Well, another attempt at catching up . . . Jan 1-Jan 8 we were in Arizona, and as we were basking in the fabulous sunshine, our friends back home were experiencing ALOT of snow and the “arctic blast”, it was a wonderful week to be away!

Some favorite shots of the week

We hiked almost every day

Love this one of Mom & Marian:)

And, this is actually much scarier than it looks.  

We were outside of Sedona looking for the Devils Arch trail, it was not well marked and while we weren’t “lost” exactly, we were definitely not on the right trail (and not on a trail at all!).  Beneath that brush line in the picture was a huge drop off.  I freaked out after awhile and we turned back, I was praying the whole time.  The worst part, we never got to see the amazing view and feel like we need to go back!

Horseback riding with Ez, Mari & Dad

And, we ended the week traveling to Hoover Dam, which was awesome but we also liked the beautiful Black Canyon.  This was an old railway trail–we were convinced we would see a Mountain Goat!  We didn’t, continuing our sad trend of not seeing any animals in the wild;0.

And, for my final 2013 picture post (ugghh, it’s really April isn’t it!).

Each year we take a family picture in front of the tree or wherever, I keep each picture in a little red 4×6 album and love to bring it out and look through them and watch us all age;)

We gave the kids a cookbook for Christmas (it was an one we already had but they had never seen it!), so the boys each picked out recipes and Daddy helped them make dinner.  Ezra made mac & cheese, had to make a roux and then a béchamel sauce (we had him practice saying those fancy words).

And, Tobin made some good pasta & meatballs

We headed to a cool raptor sanctuary & hike during Christmas break

And, did a little urban hiking, looking for some ultra warm winter boots, found some that were rated for -45 degrees and boy did I use them this winter!

I’m at the end of 2013!  The kids wanted to help shovel the drive, but decided making a giant maze was far more interesting & fun;)

It was perfect snowball making snow, so they built some barricades

And had a major snow ball fight

Mari decided to take her bricks and get closer

And, then came the tackling

And, quite shockingly no one got hurt and no one cried!