Daniel's Summit....rocks

This is the Daniel's Summit Lodge. My dad takes us all up there every year between Christmas and New Year's. It is one of my favorite traditions we do. I LOVE this place!!!This is a blurry picture of our room. Yay! I love the rooms. They are so cozy and cabin....y. In past years, when Austin and Steve were here, they would always come into our room for Madden football on the x-box. Kevin is looking forward to that next year...

A picture of our fire place and fridge. Er, porch. That would be Coke sitting out in the snow for a little chill session. We would get one about 10 minutes later and it would be slushy. Delish.
This is the view from our porch in the morning. Nothin but wilderness
Shelene, Ivy, and Dad just walking to the restaurant. Brrrrr.

My brother-in-law Dan and Kyler Boo in the General Store. Isn't Kyler yummy?
The gang at dinner minus Kevin and I...I took the picture just as we were arriving (i am going to try to change the fact that Kevin and I are NEVER in any of the pictures on this blog)
Ivy. This is her one and only picture face. I guess you could say it's her "Blue Steel"Ethan trying on hats in the General Store...

The first night there, playing games. They have little areas like this in the lobby and upstairs set up for groups to gather and play games. This is one of my favorite parts about the trip, just getting together in our pajamas and sitting in the big comfy couches and chairs and playing all night long.Justin and Jessica. If I tried to explain how we are family....you'd go cross eyed just thinking about it. So I will. Justin is my step mom's step son from her first marriage, whom she helped raise. But Chace and Justin are half brother's because their Dad was married before Shelene, so they have different moms....got it?
My brother Chace and his cute girlfriend Duvae. (Because he is leaving on his mission in February, according to them I don't think I'm supposed to SAY girlfriend....but whatever. It's his girlfriend)
Getting ready to head out on the trail. This is the whole reason we come up here. To snowmobile!!
The first dig out. There was literally about 6 feet of fresh powder, so getting stuck was not hard to do...One of my favorite things is going off the trail and finding jumps and whatnot, but this year that was a little difficult. Only if you wanted to risk getting stuck and spending a half hour digging yourself out.

Just cruising along the trail....isn't it so pretty? Even more so in person
I'm kind of obsessed with cool trees(yep), and these were incredible. Being in the mountains with fresh snow brings a whole new meaning to winter wonderland. And I was smack dab in the middle of it.

Just look at that little guy. All bundled up in his snow gear and a helmet he can barely hold his head up with.....so cute

K, this is when I wish I knew what I was doing with my camera. This picture was SO COOL in person. That bright spot above the trees is the sun (der), but it was this muted, perfect little circle peaking through the sky and if you put your head close and to the bottom of the screen and look up, you can barely see it. Go on, do it. You did didn't you?

Some "action shots"

Another blurry picture thanks to the hubs. This is our last night there, and we are downstairs by the fireplace getting ready to play some more games. That Christmas tree in the background goes from the ground level all the way up through the second floor.

Goodbye to Daniel and his summit. See you next year!

A Very Merry Belated Christmas...?

Have you seen that movie Four Christmas's? Me neither, but I assume that if you did, you have experienced Christmas the way Kevin and I do....every year. Ha! No but it is a whole lot of running from place to place trying to make it to see everyone and please everyone. Making sure that you spend equal amounts of time at one person's house as you did the next. Eating at every stop, and bringing in the armfuls of presents to each house. Saying your hi's, I love you's, thank you's, and then goodbye's. It's exhausting! But I wouldn't change it for anything. (I can't speak for my husband though) I didn't really take many pictures, but here are some anyway...

This was the Christmas party for my mom's side of the family. It was at my Aunt Carol and Uncle Stuart's house. We had a White Elephant exchange, and then ate some yummy food. I know in this picture everyone looks like they are having LOADS of fun, but it really was!

