Thanksgiving came to us this year!
We returned to the Tetons during the holiday, this time taking Andrew's family with us. Despite the snow, we chose to hike a short distance to one of the park's southern most lakes: Taggart Lake. Hiking in the snow was a suprizingly scenic and peaceful experience.
With a little strategic thinking, we were able to sit all thirteen of our guests at tables in the front room of our one-bedroom apartment!
It's a Norris family tradition to play football on Thanksgiving day. Don and Andrew were really excited to play this year's game on the new turf at BYU-I!
We had a small Christmas celebration with Andrew's family while they were with us. His parents gave us all sweatshirts from the University of Alabama! We're feelin' good in red.
During the November 10th-12th weekend, we traveled to Southern Utah again with Tiffany's family. This time, to one of the Macfarlane's favorite recreation spots: Moab. While there, we enjoyed the beautiful desert scenery, hiking, mountain biking...but mostly, the chance to be together. We're pictured here at one of our favorite hikes called "The Firey Furnace," found in Arches National Park.
Arches National Park is just minutes outside of Moab. That's another national park to add to our list for this year--number four, to be exact! We enjoyed the scenery and some hiking with Tiffany's family while in the park.
We had Mitch and Carrie over for halloween. We had soup in pumpkin bread bowls. So cute and so much fun.
We dressed up as Mrs. Norris and Argus Filch from Harry Potter. We had alot of fun! We thought that it was a clever idea.
On the weekend of October 13th, we journeyed to the St. George area of southern Utah with Tiffany's family. During the trip, we had the chance to add a third national park to our "have visited" list: Zions! We really enjoyed it.
We braved rainy weather and went on a short hike in Zions to Lower Emerald Pool. The rain allowed for a more dramatic waterfall scene that was so picturesque.
It was chilly and wet on the day that we planned to go to the park, but that didn't keep us from going! Here we are enjoying a more dry shuttle ride to various sites in the park.
While in southern Utah, we rented some ATV's and went on a guided ride for two hours outside of St. George. For almost all of us, it was our first time riding--and it turned out to be a blast.
During the weekend of October the 6th, Andrew's cousins, Matt and Jade Woods, came to Rexburg to visit us. We spent Saturday afternoon showing off the world's most famous national park to them--it was a perfect excuse to enjoy Yellowstone! These two Norris' love the outdoors.
After a thirty minute wait in chilly 35 degree weather, Matt and Jade feel relieved that "Old Faithful" finally erupted!
It seemed fitting to capture Andrew and Matt at "Spasm Geyser" near Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Their excitement that day matched the geyser's namesake all too well!
It was rainy and cold that day, but also a beautiful, worth-while trip. We spotted these waterfalls just a short walk off of the main road!
We went to Mesa Falls near Island Park, Idaho, on Labor Day with Tiffany's cousins, Brittany and Levi Pardon. It was so beautiful!
Over the weekend we drove up to the Tetons and did some hiking and camping. We had so much fun!
