Welcome to Winter

 

One of the first things Chris did when we moved to the Teton Valley was to buy a family season pass to Grand Targhee Ski resort.

 

Winters are long here, so we might as well enjoy the snow right?!

 

Luckily Abby is still free to ski. With our pass we were actually able to add my niece Autumn to it, so hopefully she'll discover a fondness for snow/cold and get out on the mountain with us.

 

We hit up opening day at Targhee with such excitement! The weather was AWESOME! Blue skies and nice temps!

 

 

 

This is me with the utmost excitement that I finally made it to the bottom of one of the hills.

Not sure why but it kicked my butt.

Epic falls, poles in the air, classy Cindy right there!

I swore.

A lot.

I was so frustrated that I couldn't just get down the friggin mountain in one run.

 

The first run went great. Then Chris said "let's go down here, the run has been groomed already"

Sure! Let's do it.

I got cocky. Too early in the season for that!

 

Sure glad I provided some entertainment to those watching above on the chairlifts.

 First run of the season 

We decided to mortgage our first home and put Abby in the "1/2 daycare with 1 lesson" program for the day so Chris and I could get a few runs in before having the girls with us for the rest of the day.

 

She really enjoyed it AND she got an hour long one-on-one ski lesson with a PROFESSIONAL.

*I'm kidding on the mortgage comment although at times living up here it feels that way!

She is my little snow bunny



At lunch time Chris went to pick Anna up from school and bring her up, so Abby and I hit the kiddie hill.

She likes SPEED and wants to GO FAST

 

And when she's tired she just wants to eat snow

 

When Anna arrived we took turns taking the girls down the training hill

 

 

The thing with Anna is that she wants to do it right the first time.

No falling.

No practicing.

No "here sit and watch me first".

 

But as we know with MOST things in life...that doesn't always work out the way WE want it to.

I love Anna and her determination.

She had fun when she was doing well, but got frustrated when she wasn't.

This kid wants to do it once and then go down the big hill.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that after a few more days on the small hill, she'll be hitting up the bigger (okay bigger for kids that is) hills in no time!

 

I'm pretty sure this will be our norm from now until April.

Hitting the slopes.

Pink noses.

Cocoa in the lodge.

Huge memories!





Fabulous 4

I wrote FABULOUS 4 because the two's were terrible, 3's were threatening, so I'm hoping by calling 4 "FABULOUS"...they will be!

It's official. My baby is FOUR
How did that happen so fast!!
It's like overnight she just grew up!

 

 

One thing didn't change.

Her love for horses. Still loves them and I don't even think I could count how many she has!

I think it's more of an obsession now. I can see early hoarding tendencies in this one!

She has branched out from collecting horses and actually loves to play with ALL animals.

Especially zebras, CHEETAHS, tigers and elephants.

"CHEETAHS ARE THE BEST MOM!"

So what's a homemade cake with out plastic animals on top?

I never said I was Martha Stewart!

 Since she really doesn't have a "group" of friends to celebrate a birthday party with, I took her to her first gymnastics lesson on her big day. She's the ONLY girl in the group and she totally rocked it!

After class I took her to her favorite lunch place. PIZZA from Tony's. Delicious!
Notice the horses on her shirt?
75% of the shirts she owns has horses or unicorns on them.
Like I said...obsessed!

We had to head down to SLC this past weekend for a baby blessing, so we celebrated her birthday again with my mom and sisters family.

 

Again, plastic animals around the cake. This time they were TOO big to put ON the cake!

And again, she LOVED it! Thanks Grandma for putting it all together!

I'm pretty sure Ab's had a great day turning 4. She's a fun kid and I'm super blessed to be her mom!



Halloween in Teton Valley



I'm not going to lie. I was very scared at how Halloween was going to work this year.

When you live in a country community like the Teton Valley, most of the houses are spread out so it's not ideal for trick-or-treating. There are a few actual subdivisions where you can go door to door and the kids aren't clocking 10 miles in a single night. :)

 

Okay so I may be exaggerating a bit, but for the past 5 years we lived in a Layton neighborhood where you had 1-5 kids occupying every house. That made for a VERY busy night of trick-or-treating. How on earth were my kids going to get all that delicious healthily candy if they couldn't hit up at least 45 houses in a single night?

