Christmas Tree!

Justin got off work early today so we bought our $5 tree tag at the forest service and took a short drive into the mountains to cut down our own tree. Today was a beautifully sunny day. We found our perfect tree and Justin had to work a little harder because it was on the side of a steep hill but he succeeded! He strapped it on top of our truck and off we went. We decided to take the scenic route home and good thing we didn't head right for the highway because not too long after driving off, we almost lost our tree! Once we knew the tree wasn't going anywhere for sure, we continued our drive up the mountain. We saw a scenic lookout at the top of the mountain but we could only drive so far. Against the kids wishes, we hiked up to the lookout and witnessed an incredible sunset. It was cold and windy but so worth it! I am falling more and more in love with our new home. It is incredibly gorgeous and you can be in a dense forest in a matter of minutes. I am in heaven!

Here is Justin climbing the steep hill with our beautiful tree. What a good man!

One happy family! And yes, Jaco is wearing glasses. He just got them today and we think he looks so handsome!Oops! Not tied on tight enough!Can it get any better than this?Maybe it can get better with this shot! What looks like snow in this picture is actually fog rolling into the valley. And here are our happy hikers. :) By the time we made it to the top everyone was in a better mood. Jaco gets very frustrated on hikes like this. He thinks it is not fair that he has to do whatever we say and doesn't get to choose whether he wants to go or not. (If he got to choose, we would NEVER leave the house!) On the way down the mountain we talked about this. He asked me how I thought I was preparing him for adulthood when I don't ever let him choose what he wants. He told me that someday as an adult, he will have to make some important decisions and he won't know how to choose because we always tell him what to do. I told him that someday he will appreciate these little hikes and road trips. Jaco loves to be plugged in to anything electronic like the computer or T.V. and has a hard time entertaining himself in the great outdoors. Poor kid, having to hang out with his mom and dad on a beautiful mountain. LOL