We usually have a tree by now. Better late than never though.
Today we headed up to the mountains to find "the one". It is cold. Very cold. It will probably be windy and snowing. But the Killian's do not do things without a challenge attached.
We threw in clothes, boots, gloves, hats, hot cocoa, snacks, rope, saw and chains.
On the way up.
Snuggled up tight.
We rounded a corner and almost ran into these...literally.
These darn big-horn sheep would not get out of the road. We kept inching our way closer to them. Finally all the sheep had moved on except for the big daddy. We moved right up to him and this is what he did...
He swung his head up and looked at us like "um...excuse me. you're in my way." He was not a happy camper. He slowly walked away at that point.
As we got closer to the tree cutting area, we started to get our gear on. Cameron went to reach for something and riiiip! It was hilarious.
It wouldn't be a true tree cutting trip without our Smokey the Bear family picture.
The snow was crazy deep as you can see.
It was a beautiful winter wonderland, but oh so cold.
We walked and walked looking for a tree. It's hard to find one when everything is snow covered and you're tired of trudging through the snow and you're cold and...ok I'll stop whining.
If you look closely, you can that it has now started to snow. Great.
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow!!!
My sweet girl.
Em was getting tired so she made herself a comfy seat.
Cameron did what any 8 year old would do....bury himself.
Derek decided to take refuge under a tree.
The crazy one gave me this shot...a re-creation of the famous Bigfoot video.
The snow was really starting to come down so we decided to head back. I was disappointed that we were not able to find a tree. I started to look at everyone as a good choice just so we could get back to the car and get warm.
Our fun outing was slowly turning into a whine fest. Cameron was saying he couldn't walk another step. Emilee was cold and hungry. Derek, well he kept his mouth shut like a good boy. Travis, of course, was being a weirdo.
All of a sudden, he falls over and starts making this weird crying sound. "I've fallen and I can't get up." I could not stop laughing.
Told you it was snowing.
I love this picture of my little guy. There were snowflakes on his long eye lashes. There were more but he had just wiped his eye before I got the picture. Ugh.
We were almost back to the car and still no tree. I was getting very discouraged. So was everyone else. And then there it was...the One.
Rob said "Are you sure?" I told the boys to get sawing. Just so you know, we walked right passed this tree on the way out. If I turn directly around in the opposite direction of the boys above, you could see our car. Unbelievable!
Here you can see how huge the tree was. I didn't care. We lopped off the top for our tree to take home.
Timber!
Let's get this thing back to the car and get out of here. I've had enough fun for one day.
The finished product. I think we will have to take a little more off the bottom.
Rob and Travis got it loaded on Big B. I got everyone's snow stuff off and the hot chocolate ready. Time to warm up and head home.
I'm just thankful we aren't coming home empty handed. Now to find time to decorate that beauty.
