Snowshoes.

We got snowshoes for Christmas.  We tried them out in the foothills near our house.

 They worked great and we had so much fun.  There were deer tracks everywhere.

We were above the inversion layer where the nice, clean air was.  Ahhhh.

We will be doing this a lot this winter.  Dave read that you burn 600 calories an hour while snowshoeing.  But even if I didn't burn a single calorie, I would still do it again.

Christmas Day 2013

In our jammies on Christmas morning. 

 I loved having Alex with us.

 And it was so great to have Steph, Jared and Shad there that morning, too!

It was Shad's first Christmas with his parents.

 After opening our stuff, we headed over to the Mason's to see if Santa had visited them.
The jolly old fellow always leaves exotic fruit in Ashley's stocking.  This year it was a tiny pineapple and miniature bananas. Brigs was afraid to touch the pineapple.

 Logan scored with Legos.

 

 So did James.

This family is so crazy about Legos they even had a Lego advent calendar.  So very cool.

 Next we drove over to see what the Stower's got.  Lily was happy with her stash.

 Miss Olivia loves her new doll.

And Jack made us come down in their basement to see his motorized scooter.

 Santa was good to this fam.

Later that afternoon, everyone dropped by our place for food and visiting.  We got to see Megan and Andrew for the first time since the wedding.  They left later that day with the McKnights for California for four days.

 I'm so glad Dad Grose was able to come up.  He's a trooper.

 Cute sissies.

 Shad kept stealing Brighams puffs.

 

 And in a minor, but nice, Christmas Day miracle, my amaryllis bloomed that very morning.

Yay for Christmas!

The 23rd and 24th

Christmas Eve Eve found all of us at our home celebrating with the grandkids acting out the story of the Nativity. 

We also had dinner and exchanged gifts.  It was wonderful. Roo and Megs were the only ones not there as they were still on their honeymoon.

 Christmas Eve we spent out at my parent's house. 

 They had the usual dinner, program and white elephant gift/game.

 

 

A forever family.

Shad Allen Smedley was sealed to his parents in the Bountiful Temple on December 21, 2013.

 The little guy brings us all more joy than we can ever express.

 

 

 

 

 

 With his Great-Grandpa Grose.

 The next day was Shad's blessing day at Church.  Steph's friend, Sierra, took these amazing pictures.

 She got a cute shot of Brigham, too.

The Smedley's.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wayne Grose - December 20, 2013

 

 Andrew married Megan McKnight in the Brigham City Temple.

 

 The best part of this picture is Alex and Jud photo bombing.

 They chose not to have a wedding reception.  They had a dinner in an old building in downtown Ogden.  It was beautiful.

The exposed brick made for some great photos.

The Stowers.

The Masons.

  The Smedleys.

They had some life-size games set up for the kids.  Brigham looked cute, indeed.

 Megan's mom had everyone light huge paper lanterns that floated up in the sky and Roo and Megs left that night.  With the snow on the trees I thought it all looked magical.

Wishing these two a beautiful eternity together.