Visit to Bryce Canyon

Bryce had to make a spontaneous trip down to St. George last weekend. So after taking care of his work and visiting with my brother, Benny, and his wife, Kayla, in Cedar City for the weekend, we decided to take a detour on the way home and visit Bryce Canyon. On the way there we drove through Red Canyon.  It was a nice preview of the rock formations that we would see soon afterwards.

Once we arrived, we stopped at the visitor center, watched a short film about the park, and looked around the little museum about the origins of the park and its early settlers and discovery.

Next we drove to some of the look-out points and saw the fabulous scenery.  There's not much prettier scenery than white and red limestone contrasting with snow.

Bryce has always wanted to visit the national park that shares his name, and not only did we see the park, but we saw his point as well.

And to top it all off, here are some panoramic views of a few of the canyons:

Winter Play Time

We've had fun in a variety of ways the past couple of weeks.  We started out the new year playing with cousins in the snow at Grandma & Grandpa Christensen's house,

we played in our own backyard,

and the girls had fun helping me unpack and playing in their bedrooms.

New Year - New School

Moving to Ogden means that Owen gets to go to a new school.  He is going to be going to Horace Mann Elementary school.  His new teacher's name is Mrs. Anderson.  Here he is on his first day at his new school:

New Year - New House

It's official!  After 10 years of marriage and living in 8 other apartments and houses, Bryce and I have purchased a home of our own.  It's a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in Ogden, Utah.  It is only about 15 minutes from Bryce's work, about a mile from Owen's new school, and it's only about a half hour away from Bryce's Mom and Grandma & Grandpa Christensen.

It has a nice big fenced yard for the kids to play in, and plenty of inside room for them to play as well.  It has a storage shed, garage, and covered parking in front of the garage.  Each of the kids will get to have their own bedroom and there is plenty of storage space.  It's not too big, and is a perfect starter home for us.  So, welcome home Allen Family. Let's work together to make this house our home.

Merry Christmas

Christmas was wonderful! After the kids got everyone up, we had a fun time opening presents and spending the morning as a family.  River loved the walker that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Royer (and I loved it because she was able to be happy without being held for a while).

The girls and I each received a special doll from Grandma Christensen, Owen got Legos and a telescope, and MayLynn got dress-ups and then was able to have a super-hero tea party.

And since one of the best parts of Christmas is enjoying and sharing your gifts, MayLynn made sure that we all had a chance to be a princess just like her.

And not be left out, Mommy and Daddy are getting the biggest Christmas present of all - this year we bought a house and will be moving to Ogden in just a couple of days.