3,364 miles!

Earlier this year we had a bright idea that we would drive to Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving with Kevin, Heather and the girls. Yes I did say drive. When I told somebody we were driving to Kentucky they said to me "Don't you guys have frequent flyer miles you can use". Yes we do, but we have wanted to take our car on a road trip. The car was very comfortable and we enjoyed seeing the country but 14 hours a day driving is too much for me. Was it worth it? For these two little girls we would do anything. But next time we will fly.

We left Saturday morning and decided to stay Sunday night an hour away so that we could arrive at their house rested and ready to play. We got there early Monday morning and Berkley answered the door. At first she just looked at us but then jumped into my arms and I got the biggest hug. Braelyn then saw us and came running down the hall to give us hugs. That first day I would be holding Berkley and she would turn and look at me and say "I love you Munga".

That afternoon Heather took us to a park by their house. We played at the playground and climbed trees.

I can't believe their faces are so calm because there was some complaining from them as we put them up in the tree.

My cub scouts had built bird houses this month and I had some extra bird seed so I brought it along and we made some bird feeders from the pine cones we found at the park. After we hung them in the tree in the front yard the girls would keep looking out the window to see if the birds had discovered them.


Taryn was supposed to fly in on Wednesday but when she heard there was a blizzard coming to Utah Wednesday she had Steve switch her flight and arrived Tuesday night. She had just got over being sick and was exhausted so she spent alot of time in the chair with one of the girls on her lap.

Braelyn loves to dress-up. It's probably her favorite activity so I told her that I would be her fashion designer and make-up some costumes for her to model for her papa and mom. Here are two of her favorite ones. The first one she is a Japanese Indian Princess and the second one she is a Red-Neck Princess. Yes, we came up with some great outfits.

Steve has missed seeing the girls in the morning with their messy hair, so one morning I heard Berkley get up and hurried and grabbed her and brought her into our room so Heather could sleep a little longer. Soon we were joined by Braelyn. It was fun to snuggle and play with them in the morning. We miss that.

Thanksgiving day the girls wanted to wear their princess dresses and while we waited for the pies to cook they let me curl their hair. Then after they filled the nut cups with yummy chocolate mints. I have never seen Berkley so happy then sitting at Thanksgiving dinner eating those mints. The bad part is that is all she ate for dinner, but she was happy.

I guess the mints weren't enough chocolate because after dinner we made chocolate santa suckers. The girls helped paint the red chocolate into the forms and we had some very interesting suckers.

I guess the sugar high finally left Berkley. It was a nice day with wonderful food and the only way it could have been better was if Greg, Lauren and Taylor would have been with us.

The next day we went to a horse farm. You can't go to Kentucky without seeing the horses. They kept alot of the old race horses and it was interesting to hear about them. We saw the horse that was in Sea Biscuit. Braelyn's favorite was the miniture horse.

We thought this horse had an interesting name and had to take Heather's picture by it.

We left early Saturday morning. We said our goodbyes Friday night and my heart couldn't take another good bye in the morning. Plus neither of us sleep well and we were up and out of the house around 5:30. I think I stopped crying about the time we left Kentucky. I enjoyed the visit and was grateful we were able to see them again. It's just hard thinking that the next time we get to hold them could be months away. We are thankful that we made the trip safe and sound.

Closing it up.

I always hate the weekend when we have to shut the cabin up for the winter. It was really hard this time because the weather was so nice. We only needed the fireplace at night and in the morning. Jackets were perfect outside. I didn't even get cold on our four-wheeler rides. But we know that living in Utah the weather can change like that and it has. I've been wearing a jacket inside our house here to stay warm. We got out there Thursday afternoon and Steve wanted to go for a ride. I have not wanted to go on many rides lately so I said I would go. We loaded up on the green four wheeler and thought we would drive the loop. It had snowed the week before but most of the snow was gone and we thought that the road would be dry. Big mistake it was really muddy and the tires would kick mud every where. We decided to go the whole way and when we were almost to the bottom by the beaver ponds we saw this.
Two bull elks with their heads cut off. We were pretty mad that someone would do this and leave the meat behind. I'm fine with hunting as long as the meat isn't wasted. We got home and Steve called the poaching hot line. After describing to her where we saw them she hooked us up with the fish and game lady that patrols up there. She knew exactly where we had saw the elk. She then explained that these two elk got in a fight and their horns hooked and they ended up drowning in the beaver pond. So fish and game came up and cut off their heads. We were happy that it wasn't poachers.

Friday we went on some more four-wheeler rides and that night Steve went for a ride by himself. We have a theory that if we leave the camera at home then that is when we see moose, elk, bear and all other interesting animals. Steve had left the camera at home so of course he would see not one but three bull moose. He saw the first one across the valley so he took off in a hurry to see if he could get a closer look. He rounded a corner and right in front of him was this big old bull moose. The moose looked at him, but didn't seem to mind Steve that close to him. About ten minutes later another bull moose came through the thicket. They started playing around and were pushing each other with their antlers. Steve did have the state of mind to turn the four-wheeler around in case he needed to get away. He watched these two for awhile and then a third bull moose came into the picture. He was so excited when he got home and couldn't The next morning we got up and went to the spot where he saw the moose. I did bring the camera with me so therefore we didn't see any moose. I had never been on the pipeline trail and the view was awesome.

I couldn't resist doing another jumping shot. Maybe that will be the new thing I have everyone do in all our pictures. These crack me up, probably because we look so stupid.

Well now for the count down to when we open the cabin back up. Today we were trying to figure out the cost of running electric heaters all winter so we wouldn't have to drain the pipes and we could also spend winters up there. I guess it is pretty obvious where we like to spend our time. But we do have a trip planned to Kentucky to see Kevin and Heather and the girls in two weeks so life is still good. We will just try to stay busy until April and we open it back up.