Snow shoeing into the Cabin

We haven't had the chance to snow shoe into the cabin this year. Even with a storm coming in on Saturday we headed out Friday afternoon to stay the night. It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was out and no wind. It is 1/2 mile from the road where we park the truck. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to snow shoe. We had to get a picture of the deck. The snow is almost up to the door handles. Duchesne has had 213 percent snow pack. That was one of the reason's for heading out to get the snow off the decks.

I'm standing over the fence. All you can see is the top 5 inches. Most of our trees are buried under all the snow. And it's hard to tell where the road is with all the snow.
We arrived at the cabin around 5:00 and happily the temperature inside was a warm 41 degrees. By about 8:00 that night we had the inside temperature up to 55 degrees. Which isn't too bad considering many times it's below 0 up there.

We read, ate, watched movies and played games that night. Very relaxing and thanks to an electric blanket we slept nice and cozy. The next morning a storm was blowning in and it was windy. Here Steve is getting the snow off our deck. I felt bad for him and helped him do the other deck. The wind can really whip off that deck so as we would throw a shovel full of snow half of it would blow back into our face. Luckily with all the lifting and shoveling we stayed warm.

Even with the bad weather we had to go for a walk.

Most of the river was frozen over. I tried to get Steve to go set on that log but he wouldn't go for it. We crossed over a frozen part of it and headed into a blizzard. Okay it wasn't really a blizzard but hard to look up with the snow blowing into your face. Finally we gave up and headed back. It was much nicer going with the wind on your back instead of your face. I wasn't thrilled about going up this weekend because of the cold but we had a great time and stayed pretty warm. Only a few more months and we will open it back up. I don't think I will ever get tired of going up there.

The best winter exercise

A couple of years ago we received snow shoes for Christmas. The first time out I fell in love with the sport. There is something magical about walking around the forest with snow covering everything. It is so quiet and peaceful.

We decided to head up American Fork Canyon with Greg, Lauren, Taryn and some of her friends. Last year we had gone up this trail but didn't make it very far so we thought we would attempt it again. I can't remember what the trail is called but it's above Mutual Dell. We headed up the trail which was really snow-packed. I prefer to go where nobody else has gone so the snow is nice and soft, but we forged ahead on our packed trail. It would have been easier to take off our snow shoes and just hike up it, but we were told higher up we would need the snow shoes. At one spot we decided to head straight up the mountain and see what we could see. After about killing ourselves climbing up we chose the easier route back down and just slid.

Tom lost control and tumbled into Lauren. Luckily nobody was hurt but it made a great picture. We attracted some attention sliding down and an older couple stopped to watch. They were coming down the trail so we asked them what was up ahead. They told us there were two meadows and we really needed to see the top meadow.
Since they were older then me and Steve my competitiveness kicked in and we had to make it to the top meadow. I think the kids would have stopped anytime and headed back, but I had to prove that I could make it.
The first meadow was really pretty, but we had been told the top meadow was better so we headed on. The trail was less snow packed which made for easier walking.

We were all exhausted when we made it to the top. It was 2 miles from the parking lot and since this was our first snow-shoeing trip I was impressed that we had did it. We looked around and nobody could figure out why we had to come to the second meadow. We rested for a bit then started the trip down.

In the first meadow somebody had built a snowman. Before I could stop her Taryn ran full force at it and knocked it and herself over. I thought I had raised my children better. We made it down the hill in about 20 minutes. Much easier then going up. Hopefully this weekend we will find the time to go again. If you want a great work out in the winter there is nothing better.

Christmas 2010

I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the smells and the music of Christmas. As the kids have grown alot of our traditions have gone by the wayside and we are finding that we have to reinvent Christmas at our house. Which is hard with the kids growing up and moving on with their lives, but hopefully we can create some wonderful family traditions with the grandchildren. When the kids were small we rarely made it out to the Moon's Christmas Eve party, but this year we grabbed Taryn and headed out to Duchesne to have dinner with my family. We gathered at the resturant so there would be plenty of room. I had to get a picture of Navyie with Taryn since they both had the hair decorations. This is the only picture I took, I put down the camera to get some food and forgot to pick it back up. The food and company was great and I really enjoyed having a soda fountain. We drove back home and opened our Christmas Book and then tried to watch Elf. Taryn lasted maybe 10 minutes and after about 30 minutes I had to go to sleep.

Christmas morning I was awake at 5:00. Not because I was excited but because my body thinks that is when I should wake up. Steve got up around 8:00 and we skyped Heather and Kevin and the girls to see what Santa Claus had brought them. Braelyn showed us all her gifts but Berkley was obsessed with the make-up kit she had received and spent the whole call putting on make-up. Thank goodness for modern technology so we can see the girls.

Opening up gifts didn't take long with just 3 of us. When I was shopping in Sedona with my friends we found this cute store. I loved the jackets but knew I had to find a small one with extra long arms to fit Taryn. We searched for awhile and finally found this one. I can't believe it fits and neither can she.
Greg and Lauren came over around 10:30 and we watched them open their gifts.
A couple of years ago we started a tournament on Christmas and the winner got to keep the gold trophy for the year. Taylor won the first year and Taryn last year. Poor Taryn had to move that trophy 7 times last year. The first year we did a WI tournament last year we played ping-pong and guitar hero and racko. This year I choose games that I thought everyone would have a fair chance at winning. The first game was 9-ball. We played 5 games. Lauren won one, Steve won one, Greg won one and I won two of them. I think Lauren was the most shocked when she knocked the nine-ball in and won.

The next game was Ker-plunk. This was a game both me and Steve played as children. We decided that the loser would be out. It came down to Lauren and Steve playing for the championship.
It was funny watching how intense they became. Lauren was the winner of Ker-plunk. The last and final game was Mexican Train. We decided that we would play 3 games and if we needed a play-off then the winners would play a game to determine who won. I won the first round, Greg the second and Taryn the third so we played a fourth game. Taryn only had one tile left when Greg laid a double. That caused each of us to draw several new tiles and totally threw Taryn off and I won. So I'm the winner of the golden trophy and it has a special place in my curio. Grandma Roberts came over to spend the day and after all the teasing Steve gave her I don't know if she will ever play Mexican Train again. Of course the highlight was the phone call from Taylor. Steve talked with him for a few minutes in Spanish and said he sounded great. He loves his mission and hopes to stay in Compton for along time. I'm excited because we only have 2 more phone calls and he will be home. We had a lovely Christmas dinner and it turned out to be a great day.

Tuesday morning I woke up again at 5:00 and just puttered around the house when I went up to the rec room and looked out the window and this what I saw.

It was horrible, I started screaming at Steve and we both got dressed and ran outside and down the street. We were joined by half the ward and we all stood in horror watching our neighbors house go down in flames. It took awhile to get the water on the house, but the fire was so intense I don't know if anything could have saved it. We watched the garage cave in and then the second floor fall down. Soon it was just the frame of the front door and window and then they collapsed. The house was destroyed in less then an hour. Luckily they were in California visiting so nobody was hurt.

Usually when you see houses on the news that have burnt you still see the shell of the house, but there is nothing left of this one. They both bore their testimonies in church today of what is truly important and of God's plan. Yes they will miss alot of stuff that is gone, but he brought up an interesting point. He said the things they will miss the most are the things that have no value as far as money is concerned. I totally agree with him. Hopefully something good will come of this fire for them. Christmas is now packed up and ready to go next year. It is exciting to see what 2011 holds for us.