The Trek For The Tree

Last Saturday marked our ninth annual trek up to mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. This year, my mom and dad and Gwen, Tim, Rylan, and Reagan joined us for the fun.

The weather has varied drastically from year to year...hot (last year), freezing cold, snowy, dry as a bone. This year was a little bit of both. Certainly no snow (as you can see from the pics below), but chilly enough for hats and coats.

We tried a new off roading trail this year which was much more open. So, we parked our matching cars (my dad's is a highlander but in this pic, it looks exactly like the other two dark green pilots!) and began our trek.
Gwenda and I got the pleasure of hauling around the babes in backpacks. This is actually much better than Wes and Tim's job of cutting down the trees and hauling them back to the car.
We did the same exact thing with the boys in 2007! A little snowier (and blonder!) that year...
Here's what Reagan and her cheeks did the entire time, so cute!
My mom and dad actually found their tree within the first five minutes. It was just up from where we parked. They looked around for anything better but didn't find it. Pretty good looking grandparents don't you think?!
I love this pic...Brady is not in it because he basically sprints down the mountain shouting, breaking sticks, throwing rocks, and doing whatever his dad and Uncle Tim are doing. Rylan and Payton are much slower. They explore, point out interesting plant life, pick up long sticks, and find dead bones from deer carcasses (yes, we brought them home for PR in a ziploc bag!)
Brady decided to cut down his own little tree (again, he wants to use the saw like his dad.)At one point, I asked Payton if she liked a tree and if we should cut it down. She immediately said, "no, that's horrible." I was kind of shocked at her quick and negative response. When I pushed a little further, we realized that she thought I was pointing at this lovely tree! So funny.After nine years, we have learned a few things. If you take the top section of a tree and cut off the dead bottom, the tree is narrower and has less droopy saggy branches at the bottom. If you take a tree standing alone by itself, it's fuller, rounder, and doesn't have a completely bare side. So, we found this year's tree...standing all alone and dead on the bottom five feet...perfect :)
Wes and the kiddos cut it down, and as I stated earlier, Wes (and Tim) hauled it back to the car. Success.
Tim is either super strong, or the tree wasn't that heavy!And of course, no tree cutting adventure is complete without a tailgate party. This pic is terrible, but what do you expect with three kids, hot chocolate, turkey sandwiches, and banana bread? Some things are just more important than smiling pretty for the camera...We headed home, took some naps, and got busy decorating the tree. As I looked back through all the years of our trees, they pretty much look identical. But, this is the first one in our new house, so we love it. Wes bought a new Christmas train on Black Friday so he and the kids set it up. I think it's a perfect addition to the tree. And, so does Landon.