Well hello there and a belated Happy New Year to you:)

So far James and I have had a very busy month!...It's a foreshadowing of the year ahead :)

We ended 2010 and started 2011 in Tremonton, UT visiting James' family. I thought my limbs would crack because they froze upon contact to the frigid Utah air. A high of 12 degrees F for James' and I's thin (very thin) Tucson blood just isn't right! I've not had to wear 3 coats at one time in a long while ha-ha...


However, while the air was cold, we were surrounded by the warmth and comfort of family. We got to see baby Reese Hall who is our most brand new niece on the Hall side. She's so cute! She was just a week and a half old when we met her. So calm, tiny, sleepy, and precious. And we got arm fulls of hugs and ear fulls of laughter from Talmage and Elle who are going to make terrific big siblings.

After visiting with the Halls we went to the Logan temple to see one of James' cousins on the Boehme side go through for the first time. That was fun. It's been a while since we've seen Boehme cousins. Top it off with Golden Corral, even better!

While in Tremonton on New Years Eve, James took me on a tour around the town and also of ATK, where he used to work. We played around the "Rocket Garden." James had to carry me piggy-back style because the snow was deep and I didn't have the proper footwear :) While out there we saw lots of deer just hanging around. I also saw the digital sign that showed the outside temperature for that day: 19F. Nice...


On our way out to ATK we took a detour and went out to see the Golden Spike National Monument. I didn't realize how far out it was but it was pretty interesting. We got a little memento ornament because it's tradition for James and I to get ornaments from fun places we visit.


Well the new year was finally minutes away! We played games most of the evening waiting for the big event across the street. Apparently, every New Years Eve the across the street neighbors of Kevin and Debra set fire to their Christmas tree. They fill it with fireworks to add to excitement :) So, we bundled up (I wore a sweater, a pea coat and a "marshmallow-man" parka) and went outside. Below shows the temperature at midnight:

3.4 degrees F!!

The burning tree was a sight to behold though. I wish I'd remembered my actual camera for this but alas, I didn't. I took a video on my phone but with my history of putting (or trying to) videos on the blog, I am unable to share this. Needless to say though it was fun.

January 1 brought us to Geneva, ID. The snow was much deeper here :) We arrived at Grandpa and Grandma Boehme's house just in time for lunch. Then, as we were finishing up we Tucsonens got to see a fun spectacle: clearing the snow off the roof. The Boehme cousins were helping scrape it off in huge heaps with large shovels. There was a ton of snow on the roof as you can see by that gargantuous pile!

As we kept watching the snow falling, all of the sudden we heard this scraping sound (much heavier and lasting much longer)...

A little bit of snow and then....

Hello!

They were "snow boarding" down the roof on the shovels! :) Good thing that snow was so high!

Uncle Gene, Tana, Shane, Gavin, Kevin, Friend of Shane's, Derek and Shawnie (sp?)

Oh and Zip - can't forget Zip

James, aren't you so glad we live where we live?

It was such a fun trip out there. I'm glad we went. We had to come home though and thaw out before we had visitors come to our house. On Jan 7th-9th we had James' cousin Paige come with her husband Mark. They had a potato conference in Las Vegas so they decided to hop on over to AZ to visit. While here we went and saw the musical:

This was an awesome show! I loved every minute of it! If you haven't seen it I recommend it highly. It's still in Tucson for another week! Thank you Paige and Mark for coming! It was so much fun!