New Years at the Ranch...

We spent a long time at the ranch for New Year's. We didn't take a lot of pictures but there was lots of creek adventures, outside time, hunting and family time. 

 We spent NYE at the Herridges. We opened presents, had dinner, played games, sat in the hot tub and then rang in 2025.

On New Year's Day, we had a big creek adventure, had dinner and then did fire works.

 It was pretty cold!!

We are all looking forward to a great 2025!! 

First Deer Down...

First deer for the Wille guys in over a year! Joshua got up early, went out by himself and got this nice buck!! He shot, tracked it and field dressed it all by himself. Pretty big accomplishment. The early hunter gets the big buck! They dropped it off at the processers and are having a European mount done. 

 

Christmas 2025...

The annual pj pic. Ranger was not a fan of them this year. We're all so cute! Notice the leaning tree?? 

It will be retired after this year! We actually took this pic on Christmas Eve. Jake was supposed to work all day and we wondered if he would even make it to church. But he was able to get off early and get a haircut! Double win! So we took the pic before getting dressed for church. 

We went to the 5:00 Christmas Eve service and then over to Shirley's. 

I didn't get any pics of Christmas morning at our house. Ranger got a lot of toys from Santa! Kids got most things on their lists and money to buy other stuff. Mike and Joshua had to be at the 10:00 service for elder and acolyte duty. We had a quick breakfast and they left. Afterwards we went to Mom and Bill's to open presents and have lunch.

 

 We changed things up and had lasagna instead of the usual steak and chicken meal. Mom and Bill were leaving to go to his family late afternoon. So we were home and back in pjs by 3:30. We were going to do a big meal at our house for the 5 of us...but we were so full and tired from all the festivities we decided to wait until the next day. 

It was a really good Christmas!! There were a few little changes to our usual routines...which was nice. Big kid Christmas is a lot of fun! And much more laid back! 

Disney World! Part 2...

We started the day off by parking at Magic Kingdom and riding the monorail over to Epcot. 

Airya had gotten us into the que for Guardians of the Galaxy and it did not disappoint!! 

It was a great ride! 

We split up for a g-force space ride. The girls rode the extreme version...Jake and I went on the easier ride. And still...it was a lot! 

 

Mickey art on the walkways!! 

We walked all around Eat Around the World area and had lunch at the fancier Italian place. It was so good! All the countries around the world are so realistic. The attention to detail everywhere at Disney is is impressive!!

After lunch we rode the monorail back to Magic Kingdom. It's definitely the most iconic Disney park. And it was extra beautiful decorated for Christmas. 

Main Street is amazing....and SO packed!

We rode Space Mountain together and then split up. Jake and I did Big Thunder Mountain. The girls rode Tron and a few other rides. 

While waiting to meet up with the girls, we found a bakery and got a little snack. Main Street was so crowded because it was getting closer to dark....we found a tiny spot to sit and eat. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                  

This was video I took of a show they were doing....the Castle looks magical! 

 

We left the park as the fireworks were starting. It was just so packed!! You have to ride the monorail back to the parking lot so we saw some of the show. 

 Just an amazing trip!!! We were able to do SO much for very little money! I wasn't so sure about Disney...I thought it could be overwhelming and wondered how much we would be able to do and see. I'm so glad we took the trip. It was a lot of fun just the 3 of us and Airya! 

Disney World!! Part 1...

Sophia's friend Ariya had a 6 month internship at Disney World. Sophia wanted to go see her...and it turned into a trip for me, Jake and Sophia. Ariya was able to get all 3 of us Park Hopper tickets for both days! And she gets free parking with her ID and lots of food coupons and discounts. I went along to pay for things and be Jake's ride partner! 

We had a VRBO fairly close to Airya's apartment. She's living on the DW property very close to the parks! Once we got checked in and unloaded, we dropped Sophia off to hang with Airya and friends. Jake and I found this really cool Auto Museum. They had SO many cool cars!

This is the worlds longest car...a limo with a million tires, windows, a hot tub, putting green and 

helicopter pad!! 

Jake was standing at the end of the car!

Afterwards we bowled a couple games...this place was kind of like Main Event. They had all kinds of stuff to do! 

 We picked up dinner, headed back to the VRBO and later picked up Sophia. We had to get a good nights sleep for Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom the next day! 

Hollywood Studios here we come!!! 

We quickly split up...the girls went one way. Jake and I headed straight to Star Wars. We rode 2 different rides...the top ones on his list! Everywhere you go at Disney is decorated/made to look SO real. You felt like you were in the Star Wars universe! 

The highlight of the day was Jake making his own custom light saber. It's a very official process...you choose from 3 options, pay and then wait for your turn to go inside the building room. Only one "extra guest" per builder and each builder has their own station. 

It's a whole "thing" and they walk you through each step. Jake picked the red crystal. 

Once you've chosen your crystal, you choose which specific parts you want for your light saber. 

They walk you through the build and then you put your light saber in this tube to activate. I got some video but no real pictures. When you pull out the saber, everyone's is lit up and they finish up the ceremony.

 Jake's saber had a little issue and was working ok but afterwards they took us aside and wanted to check his out more. They took it back to run some tests and make sure it was functioning properly. A TSA approved padded holder is included so you can get it home safely. This was definitely on Jake's

 to-do list! We had perfect timing and were able to walk right up without an appointment. Everyone was so nice and so in character! 

After lunch at Hollywood Studios, we drove over to Animal Kingdom. The tree of life is right in front when you go inside. They were doing a macaw show and all these beautiful, colorful birds flew in and landed on the rocks right by the crowd. I wish I had gotten pictures! The birds stayed for a bit and then slowly flew off.

We had no idea it would be so HOT! Sophia and I both had jeans on! 

They have a whole safari of animals on site and you take a bus tour around the area. 

We went on the most amazing ride....Avatar Flight of Passage. SO cool. You felt like you were right there!!! Also rode another Avatar ride, Yeti rollercoaster (really did not like that one!!!) We all loved Animal Kingdom. The park was beautiful and not crowded! 

Afterwards we went back to Hollywood Studios. The girls rode Tower of Terror in the morning but Jake really wanted to. It was a long line but well worth it!!

A long but amazing day!! We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, dropped Airya off and went home to rest up for day 2!