Christmas Vacation Day 4- traveling to Wyoming

I was born in Wyoming.  I love it there.  I spent a lot of time there as a teen and consider it home.  I haven't been back to Star Valley since I went to my Grandma Vira's funeral.  I have missed it so much.  When  I found out that David and Samantha were going to a house in Star Valley I was super jealous and they eventually invited us to come and stay with Samantha's family.  I jumped on it and had ski tickets bought and plans made before Cameron could find a way to say no.

Driving the way back to Star Valley seemed like coming home to me.  We enjoyed the drive and the snow quite a bit.  I think my vision of winter must still come from being a child.  The snow covered sage brush was beautiful to me in a way I can't even describe.  I love the endless skies and the the clouds made everything more beautiful.  My memories of childhood swirled around me and I felt a part of me return.  We listened to country music and tried to count the horses and antelope.

Towards evening we arrived in Afton.  The town was different.  Most of the store fronts were occupied and there were lots of new big stores.  The town was busy and bustling for the evening.  It was lightly snowing and 15 degrees.  I couldn't have been happier to see it.  Our windshield wiper fluid was frozen so we had to buy some more and try to melt it.  

Our destination for the evening was Jackson Hole so we continued on driving up the snake river canyon in the dark.  We arrived at our hotel and got everything we needed inside.  (One note here:  since we have been traveling so much lately we have learned an important lesson.  If you are only staying in a hotel for one night pack a hotel bag with a change of clothes and pajamas for everyone.  Then you only need to drag one bag inside instead of all the bags.) Cameron and I left again to obtain lunch supplies for our next day of skiing.  We bought mostly snacks and string cheese plus a thermos for hot chocolate.  The best part of having an 11 year old is her being able to babysit!  

We got back to our room and the girls were showered and enjoying a movie.  Cameron and I decided to check out the hot tub without the kids and enjoyed relaxing from the drive in a great big hot tub!  It was a great day and I was very happy to be back in my birth state.  

Christmas Ski Vacation Day 2 and 3

On Wednesday we woke up early and started our drive up to Vineyard to spend a couple days with Wade and Melissa.  It was funny to drive to the top of the passes and find the temperature in the lower 40's and then drive into a valley and find the temperature was as low as 18 degrees.  The inversions were in full swing.  

We made it to Lehi where Cameron dropped us off at Cabellas while he went up to a couple appointments in Salt Lake Area for work.  We enjoyed target shooting and looking at the big trout in the aquariums as well as looking at all the stuffed animals.  Ina picked us up and we had lunch and enjoyed playing with her kids at her house.  I am glad they can all get along so well.  

Later we made our way to Wade and Melissa's and enjoyed time with them.  It was a great day and quite relaxing since we made the drive in two days instead of one.

Thursday Morning we woke up to some snow and rain mix.  We were going skiing at Alta.  We drove up on slippery roads that turned to snow and then more snow as we drove up the canyon.  We found that obtaining our tickets from the Mountain Collective was a little challenging and should have learned that we needed to allow at least an extra hour for that process.  Cameron and Wade pulled all the gear into the locker room where it was dry and made it pretty easy for us to get our stuff on.  We all finally got our skis on and were excited to ski... all except Annika who was quite afraid she had forgotten everything from skiing last year.

Wade and Cameron took off to enjoy some powder and the Ashling and Ali also took off in front of us.  Annika and I struggled through 5 inches of wet powder to try and ski down the run.  She did forget quite a bit, her used skiis were not waxed enough for conditions, and she kept falling.  After a grueling run down the mountain I had enough and decided I was now willing to pay for experts to teach her while I enjoyed the best snow conditions I could remember in a long time.  I obtained an afternoon ski lesson for her and a couple of hours of babysitting for a reasonable although quite expensive price and then headed out to ski again.  Poor Ali and Ashling had been waiting for me and Cameron and Wade finally found them and they started to ski with Wade while Cameron waited for me.   We enjoyed a few runs before it was lunch time.  One of Ali's highlights was skiing to follow Wade through a place that had 5 feet of powder and was quite difficult to ski in.  She made it through just fine though.  

