown up so much this last year. He didn't even want to be any sort of prop with him this time around. 

He was still okay using the numbers though. I did tell him he's only got two more years of these pictures and then he's done. Where has the time gone!?! 

Excuse me while I got cry in the corner!

Cabin Christmas - Day 5

On December 30th....we woke up to tons of new snow!!! 

My favorite thing about the snow is when the trees are covered with it. So pretty! 

That is a giant icicle hanging from the roofline!!! 

 

All over the vehicles were totally covered in snow! 

So gorgeous!!

Of course a few of the kids had to go out and play in it! 

Everything this day was just leftovers. We needed to eat up as much as we could! 

The girls with a little help from us Moms ended up putting the finishing touches on the Moose Lodge! 

After that it was running around getting suitcases packed, toys picked up, furniture moved back to where it originally was. Some laundry needed to be started, the frig needed to be cleaned out, garbages needed to be emptied, vehicles needed to be loaded and rooms needed to be double and triple checked to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. 

Once we were all finished we still had about an hour until check out time. I really felt God tugging on my heart that He wanted us to pray so I asked everyone if they were okay with that and they were. 

We all sat in that lovely living room where so many memories were made and we prayed together. Heartfelt beautiful prayers that still bring tears to my eyes. It was really a perfect ending to a dream trip! 

After prayer Christina had everyone come hug me for making this dream possible. It was just a dream planted in my heart and every part of it exceeded my expectations. It was all wonderful! I remember telling everyone why I wanted to do this trip now and why I felt so passionately about it. The main reason was these sweet kids. Next year Owen will 16 years old. He'll be driving and he'll most likely have a job. That alone will change everything. These types of trips will be harder to take because of work or maybe even friends will get in the way. Before long these kids will be dating and instead of it being our core family we'll have to share them with other people. I feel like the timing of this trip was perfect for those reason. I wanted it to be our core family! This trip was only made possible because the other 3 families said yes! The cabin was not cheap by any means, but the memories made there were priceless and I would do it all again. 

My motto new is...Spend the money...Go on the trip...Make the memories! 

Pulling away from our home away from home for 5 days was so sad! 

Crest Lodge was amazing!

Cabin Christmas - Day 4

On December 29th, I woke up early and came downstairs to sit by the light of the tree. Zeke woke up early too so we snuggled together. 

After breakfast which was pancakes & sausage links made by Ga-Ga & Pa it was time for some fun in the snow. 

Thankfully Christina went out with the kids or we wouldn't even have pictures! 

These kids had so much fun! 

We even found these butt sleds that you sit on and hold the handle between your legs, lift your feet and away you go. Those were interesting! 

Owen preferred our red sled the best though. Caleb must have just made a pretty good run...he looks excited!

Sweet Kuch Kids! 

The sledding crew! 

Time for Bill to go down....oh no! No worries no one was harmed while sledding! 

Hours of entertainment! 

Time to come in, warm up and eat lunch. We had leftovers for lunch that day!

From Ga-Ga & Pa, Caleb had gotten these Warhammer characters you can build and paint. Caleb was so sweet to let Zeke help him. He was so patient in regards to explaining everything and just sharing his gift with him. 

Too soon it was time for Papa & Ruth to head home. We decided to go ahead and get family pictures in front of the tree. 

Even though we didn't have Pa's tripod I was determined to get a full group shot. I ended up stacking things on the table behind the couch and opening Ella's canvases she got just enough so I could slip my phone in-between them and it would hold my phone in place. It worked! 

I love each and everyone of these lovely people! 

That afternoon it started snowing! 

It was so pretty sitting at the dining room table watching it snow! 

Early in the day the girls had been able to find some rocks. They washed them off and let them dry. Ella had been given some paint pens from a lady at church so they were going to paint rocks with them. 

A lot of crafting going on! 

I was able to finish my diamond painting I was working on. The girls didn't quite finish theirs on the trip so they packed their up to work on at home. 

These gorgeous huge windows were beautiful to look out and enjoy the snow from inside! 

Since Papa was gone the fire building fell to Michael! 

If I had my way I would have a fire all day every day during the entire winter season! I love the fire! 

We got the Kuch family a couple new card games...Skull Island and Cover your Assets. We were playing Cover your Assets here. It's a fun easy game to play. The kids really enjoyed it.

For dinner that night Michael and I made a new recipe called Taco Pasta. It was so yummy! 

This day was much more chill than the other days! It was funny the whole time we were there I wouldn't let anyone talk about leaving or when we were going home. Whenever someone would say something like that I'd say....what are you talking about this is our house...we live here! I wanted to live in that fantasy until the very last minute!