Time to Find a Tree

 Tuesday we had a rare day when all of us were home at once, so we went out to find a Christmas tree.  We always cut our own.  It's part of the fun tradition and we have great memories (like of the time they let me pick it, and we ended up needing to wire on extra branches to fill in the gaps.  Yeah. That's the last time they let me pick it by the way, and it's been at least 4 or 5 years ago.)  Our ten year old noticed the ice crystals on the snow.  It was very cool.

 We went to a different area than we normally do, because our library found their tree up here, and we love the tree they got.  We were hoping for a similar result.  The problem is that there isn't anywhere to pull off the road, so we had to park away from the trees, and when we did find a place to park we weren't near very many - you see the total amount in this picture.

The snow was pretty deep - almost to our knees, and we kept sinking through the crust.  The six year old rode on the sled, but the three year old didn't want to.

So I held his hand while he walked.  He didn't sink.  I did.  Finally I put him up on my shoulders, and he was pretty freaked out by that.  He kept telling me not to drop him in a hole (dad's footprint).

 Then we came to our next challenge.  Barbed wire.

 The six year old was determined to help, so he and his older brother crossed the fence with Dad.

By then, I was ready to let the guys figure it out, so the three year old and I stayed at the fence.

 This is the total distance we made it.  Where the sled tracks end is where we are parked lol.

The six year old found a tree.  He couldn't figure out why I wouldn't let him cut it down.

 I told him it was too small.

So he picked a big one.  Yes, THAT big one.  HA. I told him we had to pick one that would fit on top of our vehicle.  When we gave up on this location and headed back to the truck, he told me he wanted to go to his sister's station (she works at a convenience store). I told him that she wasn't there right now.  He shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Somebody is." - HA.  I thought he wanted to visit her.  Turns out he was only wanting some chocolate milk. :)

So, in the end, there were no trees of the right size in this little stand, and we couldn't find a suitable place to pull off the road for one that was.  I knew this process would probably take longer than I had time for, so I had driven separately from the rest of the crew.  When I needed to head to work (I'm a librarian now) I left the guys to search for the tree.  When I came home, they had an absolutely beautiful, uniform tree ... which they had purchased at Smith's in Jackson Hole (77 miles away) lol.  Oh well.  At least they had a fun day, and we now have a tree.  This will be a fun memory too. :)

I'll post pictures of the tree once we get it decorated.