Hiking and Feasting

 A couple of weekends ago we took the kiddos hiking to Stewart Falls.  We started at Sundance and took the lift to the trail and hiked to the falls (ate a picnic lunch) and then hiked back to the base of Sundance...so basically the entire hike is downhill!  The perfect hike for little kids!  Plus the weather was amazing...not too hot, and not too cold.  It was so beautiful!

Stud.

That evening I planned our Back to School Feast!

I know I'm a bit late, as we've been in school for a month already, but it just seemed something came up every weekend!  So finally we got to it!

As you can see, I kept things pretty darn simple!  Ha!

But the important thing is that we dedicate the evening to a fresh school start and discuss goals for the year that each person wants to achieve.  It's never too late to make goals!!

 Gumballs are a major hit in this house!  My kids (and maybe Ryan) are obsessed with them! 

 We made personal pizzas for our feast.  And for dessert (which I forgot to take a picture) was personal pan cookies with ice cream on top...I seriously was looking forward to this dessert all week, Ha!

And yes, 3 out of 4 of my kids are in their pajamas.

It's not uncommon for my kids to come home from church or an outing (hiking) or school, and throw on pj's.  We're all about comfort in this house!

Our new saying for the year:  Stay Posi or in other words, Stay Positive.  

Always a good reminder to stay on the bright side when things get rough.

And our new glass star.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the school year!

Happy Thursday!

The ski life.

A couple of weeks ago Ryan and I had a little ski date at Sundance.

It was glorious!  We had been meaning to do since my birthday and finally got around to it.

And of course a ski date isn't complete without nachos at the Bearclaw!

And then, just this last week while my brother, Andrew, was in town we hit up Snowbird!

This was my first time skiing there!

 I was a bit out of my comfort zone on the tram up...can we say crowded?

As you may already know...I hate tight crowds...especially in small places.

I know I'm smiling...but really, not a fan of the tram.

But the tunnel...

 ...that was pretty cool!

I mean, come on!  We went through an entire mountain...in a tunnel...crazy!

So yeah, the Bird is pretty cool...however, some of those runs were pretty intense!

And to top it off we skied on a day that was super foggy and snowy, I didn't know which way was up or down!  I was pretty much skiing blind on some of those runs!

Andrew, Ryan, Me and Jeff on the lift.

We had such a good time!

And that leaves me to today...which marks my last work day at Sundance.

Kinda bittersweet.

We had a good season.

Until next year!

Now bring on Summer!

Labor Day Weekend

We kicked off Labor Day weekend with the Ft. Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous on Saturday.  We've been going for a few years now, so it has become a bit of a tradition for the girls to get dressed up in pre 1840 garb and really embrace the whole experience!  And just like years before Morgan stayed for the weekend with our friends (their daughter and Morgan are little besties).  It's always so hard to say goodbye to her and I always worry if she's warm enough at night...but she always has a ball and loves every minute of it!

 Aren't these girls darling?  And pretty authentic too, huh...(minus Rory's tennies of course).

Sunday we kept with our normal routine of Sundance Sundays.  This time we packed a picnic dinner and stayed through the evening to watch the outdoor band play.  And it just so happened that a few of our neighbors had the same idea so the girls played all evening, running around the field with their friends.  And I must say...the evenings are getting a bit chillier...Fall is definitely in the air!

Because we didn't get enough of Sundance on Sunday, we decided to go up again Monday to do some mountain biking.  Haley was excited to give it go, so my dad and I took her out on the trails.

Three generations!

Haley is riding my old mountain bike...she loves it!  And I'm happy to report that she had a good time riding as well.  She only had one big spill into the bushes...not too bad.  I'm hoping next weekend we can get both Haley and Morgan out there!

That evening for Labor Day we had a fabulous BBQ at my parents house.  And later that evening our little Morgan came home...happy and very, very dirty!

Then on Tuesday (I know it's not the weekend anymore...but whatever) the cross season started!  So that evening (even though he doesn't have a cross bike and had to ride his mountain bike) Ryan raced.  And it wouldn't have been complete without Taco Tuesday right after! 

We're hanging on to summer for as long as possible!!

Happy Weekend ya'll!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday and it was spent like this:

At 9:45 mom and I headed up the mountain to Sundance where two facial appointments awaited us at the spa!!  Keep in mind...I (we) have never had a professional facial (or any facial for that matter) EVER!  And since we went to Sundance for our very first one, we have now set the bar pretty high, as this was the most luxurious facial ever!  We have never been pampered like that before...and now that I have had a taste of it...I like it...I like it a lot!

After facials we walked down to the Foundry Grill for lunch on the patio.  It was beautiful, and delicious and it was just so much fun to hang out and talk and laugh together.

By the time we got home we only had about an hour to get everyone ready for the Wednesday night mountain bike race (which just so happened to be at Sundance...yes, we went up there twice...I may as well live up there!).  Except this time both Ryan and I raced!!  The kids hung out with my folks and my brother's family was there too.

Carrie brought up cupcakes and after the race we sang Happy Birthday!

A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Love you!!

Sundance Sundays

I love that Haley is wearing a cat ear headband and Morgan is wearing her Harry Potter glasses.

I don't even think twice when they chose to accessorize the way they do...whatever floats their boat.

So yeah, Sundance Sundays!  They're back on!

And they're even better this year as they have both lifts open now (courtesy of the new zip line tours) so we can enjoy views from the summit and partake in the ever delicious Bear Claw nachos!  Although we all agree that the nachos taste much better after a full morning of skiing.

 While we up there the lift had to shut down briefly due to the weather...there was some thunder and lightning in the distance.

Haley taking a little rest.

I could have lounged and enjoyed the views all afternoon. 

