One nice thing about living in Hyrum is that we are minutes away from Hardware Ranch, a wildlife reserve for elk. Every winter when the elk come down from the mountains, Hardware Ranch offers sleigh rides out to see the elk herds. Saturday was the opening day so Hardware Ranch and Hyrum City put on "Hyrum City Holiday at Hardware Ranch" and gave free rides to see the elk. We, of course, jumped on this opportunity because we had heard many good things about it. We had actually been looking forward to this since we moved here.
We took some fun pictures while we were waiting in line for the wagon ride. We arrived about a half an hour early so we could be one of the first ones in line to ride. It is a good thing we did because the line got really long after we got there. Luckily we were able to get on the second wagon. Our friends who came later were not as luck and they said they waited in line for hours.
Well we finally got on the wagon and headed out to the elk herd. Usually Hardware Ranch uses horse-drawn sleighs to see the elk but there wasn't much snow on the day we went so we just rode in wagons. We didn't care because it was still fun. We rode right into the middle of the elk herd and got to see them up close.
The elk were so awesome to watch. Most of the elk were cows and spikes but there were a few bulls. A couple of the bulls just strutted right out in the middle like "Here I am take my picture!" So I did! The kids loved seeing the elk. Colby pointed out every spike and every bull he could see. Emily was wishing she would have brought her camera. Logan was very wiggly and was basically climbing out of the wagon so he could get a little closer. It was really exciting.
After the wagon ride, had hot chocolate and cookies and walked up to the visitor center and got to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. They were so nice and talked to each of the kids about what they wanted for Christmas. They even gave the kids these silly reindeer ears and Colby got a stretchy Santa toy.
Our day at Hardware Ranch was a fun one. I think this will also be a new Christmas tradition.
That night was our ward Christmas party. Russell and I were part of the party committee so after Hardware Ranch, we headed to the church to set up and start cooking for the dinner. Our friends, the Booth's, were the head people in charge of the party. Since Tyson owns Kneaders in Logan, for dinner we had Kneaders french toast!!! It was sooooo good!!!!! Russell and the boys cooked the french toast and bacon while the Sophronia's and I were in the kitchen cutting up a million strawberries and oranges, making many gallons of orange juice, and cooking the delicious Carmel syrup.
The party was a hit! Of course everyone loved the dinner/breakfast. The primary put on a nice impromptu nativity and everyone got to participate. I was sort of the director since I am now the Primary Music Leader in the ward. The Primary President and I put it together and while she played the piano I lead the kids and the audience in the singing. (Did I ever mention that I don't like being on stage...) Anyway it was good and all the kids were excited to participate. We had many comments on how nice the party was. We did over estimate how many people would be there though so we had tons of leftovers! As we cleaned up we just put toast in bags and had the girls run out and give them to everyone as they left. We brought home orange juice, gallons of milk and strawberries and french toast. What a good party!
So I am now the Primary Music Leader for the second time. I am excited for this calling but nervous as well because it is a big calling that requires a lot of preparation. Our whole stake was changed around and all of the wards got new boundaries and new bishoprics. Because of all of the changes, I knew there would be all new callings and I was really worried about what was coming down. But when the bishopric counselor said it was Primary Music Leader, I was so relieved! I told him I could do that job. I am also still one of the Activity Days leaders so that will be fun too. Russell is the Secretary in the Young Men's presidency and he is really excited about that too.
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