Moab Jeeping

 We took a last second trip to Moab over President's Day.  Our friends were going to be down there, so we decided to tag along.  Especially because our friend Kyle is an expert Jeeper and can get you through lots of crazy obstacles.  Zack's been wanting to take his Jeep out, so he was excited to go.  We ended up loading the Jeeps on the trailer and driving the new truck down.  So nice and comfy!

We had a great time.  One advantage to having Zack's Jeep is that we didn't all have to fit in one car.  So much better.  We did three trails: Fins 'n Things, Top of the World, and Kokapele (I think).  Zack did a great job, and so did his Jeep.  None of us were sure if it would survive these trails.  There were many times Jake would look back, see Zack right there, and be amazed at his driving.  A proud dad moment for sure.  

Since this trip it seems like Zack's caught the Jeep bug even more.  He's been spending all of his spare time putting a new radio in so that he doesn't have to listen to whatever station he can get.  And also essentially repainting the Jeep.  Started out as just fixing some rust spots.  Turned in to much more than that.  But I've learned that this is how all Jeep projects are, so Zack is right on track.  

Here are a million pics:

Driving onto a narrow trailer when you can't see anything look terrifying.  

The first day we had a group of 9 Jeeps.  You can see some of them along the top.  Also, you can't tell in this pic but you're driving up a spine and it drops off on both sides.  Kate is terrified of edges.  She had her eyes shut and was almost crying.

This looks way less scary in a picture.  I frequently closed my eyes so I didn't have to watch my kids die.

It's not a Jeep trip if you don't look like this at some point.  

Moab is so beautiful

Jake and I asked Zack to take a pic of us.  Good thing you can't even tell that's us.

The view from Top of the World

Coolest pic of the whole trip.

Our friends rented a house.  Let's just say there wasn't much water left in the hot tub when they got out.

We did a Jeep trail before heading home on Monday.  If you know Jake, you know this is a miracle.  When it's time to go home he's always up and out first thing.  

Sage drove the last mile on a dirt road.  She was very excited.

January Happenings

 I know, we're already in March.  Maybe someday I'll catch up.

January was a pretty busy month.  I already covered going to Washington to hang with Mel, and our Beaver Creek trip.  The biggest highlight, other than those things, was when family came up to go tubing at Soldier Hollow.  Dad and Kathy made the tubing possible.  The Johnson's joined us for that.  Then we got together with most of the rest of the family after for yummy food.  Tubing was great fun and somewhat terrifying.  It's so fast I always feel like I'm going to die.  Especially when you turn around backwards.  And then if you hit a bump, watch out!  It was super sunny and warm, so we all took our coats off and enjoyed the sun.  It was great fun!

We started out the month with a youth program with all of the parents.  The first program like this I've ever been in charge of.  The youth did everything and they did a great job!

The boys in our ward that are Zack's age.  They've been together since elementary school and they're all graduating this year!

The office is slowly coming along.  Not nearly fast enough for Jake.  He's ready to move in!

It's hard to tell, but April got sprayed in the face with a ton of snow.  She was dripping wet!

Taking a break and enjoying the sun.

The kids did some karaoke.  As you can see, they were very into it.

Sage is taking a sewing class and loving it!  She made me this bag all by herself.  I use it every week at church!

Beaver Creek Skiing!

 We made it to Colorado to ski!  And I think it was our best ski trip yet.  We've skied at Beaver Creek before, and it's one of our favorites.  If you're looking for extreme skiing then you'd probably like other resorts better.  But this is a great resort for families, with a big variety of terrain.  Also, this year we skied at Beaver Creek every day, which was really nice.  In the past we've gone to another resort on one of the days, and somehow it just never worked great.  So it was nice to not have to deal with the stress of getting to, and figuring out, another resort.  We also stayed in a different hotel this year.  This hotel was right at the base of the resort, so we were by all of the restaurants and shops.  That was super nice.  We didn't drive our car once after we got there.

On our first day of skiing we put Sage in lessons.  She was so mad and insisted she didn't want lessons and would hate them.  The first thing she said at the end of the day..."Can I do lessons tomorrow?"  That girl.  But so glad she had a great experience.  We ended up putting her in lessons the next day, along with Kate.  Unfortunately, Kate didn't have such a great experience.  But we now call Sage the bullet when we ski because she goes so fast, so that was a definite win.

The first day we were there it snowed all day, so we got to ski in powder.  Jake and Zack made us go on blacks all day.  My legs were beyond exhausted by the end of the day, but for once I actually enjoyed skiing blacks.  The other two days were blue sky and amazing groomers.  Best of both worlds for sure.  I love a good groomer.  

Anyway, we skied our guts out, and enjoyed just getting away from everything.  Another win for the trip was that the roads were clear for our drive.  So amazing.  That drive is treacherous in the snow.  Definitely an epic ski trip!!

Why am I sitting in the back?  Because I can't even handle my kids fighting in the back seat.  So, so sick of it.

When you skied hard all day.

My favorite thing to do is the glow worm.  We were all so exhausted I had to beg everyone to do it.  But you ski down the bunny hill with glow sticks in the dark.  It looks like a glow worm coming down the hill.  So fun!

The candy cabin is a tradition.  Obviously it was a very sunny day.  Oh yeah, we watched a kid from ski school loading his pockets with candy.  I gave him the evil eye.

Warm cookies at the base every day at 3:00

Sister Trip

 In January I got to take an unexpected trip to stay with the Balls.  Mel had surgery to remove the melanoma in her leg and it was more extensive than they thought.  Gratefully, they got all of the cancer.  But recovery was going to be hard.  As in, stay off your leg and keep it elevated for a week.  Super easy to do with five kids.  The stars aligned (really I know God had a hand in this) and I had a week without too much going on that made it possible for me to head to Sammamish.  Yay!

Sister time is the best.  I had great fun being able to talk about all the things with Mel.  It was also fun to be a part of their family for a week.  I had great talks with all of her boys, and probably had big eyes while I watched them wrestle to the death in the evenings.  A little different than our family, but I loved it.  I got to take kids to and from school, go grocery shopping, and do some cleaning.  All of these things are more fun when you're doing them for someone else.  More of an adventure I guess.

I managed to go running in the mornings.  It was sooo nice to run in capris and a t-shirt.  On Friday I got to do an amazing hike.  Beautiful and green on the way up with amazing views at the top.  Loved it!

I'm so glad I was able to go help out.  I know I was representing Mom, plus the rest of my sisters who would gladly have been there if possible.  Thank heavens for family!

One of my runs.  It was just so nice to see beautiful green!  This day was a bit rainy.

I stayed in Big Rock Park for my whole run.  Some good trail running!

The big reveal of Mel's leg.  It's looking much better now!

Mel used crutches all the way in to the office.  On the way out we made the wise decision to get a wheelchair.  Much better!

The view from the top of my hike!

On the plane ride home we did a nice circle around Mt Rainier.  Beautiful!