My Hike - Salamander Flat

Jana and I went hiking up Alpine Canyon today. It was snow covered and beautiful.

Salamander Flat - 1.3 miles. I'm not sure we made it all the way today, but we did make it to the first clearing.

I tried to capture some of the beauty but there's just no way. (Especially in a selfie). 

This was my first time snow shoeing. It was so fun. It took me a while to get used to it and I was a lot slower than I usually hike. 

But I loved it!

I stumbled a few times, several times. Quite a lot actually.

But I only completely biffed it all the way to the ground in the least graceful way possible, twice, I think.  

Oh, Hey, Timpanogos. Fancy seeing you here!

Yeah, I could get used to this. Can't wait to go again!

Igloo time

January brought a lot of snow. Thick, heavy snow. 

We made the most of it by making another snow igloo. 

(Here is the one from last year).

Sydney was really proud of her handiwork. 

I love the way Ster is looking at Syd in this picture. They spent about 4 hours working on the igloo. 

This igloo was a lot bigger than the one last year. After I posted a picture of it on Instagram, people from all over the neighborhood drove by to see it. It was something to behold (until the neighbor kids put a hole in the side of it, stole back the Captain America shield and then the sun and some rain took care of the rest of it.)

Here is video of the crowning of the igloo, a reference to Pres. Trump's campaign, and a warning about leaving your things out overnight in the freezing weather.

Canal Ice

The kids spent a lot of time over the holiday break going to the canal and sliding on the ice. I'm so glad they enjoy spending time together.

However-

Bryce try to slide down the bank and face-planted on the ice. I was taking video at the time and caught it all on my camera. None of us can bear to watch it. Its horrible, the thunk of his head hitting the ice. I really thought he might have a concussion, he hit so hard. Awful. 

And look at his sweet face. It doesn't look as bad as it really was. But his sad little face says all there is to say.

Thanksgiving - Parachute fun- AZ snow- Homestead

Life is never boring hanging around Dave and Susan. This trip, we got to play with the giant parachute Dave brought home from work.

Here is Bryce playing cat and mouse. He is the cat searching for mice hiding under the parachute.

Panoramic

We went on several bike rides with Dave. On one ride, we rode past the cotton field in full bloom, ready for harvest. I had to bring the whole family back for pictures in the Arizona Snow!

We also spent some time at the Chaparral Park. The kids absolutely loved going to the dog park and sitting on a bench watching all the dogs play with their owners and with each other. Such well behaved dogs. They would often come over to the kids looking for attention. The kids ate it up!

Bryce and I at Chaparral Park.

On Saturday, we went to the Brown Homestead and cleaned up a bit. For the first time in his life, after years and years and hundreds of time mowing the grass, Sterling sat on a riding lawn mower and took care of the lawn. He soaked it up. 

We check on the wine cellar.

Its still there.

Sydney counted all the bottles. Inventory is at about 5,500, still with space to grow.

We ended the night with pizza for the kids and a night out for the adults at the traditional Golden Canyon (chinese). We were instructed to bring back Bahama Bucks afterward for everyone to enjoy. 

Oh Arizona. We love you. Especially in November.

January snow

When I started this post, I thought I would have more random pictures. Mostly, I just had these pictures about a particularly blustery snow storm that left us with big drifts. You can see that some parts of the driveway have hardly any snow and then there's a big drift behind the car.

The porch was a mess and it was so cold that I never cleared it off until it was absolutely necessary. By then it was mostly iced over. 

Even with all the snow and clouds and wind, we still had some beautiful sunsets. There's always a silver lining, I guess.

December stuff

Here are a few other things we did in December.

We saw cousin Owen dance with the BYU folk dance team in "Christmas Around the World." Ohhh, that brought back so many memories for me. I loved my year on one of the folk dance ensemble teams. So much fun. After we watched him dance at the matinee, he had to go study organic chemistry or something before the evening performance. The life of a university student!

My friend, Barbara, invited me to a Christmas dessert night for her women's group at her church. Her table was beautiful, the food divine and the music and spoken word was awesome. Made me wish we could use drums and electric guitar in some of our church meetings!

This may have been the first snowfall of the year. December 19. Cutest snowman I've ever seen!

This beautiful sunrise finished off my sunrise pictures for the year on Dec. 28th.

Building a sled run

Well, it just kept snowing and snowing, and so the kids kept playing and playing in the snow. They already made a snowman and an igloo, so the day after Christmas, Sterling made a snow-run for the kids. He started at the top of our terraces. That's a pretty tall run! It was so impressive, Rachel even came out without a coat on to watch!

Here are a few more pictures!

Buildling igloos

Christmas morning, after breakfast, and in-between snow flurries, my boys built an igloo, fully enclosed. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

While Ster and Park were busy contructing, Hash and his friends went from pile of snow to pile of snow and ran their sleds down each hill.

Parker was trapped inside the igloo for about 30 minutes until they created a small door near the base.

From the inside, looking out.

Ster and Park looking in through the window.

Great job, boys!