Saturday, November 23, 2013

Our Christmas Tree Adventure

Every year, I always think it would be so much fun to go cut down a Christmas tree as a family.  Well, this year I did a little research and talked to some people about doing it.  I found out that we could get permits up at the LaTienda in Franklin, Idaho for $10.  This allowed us to cut down any evergreen tree up to 12 feet high.
We decided to get our tree the weekend before Thanksgiving, because we were going to be up in Cache Valley and because Thanksgiving this year was just a few days before December.  Anyway, we decided to invite Jocelynn, Kyle and family to join in our "1st Annual Cutting Down Our Own Christmas Tree" adventure.
We got our permits and then headed up to Franklin Basin. At first there was hardly any snow, but as we kept driving, it got deeper and deeper.  We had a hard time spotting any smaller Christmas trees.  We finally took a different trail and headed down until we couldn't go any further.  We stopped our trucks and decided to get out and walk around.
It was a gorgeous day as far as it being clear, sunny and blue skies.  But, the wind was blowing and it was extremely cold. After we all got dressed in our winter gear, we headed over the metal bridge and started looking for the perfect tree.  The boys enjoyed running around with Ty.  Jocelynn wanted a small tree for her front porch, so it didn't take them long to find their tree.
We tromped through the snow and trees and endured the freezing wind for about 15 minutes.  At first, we liked this one we are standing by, but we soon realized that the base of it was huge and that it probably would have taken up our entire front room.  Most of the pretty trees split into multiple trees half way down the trunk, so the bases on them were massive.
Eventually, Kyle found out perfect tree.  It was about 12 and a half fee tall.  It wasn't a full tree but ended up being a really nice tree and quite symmetrical.  It took the men less than a minute to saw it down and start hauling it back to the truck.
After we got back to the trucks, we got the trees loaded, stripped off all our winter gear and then snapped a few pictures.  Clayton started crying because his hands were cold and had gone numb.  He ended up sitting in the truck and defrosting while we finished putting everything away.  It was a fun little adventure and I look forward to doing it again.  The cost is inexpensive, and the memories were priceless. 

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