Tree Hunting

We were invited to go tree hunting with some good friends yesterday. I was reminded of past tree hunting expeditions we had while living in Reno. I have been super blessed to have great friends everywhere we have lived - Lori Knight is one of my best friends from Reno. I met her while still living in Eugene - we had a mutual friend who introduced us while we were both in the stages of moving to Reno. I called Lori in panic when we first got to Reno in a moving truck full of furniture that I didn't want to help lift (I was pregnant with Abby). I called hoping she could help me find what ward we were going to be in - instead, she sent her husband clear across town (20-30 minute drive) to help us. Then, she came and got the boys the next day for a couple of hours so that I could finish unpacking without their help. We stayed good friends for the next couple years - even though she lived quite far away from us. Ethan went to pre-school with her kids and she was always willing to babysit the boys for doctors appointments or whatever. We joined their family for many events - including Christmas when I was too pregnant to travel to Utah. When we were looking at houses to buy - we ended up in her neighborhood - in fact, we bought the house 3 doors down the Knights and were neighbors for a couple of months. The reason I am including all this history is because the Knight/Forbush families always invited us to join us when they went to get their Christmas tree. They would mail off for permits from California and we would drive 1 1/2 to 2 hours to find the good trees. Anyway, I always enjoyed those trips and so yesterday was quite nostalgic as we joined the Heaton/Larsen family to hunt for the "perfect" tree.
The snow was deep on Cedar Mountain - which made the trip a bit shorter for us. We found our "perfect" tree right away though (the fact that it was relatively close to the road might have made it even more perfect). It looks really big from the picture here - we did have to cut off a bit - but it is by far the most well-balanced tree we have ever had.
Both boys wanted a turn with the saw - they are starting to get soooo big (maybe by next year they will even be able to drag the tree back to the car for me).

Abby also wanted to try the saw - however, she was easily distracted - here is her attempt of a snow angel.

We got back to the cars and the boys tried snowboarding on the sleds that other friends had left for us to borrow. Miles did OK.

Ethan had a bit of a harder time.

Highlight of the trip though was the hot chocolate that LaRae brought!!!

Thanks so much LaRae for inviting us - we all had a blast!!!