AZ family fun!

 We joined our friends in AZ to celebrate Krisann's birthday.  The kids were going to spend time with their grandparents but Candy was in hospital so the kids joined us on our romantic couples vacation.

 The weather was 70-75 degrees every day, which was amazing!  Bismarck was at -25 the days we were gone. 

We went to the AZ Aquarium (Emmy's choice) and it was a great place to spend a couple hours.

Kids loved to touch the starfish, anemone, stingrays. 

 This penguin played games with Emmy

 The favorite thing we did was hike Camelback mountain.  We went over half way up the mountain and the climbing was quite treacherous!  The kids are quite the climbers.  Bobby has no fear so he often would lead the pack.  Emmy was hesitant at first, but she remembered her inner strength and athleticism and conquered her anxiety on some of the more difficult areas of the mountain hike.  I was so impressed with how hard they worked.  We thought that we all would have made it the entire way but we had some shopping to do and I was worried about potential injuries.  We had some great sushi and dinners while there and our fill of ice cream and deserts.  It was a trip full of family time that we were grateful for!

When we got back later in the morning on Monday, U Mary was having a Community Day and there was a Pow Wow on campus.  The kids had a day off for MLK day and so they came along with me with the promise of Icees from the campus store.  We enjoyed the Pow Wow and some extra time again that day.

Basketball, volleyball fun!

Emmy and Robb enjoyed their hockey trip to Fargo.....Emmy scored some goals which was so much fun for her.  Bobby and I managed to get to all his games (5!)  and we enjoyed many great lunches together too.  I even had to sub in for his coach when he got game time wrong.  That was funny, but the boys really knew what they were doing out there.

Christmas vacation

 We really enjoyed our Christmas break. Started off with a great Christmas party.  Kids also had a basketball camp out at U mary before they started up school again.

Christmas break was highlighted by a ski trip!  The kids have become excellent skiers.  We went to WinterPark with the entire Moldenhauer family.  We loved all the great dinners and family time.  When we came back home again we opened gifts, baked cookies, made covered pretzels.....and every once in a while the kids may have argued but they eventually worked it out (with a note).  We also had many hockey and basketball games to keep us busy.  We loved every minute of break!