sledding

What happens when you have some new snow on a good hill?

You cram 4 adults, 3 kids, 2 sleds and a large dog in the car and have some fun!!!

Super ski visit - part II

On President's Day last week, we splurged and spent all day loving the slopes of Steamboat!

We got really lucky because they had plenty of new snow from the weekend... but it continued to dump another foot of snow all morning while we were there and the boys all thought is was AWESOME to ski in so much fresh powder!!!

After a morning of plowing through the knee deep snow and laying down some fresh tracks on several runs at the top of the mountain, Hamp & Sam decided after lunch to take their momma on some green runs and ride the gondola again! (I did not argue with that one!)

Meanwhile, Jason and Alec hit some of the more challenging terrain and apparently had a fantastic time playing in all the snow!

At the end of the day, the clouds passed and left us with gorgeous Colorado blue sky... and Hamp & Sam just had to get one (or two!) more runs in before quitting. So they tried out the half-pipe!

(don't worry, you won't see them in the x-games any time soon!)

Happily exhausted and thrilled to get such a fantastic ski day at one of the best mountains in the state - we headed to the car to take off gear and get home to Aunt Jei & Allen!!!

But not before one last romp in the snow!

Super ski visit - part I

It was over a week ago now, but what a great time we had skiing with Uncle Alec!

Like I said, I think Alec is grateful that his sister lives in Colorado - provides the perfect excuse to get away for a cool ski weekend! (and my boys might be grateful that Uncle Alec lives in Southern California for similar reasons...!) Anyway, we love having them visit because it gets us on the mountain and we have so much fun skiing together!

Uncle Alec at the top of Sunlight Mountain

family pic at the top! Thanks, Al ♥

What's great about Sunlight Mountain, is that while we were busy taking pictures of each other at the top, Aunt Jei and sweet Allen could hang out at the lodge and play in the snow! And best of all, we could get to the lodge whenever we wanted so that we could play with Allen, too!

a family pic in between runs!

self portrait on the ski lift!
don't worry - we never try to throw snowballs or goof around while on the lifts...
unlike this guy!

It was a great couple of days at Sunlight - I even managed to capture them in action!

Here's about 1 minute of some sweet skiing boys:

The boys had a great time - skied for 2 days and pretty much wore themselves out.

Needless to say... here's what the ride home last Saturday afternoon looked like!!!

But that's not all... more skiing to come!

Happy (belated!) Valentine's Day

What a great Valentine treat - a visit from our family in California!

Of course, the ulterior motive for making the trek out here was for Uncle Al to hit the slopes! But I don't mind being a destination. As long as I get to see my sweet nephew & his momma, too.

I don't know how excited they were to spend a romantic love-themed holiday in the hallowed halls if Meeker Elementary School... but Sam was excited to share his Valentine party with his cousin, and I think Allen had fun running up & down the halls! 

(just don't let that mean ol' principal catch you!)

The sweetest treat: hugs from your family!

Meeker basketball!

Managed to bring the video camera to Hamp's basketball game yesterday - and it was perfect! Well, except that Hamp's team did not win the game.... but no worries because Meeker still won! It was the inter-home team game - which was so fun to watch. Looks like Meeker High School will have a pretty good team in about 7 or 8 years!

A full weekend

Winter is no slow time for us - there are still many adventures to be had!

This weekend was no exception, and as I was thinking about it this morning I realized just how lucky we are to do all that we do, and always with friends by our side!

Friday ended with friends at the house - adult friends, kids friends, even doggy friends! - and the boys taking off to play hockey on the "ice rink" at the park! They raved about it all weekend and played there well after dark... and well after their little bodies could barely even stand up anymore they were so tired!

Then Saturday morning took us out of town for Hamp's basketball game. He's 3 weeks and 2 games into the season and definitely loving it! Considering how his parents are either knowledge deficient (mom) or skill deficient (dad.... and mom!) when it comes to basketball, Hamp has really taken a liking to the sport and seems to be doing really well on the court. Regardless, I LOVE watching his games!

(he's #41)

Saturday afternoon was reserved for some playtime at home - and the boys busied themselves working on the snow fort in the front yard! Mom helped with the tunnel a bit, which was a huge success. Now if it just won't melt between now and the next snowstorm!

While the boys worked in the yard and Dad worked at home, mom took the opportunity to cut out with Gabe and hike the trails....

Sunday, of course was ski day! It was a great day to be on the mountain - sunshine, good snow, & friends! The boys are skiing better and better every time... and they still love it and ask to go every weekend - so that's good! Of course, when you stop for ice cream on the way home it makes for a pretty good memory!

I love our weekend adventures... already looking forward to whatever next weekend has in store!

p.s. in case you care, I am still trying to figure out how to manage the technology I have! I know I should  be able to blog more easily from any number of mobile devices that I now own, but there are kinks to work out!  All these pics came from my iPhone, where I then blogged them from my iPad, which I in turn managed from my computer! Really... this should not be so difficult!

a little music video

We kicked off February - which is Black history month - with a fantastic musical by the 3rd grade called "Let It Shine". It's all about freedom and the history of the civil rights movement - with great music, of course! Check out Hamp in this rousing 3 minute video montage...