The hunt for the perfect tree

Katelyn: "What in the heck are we doing out here in the cold anyway"?

Notice the wheels caked in mud! And Katelyn without a sock or shoe! One of her Robeez fell off, but I searched until I found it. I was not leaving without it, they are a brand new pair and not cheap either!!!
Madelyn: "Are you kidding me? We're stuck in the mud!? O.K. I'm going to start crying at any second!"
The boys enjoying the wagon ride to the tree fields.


This year we thought it'd be fun to go to a you cut tree farm to get our tree. This is the first year we've actually been tree hunting as a family. At our old house our landlord who was also our neighbor owned a huge Christmas tree farm. He'd deliver us a beautiful noble fir every year for FREE! But now that we aren't there anymore, we had to go it alone this year. It was so much fun, and quite an experience. We went to Vollstedt Family Farm to get our tree. It is so festive there. They take you on Wagon rides out to the fields of trees, give you a saw and let you loose. When you've chosen and cut your tree, you get to wait in a nice warming shed for the next wagon to pick you up. So Cool!

The boys had a blast! The babies not so much. They weren't up for the cold bumpy stroller ride or for getting stuck in the mud. Yes that's right we got our nice beautiful double Graco stroller stuck in the mud! We really should've known better we live in Oregon after all, the state of never ending rain! We eventually had to abandon the stroller in the mud and carry the babies. Once we found our tree, which took some time as I am a very picky tree hunter, Ian (and the boys) cut it down while I went back to get the babies back in the stroller. We heard many comments like "that stroller needs 4 wheel drive" and "wow are they all your's" of course too many "you guys sure have your hands full" to count! But it was fun, and we all just enjoyed it and laughed at ourselves. And it was all worth it as you can see, we did end up with the perfect tree! It's not a noble (those puppies are expensive) like we normally get, but it's BIG and full and beautiful!

Poor Ian had to haul it back to the warming shed all by himself (all 9 ft of it) since I was pushing the mud caked stroller! What an adventure!!! Surely one we'll never forget!