Snow Is Fun

We have had an interesting yet still very fun week at the cabin... 

Day 1 - Powder day, Kyle skied, I was wiped out from our 17 night long drive

Day 2 - Powder Day, Kyle and I skied.  (Powder is not a good kid ski day)

Day 3 - Kyle and girls skied - I wasn't feeling good :(

DAY 4- We all SKIED!!! YAY! Had too much fun to take a picture!

Day 5 - Sunday

Day 6 (today) - Girls had the flu :(

So, I only skied with my darlings 1 day and I only skied 2 days.  BUT those 2 days were FABULOUS!!!!  The rest of the time we did puzzles and made some quilts, read by the fire, played card games, watched movies, and cooked.  Nice and relaxing!

 Arent' my skies scary, I think I might paint them.

Always, always, always love cabin time.

CHRISTMAS!!

~Here are some highlights from our Celebration of Christmas~

 We had a sweet moment on Christmas eve.  Miss E was saying our bedtime prayer and she remembered our Savior and the purpose of our Celebration.  I am so grateful for the birth of our savior and his life and example for us.  I am also grateful that my sweet daughter understands the true meaning of christmas.

(Kyle's family has a HUGE Christmas Eve Party with all of their extended family.  One of their traditions is for all the moms to put on a skit for everyone else. We put on silly clothing and sing silly songs and make everyone laugh until they cry, mainly because we are so ridiculous in our skit. This year a few of the little girls were our accompaniment. Its soooooo silly and fun and this year we used it as the way to announce that Kyle's cousin is pregnant, so that was extra special :)

Christmas Eve P.J.'s

There was sooooo many presents on Christmas Morning!  That's what happens when you have 7 children and 6 adults sharing Christmas together.  It was so sweet to spend christmas with so many of Kyle's family.  We had his parents, his brother and family, and the 4 of us.  

It was a really special morning.

Grandpa and Uncle are holding back 7 children.... the kids were going crazy ... heeheehee!

Miss E had a My Little Pony Christmas, and Miss H had a Dora Christmas.  They were both thrilled!  And I didn't realize that I bought each of them noise toys, I try to avoid those, but oh Well!  Its SO FUN to be able to give them exactly what they want, obviously not good to spoil, but so enjoyable to fulfill their little sweet hopes.  

Lake Tahoe, DisneyLand, Half Moon Bay

So we Have had a WONDERFUL ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!  VACA!!!!!!

and its still going strong, although, thankfully we are settled in one spot, arrived today.

To start out... We based ourselves out of Nana's and Papa's house in Cali-forn-i-a.  On our way in we detoured and spent a few hours in Lake Tahoe, we hiked down to emerald bay...gorgeous!  It felt amazing to get out and stretch and smell the amazing mountain air.  We skipped and played, and explored.  The girls loved to see the castle on emerald bay and to see how tall the trees are.   I LOVE the fresh mountain air.  

We ran all the way down and sang christmas carols all the way back up.

Then we trekked down to DISNEYLAND!!!! It was just the four of us and Kyle's parents.  It was awesome to just focus on the girls and not worry about what everyone else in the family wanted to do.  We had so much fun!!!  Miss H went on her first roller coaster and LOVED IT, but did not like the haunted mansion.  Miss E loved meeting the princess', exploring the castle, and just running from place to place.  This was the first time we have ever kept the girls awake to watch the fireworks, so that was SO FUN!

A couple of days later we headed over to Half Moon Bay near San Fran.  It only rained for about 10 minutes.  This day was my favorite by far.   I LOVE THE BEACH, the expansiveness of the ocean, the seagulls, the breeze, the sounds, the fun!  The girls and I had a wonderful time searching for seashells (we even found two perfect clam shells!!!) we ran from the waves, we fell in the water, we built sandcastles.  I can't wait to go back!  We were soooo sandy and muddy - but who cares!  Life is best when lived!  To get down to the beach we had to go down a steep and MUDDY trail.  It was awesome, we were practically there all alone!

(I stole a day away to visit some long time friends in san francisco, the girlies spent the day with Nana, Everybody Plays, Everybody Wins!  I only had my phone and so I don't have any pictures, we went to the beach, art museums, a couple of restaurants, a tiny bit of shopping, and the San Fran Bridge Park)

And then we hiked to this Seasonal Waterfall on Christmas Eve, it only appears when it rains, so it had been raining all week and stopped on christmas eve, so we packed up and headed out!  It was the first time I had ever seen it, its GORGEOUSLY FABULOUS!!

I WILL put christmas pictures up tonight or tomorrow!  Late Christmas Night we packed up the car and headed to Utah, we arrived this morning in time to ski, we are going to be here in Utah until school starts, its snowing so we HAVE to take advantage and ENJOY THE POWDER.  WAHOO, We'll all be skiing tomorrow and I am thrilled!

Chocolate Making Day!!!

My Grandma died when I was 5, so I never really knew her.  And she had cancer for a long while, so what I do remember of her was lots of sad times.  But from what I have been told she was an amazing woman.  Who painted, created mosaics, taught ceramics, went on picnics in the rain and..... made FABULOUS chocolate with her sister.  

I have been raised by her son who LOVES chocolate.  One year he presented us with my grandma's candy recipes and a request.  To learn how to make her candy.  

Unfortunately her candy recipes were mainly just ingredients.  Not methods, tips, or any other such goodness. So each year at christmas my sisters and I have labored to learn.  (A laborious task, I can assure you.  DANG!  We have to make candy again.  How torturous.) I feel about the same as my daughters look in the pictures above.

Fast forward 7 christmases.  Each year we have to relearn a little.  We started with the simplest and have taken on a new recipe each year as we master the easier  ones.  And we always budget in ruined batches.  Last Friday we were given the confirmation.  We achieved the goal.  We made her fudge to the creamy amazingness that was remembered by my dad.  YAY!!!

WE DID IT!!!

What is the best about this is that we learning these recipes is that we have grown closer our grandma.  We have learned more about her.  Its thrilling to pass along this tradition to our children.  We could have finished everything on friday while the kids were in school.  Instead, we left some dipping and wrapping for the children to "help" with.  As you can tell, more eating was occuring than dipping.  But with memory making moment such as these... Who cares? Certainly not this mother.

I love the excitment that my daughters feel about chocolates each christmas.  I love the warm and happy bonding we have as we work together.  I love the time we spend caroling as we deliver the goodies to families we love.  

Our next challenge.  She left ceramic molds of the nativity that are INCREDIBLY GORGEOUS and we want to make them. ~ AH!

A few nights ago, we had our typical crazy evenings.  Homework and dinner and chores and reading and baths.  You can see the effects of the craziness behind Kyle.  Papers everywhere, ingredients out from dinner making.  Drawers left open from finding a pencil with an intact tip.  We had just finished eating dinner. Kyle and Miss H were going to clean up and Miss E and I were going to finish homework.  I looked over and Kyle was playing "My Little Ponies" with Miss H.  I fell in love even more that night.  It was a sweet moment. They had stolen it from the hectic rush that comes in the evenings after school. Instead of getting things done they decided to play.  Savoring the moment, enjoying them as they are little and small and innocent.  I adore my husband.  I adored him this night because of the time he took to play with our daughter, showing her that she is important to him, She is loved.  I wonder how many moments we miss, rushing from thing to thing.  But this moment was not lost!!  And I love that Kyle is truly enjoying his time with his daughter.  

ThanksGiving at the Cabin