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

Thanksgiving in Island Park

The Lake House in Island Park.  It's the best! We were lucky to spend Thanksgiving week up there and as usual we were in heaven. 

Besides eating a ton of yummy food, here's some stuff we did:

Bracelets on the Rainbow loom:

Millie made darling little clutch purses for her friends for Christmas gifts:

Even Will wanted to sew :)

A little rest and relaxation:

A lot playing outside in the snow and on the frozen lake:

Games with cousins:

A Thanksgiving Feast:

{Best Dad and Mom EVER}!

Pumpkin pie in a jar:

Shooting and more shooting:

Kirk and Quincy

Grandpa passed down his 22 to Sambo!

Coyote hunting:

{got skunked}

And that's just to name a few!

We all had an awesome trip and it was even better having Cambree with us!

Thanks Uncle Shad!

Here we are on the drive home.  Quincy LOVES her new "Seat belt Pet!"

These kids are the best travelers ever!  Always have been!  I guess when you travel a ton they don't know any different.  We feel very blessed to be able to travel to so many places so often!

Island Park

Last month we enjoyed another awesome trip to Shad's Lake house in Island Park.  This truly is one of our favorite places to be.  You can do as much or as little as you want.  You can't help but feel happy, relaxed, and thankful when you come here and enjoy the beauty and recreation of this place.

This year the cousins had already returned home to Oklahoma so we let Millie bring a friend along.  It was so fun to have Addison join us.  She has had a lot going on in her crazy life so it was good for her to get away with us too.  Of course Chops got to come too!  He has grown to be such a good dog :)

This was one of those vacations where we pretty much just chilled.  Grandma, Heidi, Kirk, the kids and I drove up on Monday.  For the next 3 days we didn't leave.  Just relaxed, played games, cooked, ate, made crafts, swam in the lake, hot tubbed, and recorded "cooking shows" {Millie and Addie}.
BS, Shad, and Grandpa came up Wednesday night with the boat.  For the next 3 days we went boating, rafting, went to the Play house in town {Home School Musical: The Gleek Club}, and a day trip to West Yellowstone.

We came home Sunday, the day before school started for Millie and Addie.  This trip was fabulous, and just what we needed before we started school and the big move.  It was the calm before the storm.

Island Park Lake House

Island Park Winter 2012

Vacation at Uncle Shad's lake house is the best.  It is totally worth blowing off school, work, and everything else to just get away.  This year was no different.  Sam and Millie felt so mature, especially when piloting the snowmobile all by themselves.  Millie got over some of her nervous nellies, and Sambo learned how fun it was to "jump" cornices.  Wilbur was a great man.  We forget that he is just a little guy.  Once again Wilbur gets the award for going with the flow.  Nothing fazes the kid.  It doesn't matter what the situation is he just goes along for the ride.  Quin was an all-star.  The first day after riding 80 miles to West Yellowstone for lunch and back, she wanted to ride some more.  We can't believe our baby is not a baby anymore.  She gets an A+

Highlights of the trip include:

-How well the kids did on the all-day ride to West Yellowstone

-How much they loved riding in the powder

-The snow and the hot tub

-Building the massive snow cave

-Chops running miles across the lake trying to chase us down after leaving him behind at the cabin, and       BS giving him a ride back to the cabin on the snowmobile

-The muskrat, or was it a beaver?

-Grandpa Tom telling Quin the same stories he told Holly as a kid

-The kids begging to stay "just one more day"

Thanks Uncle Shad for your generosity, we cant wait for the next lake house trip in August!

BS and Quin

Millie 

Quinny is all smiles with her pink cold cheeks

Traditional visit to Big Springs to feed the ducks and fish - so gorgeous!

Q feeding the fish

Will loved riding with Uncle Shad and Uncle Nate because they ride
the fastest

Will taking a break :)

Stopping for lunch stop at Boondocks

Sambo and Millie

BS giving Chops a ride home after he followed us for miles across the lake

Snow Fort!

Oh how she loves this dog

And how she loves Grandpa!

Sambo tearing it up with his scary facemask