Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Back to Big White Christmas 2015

We were really lucky to get to go to Big White this year.  We spent Christmas in Moses Lake and then headed up to our favorite ski resort for the New Year.

Scarlet really came into her own.  She loved her ski lessons and went up the faster chairs with Jon and I by the end of the trip.

 Rhode was a little less confident than Scarlet but his skills were definitely improving.  He made it down a few runs at the top with some encouragement.

We did an adult trade off every morning and afternoon so some were in the condo chasing babies while the rest hit the slopes.


Jon discovered the paths behind the mountain this trip.  The cliff didn't have great snow but he still deemed it his favorite part of the mountain.



Here were the main condo buddies.  Jude was the oldest followed by Owen and Dean.

We went on a few adventures around the mountain.


Judes LOVES the cold and he's really excited whenever he is made to walk place and/or ride with his brother.


Even in snow gear, we are a pretty cute crew.


Inside the condo there were a million great treats and a game of some kind going on at all times, especially if Scarlet or Rhode were involved.  Skip-Bo was the main game of the trip.


A strange family photo for a Las Vegas group


Big White has a new tubing hill that is pretty awesome.  We gave our kids a trip on the tubes for Christmas.  It was very cold but very very fun.  



Poor Jude.  When you can't ski yet, you kind of get whatever warm clothes we can pull together.


Asher has no fear.





The condo crew!


The mountain was crowded for the holidays.  The snow was pretty icy.  The kids didn't sleep well in the condo and the babies were frequently sick of being cooped up.  Still one of the best trips ever.  Big White you will always be a happy place for me.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Halloween Arizona Style

Our school took the week before Halloween off for their term break.  Jon couldn't get away from work so the kids and I hit the road to Phoenix!  We crashed at Brad and Jules house and livened up their house a bit :)  "Livened up their house" is a nice way of saying we were loud and messy and only occasionally destructive.  Thank goodness they love us.



Jules did a ton of research of fun Halloween activities going on this week and we had an awesome place to visit every day.  Pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hay rides, we did it all and it was all a ton of fun.  We even had a fun morning at the park.





How great is Kylie's Halloween teacher vest?



Owen is the cutest ever.



Scarlet and Rhode both loved being in charge of their baby cousin Owen... he occasionally loved it back :)








Fun story.  We carted down a couch for Kylie and Stephen for their brand new apartment but we didn't see Kylie right away so the couch sat happily in the bed of the truck for a day or two.  Finally, we were headed to Kylie right after a quick trip to pumpkin patch/corn maze.  This corn maze was legit.  It was huge and very easy to get lost.  Jules and Owen took the short path but my kids wanted to do the big one. We were almost through when the wind started picking up and the corn stalks started swaying.  I looked up and for sure a monsoon was just minutes from hitting us.  The corn maze was our last part of the adventure so we booked it out of the maze just as the clouds let loose.  We were soaked on the way to the car.  I just kept thinking the couch is getting wet!

We said goodbye to Jules with a quick text message and drove as fast as we could to get out of the rain as soon as possible.  We only had to drive for about 10 minutes to get out of the storm, monsoons are nice like that, but the couch was pretty wet.















We made it to Kylie's apartment and loaded the kids inside with a show.  Then the two of us stared at the large, wet couch trying to decide if we could truly lug it up the stairs to her apartment.  I think we could have done it, but right then the missionaries stopped by.  And not just one set, three sets of missionaries.  They offered to carry our couch up for them.  Who could deny them an opportunity to serve?!  So the couch was safely brought upstairs, the cushions were laid on the patio to dry and the adventure was overall very successful.

Brad and Jules hosted a very fun and very well attended Halloween party.  They have a great group of people in their area.  So we got everyone dressed up, enjoyed some great food and then went trick or treating around their neighborhood.  Here's our costumes for the year.  The kids weren't up for a theme this year so everyone chose their own getup.

Scarlet as Sofia the First



Rhode as Abraham Lincoln



Asher as the Red Power Ranger



I went as Liv from iZombie



And then there was the cutest chipmunk of all time, our Jude



Kylie and Stephen went back a few decades and came as Zach and Kelly from Saved by the Bell



But the true winners were the Brad Earl family, the Three Amigos





The trip was so perfect we are hoping to reenact it next year!