Romney Family 2014

Well, between life being just TOO busy lately and the fact that google made it absolutely impossible to renew my domain name, I haven't blogged in a while.  But tonight I finally set my mind to it and after only 1.5 hours of trying, I recovered my domain rights to 6romneys.com.  Whew.  That was hard.

So I feel like I should post something.  It's really late.  I think I'll just add some pictures from our aweome photo shoot with Joey Duenas Photography.

More to come later.

It's good to be back.

Alien Adventure

This is what happens when you visit a rest area in Roswell, NM

After we finished visiting Carlsbad Caverns we drove up to Albuquerque to visit my sister and her family.  Our route took us through the town of Roswell, NM.  Ever heard of it? Do aliens and UFO's ring a bell? We decided to stop and see if we could have any close encounters.  Lucky or unlucky for us the town was very crowded because it just happened to be the annual Alien Festival.  Lots of "unique" individuals roaming the streets that day - even a guy dressed up in tin foil to look like an alien - or maybe it actually was an alien?!?!?!?

Here are some photos from our very brief stop.



We tried not to be disturbed about a freezer full of aliens

Having lunch with new friends

Defying gravity

Ryder meets a new friend

Should I be worried?

RT phones home

Mel even got to perform some surgery

Now we can say, "Been there...done that."

Carlsbad Caverns

This summer we took a 3+ week long family vactation.  It was a classic road trip.  We rented a mini van to hold all of our stuff, and off we went.  The first of our many stops was a long anticipated by me (35 years:)  visit to Carlsbad Caverns.  I have been fascinated by caves and cave formations since I was a child, and have always wanted to visit Carlsbad.  I was worried that after wanting to see it for so long, it might be impossible for the actual experience to live up to my expectations.

The week before we went there were massive "forest" fires (I put forest in quotes, because does New Mexico really have forests?) that burned the entire Carlsbad area.  The park was actually closed for several days, and they had fire patrols surrounding the visitors center to protect it from the flames.  Fortunately it had reopened by the time we arrived and amazingly enough nothing smelled like smoke.  Here is Harrison standing where you can see the terrain surrounding the Visitors Center.

C'mon now, was that really ever a forest?

You can see how it burned right up to the edges.

We decided to walk down into the caves via the natural entry.

Just before you walk down there are multiple signs reminding you to not touch any of the cave formations. Finger oils contaminate and prevent them from continuing to form.  The Park Rangers are smart and know that everyone will want to touch one to see how they feel, so they placed one outside the entrance and encourage you to touch all you want - and LEAVE THE REST ALONE! So we touched it.

Here are some pictures as we were hiking down.

It was incredible - and a waaaaaaaaaaaaay better experience than just taking the elevator down.  We saw so much and it was neat to feel the change in temperature and atmosphere as we descended.

Once we got to the bottom we were able to wander through the enormous rooms of the caverns.  We had rented wands that provided us with a self guided tour.  Before we left, our Bishop had told Ryder about the "Bottomless Pit" where there was a huge drop off in the caves.  Ryder anticipated seeing the bottomless pit for weeks. Here he is when he finally got to check it out.

Nice face!

Darren had been to visit Carlsbad Caverns as a child, which made me jealous.  However, when he recreated his ONLY memory of the experience, I was no longer jealous.

Somehow as a child, he got his head jammed in the revolving doors by the elevator.  I will now try and refrain from making comments like, "Well that explains alot."  Because that would be cruel ;)

Here are a few more pictures from the caves.

Whale's Mouth formation - can you see it?  One of my favorites.

OK, I'm laughing right now as I realize why Ryder has such a "crazy cave face" in all of his pictures.  The first couple of pictures we took of him he blinked because the flash is so bright in the caves.  So his eyes were closed in the pictures.  I asked him to try and keep his eyes open when I took the pictures.  Aparently, he listened and made a real concerted effort!

