Playing Hookie while Playing at Kendall

While Miles was off on a 2-day climbing competition in Gunnison, and Emmy was off skiing with her school's ski-club in Telluride, I took the other two kids out of school last Friday and we had a super-duper of a ski-day at Kendall Mountain.

Kendall was the choice because 1. It's cheap and 2. Jonas wanted to practice snowboarding all day and it's the perfect terrain for it. Jonas did superb on the snowboard - he's boarded twice, but only for an hour or so each time. So it was a great chance for him to get some good experience on the board. He loved it so much. In fact, Jonas was just given a board and he's excited to use it at Telluride when he goes next.

Lucy had a really fun time. She loved riding the lift by herself. Plus, she met a friend and they skied together for the first half of the day - until the friend left after lunchtime.

The snow was wonderful and I enjoyed myself as well. I just wish the drive was not so scary! Here's what happened the week after we went:

Luckily, the people in the car were okay! (An ice-chunk fell on the car.)

 They didn't ride the lift much together, maybe just this once . . .

 But they sure were adorable when they did!

 Silverton is such a cute town - especially with all that snow!

We love Kendall.

Yay for a great day!

Videos:

Girls Day in Ouray

While the boys were off skiing in Telluride:

And Ben was making his way back home from Denver in awful traffic:

The girls and I got out and had a fun day in Ouray:

We started off skiing at Lee's Hill - a lovely and free tow-rope hill in Ouray. :) (I had wanted to take the girls to Silverton, but a storm dumped on Red Mountain Pass on Friday and it didn't look good for driving that morning.) Poor Lucy inherited my short & stocky calves that don't feel good AT ALL in ski boots. She cried and cried . . . until I undid her top two buckles . . . (When we got home I saw that she had tall soccer socks on - no more. Just ankle socks for her and I!)

We had the hill to ourselves practically. A young couple were there for a bit (she was learning how to snowboard) and then a boy skied over from his house and joined us. :) He was 8 and very, very good!

 The tow-rope is not for wimps! It's hard! But fun and cool.

After our arms and legs were sore, we stopped skiing and went to Ouray's free ice-rink. A few other families came - but we were the only ones who knew how to skate, ha. It was fun!

It's a little bigger than our backyard rink . . . :)

A few videos:

Happenings

These pictures are going to be so out of order . . . 

Miles has his 2nd-ever climbing competition. This time it was in Montrose so Ben and I were able to watch some of it. I ended up watching all of it at the Rec. Center and maybe 20 minutes of the session at the High School. It was pretty cool. Miles loves it!

 

Before Miles finished up with his climbing comp., we (minus Miles who was finishing up) then headed up to watch Jonas' Honors Jazz Band performance in Grand Junction. Jonas had left with his school group the day before (Friday). You have to try out and be accepted to this group. Jonas made it last year and had a great time. So he was happy to make it again this year.

 The kids got to go to the mall for lunch and shopping on Saturday afternoon . . . Jonas ended up with these shades and hat. Nice.

  December - always such a fun and busy month!

 My sister gave my boys some pretty cool puzzles. :) Miles finished up his - "Foods from your childhood." Obviously not Miles' childhood . . . probably more like my parents' childhood. It's awesome. Jonas is now working on his.

 

Miles' professional Climbing Team pics. Cool.

 As soon as we got back on Sunday night, everyone (dogs included) checked out the rink.

 I bought 2nd-hand sweaters for the dogs. So cute. :)

 

 FHE our first Monday night back - hockey, of course. I was napping - I had finished my day-job and had to go back to my night-job later that evening. :) (I am officially done with my night-job, now, though!)

 Cute.

 A combined YM/YW activity - we hiked up Flat Top and enjoyed a bonfire. Super cool!

And a few videos:

Our New Year's Vacation

We decided to head up to Utah over Winter Break to enjoy my parents, their home, their town, and their state! None of it disappointed us . . . It was a good break for sure.

