The Rowland Family: Christmas Tree Hunting

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Christmas Tree Hunting - Thanksgiving Day 2008

Hiking out to my Dad's "super secret Christmas tree grove" in the Uinta National Forest.

Cecily posing in front of a childhood fort that my brother Allen built when we were kids. I helped build the "basket ball court" behind the fort but it no longer stands. There is however a bit left of the giant lean too I built. I didn't take a picture of it though. Too bad.

After about a mile and a half we arrived to the "secret place" and thought this tree behind us might be the one. By this time Cecily was really grumpy. Bentley was too until we gave him a little saw. He started cutting branches with it then he was good.

So I take forever to make decisions. I'm trying to decide between two of the trees. My brother Allen is there trying to point out the good and the bad about both and my dad waiting patiently there with the saw.
FYI - That giant puffy coat I am wearing I have owned for 12 years! Yes I am serious. TWELVE YEARS! I always wear it when I need to be really warm but don't want to ruin a nice coat. I knew it was old but until I saw a picture with me in that coat from the year 1996 did I know it was so stinkin' OLD! I will quote the great movie Lonesome Dove and say, "No use quitin' on a garment just cuz' it's got some age."

Cecily's got that fake cry down.

I thought I could cut it with that whimpy saw.

It came down a lot faster when Bryan got out the AXE!

After it was cut down we got some smiles out of the kids. (They still managed to whine the whole way back though).

We have had a great Thanksgiving break and have the whole house decorated and ready for Christmas! Including this tree! I love my little family so much. And am so grateful for them and just ALL of my family.

7 comments:

Angela said...: I want to go cut down a Christmas tree. It looks like a lot of fun. I have always wanted to do it, maybe someday. Real trees in the Philippines are hard to come by and super expensive because they are imported. Crazy, huh'?
Your family is adorable. Glad you had a great Thanksgiving. :); December 1, 2008 at 3:04 AM
Marianne said...: I remember that coat!! I'm so glad you've gotten such good use out of it! I need to go downstairs and get out my fake tree...it looks like your tree-getting was much more fun!; December 1, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Heather J. said...: It's so strange for me to see snow...I think it's been about 2 years since we saw snow in DC, before moving here to NC. Sad, huh. Love the pictures and the secret place looks like such a wonderful tradition!; December 2, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Anonymous said...: What a fun tradition!!!

Katie; December 3, 2008 at 9:46 PM
Monica said...: Lucky! I have always wanted to pick out and chop down my own Christmas tree. It just sounds so dreamy!; December 3, 2008 at 10:25 PM
MELISSA said...: Love the pictures! It was fun being up there with you guys! I finally found out my blog address... allen-melissa.blogspot.com; December 4, 2008 at 12:58 PM
The 5 Happy Dayz said...: Dude Remember when we went to get that christmas trees on the snowmobiles with you guys!? I was pregnant and didn't think I would be able to get through the snow back to the mobiles! Good Times! I also remember it was ginormous when we got it home!; December 7, 2008 at 11:05 PM

KID'S QUOTES

June 11, 2014:
Bentley commenting on his new backpacking shirt with microbial treatment, "Wow that shirt works, my arm pits don't even stink."

June 4, 2014:

Cecily: "You know what would be the best white elephant gift?"

Me: "No, what?"

Cecily: "An actual real white elephant. Now that would be a surprise."

August 2011:
On the day that Cecily and I met her 2nd grade teacher at back to school night Cecily had the following to say:

"I thought she would look different. She is not very old... It doesn't look like she is married yet. She's probably just dating on the weekends."

May 2011:

Bentley loves to watch 'America's Funniest Home Videos'

Cecily HATES it.

One night when he wanted to watch it Cecily strongly voiced how she did not want to watch it.

Bentley shot back with:

"You don't even know what it is."

To wich Cecily replied:

"Yes I do, its when people break their arms and legs!"

October 16th 2010:

At breakfast this morning Cecily asked if we had any chocolate in the house. Then Bentley said; "Cecily you need to lay down on the chocolate." (I think he meant to say lay off the chocolate). Ha ha ha!

March 12th, 2010:

"I don't mind wearing the same pants again. In cowboy times they used to wear the same pants for days until their wife would clean them because they were doing other things"

-Bentley

November 16th 2009:

"Can I bring my duct tape wallet to school Mom? Except I will take my pocket knife out of it because there was a kid that brought a pocket knife to school and he got kicked out. But when you get kicked out of school that doesn't mean you actually get kicked. It means you have to leave the school and you are not allowed back."

-Bentley

September 9th 2009:
"You can make up lots more pictures in your mind when you read a book than you can when you watch a movie."
-Cecily

September 5th 2009:
Bentley likes to flip the pancakes when I make pancakes and he does a really good job. He told Bryan this morning why: "Dad you know why I am really good at flipping pancakes? Because I watch sponge bob." (sponge bob knows how to flip those crabby patties).

September 1, 2009:
While I was driving down main street I noticed that the road was covered in a whole bunch of newspapers. Cecily noticed it too and asked what happened. I said that I wasn't sure but that the papers sure where everywhere. Cecily responded in an annoyed tone; "Teenagers." As if she knew with certainty it was a punk teenagers prank.

August 2009:

Cecily- "Not all fairies are real. Just the tooth fairy is real."

Me- "Cecily what if your tooth comes out in Lake Powell? Do you think the tooth fairy can come to Lake Powell?"

Cecily- "Yes but it would be really sweaty."

August 4th 2009: Bentley and his cousin Krew were looking through some newspaper advertisements. (Why the interest I'm not sure) I listened to a conversation of theirs that went like this:

Krew- "Look strawberries are one hundred and forty nine dollars." (reading $1.49 as if it were $149.00)

Bentley- "They just want money."

