Happy New Years!!!

My parents have a few New Year's traditions, but one of my favorites is this one: just north of our teeny-tiny town is a huge knoll.  We call it 4-mile Knoll.

Yes, quite the creative name, I know.

Anyways, on New Year's Day, after everyone's slept in the sufficient amount required after Mormon-style partying all night long, we all drive out to 4-Mile Knoll and hike up it.  There are a bunch of caves that are really cool to explore, and it's nice to start the new year by doing something active and fun (although sometimes it's too cold to be all that "fun," this year's mild winter was perfectly conducive to this sort of activity).

This year, because Clark got his tonsils out, he, Maggie and I decided to sit it out, and Steve took Jack out with my family in the big ol' 15-passenger van.

 Judging by the pictures, they had a blast.

I like to call these following pictures: "Attempts at a Group Picture With a 4-year-old Involved:"

 Ah, the beauty of Northern Arizona in the middle of winter.....

I'm sad we missed it.  But I guess having a three-year-old with some freshly removed body parts should be sufficient reason to stay home.  Hopefully next time we won't have anyone recovering from surgery, and we can all go.