My brother-in-law Dan and Kyler opening Dan's white elephant....The Prince of Egypt. Nice! My step Dad's gift was even funnier, he got The Work and the Glory DVD....yeah he's baptist. We laughed so hard, of course he would open that gift. He was a good sport :)

This is at the in-law's Christmas day. There were SO many gifts!! It was so much fun to have Erik and Lisa and their boys up from St. George. Everyone was together, and it's always a good time :)

Erik and Chad looking really into the card game. I think Erik likes the Cougars, not sure though.

Watching Dylan open his gifts.

This is at my Dad's house Christmas Eve. The kids were so amped up they were dancing around and jumping off the furniture.

As displayed here....

Anywho, my Christmas in a nutshell. I know, wasn't it SO entertaining?

Par-TAY

The December get together. It was mine. All mine, and yet Talisia and Dellany seemed to do just as much for it as I did. I think they were secretly worried whether or not I could pull off a whole party, a real one, all by my lonse. But I surprised them, I think. I even MADE stuff. And my mother-in-law even did a center piece with actual flowers. I put cranberries in the ice to make it pretty, and I remembered important things such as paper plates and cups. FOR REAL. What I didn't do was have it at my house. Probably because I don't have one of my own at the moment, and I live with folks other than just my husband, and I thought it would be a little overwhelming to invite 14 other girls over that talk about childbirth, bowel movements, witch doctors, and old high school memories. I'm just sayin. But it ended up going pretty well, thank you very much. I also thought it would be pretty fun, seeing as how I didn't do a theme and all, to hand out some "awards". A few of the awards....


"Most Likely to Die in a Freak Cooking Accident...While Making No-Bake Cookies" goes to.... (yeah, that one went to me)

"One Stinkin Hot Future Relief Society President"....can you guess?

"Most Likely to Change Her Last Name to Cullen".....

"One and Only Girl to Get a False Positive Pregnancy Test"... a pretty hilarious story...

"The Only Woman to Ever Have a Nine Month Pregnant Belly AND a Six pack"...


Just a few. Anyways, since I had December, I'll skip the usual tribute (that'd be weird). Instead just enjoy a whole lotta pictures.

Sara with Miss Hadlee Jo. She is the sweetest thing. The baby I mean....haha

Cassi and Sheena. Two people who can't take a bad picture if their life depended on it.

Brooke, Tara, Kira, Hadlee, and Tori.

Dell showing off how cute the container is for Sheena's diaper wipes. Of course even her wipes are cute. It's Sheena we're talking about...

Katie in the middle of what appears to be an AWESOME story. Which is pretty typical, she is always entertaining us :)

Dell and Kira. Check out that water mug Dell has there. It's GI-normous. It goes everywhere with her and because it's hard for her to keep hydrated since her surgery, she drinks at least 3 of those a day. THREE. And she only absorbs about one of them.

Talisia and Katie.


Katie, Brooke, and Sara.

Trying to get a picture of everyone. I think Sara is the only one that knows I'm taking this picture :) Can you find her?

Kira



Another bad picture with no one looking. But look at how beautiful Talisia's house is.

Sheena and Dell.
Tori, Sheena, and Tara.


Just showing off T's house again.

Her bedroom. She'll want me to tell you that it's not how she wants it yet and blah blah blah. But her husband actually made that bed that goes from wall to wall, and has floating shelves....



Just your typical picture of a boot and some ornaments....?????

Our November party is below, and there are more posts to come. I'm gonna try really hard to keep up the posting. :)

November...

This is us (minus me, I'm taking the picture, Kira who wasn't there yet, and a handful of others that couldn't make it) being somewhat cooperative for the camera.

This is us, being the crazies that we are. We are at Meg's house for our November get together. Her and Natalie decided to do theirs together and it was so much fun. The "theme" was a Donations/Edward party. Hahaha. I love my friends. What Meg and Natalie really wanted to do was to volunteer somewhere, but apparently November is the most popular month of the year for people to volunteer, and nowhere that Meg called had a spot for us. Which is a really good thing if you think about it. So I think our plan is to go volunteer in the middle of the year this time, when it's much slower. So instead, they had us bring canned food or clothing that they could take and donate. Then, since Natalie and Meg are probably the #1 and #2 fans of the Twilight series, they wanted to go ahead and throw that in as well. Which worked out perfectly for the rest of us, seeing as how 98% of us has read and loved them too.