 

I know it's popular...but who wants to get candy out of the truck of a car?  Where's the fun in that? And don't we teach our kids NOT to take candy from strangers out of a car??

 

When I was a kid you RAN up to each house, yelling 'TRICK OR TREAT' at the top of your lungs before your foot even hit the first doorstep. You knocked and knocked and waited impatiently for the old man to get up from his recliner to grab that bowl of candy and walk down that hall (which when you're 10 felt like an eternity!)

 

Trick or treating was the best! Free candy? And all I have to do is sucker my mom into buying a $30 costume that I'll wear once, for about 1.5 hours and then never again? All to get FREE candy that will no doubt cost (my mom) later when she's paying that deductible for cavity fillings.

 

Halloween is the best!!

 



 

 

This is our ghoul picture.

PUMPKIN BRAINS!!

 

So Halloween night came and first we were obligated (by none other than Miss. Vampire herself) to hit up the school trick or treating. That took about 5 minutes and more anxiety that it was worth!

Kitty cat. She's 4 and has alternated between a cowboy, cat, horse, cat now. I think we have a pattern.

 

Next we, along with 3/4 of the residence of Victor, hit up the one of the few actual neighborhoods in the area that was ideal for free candy.

I classify "neighborhood" to mean that the houses are so close to one another that you don't need a car or horse to get to your neighbors front door!

 

It was snowing, of course, so coats over the costumes was mandatory once we got out walking around. Luckily the girls are too young to realize that having to wear a coat over that costume that YOU JUST HAD TO HAVE MOM!!!! really kinda sucks. I'm sure I'll deal with that the older the girls get.

 

Seriously, I remember having to wear a coat over my punk rocker costume when I was younger...what's the fun in that? Puck rockers don't wear ski parkas and moon boots?

And I'm talking authentic 1980's moonboots!!)

 

 

We ran into the Headless Horseman

Seriously, how freaking COOL is this?

You don't get horses walking around Layton neighborhoods on Halloween, so score 1 for us!

 

So after walking around in the snow and cold we finally called it a night. The girls had cold, wet feet (deduct 1 from me for not having my girls wear SNOW boots) and full candy bags. Anna's hair was 1990's crunchy from the black spray and Abby's whiskers were one whip away from disappearing. Perfect time for a picture!!

The girls actually had a good time. We only got 1 group of trick-or-treaters at our house. WE are one of those houses that people say "ya know, it's too far in between the others, let's go the other way". However when that 1 group did come, Perk made sure Anna made it worth their while by giving a big handful of candy.

Candy leftover from Autumn's birthday party that is. I knew better than to buy Halloween candy. Score 1 for me!

Who's That Girl??

That my readers is my niece Autumn.

She's like my 3rd kid.

Seriously, we've always been super close and I'd do anything for her.

So when she mentioned she was unhappy and super stressed in Utah, I had no hesitations letting her move in with us to finish out her senior year in high school.

 

She's a great kid, and my girls love her.

Of course along with Autumn came Moose.

He's a good dog and Bear gets along great with him.

But he's needy. He follows me around when Autumn is at school and always has to touch you with his cold, wet, nose.

 

But like me and my animals, I couldn't say no when she wanted to bring him along. It's a package deal. No refunds or exchanges.

 

We my niece moving in, I have been throw into the high schoolers life again!

Homework and clothes and books and early mornings. Tests and conferences and college nights.

New friends, BOYS, activity and all things teenager related.

 

I am very excited that she's so active in school. She's made friends with a great group of kids and I've seen her come home smiling more times that not. She even participated in Powder Puff football!

 

With the help of her friend, we were able to throw her a surprise birthday party for her 18th birthday. I think she liked it!

 

Playing Catch Up

These past few weeks have been crazy busy. 

I feel like we haven't had a weekend to just be home and do nothing. We're coming and going, visitors and visiting.

When we came down for Labor Day, I bought a new car. As much as I LOVED my Camry, it just wasn't going to fit into our "ourdoor life" now. With 2 dogs, 3 kids and a whole lotta bags, there just was not the room we needed to get from A to B without stopping at C..and D...and E, F, & G!

I've been watching SUV's for a while and checking them out when Perk would bring one home from work. As much as I really wanted a new Jeep, I need that 3rd row seat (which just from having it for 2 months now...has more than paid for itself!!)