Lunch was quite a surprise for us. We bought hot dogs, hot chocolate, soup and chicken nuggets that were descent in quality but quite expensive. We paid a pretty penny for not very much food and resolved to not do that for the rest of the trip.  

After lunch we dropped Annika off for her lesson and Ali, Ashling and I skied on the lower slopes while Cameron and Wade looked for powder.  I enjoyed the skiing quite a bit and we all got a taste of Utah powder.  

After skiing for awhile the girls were exhausted and they went to the lodge to rest.  The powder is really harder to ski in and since this was our first time of the year our legs were killing us too.  I skied a few more runs until Annika's lesson was over.  Her lesson went great.  She learned to ski without the edgy-wedgy and also worked quite a bit on turning.  She was very happy with her results and we were happy she did it without us!  She joined the girls in the lodge and I skied a few more runs alone.  At last I couldn't feel my legs and decided I should be finished.  Cameron and Wade came a little later and we all headed home in a snow storm.  I considered it a great day of skiing and fun for all!

For Christmas this year Cameron and I decided to take the girls skiing to Utah and Wyoming.  We started out the first day with a drive to St George where we visited my Grandpa at Cafe Rio.  Later we checked into the hotel and played in the pool that was very warm.  It was a nice relaxing drive to just have to make it to St George.  The highlight of the day was paying less for gas than we had in years and watching Annika learn to swim.

Our Snow Storm

We only got a couple storms all year.  Here are some pictures from the only snowfall this year that warranted Cameron breaking out his brand new snowblower... I wish we would have had more snow but we sure did enjoy our one nice snowy day.  

Nutcracker 2013

The girls were excited to open their letters in August and find out that Annika would be a gingerbread and Ashling would be a Young Guest and a Chocolate.  They practiced every Saturday in October and November where Ashling was at the dance studio from 10-3 every Saturday.  We were very excited for performance week which happens to be the same weekend as Thanksgiving.

The rehearsal and performance schedule is quite intense for little girls and this Mommy helped in the dressing room nearly every time too.  These are some pictures from the first dress rehearsal which lasted pretty late.  Thank goodness Cameron was available to pick up Annika because Ashling had to stay to the very end.

The girls performed on Wednesday twice, twice on Friday, twice on Saturday and once on Sunday.  They did a great job and I loved watching them dance.  Behind the scenes there was a lot of downtime and they did a great job doing what they were supposed to.  

Saturday is the funnest day of the performance because the kids do a gift exchange, get to see Santa and also have a cast party.  Here are some pictures the kids took with other cast members and also with Santa. 

Ashling, Annika and the nutcracker prince 

The girls with Sharon McCormick (Their dance teacher)

 The girls with Clara

 The Mouse King (I had to beg and plead before they would stand this close to him)

 The first nutcracker

 The girls with Miss Aleiah who is Annika's assistant teacher

And of course the girls with Santa Clause!

Although the Nutcracker wears me out every year and is exhausting for one and all it is a very fun performance and great for the girls.  I am sure we will all try out for it again next year!

A Rock Fireplace

These pictures are in reverse order... One project that has needed to be finished is the fireplace in our living room.  When we bought the house this wood stove was on the carpet with a hole cut out of the carpet for it to be on.   Before we put new carpet in Cameron built a bottom and put all the rock around the bottom...  But the back was left undone for a later time.  Finally this fall was the later time.  This project was much more involved than we imagined and it took many fall Saturdays for Cameron to complete it.  Finally for Thanksgiving the project was done!  Below are pictures of the progress.  Thanks Cameron for finishing!  I love it!

Hike around Keller Peak

Ashling's class went hiking in November for a field trip and I came along.  I ended up having the best group ever with Tanner, Ashling, Emily and Emily.  WE had a great time hiking but it sure seems like a long hike for the younger kids.