a week at the Cabin and New Year's

I love our cabin. We haven't been able to go after Christmas for three years. I was really excited that we could this year. The drive wasn't too bad but it did snow on the way and apparently Wyoming doesn't salt their roads so even though they were plowed they still had snow frozen on top of them. Getting our car to the top of the hill to our cabin was a lot of trial and error. Since it snowed about 6 inches that day and the road wasn't plowed we had to get a "running" start to make it up. We almost made it till we reached the corner then had to back down the hill and start again...we had to back track a few different spots. Here's an idea of why it took so long...Notice the snow bank next to our car... that is not exaggerated!

Our Snowy retreat! I love the snow, it's so beautiful.

For the week we were at the cabin we: played on the Wii, yes EVERYONE!! Snuggled with those we love, played video games, listened to music, played many many games, watched movies, snowmobiled, sledded, ate yummy food and laughed A LOT! Here is a collection of some of my favorite moments.

Notice my parents playing the Wii, and my sweet grandma, at 84 all our chaos stresses her a little but she loves us anyway and comes for the fun.

Nothing like some good ole' snow fun. We went sledding many days! Yes we even talked Grandma Patti into joining us! She is a dare devil to the core!! This is the small sledding run in between the cabins. It may look small but it gets some good speed and then their is a small jump at the end that we all got air on. Then my sweet Kaiya with Ella. They are so cute together Ella is tickling Kaiya's tummy for her and she is loving every moment.

This is New Year's Eve. During the day the men went snowmobiling while the ladies and kids stayed and played. The bigger kids rode the 4 wheelers and went sledding while the little kids watched movies, played games and ran around with each other. The ladies played cards and board games. While playing games the older kids were doing American Idle on the Wii. It looked like too much fun, so Tiff, Janae, Mom and I had a little competition! It was hilarious. I'm probably going to get in trouble for posting the picture of Mom and Tiff...but I think I'm safer with a picture then the video clip ;) We also had Mario Cart wars on the Wii it was way too fun! I love that Grandma Ginny played the Wii she got pretty good at Mario Cart and bowling!

After the men returned and we enjoyed a yummy pizza dinner from Gunner's (seriously my favorite pizza place). We put the little ones to bed and played all kinds of games. Then we all grabbed a glass of Martinelli's and watched the ball drop to ring in the New Year. It's a New Years tradition that we run around barefoot in the snow and bang pots and pans EXCEPT when we are at the cabin. At the cabin we go sledding down the BIG run in a small gully across the street from us. It's SO dark and you fly SOO fast screaming all the way down because your sure your going to hit that giant tree at the bottom. My only regret is I didn't get any pictures of this amazing place to sled! (below is all that stayed awake for the new year, except for Whitney.. she was there too, just not pictured. Grandma, mom,dad and uncle Al are the ones who didn't join us sledding)

When we returned from our midnight sled this is what we found. I didn't want to move them they were too cute.

An attempt at a family photo.

Warming up after trying to play in the snow while it rained.

My brother took all the wives out on the snowmobiles one of the days. Mom and Janae are pros they've been riding for years/decades. Tiff and I are the rookies. So When Jon showed us a little jump we could do we just sat and watched the three of them. And then it happened, our crazy dare devil mother went flying over it and got close to 3 feet of air. It was awesome! I so wish I had my camera. I love that my 60 yr. old mom can play like she's 30! Not only was it lots of fun It was absolutely beautiful..

This Elk feeding ground is just as you enter Alpine, WY. The pictures only show about a third of what was there.

It was fabulous as always and can't wait to go again!

After returning back to Provo we had a low key day with Rich before he drove back to Cali and back to work. The kids and I were lucky to get to stay in Utah until the 16th of January. Thanks to my parents kindly offering to bring us home. It was also a great excuse for them to get away from the cold and have a warm vacation. During the extra 10 days we were there we had a lot of good times visiting with family and friends. Sadly I have no proof.. my camera battery died and I forgot the charger. But I'm going to sum it up anyway.

• I'm so glad Megan was still in Utah after New Years. She came over and we sat and talked just like old times. It was so nice! Her husband is also a Ph.D student, so talking about that part of our life is great because we both know exactly what the other is dealing with. Meg.. I love you, thanks for being such a great friend and inspiring mother over the years!!
• Tiff and Janae took me hiking up Rock Canyon with them a few times. It was colder then I expected but a killer workout with my giant Sorel boots on tromping through the snow. I love hiking especially with Tiff and Janae who are not only my sisters but two of my best friends.
• I finally got to see Allyson, we've been friends since college, and she's one of those friends that always makes my day better when we talk. We went to Tucanos, and ate so, so much. The waiter told us he was seriously impressed. (we had to get our moneys worth! and the tummy ache was totally worth it!). Love you Scally!!
  
• We celebrated Halle's 2nd b-day with all of our family and Janae's family. It was fun to hang out and eat yummy food and catch up with everyone.
• We spent a night with Mike N Jen and all their kids. Eating, playing spending time together. My kids loved seeing kungfoo panda for the first time, and playing more Wii games.
• Grandma LuJean and Diane and girls came down and took us to lunch. The kids loved it because it was a buffet and they could eat whatever they wanted. Only I think Jarron and Haley loved the desserts the most. I chose not to fight it and let them each have several desserts. Yum!
• Thanks to Katie for letting me add to the chaos and cutting my hair! I loved talking with you and Mica. We need to go out and play next time! And I love my new hair!!
• We also spent a night and Curt N Liza's. Jarron loves Issac and they play so well together. We ate, hung out and kids played with toys and the Wii. While I was introduced to some very entertaining web videos!
  

Thanks to all who we spent time with. We love you!
and now I'm almost caught up!