Family Game and Movie Nigths in Star Valley

Cado's Christmas Call

 We got to talk to Cado on Christmas Day, but we are quite certain that the internet in Star Valley is even worse than the internet in Roosevelt.  We spent most of our time trying to reconnect, but we still have some quick sightings of that boy and he got to show us his pants that he had torn at their mission Christmas party the day before!

New Years Even 2015

 The Whitings hosted a very wild and crazy New Years Eve party with us, the Dennis' and the Adys'.  Most everyone was hopeful to just be asleep by 10 p.m., but we surprised ourselves and made it all the way to the new year.  We even have the kisses to prove it.

Bo's a Good Sport

 Bo was a good sport and played Just Dance with Mariah a few times.  He was in to only using one hand though and never really scored that well.  I, on the other hand, usually won the competitions!!

A New Room

All Mariah really wanted for Christmas this year was a new room with some new furnishings.  So, she moved downstairs, insisted on having a little bed and redecorated Cado's old room.  It is now "BOHO" style and no longer "Basketball" style.  It actually turned out really cute...especially the cool arrows that Dave and Bo made out of some special 100 year old barn wood that we brought home from Grandpa Call's old barn in Star Valley!

The Gun Story!

 This is the gun that Shirlene had for a whopping 36 hours.  Below is the story of why she no longer has it!

Well here is a Christmas story that is going to go down in family history as "hard to beat."  It's all about Shirlene's gun and how she no longer could call it hers.  It all began when she decided to take it to Star Valley.  She wanted to show it to her dad because she knew he would think it was cool because he likes guns!

Christmas morning, before Grandpa unwrapped his gifts, he asked us if we had our gifts.  We told him that we had already opened them so that we didn't have to bring them to Star Valley.  Then I told him that I had brought one of my gifts to show him.  I preceded to go upstairs and bring down my special Smith and Wesson box.  I took out my gun and showed him.  He thought it was a very nice gun and talked about how he used to have one just like it before the house burned down.  I told him why I chose this gun, how I chose it and how I was really excited to learn how to use a gun so that I could protect myself.  I talked about how I even wanted to get a concealed carry permit so that I could bring it with me in a car and that if I wanted.  We had a great conversation about guns and he even brought out his hand pistol from Grandpa Call.  Afterwards, we brought over Grandpa's presents and he opened them.  He got a variety of socks, books, a cruise date and etc.  When he was done he said, "Wow, I don't think I've ever had a Christmas like this."  We just smiled and thought he was being very appreciative for the things he had just opened....little did we know!

About an hour later that day, Uncle Jim called and dad started to talk to him and wish him a Merry Christmas.  They chit chatted for a bit and then I overheard Dad say, "guess what Shirlene got for me...a 38 special with a laser!"  My heart instantly sank and I looked across the room at Dave and we both were stunned.  We were speechless and we did not know what to do.  So, we ran upstairs to Bo and Mariah and told them what had just happened.  We were all speechless then and Dave said, "Well I think you just gave him your gun!"

I hurried and called Joyce to tell her our dilemma and after she laughed she said, "I think you just gave him your gun."  Unfortunately that was a $750.00 gun and a much bigger present than I had intended to give him!  We chatted about how to solve the problem and decided that we would let him think it was his gun, but we would get some money to reimburse us for it.  Luckily, BethAnn and everyone else was onboard and we took care of that.  The funniest part of the whole story was telling each person about it as they arrived.  I would hurry and take them upstairs, tell them the story and then they would come downstairs to tell dad, "Merry Christmas" and then we would all just smile our smiles as dad proceeded to show them his "gun" that is sitting on the coffee table.

We will laugh about this one for a very, very long time!  And, I have already told my siblings to try to top MY present that I gave to dad!  I'm pretty sure they can't!

Room Redos

 Well Mariah is spending the holidays moving rooms so the upstairs rooms are getting makeovers.  (Well basically, we are just rearranging the old stuff to make them look cute.)