I told Shawn that New Year’s Eve 2014, was officially the most boring New Year’s Eve I have ever had.  Tabetha and Jarom went to a church dance, and Shawn and I spent the evening packing and preparing for our trip to Anchorage the next day.  The rest of the kids just ran amuck the whole night.   I folded and sorted clothes into piles for hours, and while I hollered, “get me your Sunday shoes,”  or “where are your gloves,” the neighbors littered the night with the occasional firework.  Around 11:45 pm the kids headed downstairs to watch the ball drop on t.v. and I knew the New Year had arrived when the neighbors shot off their final rounds of fireworks.

Even though our New Year’s Eve was nothing to brag about, it was all for a good cause, because we got to spend the weekend in Anchorage with our cousins and with BFF Amy (@ Adventure Permitted) and her family who are visiting her family for the holidays.

We had a wonderful 4 day trip.  It was so nice to get out of town and leave our cares behind for a few days.  The highlight of our trip was the afternoon we spent sledding with Amy and her extended family.  It was about 5*F out that day, but Amy brought hot chocolate and cookies to help us stay warm.  It was Camdon’s first time sledding and he was not too excited about it.  I took him about half way up and as we came down I could hear him laughing.  I thought he was having fun, but when we got to the bottom I realized it was more of an, “I’m about to cry any second” sort of laugh.  All of the other kids had a great time.  Mya had fun but she only stayed outside for about 5 minutes.  She spent the rest of the time in the car, because as she says, “I’m an insider.”  meaning, “I don’t like to be outside when it is cold.”  The fact that one of our friends had a movie playing in her car could have had a little something to do with it.

After the sledding party we went to Amy’s sister’s house, ate pizza, and cuddled her sister’s 10 new labradoodle puppies. So ADORABLE! (you can see them here.)  There are several still available.  You know you want one.  Katie got $20 for her birthday from Grandma and tried to buy one while we were there.  Fortunately for us, $20 didn’t quite cover it, and so we won’t be adding a new puppy to the family.  Although, Katie is still holding out hope that they don’t all sell and that her $20 dollars will get her a new puppy after all.

At the end of the weekend it was sad to leave our cousins, sad to leave Amy and her family, and it was hard to come back home to reality and -30*F temperatures.  But, we were happy to get back to Tabetha who stayed home from the trip because she had to work.  It was so sad not having her with us and thinking that this is how life will be in a few short months when she moves away to school.  I’m glad to report that she did well for her first time home alone.  She kept the dog and horse alive, and she literally kept the home fire burning while we were gone without burning down the house, which is a plus.