July 9th 2009: "No more nice girl for you Bentley!" - Cecily's come back during one of Bentley and Cecily's arguments today.

May 26th 2009: "When I was sick it felt like there was something crawling around in my stomach. And when I woke up my head felt like it was fat." - Bentley on being sick with the stomach flu.

April 2009: "They are good actors... I think they practiced." - Cecily speaking about The Wizard of Oz.

January 29, 2009: Today Bentley missed the bus and on the drive to school he started a random conversation about play houses. He said that "those big wooden play houses always get full of spiders. If you buy one it gets full of spiders and stuff and you can't even play in them so it really is a waste of money because they are very expensive."

Now that is wisdom. It looks like Bryan and I won't have to buy any big wooden play houses.

January 23, 2009: You know the Barbie animated movies. One of Cecily's favorites is the Princess and the Pauper. Of this very movie she declared: "They have really good barbie actresses."

January 15, 2009:

Bryan: "I had f-r-e-a-k-y dreams last night."

Cecily: "That's because you are a Dad and your not scared of freaky things."

January 9, 2009: When I turned on the movie "The Little Mermaid" Cecily said: "When I watch this movie I feel like I can't breathe."

"Really Why?" I responded.

"Because it makes me feel like I am underwater."

January 2, 2009: Cecily was playing in her room with her cousin Maggie. I called her to the kitchen and I heard her say; "Wait Maggie! PAUSE YOU!"
I didn't know you can pause a friend like the tivo.

November 11, 2008: Direct quote from Cecily the other day when we were driving in the car:
"We drink water and the people that drives crazy.... they drink beer."

Then a couple minutes after that one left her cute little mouth she asked me if Aliens were real. I told her I didn't think so. She then stated;
"Well we can just go in a rocket ship and see."

Ah. The innocence of a child. They believe in magic.

November 9, 2008: The kids began their morning today with the usual bickering. Bryan gave them a firm "I'm not going to put up with fighting today." To which Cecily replied, "Tomorrow?"

October 22, 2008: Cecily and I were jumping on the trampoline this evening and she said we better watch out for the mosquitos. I told her we didn't need to worry about them anymore because it is so cold. She replied: "Oh so the mosquitos moved down to St. George where it is warmer?"

October 3, 2008: My conversation with Bentley;
B-"Mom would you like to be king of the North Pole?"
"I don't think so."
B-"Why not?"
"Well, that would be a big job making all of those toys for Christmas."
B-"Well mom the ELVES do all the work."

September 24 2008: Bentley went with Bryan on an architectural photo shoot in Park City. On the way home Bryan told Bentley that when they got home they needed to work on the pictures on the computer down in his office. Bentley responded that "it was a school night" and he needed to get to bed. (Where did that come from?)

September 22 2008: "Why did Heavenly Father make bears anyways? Sharks are mean too! But not dolphins." - Cecily

September 7th 2008: My conversation with Cecily this morning:
C-"Mom when my fish dies can I have a pet rabbit?"
M-"No rabbits have to live outside and they need a special cage. (that was all I could think to say. When I was a kid I had rabbits and they had babies and ate their young. Besides Cecily is not old enough to take care of a rabbit)
C-"Then can I have a seal?"
M-"Well you can't have seals as pets because they live by the ocean."
C-"WE CAN GET SOME OCEAN!"
M-"Where can we get ocean Cecily?"
C-"The kind that is at the pet store!"

August 30th 2008: When asked how much her dad works each day Cecily yelled out; "100!"

August 30th 2008: At swiss days today Bentley wanted a wooden gun. I wouldn't buy it for him though because he already has a wooden gun and he never plays with it. Bryan told him that if he gave us all the money he has (which is about 10 dollars that he has saved up) we would pay for the rest. That wasn't worth it to him. He didn't want the gun that badly. Then he informed us that he wanted a "job" so he could make money. I told him if he does his chores each week he can make money. He kind of broke down to tears and said; "no I need a job at a STORE!"

August 28th 2008: The neighbor, Jordan was over and Cecily was blowing on a new whistle Grandma Hill got her from Swiss Days. She stopped long enough to say to Jordan; "Go get your instruments! We're gonna start a band!"

August 11th 2008: Sometimes Cecily gets quite creative with her threats when she doesn't get what she wants. Today these were two of the threats she used on me:
"I'm letting black widows get me!"
and
"I'm just going in the woods........Mom which way is the woods?"

June 12th 2008 Cecily said: "I am not bossy! I just want to be in charge!"

June 10th 2008 Cecily said: "Mom if everyone in the world lived in Heber it would be squishy!"

June 8th 2008 Cecily said: "Dad I love mommy more than you. Except when you light fires and fix things".

May 7th 2008: Bentley and Cecily were jumping on the trampoline this morning with their cousin Annabelle. They each were taking turns sliding down or jumping off of the slide on to the trampoline (a favorite past time of theirs).

I was cleaning up the yard and heard Bentley say to Annabelle and Cecily "Let me show you how a MAN does it!" This got my attention and I looked over in time to see him do some trick of the slide. It was hilarious.

April 23rd 2008: (Referring to Mrs. Butterworth's syrup) Cecily said:

"Is that new syrup? That syrup is sweet! It has a face and it's in the shape of a human!"

April 13th 2008: I was standing on one leg putting lotion on one of my feet and Cecily said, "Mom you look like a flamingo."

Bentley was doing something he shouldn't and I said to him something about stopping what he was doing and Cecily said "Let me take care of this!" as she stomped off in his direction.

Recently Cecily has taken a liking to dusting everything in the house. She told me she wants to be a "cleaner" when she grows up. With this decided she asked Bentley what he wanted to be and he replied "I have a long time to think about that."