christmas 2011

this was the first year we've been away from our own "home" (right now it's a hotel) to celebrate Christmas. So, we opened our big presents before we flew to Idaho. This is our Goodwill tree, which was so nicely decorated already for us :)

 Kort enjoyed ripping the paper, just as long as we took it away from him so he wouldn't eat it and he could continue ripping the rest apart to find his presents! We got him some new toys and nana got him some new clothes and a choo choo train. he loves that thing!

we flew to salt lake, got in late, but tyler and quinn picked us up. grabbed some cold, crappy little caesar's pizza, got to tyler and caeli's place, talked, waited for caeli to get home from work. went to bed. woke up the next morning to drive to rexburg. of course, had to make a stop at smith and edwards for some stocking stuffers :)

clay worked on a new cabinet for mom and dad fenton while kort enjoyed the laundry basket and all the toys waiting for him from previous gifts left at grandma's :)

christmas eve was the steiner Christmas party. it was great catching up with everyone, seeing 3 new baby boys, all born within 3 months (kristin's, alecia's, and nicky's). we really didn't do much else that night other than talk and eat. go figure. ha ha

christmas morning was grand. i love that feeling you get walking out to the living room and seeing all the stockings and presents under the tree! kort caught on a little more opening presents. next year will be awesome for him. 

i got clay some new smith hudson sunglasses since he left his in our rental car back in vegas. he got a new site for his rifle. back in MN i got him some new work pants/slacks, workout clothes, and new computer mouse for work. he got me a huge jewelry box/storage, and a sewing machine! woo hoo! finally :) now i can put those pinterest projects to work! he also got me a video hand held camcorder!!! hence, there's not many pictures from christmas day because i was filming everything :)

we were to handmake our presents for siblings. i crocheted caeli a headband and gave a taipan trading gift card. clay made brandon a book with a hidden secret. ok, so we glued every single page together and cut out the middle so he could hide things in there. 

it was way rad. 

tyler and caeli came later that night. so glad they could make it for christmas! we did miss barb, brandon and leland though. 

it was a wonderful day. i'm so glad we got to go to church, too. i wish i would have paid more attention. i was so tired! ha ha kort has been teething so he was up and also trying to get used to mountain standard time :) christmas was amazing! i can't wait until kort is able to understand more and we can get into the spirit more and do things together. i've got so much planned for the years to come!

boarding at grand targhee

i have not been snowboarding for 4 years, and that was right after clay and i got married and i didn't have a good experience. i think it was due to my crazy hormones :) ha ha so i was hoping to have a better time at an actual ski resort! turns out, i had a blast! the main lift big lift, dream catcher, didn't open until 30 minutes before our half day was over, but we still got a good run in. it was like i started where i last ended and was getting "some" air, being a little brave and going off jumps. :) 

 i think my mouth was so cold, this was the most smile i could get out.

look at the view!

late night snow machining to mesa falls

clay and the guys were going snow machining tuesday, so monday night the snow machines arrived. we had to "break" them in so the guys took their dates/wives/fiance for a late night trip to mesa falls! after someone mentioned that we should make lots of noise while walking down to the lookout so we would keep the bears away, i freaked! ha ha there probably weren't any around that area, but i was on constant lookout all through the night. i loved taking flash pictures and catching everyone off guard :)

top left is dale and his date, clay and then quinn's date.

bryce and jodi, and bottom right is quinn's date, katelyn, and you know the rest :)

thanks to grandmacita and grandpa for being at home while kort was sleeping!

assisted walking machine

kort loves to walk now...if he's holding or pushing something. still hasn't gone 

for the whole she-bang yet. 

family christmas card

We'll be in Idaho in one week!!! We're going to party it up...Christmas Eve, Christmas, Kort's birthday, New Year's Eve...woo hoo!
Hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season!

thanksgiving

i can't believe christmas is next week and i'm just barely posting about thanksgiving! we were very blessed to have some friends invite us over for dinner, otherwise we really would have had no place to go and would have either gone to a restaurant, or had a regular dinner. it kind of made us realize, and be truly thankful for, how many people really don't have a place to go for holidays, or be with family. so it may seem little, but i think we both agree that's what we were most thankful for this year, along with all the other things.

we were going to try and make a 100 gratitude list, but we only made it to 50 - we forgot to go back and add. there are really endless things to be thankful for anyway. 

Our Gratitude List

Temple marriage

Gospel of Jesus Christ

Kort

Loving parents

Families

Missionary work

Successful occupation

Clothes

Food

Shelter

Reliable transportation

Technology

Medicine

Insurance

Holidays

Plan of Salvation

Atonement

Church leaders

Prophet and apostles

Scriptures

Our Health

Gospel-related literature (ensign, etc.)

Martinelli’s

Sports

Music

TV

Pets and animals

Friends wherever we move

Education

Memories

Pictures/camera

Nature

Autumn leaves

Senses

Laughter (especially Kort’s)

Smiles

The human body

Warm showers

Toilet/indoor plumbing

Boots and coats

Hygiene products

Bed/warm blankets

Law officials

School Teachers

Freedom of religion

Priesthood power

Restored Gospel

Electricity

Kitchen appliances

Safety

not in any particular order. and some may seem ridiculous, but like i said, 

there's SO much to be thankful for!

como zoo

i'm really behind on some posts. kort and i joined jenna and clara practically a month ago to see some animals at the como zoo! the exhibits were all inside, good thing, 

since it's so cold!

can you see the turtle?!

kort got a kick out of these little monkeys!

enjoying the fishies

i think he had a good time :)

so i guess i didn't take too many pictures, or at least not many of them showed up very well. we saw a brown bear outside, some penguins, seals, orangutans, lots of pretty flowers, and other odd creatures. it was fun to get out of our cramped up hotel room and meet up with old friends!