Sledding

The sledding cannot be beat.  Although this time around, even the Razor was struggling with the amount of snow on the roads.

Watson

Our dog, Watson loves the snow.  Loves it!  The cold has no effect on him whatsoever and he can play in it for hours on end.  However, we have found his "doodle" coat and snow are not a good combination at all.  The longer he stays in the snow the more the snow attaches to the underside of his belly and down his front and legs. The ice balls get bigger and bigger until they about the size of my fist.  The ice balls will actually start to make noise as they hit each other when Watson moves around.

I'm sure they bother him, but that is not the real problem.  The problem is when he is ready to come into the cabin.  They do not come off.  The only way is to let them melt off (which makes an absolute mess on the floors) or take him directly into the shower and wash them off with warm water and dry him off as best we can with a towel.  

So, that is what we had to do.  Multiple showers every day.  Funny though, all of a sudden he didn't want to come into the cabin any more.  He would come up to the door and we would open it to let him in and he would just stand there. It finally dawned on us, that he didn't want a shower and had connected those 2 things pretty quickly.  Poor Watson.

Cabin project phase 2

I recently blogged about the 2 coatracks that I completed for the cabin.  They are very useful upstairs, but are terribly inadequate for the amount of snow gear that needs to be hung up
in the winter months.

We have a large corner in our basement that we had planned to turn into a mud hall area.  Since we enter/exit the cabin in the winter from the basement it makes sense to put all of the gear down there.

We got boot trays and hooks hung up and ready to go.  In the Spring we will add a bench below and open shelving and cabinets above.

Christmas at the Cabin

We did it!  We finally had Christmas at the cabin!  

We weren't sure if we would even make it up as there was at least a foot of snow on the roads.  However with 4 wheel drive and chains on all tires, we made it...barely.   The truck finally got stuck right at the foot of our driveway.

While we trudged up the driveway and into the cabin, Scott worked on blowing the driveway.  I worked on getting the hot tub ready and the boys were all about the snow.

It started to snow shortly after we arrived and didn't stop until Monday morning.  It was absolutely gorgeous.

While I stayed cosily inside drinking hot chocolate, working on a puzzle and getting into the hot tub, the boys spent a lot time sledding and playing in the snow.  We don't use our front steps in the winter as they are steep and treacherous, but they are put to good use as a sledding jump!

We don't have a TV up there, but we did let the boys watch Christmas Story on my phone. It's a tradition.

Outdoor fire anyone?

 It snowed so much we weren't sure if we would be able to make it down the mountain on Monday morning.  Thankfully the subdivision snowblower (affectionately called Big Bertha) came to our rescue and blew a path.  She's as old as the hills, but she's got it where it counts. The boys were pretty excited to see her at work.

 It was so nice to have such a peaceful, beautiful, quiet Christmas.  Looking forward to many more.

Temple Square

Continuing our tradition with Scott's parents to see the lights every year. 

*Owen*

This kid never changes.  Remember all those posts I have done in the past about him dressing inappropriately for winter.  Still a problem.  Now he has taken it to the next level.

Owen is on the year round swim team and practices 3 times a week.  This is how he goes to practice.  No shoes or coat.  He has no problem tip-toeing around the ice in the parking lot and driveways.  And this is when he is dry.  I can't imagine how cold it would be coming outside after you have been exercising in a pool for an hour and a half.  

It was 33 degrees out and this is how he dressed for his last swim meet.  Seriously, this child.