Park Ranger Harrison

It was an amazing day, and it FAR EXCEEDED my expectations.  I loved it.  Can't wait to go back.  Words just can't describe the majesty and enormous volume of the caves.  They should be included as one of the 7 Wonders of the World.

I'm Back

Oh my goodness, I haven't blogged in FOR.EV.ER!!!!  Just one of those things where life has been so very, very busy and there just hasn't been time.  I've discovered that once too much time passes, then I don't know where to start.  Do I try and backtrack and write about all of the things that happened this summer (because we had a really great summer!)? Or do I just start with today?  And while I debate with myself, neither one gets done.  So I'm trying something new for a bit.  I'll be sitting down to blog a few days a week and blogging about whatever comes to mind for 15 minutes.  I can find 15 minutes, right?!?!?!  There may not be much rhyme or reason to it, but at least I can get it recorded.

So, what I'm thinking about right now is our annual Christmas letter.  Needless to say, this is a task that I DREAD each year.  I am always happy when it's done. Figuring out how to summarize a year of our life in a few words is tough!  A whole year.  Summarized.  On one interesting to read sheet of paper.  I'm shaking my head just thinking about it.

Here is a picture of my all time favorite Romney Christmas letter.  I found the "Wanted Poster" idea on the internet somewhere.

Last year I used this blog for our Christmas letter (click here).  We sent out an insert in our Christmas cards with the URL so people could look it up.  Here is the insert:

I'm really drawing a blank this year.  I need to sit down and figure it out.  Soon.  (Repeating to self, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. . .").

Sheesh, it's been WAAAAAAAAY more than 15 minutes.

Signing off.

Heidi

6 Day Weekend

Well the kids went to school exactly 1 day this week - 1 day out of 5!!!  Now I know what you're thinking, "Those Texans just don't know how to handle snow."  Unh uh.  We handle snow just fine.  It's sleet and ice that really slow us down.  Monday night ice started falling from the sky.  Trust me it was really loud on the windows. By Tuesday morning there was a nice thick layer of ice on everything, and no one wants to drive in that.

I didn't really take any pictures of the ice, because well, it was just roads with ice.  I do have a video of Ryder doing some skating on it though.



The temperatures stayed around 0 degrees (wind chill factored in here) so the ice wasn't able to melt.  So the kids got to stay home on Wednesday and Thursday as well.  We were able to enjoy lots of family time together - board games, puzzles, TV, Wii, baking and some crafts.  Harrison, Melanie, and Ryder put together these little wooden craft kits that I had picked up for $1 each the week before.  My thought at the time was that I'd just stash them away for a rainy day or next summer when the kids are bored.  As fortune would have it, we got to use them much earlier than that.

These little kits were awesome.  As I mentioned before only $1 each, and they included all the wood, paint, glue, paintbrush, sandpaper and rubberbands needed to complete the project!  I think the boys can get some scouting achievements signed off for this too :)

Then Thursday night and Friday we got SNOW.  Probably a good 4-6 inches.  And it stuck.  In fact it's still here.  Unheard of!

Here is a picture from early Friday morning.

And snow or not, poor little Blossom still had to go outside to, well, you know. . . She got icy in the process.

Blossom's mad because her paws are cold!

The fun part is that snow is waaaaaaay more fun than ice! You can go sledding.

Or eat the snow (only pure white fresh snow please).

Or if you're me, you can slip and fall.  I know, cool huh.

The neighbor kids had been begging me to sled the ditch with them.  We all know how that would've turned out.  I kindly declined, and so today I can still say I have never broken a bone!

It's also quite beautiful to see our lake almost completely frozen over.

So as we enter our 5th day of isolation in our home, we are grateful for this little window of time where we could just relax and spend time together.  We are also grateful for food storage, and that I had just purchased milk, eggs, and fresh produce on Monday night!

Thanks for a wonderful break Mother Nature!



UPDATE:  Of course all good things must come to an end. . .

