Saturday, February 15, 2020

Jam Packed January

 January was a busy month as usual. With a ski trip, snow, a mom's get away, and then the usual dance classes, homeschooling, etc. the months always seem to fly right by.

So here is January in review through pictures...

We tried to put the American girl ski girl on Stella. It didn't go as well as I would have liked, but she still looked cute!


Cute bunk bed kitties!

For the last two years we have seemed to have either good luck or bad luck depending on how you look at it of choosing our ski trip for the exact time of snow in the low lands and at our house. Last year was Snowmaggedon and although this year we didn't get as much snow it was similar and kind of a bummer to miss the snow at our house while we were up skiing. But we had great snow for our ski trip too!

The night before we left it started snowing at our house. And check out at the Walmart pick-up was crazy because the snow was coming! Crazy Washingtonians!




Of course school was cancelled and all the snow gear was packed so the kids had to go out in the few things they could find.








So Monday afternoon we headed up to our ski cabin. We stayed at the same one we stayed at last year. Not near as much snow there as the year before which was kind of a bummer! But still a great place to stay!
For the first time on our Tolf/Mills ski trip the hot tub finally worked!! It may have had its ph level off and not been as clean as it could have been but for the first time it worked!!
Tuesday we went skiing and had a blast! Fresh snow and alright weather. It was a good first day on the slope!
























How many blond kids can you fit on a couch?
The second day we headed up and the weather was clearer but the wind was cold!!  Here is a picture of the girls before we started the day!






The day started off great! We got a couple rounds in and then we split up.


And then the power went out!! I fortunately was not on a chair lift. So Raelyn and I along with Ashia and Holden headed for the dark lodge!  There we ran into Olivia and Hannah and found out that the rest of the crew was stuck on the chair lift headed to the top of the mountain. Olivia came prepared with a light that also charges your phone. So we had a little light to eat our snack with while we waited for the rest of the crew to get down the mountain.


Well the rest of the crew made it down the mountain despite the wind and the black diamond run. They were cold and it became apparent they weren't going to be able to get the mountain up and going any time soon so we got vouchers for another day of skiing and headed back to the cabin.  Fortunately the cabin had power and so we had an afternoon to hang out play. Games, a walk, hot tubbing, and movies. Another fun time hanging out with our friends!




















We got home to some snow still on the ground. The girls were able to play some in the snow and then it was the drying and unpacking of all the snow gear, ski gear, and food.





Donkey Kong's castle









The girls built a Swedish Igloo I think it was called. It was hard to keep it lit. But it was worth it!




Have I mentioned I started crossfit?? Well back last July my good friend talked me and a small group of our friends into starting a crossfit class. Turns out I really like the workouts and being with my friends so I have stuck with it. Here is one of our workouts from January.



Silly cat!
I got to attend a baby shower for sweet Kimmy. We watched Kimmy grow up from the time we started at OEFC. It is fun to see her now starting a family of her own.
The next week I got to go on our second annual women's get away. This year we went to White Salmon a small town off of the Columbia River. There were 7 of us in total and the house was a great spot to hang out. Very newly updated and pretty. The downfalls were no blinds and there were bugs. These gross bugs and lots of spiders. EWW!!  But despite we had a blast and it was really relaxing and fun time. The food we had was amazing, we had so many great talks, lots of laughs, a few tears. An all around great time. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are the ones I got.

First night Sarah made a yummy dinner of white lasagna for us with a fun drink. Yum!

The first full day there we took an adventure to The Dalles. It was kind of foggy that day and there wasn't much in The Dalles, but we found some Thai food that was pretty good.


We did a little shopping. I liked this bag a lot, if anyone wants to buy it for me!

The worst part of this trip was the very narrow toll bridge we had to cross every time we wanted to go across the river. It was honestly so narrow, I was sure we were either going to fall off or hit the oncoming traffic. Fortunately neither of those scenarios happened. Thursday night we went across the bridge to eat dinner at a pizza place. It was super yummy! I took this picture of us going back across the bridge that night.
That night we played games and had a lot of laughs!

Here are some pictures from our house on Friday morning.  Friday was pretty low key. We had breakfast and then went into White Salmon. A few of the ladies had massages scheduled. I went along to walk around town and hang out. Had some coffee and did some shopping for the family.

Friday night we went into White Salmon again for dinner. This dinner was so yummy! Another great night with all these ladies, I love so much!


Fried goat cheese salad was so good!
Friday we also worked on Valentine's cards for our families. Sue has the best card making supplies and it is always so fun to make cards for our families. These are some of the cards that Lana made for her husband while he was out to sea. 
Saturday morning we got and finally had a view of the mountains. We got a few pictures before we left and headed to town for some coffee before heading home.





More pictures of the narrow scary bridge!!




We had to stop at the Multnomah Falls. It was absolutely gorgeous! The last time I had seen it was when I was a kid and we would travel past to go to Oregon to see family. So it brought back a lot of memories and made me want to bring my girls there someday soon. We made a short hike part way up the mountain. We did not go all the way to top. Then we stopped at the gift shop quick and then back on the road to get home to our families.





















It was a beautiful drive home and we had a great time visiting. Of course it was great to see our families when we got home too. The girls had made me cookies and got the house all cleaned up. They had a great time while I was gone. Got some school work done, had better food then last time (I planned ahead a bit better and left them some ideas), and had a fun outing with the Mills crew finding some snow, shooting some guns, getting a truck stuck and pulled out, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, followed by hot tubbing at the Mills house.

We got to have Corey and the kids over one night for dinner and a few games, while Jodie was out of town.

One night we got to watch our friend Fran compete in gymnastics for North Kitsap High School. She had the biggest cheering section with over half the stage filled with her friends. It was so fun to watch her (and the other girls) do their thing. And it was really fun to have such a big cheering section for Fran.








January was full of a lot of rain, some snow, two trips, and all the regular stuff of life. It went fast. On to February!