2014 Winter Olympics at Island Park

 What better way to watch the Winter Olympics than to snuggle up by a cozy fire in a cozy cabin in beautiful Island Park with people you love?!

We went the week before Valentine's Day and we enjoyed every minute. We left later in the evening so the kids slept most of the way and when we arrived at midnight, it was -34 degrees!  Brrr!

For the next 5 days we watched did lot of snowmobiling, a lot of olympic watching, a lot of playing in the snow, a lot of relaxing, and a lot of eating delicious food like homemade corn dogs :)

A few high lights:

-Millie and Sambo are official pros at driving their own snowmobiles and they did a great job keeping    up with the bunch! Will did some driving too, in fact he and Sambo traded off.

 -The kids {with the help of BS} dug/built an enormous awesome snow cave.

- We snowmobiled to West Yellowstone and celebrated the Jan/Feb birthdays at a party at Wild West.

- Watching the skiing, figure skating, and snowboarding Olympic events in our jammies!

1.Snow fort  2.Quinny & Grandpa  3.Lots of snow&blue skies!  4.The gang

 1.Chilly!  2.The trail to Yellowstone  3.Will  4.Millie & Alix  5.Quin & Bode 

 1. Grandma & Grandpa  2.Holly & Heidi  3.Sleeping Quin & BS  4.Sam & Holly

5.Mills & Grandma  6.Sambo & Millie

 1.Inside the fort  2.Wild West Pizza party  3.Chops {LOVES going}  4.Big Springs bridge

Some indoor fun:

Making donuts and corn dogs!  

Opening Valentines from Grandma

Party of the year!

For Millie's 14th birthday, she wanted to have a party at the cabin. It worked our perfect because her birthday fell on Human Right's day so they were out of school on Monday. We filled up 3 cars and hauled 15 girls up to the cabin Sunday evening. They got in the hot tub, ate treats, watched movies, played video games, and pretty much stayed up all night.  You know, doing what teenage girls do best. It so happens that Clegg's were at the other cabin so Tyler joined in on the fun too!  Millie's friends thought he was SO CUTE so he was an added bonus to the fun!

 The next day was all play all day:

 Everyone had a blast!  They talked about this party for days!  I'm so glad that Millie has so many friends who are not only darling but really good to her.  They are so kind and funny!

Playing "what if?" in the loft at 2 a.m.

 

The next day after school, some friends "kidnapped" her and went to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt.

Again, such cute kids!  It's too bad that Millie isn't loved at all ;)

Cayden, MJ, Andrew, Chloe, Cousin Connor, Kaden, Christian, Mason, Skye, Jessica

 

Presidents Day Snowmobiling

February 19th is Quincy's birthday.  I love her birthday for 2 reasons:

1. 19 is my favorite number (and BS's football number ;)

2. It is always close to President's Day which means no school which means we get to do something fun!  She was born on President's Day.

This year we went snowmobiling!  I'm not talking just dinking around in the field at the cabin...I'm talking real snowmobiling up in the Uinta Mountains!  We took the kids up to the cabin after church, enjoyed dinner, and spent the night.  The next day (President's Day) Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Shad, Mom, and the kids went snowmobiling to Chalk Creek which is above Coalville.  Sadly BS had to work.  It was a sunny day and we managed to find some great snow!  Great boon-docking! We took snacks and had a break at a cozy little warming hut near Bear River Station. The kids thought it was really cool that there was a shelter in the middle of no where with a warm fire and bunkbeds.

Millie and Sambo took turns driving because their thumbs kept getting fatigued from pushing the throttle.  I remember when I was their age and my thumb would cramp up but I had to keep up. But they are ready for sleds of their own.  Of course Will always wanted to ride with Shad because he goes super fast and has a fancy sled.  Quincy traded off between riding with me and Grandma...until she saw Shad going up and down a steep hill...then she wanted to get on with him!  She absolutely loved it and is so much braver this year.

I love snowmobiling and I'm so glad my kids love it too!

Grandma, Quincy

Will, Grandpa, Millie, Shad

Will and Grandpa

Sambo

Q and Shad

In the warming hut by the wood burning stove

Q taking a rest on one of the bunkbeds

Mills

 On the way home we ate dinner at a little joint in Coalville called Polar King that actually had really good food.  Especially the fries.  Then we went back to the cabin and celebrated Quincy's birthday with some ice cream sundaes.  Her birthday was the next day.

Thanks G&G and Uncle Shad for making this happen!

And thanks Grandpa especially for helping get our sleds ready to go!

Weekend in Midway

In the last post I talked about Millie's big day for her birthday.  But it didn't stop there.  Her birthday is always conveniently close to Civil Right's Day, which is a day off of school.  Since Monday was the holiday, we headed up to Midway and stayed in Grandma and Grandpa's condo.  Thanks G and G!

Millie, Grandma, Grandpa, and I drove up Sunday and met BS and the kids there.  We ate a yummy Sunday dinner at the condo (thanks to the handy crock pot), and then settled in by the fire to watch a movie.  Monday morning we swam and then went sledding at Soldier Hollow!

It was a sunny day with beautiful blue skies...a nice break from the nasty inversion.  We had a great time - each one of us!  Even Quincy was so brave and went down every run!  It's fun to get pulled up the hill on the tube and then fly fast down the tube runs knowing you can't crash or get hurt!

It was an awesome way to spend the day!  

Sambo

BS, Millie, Quincy

Wilbur

When we were all pooped and cold we met the rest of my family at a local pizza place.  Then back to the condo for more swimming and official birthday party.

Millie chose Oreo Cake Pops for her birthday treat which she even helped me make.  They were scrumptious and the boys have requested them for their birthdays :)  We also had chocolate dipped strawberries.  It was hard to pack up and leave, but we knew we had to get back to life and school.  It was a good thing that when we got home at 11:00 that night, Millie came home to balloons and gifts from her friends on our front porch.  And also these:

Beautiful flowers from Grandpa and Grandma Clark!  She was thrilled to get flowers!

Happy Birthday Millie!

Christmas Eve

BS and I made a last minute decision to spend Christmas Eve at the the cabin {Mom and Dad's}.  We didn't have any big or crazy Christmas gifts this year so we thought, why not?  We absolutely love it up there.  So cozy and quaint.  And lots to do.  Or nothing at all.

After the Clark Party we loaded up the car with all of the Christmas gifts {at midnight} and I drove it up to the cabin.  I spent the next morning wrapping and getting everything prepared.  Thanks Grandma Cindy for helping!  BS and I set out Christmas gifts and stuff in record time on the big night!

We spent Christmas Eve at Snowbasin Resort which is not too far from the cabin.  Anyone who has been to Snowbasin knows that the lodge is amazing!  Every Christmas Eve they have a celebration where they serve a delicious dinner, a torch parade down the ski hill, an entrance by Santa Claus on a lit-up sleigh, and a fantastic fireworks show!  The fireworks were seriously as good as the "Stadium of Fire."  Unbelievable.  The only problem was that it was soo stinking cold and windy.  Good thing we were only outside for 10 minutes.

Skiing torch parade

Santa's entrance on his sleigh