Merry Christmas Y'All

Warm Christmas wishes from our family to yours this holiday season!!!  We are excited to celebrate the birth of our Savior and what a wonderful gift that it was.  Recalling 2010 makes us thankful for the blessings of family, health, & happiness.  We have had a busy year and would like to share a  few highlights (click on pictures to see them larger or on the highlighted links to see more about that topic).

Nicole turned 15 this year and is quickly approaching that milestone 16th birthday.  We have been "enjoying" riding with her as she learns to drive.  So far she has done well if you don't count some curbs and lawns that now have tire marks on/in them :)

She also finally got that puppy she has been begging us for for years!!  I guess dreams can come true. (click here for the puppy story)

She still plays a mean game of volleyball.  She was chosen to be captain of the JV squad, and was moved up to varsity to play a few games.  Prosper volleyball made it as far as the Regional Final game, but lost to Lovejoy - the #1 volleyball team in ALL the state of Texas.  Prosper finished 5th in the state. She recently tried out for and made the 17's National team for the Texas Titans volleyball club, so she will continue to play volleyball throughout the school year.

Finally, she has served as Mia Maid class president for the last year, but that will change in January when she turns 16.

Melanie turned 13 this year (that makes 2 teenagers in the Romney house!).  She continues to be an outstanding student. She made the high jump team at school in the spring which was something she had never tried before.  She discovered that she really loves to jump and is quite good at it.  She finished the season taking 4th place at the district meet.  She also played volleyball on the 8th grade A team.  Her team won their district, and in fact did not drop a set the entire season!  She is currently playing her first club volleyball season on the 14's Elite Texas Titans Team.

This summer she and Nicole split time babysitting for their cousins and training Blossom to do tricks.

At church Melanie is serving as the Beehive class Secretary - perfect for an organized girl like her!

Harrison, or as we like to call him Big Handsome, is 10 years old and a 5th grader at Rogers Middle School this year.  He has lots of friends, and you can usually find him playing football out in front of the house with kids from the neighborhood.  This summer he and his friend Ty spent many hours fishing in the lake out front.  They even caught some decent sized fish!

He played football for the 5th grade Prosper Eagles and is currently playing basketball for Da' Heat.  His basketball coach, Coach Slim, gave him the nickname of SlowMo a few years back, because "he has so many skills, the only way you can see 'em all is in slow motion!" ;)

This summer he spent a week at Cub Scout Twilight Camp and is currently working on earning his Webelo Award.

Ryder, the Romney caboose, turned 8 this year!!!  He was baptized on November 27.  He was also excited to turn 8 because now he can go to Cub Scouts too.  He has earned his Bobcat award and is working hard on earning his Wolf award.

Ryder played his first season of tackle football this year for the Prosper Pirates.  He loves to play, did really well, and had some great coaches who taught him not only about football, but about responsibility and accountability.   A few weeks into the season Ryder broke his pinky finger when another kid was horsing around and knocked him down. This led to some x-rays, and a couple of weeks of missing practice and games.

Ryder spent his summer playing outside with friends and swimming in the pool.

Darren and I spend our time making sure everyone gets to scouts, mutual, church, school and sports on time.  We love watching the kids play in all of their many sporting events.

Darren is currently teaching Seminary to the Freshmen at 6:00 am every  morning.  I continue to be the Stake Family Search Indexing Director.

We have LOVED having family come to town.  We had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma Muffett at the Fort Worth Stockyards, and felt so lucky to have my brother Win and his family come spend some time with us early in September.  We had an awesome time together, and my brother (an Oregon State alumni) got us awesome seats in Cowboy Stadium (4th row!!!!) for the OSU vs. TCU football game!  We also had a couple of great visits from our Houston cousins, the Tonini's, and were able to enjoy Six Flags and lots of swimming.

Once again, Merry Christmas to y'all from our family to yours.  We send you our love and wish you a warm and wonderful holiday season!