She's a beaut, Mark!

Our Thanksgiving break went all too quick and we weren't anxious to return Bailee to school. We were however, looking forward to our annual Tree Tromp while she was still with us. Since we have been getting our tree in the Snowy Range, it made sense to make an outing of Sunday and 

get the tree before taking her to her dorm in Laramie. 

Thankfully the weather continued to be beautiful and didn't mess up our plans.  It was so nice that we weren't able to sled like we usually do ...  always trade-offs I guess:)

I think it was little Sam that came this outing

We tromped around for a while before finding this beaut! It seems like just when one of us sees a good one, someone else spots one equally as good. It came down to a vote.

traditional pic with the saw in Karsyn's hands

Mark went to work cutting down the Engelmann spruce, while the rest of us just stood around and watched... HA!  Some of us did (try to) help too!

I wanted a nice picture for our Christmas card this year. So we played around with that....

When Emm insisted we also do a funny one ... it was a bit of a disaster and someone ended up in the snow!

We "warmed up" with hot chocolate and donuts/muffins.

The cocoa was a little too hot so we problem solved and used snow as a cooler

And there she is ... ready to make the trip down the mountain into Laramie and then 

through the canyon to Wellington.

It was late afternoon when we got into Laramie. Emmrey was so excited she cartwheeled across campus (although she wasn't excited to leave Bay there)

We grabbed something to eat at Washakie before heading home. It was quiet when we first got there and then slowly students started filling in. A visual reminder that break was over:( The good news is we will see her in a few weeks and this time her break will be long (maybe too long for her;)

that girls head lined up perfectly for the shot;)