Christmas

This is was our first White Christmas and I think I prefer Christmas to be a nice 70 degress.  Anyways Ryan's big present was a new hunting rifle so he can provide for the family when the world comes to and end and we are in the middle of nowhere starving.  I got a new fancy camera that I have to learn how to use but these pictures seem pretty good.  Owen was super spoiled and loved all his toys.  He also got some clothes and when I said look at your new jacket he replied no no.  He thought I was going to put it on him. 

All he wanted was to play with his new toy and mom wanted a picture first

Moms opening his toy so hes happy

Zoom in

Toy number one he forgot about the rest of the presents.

I told him if he opened this present he would find a car he's pretty happy!

With no family to visit we drove to Dinosaur park!

It was pretty slick good thing we had a rail to hold onto

Do you see the play dough in his hands he insists on carrying around

We had a great Christmas talking with family, opening presents, visiting to the park, Ryan grilling some yummy steaks, and warming up in the hot-tub. 

Holiday Express

The Holiday Express is alot like the Polar Express.  You take a train ride up to the North Pole while the elves bring you cookies and hot coco as you hear a Christmas story.  When you reach the North Pole Santa gets on board and brings all the kids a bell.  Owen was so excited to go I asked him if he wanted to go ride a train to see Santa and get a present and he got all excited.  So we got our tickets and since we had some time to kill went to the train and tree museum. 

Did not want to pose for a picture

Owen loved the model trains.

Time to play

Train ride

Checking everyone out

Look at his big cookie.  He heard the song Frosty the Snowman and jumped up to look out the window for Frosty.

Here comes Santa and Mrs. Clause Owen hid as soon as he saw them, but he took the bell from Santa.

Bye bye train.

The train ride was just long enough.  The last 15min or so Owen was getting kinda restless ready to go.  We got lucky and had the handicap row so there was some extra room for him.  Merry Christmas!

Storybook Island

One of my faviorite things about Rapid City is Storybook Island.  It's only open Memorial Day to Labor Day but during Christmas they light it all up and have special evening openings.  One night we got all bundled up and headed out.  We told Owen we were going to see lights and Reindeer.  He was so excited to see Reindeer.  We walked around the park a couple times but decided to skip waiting in line for the train and to see Santa it was too cold.  

Since we didn't see the real Santa we stoped for a picture with the fake Santa.  As you can tell Owen is still skeptical about the statue Santa.

                                            Lights lights and more lights

                       The Reindeer Comet and Vickson were there that night.  

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was different this year with no family around.  Ryan wanted to hunt and cook his own turkey but turkeys are smart.  They knew where the line was between public and private land and stayed on the side where Ryan wasn't allowed to shoot them.  Since he didn't get one and I didn't  want to cook a big dinner for the 3 of us we went out.  Golden Corral would be the best place for Owen.  Owen sat in a high hair the whole time.  I'm guessing cause it was green and I let him play with the salt and pepper shakers.  He refused to eat anything but corn and cake.  We had a good time.  The food was better than anything I would have made and lots of different things to choose from.

Owens birthday

So it was Owens birthday and I hadn't got him a present because he already has every toy imaginable and prefers to go through mom and dad's stuff.  So I went to target and got him a book and then we took him to walmart and let him pick out a balloon and a green ball.  Green is his faviorite color.  We tried to have him take a nap but he just wanted to play with Dada.  After an hour of trying I went and got him and the first words out of his mouth were dada.  Don't let that fool you, he is still a mamas boy, dada is just more fun to chase and wrestle with.   We introduced him him to Frosty the Snowman which he loved then took him to his faviorite place the mall.  He loves to play at the mall.  We stoped by Toys R Us on the way home to see if they had anymore play dough on sale and Owen screamed the rest of the way home because he wanted to go back to the store. That evening there was a parade we wanted to go so we got all bundled up.  On the way home Owen fell asleep since he didn't take his nap so we woke him up for cake and ice cream and then sent him back to bed.  

                                 The mall

 This is how Owen feels about wearing a jacket.  He was happy once the parade started and there was a bunch of lights.

                                  Owens cake he is saying hot hot

Badlands

Ryan had a 4 day weekend for veterans day.  It was nice having him home.  One of those days we went to the Badlands.  As you can tell it was freezing and windy.  Owen was a trooper and only complained a little about getting in and out of the car.

                                                                Family picture!

                                   Animal tracks sad we didn't see any real animals

                 Owen climbing the mountain

                                                   Ryan in the Badlands

     

                       Owens crying cause he wanted me to take him up there.

Halloween

Owen was a pumpkin again this year for Halloween.  He however did not like dressing up.  I forced him into his costume for the ward trunk or treat.   He eventually had fun when he saw the candy he was getting.  A couple other parties I didn't force him into his costume but on Halloween I bribed him to put his costume on.  I asked him if he wanted to go trick or treating and get candy he said yea but wouldn't put his costume on.  I told him if you want to get candy you have to wear this he eventually gave in.  He had his Halloween bag but insisted on bringing his Lego bag to.  The next morning I asked him do you want muffins or pancakes for breakfast his response was candy.  

Bison museum

Ryan had Columbus Day off which was nice.  We wanted to do something.  We were planning on bear county or reptile gardens but it was raining so we went to the bison museum.  They had a kid area where Owen colored a bison, dug up bones, played with stuffed animals.  He loved the big buffalo I told him go day hi.  Ryan watched a movie about them and apparently the government was trying to kill them all off because the Indians depended on them to survive but later the same government changed its mind and the bison survived in different sanctuaries.  

Temple trip

I've been spoiled most of my life living 15 minutes from the temple.  Even in Tucson when we were 2 hours away we had no kids and would go when we came up to visit our parents.  Now the temple is 5 1/2 hours away in Bismark ND.  That's an 11 hour drive in one day with a 2 year old.  We decided to try it the youth were babysitting for the session at 11.  We loaded up and left at 5 am.  Owen did great in the car and slept for almost 3 more hours.  Then it hits me, is Bismark in the same time tone as us?  It probably is they would have mentioned it at church if it wasn't right?  An hour later we see the sign entering central time zone.  Ahh we won't make it we will get there right as the session starts.  Ryan tells me change in the car and run in maybe you can make it and I'll stay with Owen.   The session was full and had already started but I did get to do some sealings so the trip wasn't a total waste.  Afterwords we let Owen play at mcdonalds to get a bunch of wiggle outs.  I drove home which left Ryan to entertain Owen he did fine we didn't make him sit in his car seat the whole time.   The last hour during dinner time Ryan was trying to feed Owen and he decided to go pout in the corner because I wasn't paying attention to him.  Anyways we decided we never want to do that again it's a long day.  Next time we will spend the night.  

Spearfish

My parents choose the best week to visit Rapid City.   The government shutdown ment we couldn't go to Mt Rushmore or any national parks around here, and the blizzard closed everything else.  We did go see the light show at Crazy Horse which was freezing but Owen still oooed and awed at it.  The last day they were here we decided to drive to spearfish canyon.  I wanted to take the one mile hike to the waterfall where the last scene of Dances with Wolfs was filmed but it was covered in snow.  We had a nice drive and even saw some deer can you see them in the picture?  They are in the water by the snow on the left in the back.  We ended up stopping in Deadwood so we could stretch our legs and wandered through the shops.  It's a town like Vegas hotels, gambling, and tourist shops.  

Snow

So the weather report kept getting worse and worse for the big storm.  First it was just suppose to be really cold, then they added snow, then they said a few inches of snow and finanally they turned it into a blizzard.  I was hoping the weather report would be wrong and no snow would come.  My parents were suppose to get here that night I didn't want the flights canceled.  We ended up getting 20-26 inches of snow ah.  My parents didn't get here tell Sunday morning and they had to drive from Denver because the airport was still closed.  The night before the big storm we went to get snow clothes.  Let me tell you target was stripped clean.  There was one hat left for Owen, I had to go to walmart to get Owen snow pants and they only had one left in his size.  The one good thing about the storm was Ryan got sent home early.  Our power went out but our sweet neighbor knowing this was our first storm brought us soup and a latern.  We found a hand crank radio that we jammed out to and Owen shinned the flash light around the room.  We were stuck Home for 3 days but luckily we have an indoor pool and hottub we went to each day.  

