San Antonio, TX January 5 - 8, 2011

San Antonio, Texas is a lot of fun. We stayed in the St. Anthony hotel by the Riverwalk. It was an awesome hotel with a lot of character. The beds were all high 4 poster beds which were beautiful. The boys room had 2 high 4 poster beds, 2 bathrooms, and 2 walk in closets. It was a beautiful room. Steve and I were jealous. Our room was beautiful also. We spent a lot of time walking the Riverwalk. We loved it. The only problem is that they drain the river once a year for cleaning and we got there the day they were draining it!! It was still a lot of fun and we enjoyed walking along the river and people watching. We also walked to the Alamo and went through there. Very interesting. We liked San Antonio a lot!

Christmas 2010

We spent most of December in Colorado and New Mexico. We had fun visiting with family and just hanging out. The boys loved the snow in Colorado and had fun playing with Grandma and Granddad's new puppy. All the cousins came over a lot and we enjoyed playing with them. One day we all made gingerbread houses. In New Mexico we got to go hunt for a Christmas tree at Nana and Papo's house and help them put it up.

Carlsbad, New Mexico December, 6 & 7, 2010

Christmas on the Pecos. That is what we went to on our evening in Carlsbad, New Mexico. After bundling up in coats and blankets, we boarded a boat that took us down the Pecos river. All the houses that border the river are all lit up with Christmas lights. It was a fun and when we got back we drank hot chocolate to try and warm up.

The next day we headed to Carlsbad Caverns. That was amazing!! I wasn't too sure I wanted to go down into that hole in the ground but it was really cool!! We walked into the cave which took us 800 feet under the ground. We saw so many cool formations. It was great!! It was quite a walk and the next day my legs were so stiff! That's how out of shape I am. We took the elevator back to the top and ate lunch at the restaurant. Yuck!! It was a very fun experience!

Arkansas, December 2, 3, 2010

Hot Springs, Arkansas was beautiful. We stayed right on the lake and in the morning the fog hanging over the lake was gorgeous!! We headed out early today so that we could dig for diamonds! Christopher was so sure that we were going to find a bunch of diamonds. He has been excited for this day for a long time. We had a lot of fun digging in the diamond fields and searching for diamonds but we didn't find any!!
We drove through fields and fields of cotton. They were harvesting and it was fun to see all the huge cotton bales.

Branson, Missouri

From Kansas City we headed over to Branson, Missouri. What a fun town. We stayed at a hotel that had a lot going on such as mini golf, swimming, games, and more. It was very cold there though so we didn't get to take advantage of a lot of the activities. There are so many different theaters in Branson and shows going on all day long. The first night we were there we went and saw the Hamner and Barber show. It was awesome!! It was part magic and part puppets with a ventriloquist. The boys absolutely loved it!! We sat in the front row and Riley got to be a part of the show. The second night we saw the Baldknobber show. That was really funny too. I really enjoyed all the costumes they changed into with each changing scene. The boys are now wanting to learn ventriloquism! They love to do puppet shows with their puppets they got in San Francisco so they are on their way!!! We had a great time in Branson!!

Missouri

We were able to visit Liberty Jail in Liberty, Missouri and see where Joseph Smith and others were held prisoners for 4 months. It was a very insightful to see the jail and hear all that they went through. They were forced to live under horrible conditions. We then went to Independence, Missouri and saw a bronze statue exhibit and the Mormon church visitors center. That was really cool. They had some awesome statues.

The World War I Memorial and Museum was our next stop. It is in Kansas City and has so much to see in it that we weren't able to cover it all. It was very interesting and we all learned a lot.

Across the street from the World War I Memorial was the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. We had a tour there and really enjoyed it. We saw a gold bar that was worth over $500,000, we stood next to a glass case which held $40 million dollars, and we watch as the workers bundled up the money and stacked it onto carts to be shipped out to the different banks. They even gave each of us a bag with $165 in it!! Too bad it was all shredded!!!

The Christmas lights at the Plaza in Kansas City are awesome. We were able to walk around and see the lights and visit a couple of stores but it was soooo.... cold that we didn't last long!

Kansas - Thanksgiving

We were able to spend some time in New Mexico with Steve's family. We had a great time! We had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Gloria's and got to see a lot of family. What fun!! Then it was off to Kansas for Thanksgiving. We stayed in Dodge City on the way to Centralia. We couldn't believe how many cows we saw around Texas. We stopped in Liberty, Kansas to see the Wizard of Oz museum. Fun!! What a great Thanksgiving! We ate and ate and ate and played cards and played cards and played cards!! FUN!!!