Winter Wonderland

I know you guys are sick of hearing about Bear Lake.  Sorry.  This is going to be all the adventure we are going to be able to afford for the next year or so, so get used to it people.  The kids are still excited to go, I am still excited to go, so try to be excited to hear about it (or, you know, just skip this post).   Hey, at least the scenery keeps changing so you have different pictures to look at!

It hadn't snowed at our house, but once we headed up some canyons we left fall and entered winter.  And it was beautiful:

(or at least it seemed beautiful to me in late November.  Ask me again in March, and I probably won't feel quite as rapturous about the snowy landscapes.)

Here is the view from the cabin deck as soon as we got there Friday evening, as the sun was going down:

The kids were just a little excited to finally be out of the car:

After turned the heater up (brrrrr!) and unpacked, we decided we were hungry.  We headed out to one of the local restaurants that was still operating (they are getting fewer and fewer).  It was a Mexican place and was all decorated for Christmas.  We ate chips and salsa until we thought we would burst.  After dinner we headed back to the cabin and just hung out in our jammies and then went to bed.  The first night away from home is always a rough bedtime.  The kids all started out together in the "kids room" downstairs.  After a few trips down the stairs reminding the kids that it is hard to sleep unless you are actually IN the beds had no effect, Arden ended up in the loft bedroom, and Dax in "Harry Potter's Room" under the stairs.  After that things quieted down pretty quick.  Ah, the joy.

The next day we woke up to a snowy morning.  We snuggled down in the warm cabin all morning, watching movies and doing crafts. (Crafts are Arden's favorite cabin activity, and she now expects me to provide at least one or two crafty activities per trip. Oriental Trading Company is sure making their $$ off of me lately). After lunch, we headed out to see if we could find anywhere to sled nearby.

Preston is ready to go!

Me and Cora are ready to go!

 We had to stop along the way and make a snow angel or two:

 And finally, we found a small hill and we were sledding!  Woooo!

 Cora has a hard time staying on her sled, but she has fun anyway:

 Arden and Dax started making "choo-choo trains":

Arden and Dax like to go down the hill on their own sleds, but Cora still likes to go down with Preston or me sometimes:

Maybe it is because we are easier to hold onto and keep the sled facing forwards, which is another thing Cora has trouble with.  

After we were all sledded out, we headed back to the cabin and took off our zillion layers of snow clothes. Soon the wind started blowing and the snow started falling pretty hard, so we settled in for a quiet evening.  Back to the crafts!  Me and the girls put together some elves we can use for Christmas ornaments or decorations later:

 The boys had fun playing "Star Wars Angry Birds" on my phone:

 The elves looked cute and cozy all lined up in the window as the storm blew outside:

We had some nice warm soup for dinner, then played some games.  Preston did "tickle monster" for a while, which makes the kids scream so loud that I am always worried someone is going to hear them and call the po-po.  Then we tried to settle down and watch another movie.  When bedtime rolled around, we decided to just let the kids be downstairs in the kids room together, and as long as no one was crying we would just let them do their thing and hopefully they would fall asleep eventually.  It took them quite a while.

After they were finally quiet, I snuck down the stairs to check on them.  In the kids' room there is a twin bed and a twin-over-full bunk bed.  Cora had been on the top bunk, Dax on the bottom and Arden in the twin when I tucked them in.  Somehow they all ended up falling asleep in the big bottom bunk bed together. Awwwwwww.  How adorable are these little stinkers?  I love it.

 Morning glory:

 We had breakfast, and played some more Old Maid:

After a lazy morning, we got all dressed up and headed to church in a nearby town.  The roads weren't plowed, but they weren't too bad (lucky for us the roads by our cabin are dirt, and dirt melts snow).  After we got back, it was time for me to clean up while the kids played some more and Preston packed up the car.  

We didn't do much but relax, but it is nice have a place to go for a change of scenery.  Who wants to come along next time?  And do you have a snowmobile?