CASCADE

Just got back from an amazing trip at Cascade Lake! Every year, for as long as I can remember, my family has vacationed here for our annual "Lewis Family Reunion." This was the first year that Swede was able to join us, so I wanted to share a few pics from his "newbie" experience :)

THE MOORE CLAN

I will admit -- we are all a bit silly ...

Swede out early, gettin' in a good morning ski

Yes, Swede truly loved his tube rides

I might have had to push Swede off this bridge to get him to jump with me...

"Flying" off the zipline! Nice form Swede :)

On Sunday we all gathered together to play "Minute to Win it" The following 3 pictures and 2 videos are us trying to complete each task in under 60 seconds... this was SUPER fun ! I would recommend these games to everyone, a great activity for friends or family! (can find online)

Okay yes, it looks a bit grungy... but its a family tradition. haha We enjoyed a little dip in the hot springs at White Licks.

Another family tradition -- rafting the Payette. SO fun. We may have flipped the raft on the ginormous rapids, we had to make sure Swede wouldn't ever forget the trip... haha

We ended the trip with a refreshing canal float

Swede and I were amazed by how beautiful the mountains were. For some reason, living in Texas had made us forget just how breathtaking they are. Oh how we miss them! Hopefully we will be able to make the trip again next year, our fingers are crossed :)

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

"Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has been proudly freaking out families for over 90 years."

After spending a few hours at Ripley's Odditorium, Swede and I have to agree with its' "freakyness" ! We visited the Odditorium a couple weekends ago for something fun and different to do, and we were not disappointed. There are some pretty cool things they have collected over there, and we would recommend checking out any Ripley's near you. It is definitely a fun family experience!

Here are some pics from our little adventure:

State of Texas made out of RATTLESNAKE skins

Shrunken HUMAN head

This tribe is known for wearing as many as 28 rings on their NECK

Tallest man in the world: 8 FEET 11.1 INCHES

COOPER LAKE

So Swede has been BEGGING me to take him camping lately and I finally gave in..... ha ha. Yeah right, it's actually been more of the other way around... But anyway, we finally whipped out our new tent and roasting sticks and decided to explore the great outdoors. We ended up having a really great time together, us and the pup. It was fun to sit outside and enjoy nature.... and watch Dallas try and eat every single stick at our site.... We truly loved just relaxing. And lets be honest, roasting hot dogs and s'mores, who wouldn't camp just for the food !

Our lovely little bed, sheets and all! My mother would be so proud...

Oh yes, he definitely came home one dirty little dog.

Swede's favorite part... creating the perfect fire :)

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

I wanted to share this cute Valentines card that I designed for my fabulous Aunt Wendy and her adorable little fam... The saying "all you need is love" really caught my eye when searching for a fun quote for the card - because isn't that so true? Love seems to cure (or at least soften) most misfortunes...

So spread the love :)

Valentines Day truly is a day for celebrating the affection and warmth that you share with those closest to you. So cheers to the day of love.

Enjoy the doting you receive !

CHRISTMAS FUN

tradition |trəˈdi sh ən|noun1 the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.• a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on in this way.

Christmas would not be Christmas without our fun, and sometimes quirky, Moore traditions. Its shared family moments like the following that help to put Christmas in the air and get us thinking about why it's such a wonderful time of year. A family favorite of ours is definitely decorating ginger bread houses. My Dad baked the gingerbread, Swede hot glue-gunned the houses together, and then we all went to town with the candy :) SO fun.

Ah... and the Nativity. I'll admit that this is becoming a bit peculiar now that we are all much older, but as a little kid this was the funnest part about Christmas Eve for me.

Another tradition on Christmas Eve at The Moore's is to share a talent. And since Swede and I are fresh out of sharable talents (no melodious voices, gifted magic tricks, or artistic dance moves...) SO, my sisters signed Dallas up to share his little talents. HAHA

Here we are at the beginning of our Murder Mystery dinner... trying to sport some 60's fashions. This is actually a new tradition that we just started. And I must say, this night had many good laughs:)

Now, I guess napping isn't technically a Christmas tradition... but I think it would be safe to say that we all enjoy relaxing as much as we can on our holiday vacations !

And I just had to share this next picture... Sierra can never get quite enough of the dog when we visit, and as you can see, she has all types of fun with him :)

While visiting Houston, we all got the chance to tour the Chevron building downtown where my Dad works (the old Enron buildings) Pretty neat!

And of course, we had to eat some of the good ol' local Texan food around the corner :) Can you say onion rings? YUM

A neat family moment shared at the Houston Temple.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year! Cheers to 2011!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Swede and I didn't get around to sending out Christmas cards this year (naughty us) but we still wanted all of our family and friends to know that we are thinking of you and want to wish you all every happiness this Christmas season and throughout the coming year! Merry Christmas!

HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES

It may be a bit early, but Swede and I have already carved pumpkins for Halloween. They are now wilting on our front porch, but I was SO in the mood for some yummy roasted pumpkin seeds that we invited some friends over last Tuesday for a little carving action. I'm thinkin this might be only round one... you can never carve too many pumpkins right? Check out our creations :)

We were also lucky enough to have my mom and little sister Sierra come visit us for some great weekend fun. We took them to the Dallas Arboretum and were super impressed with all its' Halloween displays... they have MILLIONS of pumpkins there.

Sierra also wanted Swede to teach her a little of his golf wisdom... so me, my mom, and Sierra, having never done anything outside of some mini-golf, tried our best to hit our very first bucket of balls at a golf range. I never realized hitting a golf ball could feel so funny, especially when Swede makes it look so easy. We first timers felt a bit like fish out of water but definitely had a lot of fun together :)

So along with my craft cravings (listed below, haha) I've kinda been on a cooking craze as well. So while the fam was here I decided to make a few things I've never made before. We had homemade donuts, festive wreath cookies, some rice pudding, and peanut brittle. Yes, SO healthy I know. But lets be real, its only fun making the truly tasty treats :)

We finished up with a bit of pumpkin painting and called it a wonderful weekend!

Yes, Dallas is wearing a Halloween sweater :) Compliments of the grandmuppie... haha