Over the years we have come up with a few unique traditions we love very much.
Easter is a special time, every year the children get a new outfit when their Easter basket arrives. We also love to go to the grand parents’ houses because they have such awesome egg hunts for the children.
For the past few years we started taking a yearly road trip. We love this so much, it is such an adventure! We have a tentative plan where we will go but no set in stone plans. We load up the truck and trailer and go for a week or two. We have explored places such as northern California, the Red Woods, the Oregon and Washington coast, Olympia National Park, northern Idaho, Glacier National Park, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Rafted the river in Flaming Gorge, and many other stops along the way. These trips are beautiful and have created memories that we will never forget.
Lake Powell is a huge part of our lives. Joey started going there when he was 7 years old. This is the place we met and were married. It is also our favorite place we run away to when we want to relax. It is such a great place to go with the immediate and extended family. It has always been a part of our children’s lives and every trip is a new adventure whether it be watching satellite in the houseboat or camping on the beach. We love Lake Powell and go there as often as we can, usually several times per year.
Birthday season at our house is in the fall. We call it a season because all of the kids’ birthdays are within 1 month so we have one huge birthday celebration after another the entire month long. Each year the kids pick the theme they like with matching cake and decorations. We let them choose, if they want a small group and we might take them somewhere fun such as rock climbing or build-a-bear. Or if they want to invite the entire class for an all out dance party, we can do that too. We love throwing a big birthday bash that is unique for each child.
Christmas is an exciting and busy time of year. We love to go to great-grandma’s cabin property to cut down our Christmas tree. Sometimes it can be quite a challenge because the snow can be very deep by this time of the year, but that’s what makes it so much fun. We also have a unique tradition of making each other a gift. We feel that this is an opportunity not only to give a gift from your heart, but to help build individual skills and talents. These gifts in the past have included so many things, but to help you get the idea here are a few: comforters, dressers, piggy banks, car tracks, purses, cell phone holders, jewelry, pillowcases, toy boxes and much more. Santa visits our house and usually brings each child one big gift and a stocking. The rest of the gifts are from mom and dad and we read a story about the symbols of Christmas. With each symbol we talk about, the kids can open one gift. We also like to get the kids involved in serving one another by donating gifts to a less fortunate family.We try to focus the importance of Christmas around Christ, family and giving to others.
