Well the new year started off with a bang for a few of us! We had always planned to take Miles back up to Utah (we, meaning myself and probably the girls) so he could get his car - and to visit my parents for a few days. But weather and activities here kept us from leaving until Sunday, New Year's day. The weather, again, wasn't looking super great and so we had decided that the four of us (myself, Miles, and the two girls) would take the train Sunday evening, with my dad picking us up at Provo around 10pm.
Well, my parents ended up waking up to like 18 inches of snow on New Year's! Church was canceled, etc. So we started thinking it might not be a great time to go, my dad wasn't excited about having to drive down and back up the canyon in the dark, etc. And the snow wasn't going to be letting up either . . .
So after talking with my parents and checking out the roads with Ben, it looked decent enough to drive in the daytime. The weather was pretty mild - temperature wise - and so most roads we'd be traveling on were still clear and black. So the four of us got our things all together and headed out! And the drive was totally fine - until Provo canyon, where it became a little sketchy. I would not have wanted my dad driving it in the nighttime and so it all worked out. We made it there safely and it was truly a beautiful winter wonderland! It was incredible and I was so happy to get out of brown, ugly Montrose.
After dinner, the girls went to my parents' side yard and spent a couple hours sledding down the hill. They had a blast. Miles, my mom, and myself enjoyed a lovely walk in the winter wonderland:
This was taken at night, but Miles has some thing on his phone that lightens up the scene without using flash. Nifty. Look how deep!
They really did have "snow" much fun!!
Monday was a pretty great day, too! My mom and I probably shoveled the driveway quite a few times . . . But we also did some fun activities. After lunch, we went to see the Ice Castles. It's been a few years since we've checked them out and it was cool to see them again. Much bigger than before, for sure.
After that, we said goodbye to Miles. So sad. But fun for him . . . He had a decent drive back up to Rexburg and has had a great start to his second semester.
At the same place as the Ice Castles (Soldier Hollow), I had gotten us (myself and the girls) tickets to go tubing. So we headed up to the lodge and sledding hill, waited just a little bit until our session's time and then spent a couple hours sledding. It was actually really fun! There is a little magic carpet ride to the top, but it was so slow that we usually (except twice) just walked up the hill.
We connected ourselves together once and
caught it on video. :) It was slower that way, however, and so we didn't do it again. Ha. We usually would race each other down the hill - and Emmy usually won.
It really was a fun time!
That evening we enjoyed dinner with my parents and the girls spent another couple of hours out sledding at my parents' place. :) We headed out early Tuesday morning so we could hit the mall in Junction and make it back in time for the girls' gym class. Which we did. It was snowing, again and of course, on our way home. Roads were a bit more wet this time, but not bad at all. Once we passed Soldier Summit, it was pretty much dry and clear. We were all so glad we went up to Midway!!
