Grandpa's new addition

 My dad got a wild hair about a month ago and decided he would like to add a horse to his farm. My mom wasn't happy about the idea of having a horse in her back yard so my dad asked the neighbors if he could put it on their unused horse property for a monthly fee. They agreed and problem solved. :) His name is Chance. He's really gentle which is perfect for the kids.

 Madison even took a ride with me. She had a lot of fun, but was pretty okay with getting off too.

 It's been years and years since I've actually ridden a horse, but it was really fun and he is so easy to guide.

It's a lot of fun to have him around. My dad is trying to talk Alan into getting one too...I'm going to say that's not going to be happening...at least for awhile. :)

Daddy's friend Frank

 Two days after Christmas Alan drove down to Las Vegas and picked his buddy Frank up at the airport. Frank was Alan's mission companion in El Salvador. He is from Honduras and is visiting the United States for the first time. We have had a lot of fun showing him around and showing him what the day to day life of an American is.

 He was really excited to see Zion's park so we went up there the first weekend he was here. It was the perfect day. Nearly 60 degrees in the park. So nice!

 We got out and hiked the lower Emerald Pools hike. The water was barely a trickle, but it was still pretty up there.

 We saw some doe at Emerald Pools.

 And some big horn sheep up on the Checkboard Mesa, which was really neat. I'd never seen the sheep in the park before.

The next weekend we took Frank to Snow Canyon and hiked around some more. It was so much fun to get outside and I think the girls especially loved it.

It's been a lot of fun to show Frank around. He went up to Salt Lake this past week. We were going to go up with him, but we decided, finance wise (and work wise), that we shouldn't. It turned out good because we have been fighting the flu and coughs and ear infections for the past week...not fun! We are on the mend though and I'm sure he's having more fun up there with his other old companions than he would with us anyway...haha.

Christmas

I looked at my camera and realized that I didn't capture Christmas very well. I guess I was enjoying myself too much to whip out the camera...oops :) I thought I would share some of the pictures I did get. They are all of the girls opening their presents. Madison was REALLY excited for Santa to come this year. We had to wake the girls up early to get over to my parents house and when I woke her up and told her Santa had come she jumped up and said "Where is he?" Poor thing thought he would still be hanging out waiting to see her. She was a little disappointed, but really excited when she saw her gift.

 Santa brought Madison a trunk full of dress ups! So fun!

 As you can see. :)

 Ken got a fun leapfrog toy/book. She loves the songs it sings to her.

It was a lot of fun. Actually the whole week before and after Christmas was a blast with family and friends. I wish I had taken more pictures.

Cody's in AFRICA!

I realized that I hadn't posted at all about Cody and his mission, so here it is! Back in Mayish (? I think) Cody was called to serve in the Mozambique, Maputo mission in Africa, Portuguese speaking . When he opened his call and tried to pronounce the place we were all shocked! Africa?! Crazy. The date he went into the MTC though wasn't until July 19th so he had awhile to wait. A few weeks later he got a letter from his mission president saying that he would most likely serve in the Angolan region of the mission, a different country on the other side of the continent. This region is pretty new and there were only about 20 missionaries TOTAL who had gone there. So we didn't know much about it. He got his Visa for Angola and left for the MTC. He spent 9 weeks there and really enjoyed it. I think he learned alot about himself as a person and the Gospel and Our Savior. When the time came for Cody to go to Africa I think everyone was a little nervous. He was going halfway around the world and we couldn't communicate with him by anything but email for 2 years...weird. He got there and we found out there is no mail system in Angola...meaning mailed letters and packages were pretty much an impossibility. If we do want to risk sending him a package it would cost about $200 and the chances of it actually getting to him are slim to none. So we get a weekly email and that's about it. Haha!

He is really loving it there though...you can just tell he is so happy! Cody's mission presidents wife keeps up a blog about all the happenings in the Angolan mission. Cody is currently serving in the city of Luanda. Here are some pictures of him and his zone...my favorite is the one of him and his companion in their apartment...pretty sweet! I especially love the dolphins on the wall.

These are some pictures that Sister Walton posted on the blog of scenes of Luanda. Cody says they have no traffic laws there. He said it's like being in LA traffic with no laws. Scary! It's all dirt roads. He said that people really carry baskets on their head...so cool. And in many places there isn't electricity so they do all their washing (dishes, clothes, etc.) in the river. It's really crazy to realize that there are still places in the world that are like this. 

Cody is doing really well, I'm sure we don't hear the bad stuff that is actually going on, but he seems to really be enjoying himself. And we get to talk to him in about a week! We actually might get to skype which would be really fun!

If you want to keep up with him and how he is doing we have a blog where we post all his emails. It's http://farewlltotheusahelloangola.blogspot.com/. You can also check out the Angola mission blog at http://angolaluandamission.blogspot.com/

Daddy's Reindeer

Last Saturday Alan told me and the girls that he wanted to do a Christmas activity for lunch. I was all about that! I don't think they've eaten as good as they did that day for a long time!

 He got out the bread, peanut butter, pretzels, raisins, and fruit snacks.

 Madison even spread the peanut butter all by herself.

 And they made little reindeer! They were so cute and the girls were really excited!

 Ken gives these looks quite often. She looks confused and thinks we are a bunch of weirdos. haha.

 That's more like it. She really is the happiest girl!

And she sure loves her daddy. They both love him so much. When he's around all they want to do is play and wrestle with daddy. If Alan's around I'm pretty much chopped liver.

Madison's princess mirror

Madison has really enjoyed all her spoils from her birthday, but she was especially excited to decorate her princess mirror that Beth got her. Everyday for almost a week she would say mom can I do this today. Finally we had a day that we weren't busy so we sat down and prettied it up! (of course Ken was down for a nap!)

She had so much fun with the jewels and stickers and glitter glue...I need to let her do stuff like this more often. She is so proud of her mirror!

Ken's first piggies!

 Kennedie's hair has grown really slowly...well slower than Madison's. It's a lot thicker than Madison's was, but it's finally long enough to get it in piggies! She sat pretty still to do it, which rarely happens. It turned out so cute! It didn't stay in all day, but it was fun while it lasted.

 

I can't believe how big my baby is getting!!!