Meg and Natalie. Please take a minute to adore her crushed velvet lime green couch. Classic.

Katie....... just being Katie.

Talisia on the matching lime green love seat. I literally ADORE Meg's place. It is so completely her, and it tells a story. There really is a story behind everything on her walls, her pictures, her books, her fridge, even her doors.

Which brings me to this little number. (Sorry it's such a dark picture) She usually has a bamboo sitting on her table. And one night her and her friend were looking at the shadow that it cast on her door. They thought it looked pretty cool. And then she painted it.

These are actual dragonflies that her cat caught and brought to her. They are perfectly intact, and they sit on her shelf next to other trinkets and memories.


Just a book that sits on her coffee table. But I liked it, and it's Meg to a T.

She has posters like this one all over. I wish I would have gotten more (good)pictures, but I was incredibly sick and therefor incredibly drugged up that night...it was kind of a blur...

But that's beside the point. Now on to Meg and Natalie....

.....

Natalie. It is true that I don't have quite as many memories with her as I do Meg. But it has been so fun reconnecting this past year. She is a seriously funny person. She has an adorable son Luke, who is just freakin awesome. He is the FUNNIEST kid I think I have ever met. He kills me. We play ninjas and vampires, and other various sorts of deadly creatures. Always a good time. I have some really random memories. Like, I remember going to Natalie's house in middle school and all gajillion of us would gather in her front room. I remember watching a projector movie or slide show in there one time. And don't ask me why, but Buttercup Park always reminds me of her. She is not a shy girl, and can pretty much make friends with anyone. I remember her always having a boyfriend. And she has these crazy double jointed fingers. Like, so double jointed they are triple jointed. She is always so much fun to talk to, and it seems like wherever she is, she is always smiling or laughing. She is my Twilight buddy. She is the one person I know that could never get sick of talking about the movie or the books. We have had many a nerd-exposing conversation about those darn books. She's my go-to girl on anything Twilight. Her and her sisters had this party and she made chess piece sugar cookies for Breaking Dawn. Clever. And hard. She made her own cookie cutters for it and everything. And for Sheena's baby shower, she made this purple tutu that made me want to have a girl JUST so I could have one. She's a crafty one. I'm so glad that I have been able to get to know her even better and catch up with her every month. It has been so fun! Love that girl.

.....

Meg. Oh dear. What do you say about this girl. She is truly one of the best people I know. I look up to her in so many ways. She has a heart bigger than anyone. Hence the theme she wanted to do for her party. It's so Meg, to want to go volunteer somewhere. She is my free spirit hippie chick. She is super intelligent and in high school was determined to be a Forensic Pathologist. She was an SBO in high school, which is really pretty fitting. She always got impeccable grades, worried about getting into trouble, and always respected her authority figures. She hates putting on dresses, and washing her hair. I'm not positive, but I think that the shoes she wore as a bridesmaid at my wedding might have been one of the first few heels ever to grace her feet. We used to color her hair in her bathroom with dye we got at Smith's. She often times cuts her own hair, and does a good job. She is known for wearing at least 4 shirts at a time, and then feeling as though she is suffocating in them. Her room growing up was plastered wall to wall with memorabilia and pictures. She is friends with EVERYONE. I have never known someone to not like her. She has been known to do dances wearing only black socks...she loves music and Bob Dylan. Out of all of my friends, I think she takes the cake for the best tattoos. She has survived being hit as a pedestrian by a truck, and now walks with a slight limp. She really had a miraculous recovery after shattering her hip, and when we visited her in the hospital, was only concerned with how WE were doing. Meg is all about peace and love, and I have learned a whole lot from her. She would give the shirt off her back to someone in need, and we would all be better off trying to be a little bit more like her.