After patiently growing her hair out this past year or so, Jolynn got her haircut short again. I think she is pretty cute either way but she said she was more tempted to be lazy with long hair and just pull it back every day. She says this way she is forced to actually do her hair every day. It’s hard to see little Dallin’s first haircut, but he had an awful comb-over and I couldn’t stand it any more and buzzed him to about 1/4 inch for a fresh start. Thanks to our friends at Fanci Hair in SG for selling us some nice clippers when we moved to the country.

We had a fun day with just the 8 of us for Brianna’s Birthday party. Her kitchen playset hadn’t arrived so we ran to Wal-mart to get her something to unwrap. She got a play purse complete with giant pretend lipstick, a compact, cell phone and keys. Her kitchen playset arrived the next day and after a few painful hours of “some assembly required” she was happily making breakfast with her mini pots and pans she got from Santa. Her birthday cupcake tower was a big hit and Max kept confusing them with muffins and calling them Muf-cakes. She has worn her new hoodie from Jodi and Jennie for 3 days straight now and we finally snuck it into the washer.

In our 4th year now of this fun tradition we went down to the national finals rodeo with Grandpa Lee and Grandpa Chidester. It is fun to see all the cowfolks duded up and ready for Las Vegas. We enjoyed the rodeo which extremely well produced and very fast-paced. It was especially fun to attend this year as they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the NFR.

Outside of the Thomas and Mack every night before the rodeo is quite the big party with food and games for all. Travis was digging the ATT booth with the Guitar Hero game challenge. I was trying to do my best heavy metal band pose.

Travis was thrilled to find an actual xBox game at the Dodge booth where he played Cabelas big game hunt for nearly an hour. He kept getting in trouble by the fish & game for shooting Elk without a permit.

The cowboy christmas gift show is one of the major side-shows during the rodeo. Every thing western/cowboy can be found at this enourmous gift show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. We always like to check out the cars and trucks as well as the pimpin 5th wheels that they sell to rich cowboys.

We tried to save money by walking back to the hotel, but we took a wrong turn and ended up walking nearly a mile out of our way. When we finally got to a restaraunt for dinner Travis couldn’t hold his eyes open. We packed quite a bit of fun into one day with the two grandpas.

We went to Cedar City for the blessing of baby Sam, my sister Jodi’s 3rd boy. We tried to bring a heavy dose of femininity to the nearly all-boy household. Travis and Max were home sick with the flu so it turned into a fun Daddy daughter trip.

It was fun to be there for this special event and visit and play with the cousins. We tried to take pictures of the cute girls with their cute girl cousins but they promptly changed clothes as soon as we got back to the house.

Here is Jodi and Kyle with their new addition. Sam really is a sweet boy and is fun to hold. We had more fun playing with Kado and Zachy though.

Our big Thanksgiving Point vacation ended with birthday party for Jolynn back at her parents home in Richfield. Since we were traveling the entire day, Mom was kind enough to bake a cake and fix us a yummy dinner. We always love to go hang out with the Chidesters because we feel right at home there. The kids love to torment their teenage Uncles Justin and Brady.

The week before Thanksgiving we surprised the kids by having the car loaded for a surprise vacation. We let them get ready for school (it was a Wednesday) then we asked them if they would rather go to Thanksgiving Point and stay in a hotel. They were very excited and we had treat bags and activity packs in their seats in the car. It was a quiet drive as they watched the new pixar movie Wall-E.

The kids had a great time checking out the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. We got our money’s worth at the stations where the kids could touch and feel. This sandbox on steroids was a lesson in erosion and the kids nearly played for two hours. They kept building dams and then watching them break and wash away the dinosaurs.

The next surprise was a stop at the University Mall where we took the kids to the build-a-bear workshop. They each got to pick a stuffed animal and then one outfit for their new friend to wear.

Alyssa went with the traditional teddy bear and was more excited about getting online to play in the virtual build-a-bear town.

Hannah fell in love with a snow leopard and had a fun time helping to pump the stuffing in.

Max picked out a very sharp looking Cheetah whom he aptly named “Cheetah”.

Brianna was the cutest and didn’t care much for her cuddly penguin. She just wanted to wear the glasses and carry the purse. We met Jim and Barb and their family at the Wingers in Lehi for dinner and then went back to the hotel and swam in the pool. Afterwards I took the big kids to the movies to see Madagascar 2.

Our trip wasn’t complete until we got to go visit Granma and Grandpa Reeder at their new digs in Pleasant Grove. Grandpa Reeder enjoyed his first visit with baby Dallin. Grandma was quite chipper and was making the kids giggle by telling embarassing stories about their Dad (Jon). We spent the rest of the Day in Riverton playing with Jennie and her kids. Jennie was kind enough to watch our wild ones while we snuck off for Jolynn’s birthday lunch at Olive Garden.