So the day of the storm, it was snowing when we woke up and Owen wanted to go see.  I told him it was cold and he had to wear his jacket after pitching a fit he let me put it on him.  

Once we got outside he didn't like the snow blowing in his face so we went back inside.  

He wanted to go outside with dada later that day.  Then the snow was back in his face and he wanted inside.   This happened a couple times he wanted to see the snow then he would go outside and change his mind right away.

So we brought the snow inside to him and made snowballs.

This is Ryan the next morning climbing around in the snow.

So when you are stuck inside all day what do you do.  Vacuum I put Owen to work.  Haha

Anyways this was the 2nd worst storm rapid city has ever had.  The most snow they ever had in October was 2 inched and we get 20.  I guess the snow was just waiting for us Arizonans.  We are suppose to get more snow tomorrow hopefully not as much.

Pumpkin festival

Rapid city doesn't have a pumpkin patch.  I can't find one when I search on google and when I asked some said I don't know.  Sad day maybe there is one somewhere that I just can't find.  They did however have a pumpkin festival.  It was downtown and farmers brought pumpkins to sell.  Owen loves trains so I tried to get him to go on the train ride but when I walked away he tried to clime out.  He can't be with out his mama.  They had some giant pumpkins we didn't stick around to see who one the contest for the biggest pumpkin.    We did go see the school of mines catapult pumpkins.   Each team got 3 pumpkins.  The first one was suppose to go 100 ft, then 200 ft, then the last one 300 ft.  Every time they would shoot the pumpkin Owen would go oooo and then clap for them.  He loved it.   Then of course we had to buy some pumpkins.  It was a fun morning.

Devils Tower

On Saturday we ventured into Wyoming.  About 2 hours from Rapid City is Devils Tower which is the first national monument.  Since it was a long drive and we know Owen wont last more than half and hour we left during his nap time.  He was such a good boy and slept the whole way which means I got to enjoy the drive instead of having the I pad, toys, and cheerios thrown at me. We did the small musuem first which told us about the legion of Devils Tower.  A couple of kids were running from a bear praying for help when the ground lifted them up.  The bear then tried to clime up the tower leaving his claw marks.  There is also the scientific approach that the tower is millions of years old and has changed over time.  After the museum there is a one mile loop around the base of the Tower which Owen made us push him through.  He got out and walked for a few minutes then made us push him again.  There are other trials which are longer we tried to do part of another one but after 10 feet Owen sat on the ground pouting cause he wanted to go back.  O well we went to the prairie dog fields after and watched them clime in and out of there holes. It was a fun hot trip here are my pictures. 

We stopped for a scenic pic and Owen woke up.

Owen kept saying Tower Tower as we got closer

Prairie Dogs

Owen checking out there holes or homes

Spearfish fish hatchery

Owen had such a fun day yesterday that he slept in an extra hour this morning.  I got to remember hiking tires him out.  It started though with going to clean the church.  Us and another family had small kids so we put them in the nursery while we went to work.  I was surprised that Owen stayed there as long as he did without coming to look for me.  Then we went home for lunch and a nap.  We were trying to find something fun to do as a family that afternoon most things close at 4 now that the tourist have gone home.  I found the fish hatchery.  We timed it perfect since it stoped raining when we got there.  We feed fish, went to a museum, and did a hike.  On the way home we stopped at a diner for dinner and Ryan got his fish and chips.  We also stopped off at target.  Ryan wanted to look at some electronics and tried to get Owen to go look at tvs but owen has moved on.  Instead of liking the tvs when we go to target he likes the toys.  He finds cars, trains, balls and of course the Jake and the neverland pirates boat.  We got  home just in time for a bath and to put Owen to bed.  Here are some pictures of the fish hatchery.

                                                        The entrance 

                                          I love all the trees and the bridge

        Owen feeding the fish balls.  They would jump up when we threw food to them.

 Our hike had lots of stairs Owen would sometimes let us help him and other times insist on doing it      himself. 

      

                                       Owen at the train to bad it's closed.

                              Quick stop to quack with the ducks.