 I was in no rush to get down.

I'm already looking forward to next Sunday!

Weekly Race Series: Sundance

 Well here we go again!  The Weekly Race Series has begun!  

I've actually been riding more this year than I have in years prior...I would even go as far to say that I'm training???  What?  However, it's all been on the road.  This was first day that I've hopped on my mountain bike since last year.  So needless to say I was bit rusty in the technical department and I'm VERY tentative descending...like big time...like I'm really slow!  But you know...I'll hopefully come around in time.

 Mighty Timpanogos in the background.

Beautiful!  

Gosh, I love where we live!

Jeffy was giving my girls rides on his bike after the race.

It was super cute.

It's going to be rainy the next few days...so hopefully I'll be able to squeeze some rides in there somewhere.  I'm determined get stronger and better at this sport!!

And thank you Ryan for watching the kiddos while I race!

End of the season.

The Sundance Snowsports crew, 2015.

See if you can find me...I'm standing next to my bearded brother.

Another season is coming to an end.  The mountain is closing for skiing on Sunday.

Bittersweet.

It wasn't the best for snowfall, in fact, it was one of the worst in history.  But we made do, and still had an awesome season.  I love working with this group of people, and of course with my little bro.

I brought my uniform home to wash it yesterday and had to empty it of everything that has collected in my pockets...thought I'd share, because I always find it fascinating how much stuff can accumulate.

We have:

name tag

PSIA level 1 pin

"Believe in Steven" button

a handful of zip ties

numerous foam stickers

chocolate gold coin

an edgie-wedgie

two Sun Dollars

sunscreen

chapstick

gum

employee I.D.

responsibility code cards

season pass

This is kinda on the light side too.

On a different note...Spring has Sprung here and it's beautiful!  

Picture from my walk this morning.

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Making Changes

 This was last Wednesday skiing with my little ones.

This was this Wednesday trying to paint while nursing a sick one.

Not ideal for sure...she came down with a stomach bug, most likely she got sick from Morgan who stayed home from school on Monday.  However, Morgan wasn't sick to this extent.  Anyway, so I painted like a crazy woman in the morning while Piper slept then I cuddled on the couch with her for about 2 1/2 hours watching numerous Pioneer Woman and House Hunters episodes.  Yep, guilt free sofa surfing!!

So yeah, painting.  There are some big changes happening around here.  As you are probably aware (or not) my two oldest (Haley and Morgan) share a bedroom.  They don't always get along...in fact they have pretty much opposite ways of life.  Haley is much neater and likes to have her room clean and in a certain way (most of the time) and Morgan on the other hand isn't so much that way.  But, I was (note "was") holding on that they still share a room because it helps them to understand to compromise and work together...important life skills!!  

Well, I hit the end of my rope!!  The older they get the more fighting and bickering they do....it's awful!  Several weeks ago in the midst of one of there fights (and girls can get pretty physical, it's not just boys!) I barged in and began removing every toy, craft, doll, EVERYTHING that they held dear out of their room.  I stashed it all in our spare room and boy oh boy did I have their attention then!!  Let's just say there were a lot of tears over this one!!  To earn their things back they needed to get along (NO FIGHTING) for three days in a row and then they could pick ONE item to get back.  Then another three days for another item and so on and so on.  They eventually got everything back.  But, Ryan and I have decided that it's time they each have their own space.  

Soooo, we are moving Haley into our spare room (our futon will be moved to the basement/craft room) and Morgan will be moving into the room that Piper and Rory share.  And Piper and Rory will be still be sharing, but will move into Haley and Morgan's room.  Does that make sense?  It's time anyway for Piper to move out of her toddler bed and Rory to move out of her crib and into the bunk bed.

I'm actually pretty darn thrilled about this, as I think it will relieve a lot of the fighting between the older girls.

And all the girls seems to be excited about it as well.

So hence the painting.  I've painted Haley's new room a turquoise color...however, what I thought was going to be a very light turquoise turned out to be much brighter!  I'm not that keen on it (but perhaps it will grow on me) but Haley is in love with it!  I guess that's all that matters.

We still have quite a bit of work to do...new beds to purchase and lots and lots of cleaning!  There is so much stuff that needs to be thrown out or organized before these kids make the move into their new rooms.

And if you are wondering, it hasn't even been a year since redoing their rooms the last time.  Ah, good times.

The little ones' room.

Hope ya'll are having a great week!

Birthday Pictures

I had a really nice birthday evening.

Except for the part when my kids asked us every two minutes when we would sing Happy Birthday and eat the cake.  And then they argued about who got what piece and who got what strawberry.

Seriously...it feels like I have 30 kids surrounding me at times...not four.  

Are girls just extraordinarily loud?  

The answer is yes.

But enough complaining about my extremely loud household.

The cake was compliments of my parents...even though they have been back in the LBC it seems they have taken on the tradition of ordering the cakes for us when they can't be here in person.  Yes, I now expect you do this all the time...just kidding...but seriously, I will totally let you.

 Like I said before...my big birthday surprise was a new bike!

Here she is...what a beauty!

It's a Garneau...fairly new in the states and I'm pretty darn excited about it.

And then Jeffy gifted me this shirt from Snowbird.

Cute huh?!

Oh, and I can't forget to mention that we got SNOW this weekend!!

It actually snowed on my birthday too!

In fact, we got snowed in at work on Saturday.

Just a few of us chillin' in the yurt.

I guess it had been too long since the last storm and everyone forgot how to drive in snow.  A car ended up in the river in the canyon and a UTA bus slid out too.  It was huge mess getting the tow and plows up to clear everything out...so we were stuck for a good three hours at Sundance before we got to leave.  

Good times....well, not so much.

Anyway, I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Happy Monday!