The youth of our stake had a New Year's Eve dance and so we were going to leaving on New Year's morning. However, a big storm was heading its way in to Utah that day, starting at 5 am. As it was calling for up to 12 inches of snow on Soldier Summit, we decided to head out after the dance on New Year's Eve. So we left for Utah at about 10:30 and got there at 4:30 on New Year's Day. Besides being during the night, the drive was totally pleasant. Dry and basically empty roads.

It snowed pretty much all day on Wednesday and so we were glad to have made the drive when we did. The kids sledded that day and had a fun time. We basically just stayed home. I took a nice nap that afternoon. :)

Thursday during the day was spent much the same with the kids sledding a lot. We left and went to Salt Lake City. We stopped by the Scottish store again and walked around for a little bit. Then we met my parents at Benihana and had a wonderful and delicious dinner. I was able to get birthday gift-certificates for Ben and Jonas and so that gave me the excuse to "have" to go. :) We all really love that place!

On Friday we went to our favorite bagel shop in Heber for lunch. Then we tried some bowling. We hardly ever bowl and so it was really fun - and funny, ha. The girls used bumpers, but I think they would have been okay without them. The boys started out pretty poorly, but finally started knocking down pins. Ben was the winner. Of course. :)

That night we went to Thanksgiving Point's Luminaria display. It was so awesome! We all loved it! My parents had gone a couple weeks earlier and thought we'd like it, too - which we definitely did. It was totally fun and magical.

On Saturday the five eldest of us went to do baptisms at the Provo Temple. My parents work in the baptistry on Saturdays mornings (9-1:30) and so we thought it would be a good time to go! We were able to drop Lucy off with Paul F's wife and kids (they are in Provo for the semester). Paul and his daughter, Olivia, came with us as well. It was really nice!

After that we met up with Lucy and the rest of Paul's family at the BYU Creamery for lunch. We had a good visit and then we walked around the BYU campus for a little bit.

For Ben's Christmas gift, I gave him and myself a "Learn to Curl" lesson at the Utah Olympic Oval. So that Saturday night, Ben and I went to dinner in Midway before, and then headed down the canyon to West Valley for our lesson. It was super fun! I wish I had gotten more pictures, but sadly I didn't. But we had a really great time.

Sunday was church, a delicious lunch/dinner made by my mom, and then we left for home. Ben and I had to work on Monday, but the kids had one more day left on their winter break - lucky! The boys went skiing in Telluride and the girls skated all day on the rink. I'll post that later . . .

 Our ward was in charge of some of the NYE's decorations . . . so the kids and I worked on a skyline, among other things . . . It was a NYC theme dance . . .

The boys said they had a fun time! I was there the whole time . . .

 Happy 2020! We were close to Grand Junction when the new year happened and saw a couple of fireworks. :)

 Lucy getting ready for sledding!

 The kids at Benihana.

 The old people at Benihana. :)

 Our chef, making an onion volcano. Always a hit.

 We walked to the Gallivan Center after dinner. It was so pretty and cool! Next time we must skate on it!

 Jonas snowboarded always when they went out to sled. He had a blast.

 More sledding . . .

 And more . . .

And a video . . .

 The boys and my mom worked the most on this crazy-hard puzzle! It was so hard because of the non-straight edges. So hard! So this puzzle was worked on from the inside-out. I got in to it at the end and we all helped finish - well, except my dad. Ha. What a cool puzzle!

 Lucy bowled a spare, I think, and was quite shocked. :)

 Miles figuring it out . . .

 Jonas getting ready to go - with Miles, Lucy, my dad, Emmy, Ben, and my mom in the background.

 Emmy's turn!

 The pictures don't do the Luminaria display justice. It was soooo cool.

 Saturday morning, temple time!

 Jonas, Miles, Emmy, Anne Formisano, Lucy, Maren Formisano, and Olivia Formisano at the Creamery.

 It's curling time!

Our team won every time - by a lot of beginner's luck and a bit of skill. :) It really was super fun.

Another awesome trip to Utah.