Donut Falls

On one of the days the kids were skiing with Rob, I was dropped off at Challey's house.  It was so fun to see her.  We spent the morning visiting with Chris and seeing her new house, which was very fun too.  Then after lunch we headed up Big Cottonwood to snow shoe to Donut Falls.  It was a massively beautiful day and the only regret I had was wearing my parka.  We worked up a pretty good sweat hiking through the snow. It was such a fantastic day and I'm glad Challey was up for the adventure.  Let's do it again!!!!

 We hiked right up the steep side of the falls which was kind of humerous at times.  Rob later informed me that people fell through the ice here last year and that it was kind of dangerous.  Oh well, we survived and made it out in one piece.  

I wish pictures could capture just how beautiful it is up there.  I heart the mountains.  Oh, and P.S.  snow shoeing without kids is SO much better.  

Rock Canyon Hike

One of the funnest things we did while in Utah was go for daily walks with my Dad.  Big walks.  One day we hiked up Rock Canyon, one of my favorite places.  It was so beautiful!

The Pied Piper

It started with Emily reading to Clara, but more and more came....

Sledding

One morning when the kids weren't skiing we drove up the canyon to South Fork Park and let the kids sled.  The kids found a jump and enjoyed themselves thoroughly.  And I loved the scenery.  The winter river scenes remind me of a LaConte Stewart painting, which is a very good thing.

Ski Days

Rob and the kids have spent plenty of time hitting the slopes on this trip.  They first went to Brighton on a snowy day and it was super powdery (ie hard).  Day 2 was Brighton again but the trails were groomed it was sunny, and they had a blast.  Day 3 Rob took the kids, plus 3 skiing novices to Alta for the rope tow and free lifts.  It was the 3 kids and Max, Madi, and Malia.  They all had a great time and Rob won the hero of the year award for undertaking this ski training day.  Day 4 was back to Brighton for another sunny beautiful day of skiing.  The kids even tackled black diamonds this year.  When asked how that was the unanimous answer was, "Hard!"  

Tucker:

Madi:

Utah: A Pretty Great State If You Like That Kind of Thing and We Do!

We've been in Utah for a week now and it is going to be hard to go back to Virginia.  When all is said and done this really is the place.  It has been rejuvenating to see mountains (thank you co-operative weather and no inversion), hike in the mountains, enjoy snow, take long walks, and enjoy beautiful sunsets/sunrises.  We've seen so many good friends, eaten at our favorite restaurants (Bombay House, Yamato's, P712, Communal...mmmm).  We've been able to play and hang out with family and it has been the best.  There will be plenty to blog about but for now here is some footage of one of Rob and kids ski days at Brighton.  And man isn't Utah beautiful?

Fock-yer County

We live in Fauquier County.  If I were more mature I wouldn't giggle at this name all the time, but I'm not, and I do.  Because it is said fock-yer  (like Meet the Fockers).  This has led to no end of opportunities to use immature humor at the county's expense.  But it isn't just us.  For example the hospital and health system has this name:

So how are we supposed to not say stuff like "Fock your health?  No fock your health!"  We are in good company.  Jimmy Kimmel see's the humor in it too:

Well of course, with our mature and refined humor intact, when they call a snow day and we think it is ridiculous we can say things like "Fauquier school district," and all the tension melts away.  And when Rob has to work really late we can say "Fauquier Hospital."
So now that we are settled into a new life, in a new place, with new expenses Rob needed to revamp the old budget.  He kept track of what we were spending for a month or so and then we were supposed to sit down together and review the budget to see where we could be doing better.  As this was going on he kept saying things like, "you are going to be so surprised at where the money is going...." or "I just don't think you are going to believe how much we are spending on certain things."  And I couldn't imagine what he was referring to.  We'd been to NYC which was expensive and food here is much more expensive and the kids needed new clothes, but I couldn't imagine any big shockers.  So finally one night at dinner, as Rob was hinting at these shocking expenses, I asked what on earth he was talking about.  He told me that at the library we had accruedfines of about $60.00 every couple of weeks or so.  FOCK-YER LIBRARY!  We were spending like $200.00 on library fines a month.  I freaked.  There is no way on earth!  Not possible.  So I got all enraged.  Surely the library was stealing from us.  It was unthinkable.  We immediately got in the car, bank statement in hand, and raced to the library in search of justice and answers.  We barged in and indignantly pointed out this great evil to the librarian, who kindly and patiently pointed out that the charges were to Fauquier Liberty not Library.  That happens to be the gas station where I buy gas every week or so!  We felt massively sheepish, but that is a good tale, is it not?  Fauquier County, indeed.

Post Christmas Festivities

The Monday after Christmas the kids and I drove up to Wilmington to spend time with the Fennimores and to eat Peppermint Joe-Joe's and homemade Meyer Lemon ice cream. This was the day after the giant crazy snow storm.  I was nervous about driving, but it turns out the first snow we saw was when we hit Delaware and the roads were fine.  And there was just enough snow for a little bit of backyard sledding.  Perfect. 

 The kids took in a few movies.  I admire the way Saul has followed in the footsteps of the older kids and is enjoying some veg time too.  Hilarious. Jennette and I left the kids in front of the telley and dashed across the way to visit the model home of the DeLuxe housing development going in.  I am pleased to say that Jennette and I had a good laugh at many of the lovely features of the great and spacious home.  Good fun.

 They took us out for some amazingly delicious Mexican food and then it was off to Longwood garden, which was beautiful and festive.  This picture is in one of the treehouses.  I look forward to more trips to Longwood Gardens.  It was pretty amazing.

 Inside the ginormous conservatory was a ballroom with a ginormous pipe organ.  We sat down for some carol singing.  Clara loved it and told me she wanted to start going to this church instead.  I can't blame her, the organist was in a very kaleidescopish mood and the music was very cheery.

Thanks for having us!  It was great to hang out, and spend time with people we love!

Here is some footage of the sledding taken with the Flip that Whit and Jim gave us.  HD!  Max and Tucker had quite the time of it, trying to coordinate there ride down the hill.  It took many attempts and had me giggling:

And here are Lucy and Clara, who seemed to have an easier time than Max and Tucker: