Thursday, December 20, 2012

Christmas Letter 2012

Blessings to you this Christmas season. We hope that all is well.
Madison Marie turned 3 in March. She is our little actress and is always singing, performing, and dancing. She loves to play dress up and we haven't been able to get her out of her Snow White halloween costume since! She is such a sweet child who really loves with her whole being. She loves "taking care" of her younger sister and cousins, Aiden and Teddy, when they spend the day together while Mom and Dad are teaching. Her latest love are the Disney Princesses and she is always playing Princess. Poor Emma is always the King...haha. She is very excited about starting preschool next fall, and loves to read books, draw and write "messages".
 Emma Lea Ruth turned 2 in April. She is our little comedian. She really has two main emotions, happy and not... Emma loves her blankie and carries it with her where ever she goes. If she gets upset, the first thing she says is "blankie". Emma is doing her best to keep up with Madison. She is always right beside Madi, doing whatever Madi is doing. Minnie Mouse is Emma's favorite character and she loves to have anything Minnie. Emma also loves very deeply and is very affectionate when she wants to be. She loves to give hugs, kisses and cuddles, which Mom and Dad love!
Brandon is enjoying only having to teach in one classroom this year. He is no longer teaching machining, and can now focus his energy on his computer aided drafting and engineering classes. He is still coaching the robotics competition team, and they are busy getting ready for the next competition this coming spring. The boys he started coaching in junior high are seniors this year, so it will be a bittersweet end to the school year as they graduate. He also sponsors the Energy Resources Club. Brandon is busy doing home improvement this fall as we attached our house to our garage with an addition. This new space will be a mud room and office. It is crazy how much bigger our house feels! He has also been helping my dad and grandpa complete numerous building projects around the place. (2 garages, 2 additions, residing, and finishing).
 I am currently in my 8th year teaching mathematics and engineering. It is hard to believe that I have been teaching that long. I still feel very new at this! I have been very busy this fall as I am teaching an after school extended learning opportunity for students who need additional support in mathematics. This keeps me at school until 4:30 three nights a week. I cosponsor the Energy Resources Club with Brandon and that takes up another afternoon. I am finally starting to find time to work on projects of my own, but the girls always want to help! Haha.
 We bought a camper this past summer and spent most of June and July in the mountains. We managed to camp in the Big Horns, Black Hills, and in the Rockies near Wolf Creek Pass. The girls love camping and really are excited to continue this past time next summer.
 We are greiving the loss of two grandparents this year. My great-grandma passed away in September, and Brandon's Gram passed away in November. It has been a hard fall. We miss them both dearly and there will be two big gaps in our Christmas celebrationi this year.
 We finally have our house to ourselves. So we have a guest bedroom that is ready for company. We would love to have visitors, so please come see us!
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed new year.
Thank you to my sister Jenni Hitt for the wonderful pictures! They turned out great!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Fun Valley 2012

 We had such a great time in Fun Vally this year. The girls loved hanging out with their "Texas Cousins".
We had a movie night outside one night...the five of these kids really enjoyed watching the movie and playing on the air mattress...which was a main feature of entertainment all week.
..  
Another favorite of the week was the inflated raft. The kids all played on it in and out of the water...
 Creighton and Emma
 Madi trying to tackle Ellie and Aunt Earline
 Emma playing on mommy's phone while lounging in the raft
 Madi successfully tackling Ellie (She eventually tackled Ellie who was holding on the Earline and Madi brought them both down on the air mattress!)
 Madison Marie
 Posing for the camera much?
 Ellie
Briley
Emma Bean
 All five on a wagon ride...
Brandon tried to fish all week long, and didn't have his usual level of success...but was still able to catch a few...we still have a bag of fish in the freezer waiting on the right time for a fish fry.
 Madison's fish that she helped Daddy Catch...(Love Emma's expressions....)
 Emma Lea's fish that she helped Daddy Catch
 "Emma, What kind of fish did you catch?" "A Big One!!"
Madison got to explore the arcade...and she had a blast...I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to drag her out of there!


Fourth of July Parade
 Creighton wasn't too thrilled that GiGi didn't come with him...
 Briley posing for the camera
 Ladybug tattoos that the girls had to have on their cheeks
We participated in the annual boat race down the South Fork of the Rio Grande River
 Our homemade boats
 Always posing for the camera
The girls loved their new camper! Here they are on the loft in their "room" of the camper...that thought that was really too cool.
 We took the girls mini golfing before we headed home...Madi talked about going all week....and then wanted nothing to do with putting the ball and just wanted to play on the decorations...

 Daddy helped Emma through the course...but by about the 4th hole she was tired of using the putter, and then it became putt putt soccer...kicking the ball into the cup on each hole...


We had a great week and were so glad that we were able to visit with everyone from down South. We can't wait for next year...Madi is already talking about going again...and everything is related to how far away is Fun Valley...









June

June brought along some changes for us...

Brandon's grandmother moved to a rehabilitation hospital in Casper to try and recover from her stroke that she had this spring. We made the two hour drive often to go visit her. This is Madison and her cousin Joey sitting together in YaYa's room in Casper.
 School ended and we were finally able to start enjoying some time together as a family.
 The four Cone Cousins (Madi, Aiden, Emma, Teddy) got to play outside together a lot...they loved playing in the little pool. Notice that there are more balls in the pool that there is room for kids.
 Brandon's parents set up their pool again this summer...We love to go swimming there and cool off in the heat. We put all of the Cone Cousins in the pool while it was filling up...they thought that was awesome!
 Teddy really had a ball...chasing the balls...(sorry for the bad pun!)
 We also spend a few days visiting with my great-grandma who is living in a local assisted living facility. This is the picture the girls painted for Nanny while we were visiting one day...it is still displayed proudly on Nanny's fridge and she talks about it every time we see her.
We spent the month camping in our new camper. We went to the Bighorn Mountains the first weekend in June,...and woke up to snow! The next weekend we went to the Black Hills and had much nicer weather. We ended the month in southern Colorado for our annual trip to Fun Valley!

Monday, July 16, 2012

May

Grandpa Hitt's new car


I had a hard time getting them out of the car that day 

 Uncle Brad's 25th Birthday Cake
 Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

 Granddad Cone and his girlies
Mother's Day flowers...too beautiful to not share 
 Emma putting shoes on at the park
 Granddad Cone and his girlies...they love to look at the pictures on his phone