I got a 2013 GMC Acadia. Fire red, leather and seat warmers. I never cared much for seat warmers until I moved to Victor and planted my butt on a cold leather seat in 30° temps!! That too has more than paid for itself!

 

 So other than driving around in style...here's how September rolled....

 My niece Jodi and her husband Larry (*gasp* still can't believe my "little sister" is married!!!) came to visit for the weekend. We hiked Grand Targhee and hit up Bear World. And ate a lot of food! Mmmm...Bear World fudge!!

Anna is still enjoying school although she really misses her friends still. We took a trip to SLC to see our dear friend Lauren get baptized, Anna loved seeing her. We are grateful we were invited to see her special moment.  After the Baptist I went with my mom to Gardner Village to see the Witches.  It was nice to walk around, just the two of us and shop and chat.

The Wheatley's stopped by one day on their way out of Jackson to visit. That cute little Emma can come see her Aunt Cindy ANY TIME!!

Victor held their annual Family Fun Days one weekend. Filled with hand pond fishing (I still feel horrible thinking about those poor fish!), horse rides, scavenger, and firemen displays. It was small but the kids really enjoyed it.

 

September came and went so fast that now I'm here, October 29th and cannot believe Halloween is in 2 days!! What a busy month!

New school year - new school

You'll never hear me say I don't love my kids.

But man I could NOT WAIT for school to start back up.

I think Anna was going just as crazy at home as I was!

Our new neighborhood is nothing like it was in Layton.

We are at the mercy of one, sometimes two, other families with kids.

If they aren't home...holy hanna these kids are beside themselves!

 

"WHO CAN WE PLAY WITH??" I heard that more times in July that in my entire time as a parent.

Going back to school means meeting new friends, keeping busy all day, bedtimes at a reasonable hour and oh yay "it's a school nights, so NO".

 

One down. One to go.

On a less bitchy note: Anna started 2nd grade at her new school.

It's definitely not like our Layton school.

It's old.

It's small.

HOWEVER, the class sizes are smaller, which is good. Instead of a class of 31, there are only 23.

The school goes from K-3. Upper grades are in another building.

So far she really loves it. She has class with our one neighbor her age, and seems to be enjoying her teacher. Plus she LOVES riding the bus. I guess when you're younger that sort of thing is fun (not so fun to my 17yr old niece who I make ride the bus...that's another post!!)

I'm very sad that they don't offer the Spanish Immersion program here, but that was a trade off we had to sacrifice.

Anna is actually quite excited that now I'm a SAHM I will be able to volunteer a lot more for her class. Tonight we had back-to-school and I pretty much signed my life away with the PTA for the 2013-2014 school year.

Yay me?

Fitness Friday

As super fun as it was to indulge in burger, shakes, Diet Coke, M&M's, Kneaders French toast, Café Rio burritos, pepperoni pizza, sweet & sour chicken, fries, BBQ chips, movie popcorn (I think you get the point), as fun as all that "was", getting back into shape (and not just round), and healthy and fit and trim...well it's NOT just as fun. Kinda sucks that the older you get the harder it is to take off the weight.

 

Why didn't anyone tell me this? Oh they did. I'm just stubborn and didn't hear them with the sound of my lips smacking while eating a smothered chicken burrito from Café Rio. Mmm burritos.

 

Did I tell you the only "fast food" place we have in this tiny little town is a Subway? Three of them to be exact.

 

So dropping a few pounds is going to be challenging, but I need to do it. This chunky monkey is tired of being chunky. I was to be fast - "like a cheetah" as Abby would say.

 

According the BMI calculator I AM OVERWEIGHT.

Ya no shit NIH, like my tight pants were an indicator already!

 

So I have all my gear set up (90's step bench, metal dumbbells and the old skool weight bench). I bough the Zumba DVD set (I want to be called "C" going forward, like G and T on the video!) and also got me a new pair of running shoes. I haven't worn Nike's in Y.E.A.R.S! They look old skool.

 

Put on a little Adult Contemporary music while I lifted today, and VIOLA! Workout complete.

 

Oh and don't think I didn't know that Idaho Falls has a Café Rio.
With a drive thru!!

A quite country life

It's quiet up here.
Rarely do you hear sirens, or tires screeching.
There is no hip hop booming music coming from the car behind you.

People don't honk.
The only time you are flashed with "brights" is when you've accidently left yours on coming through the canyon.

Subaru's and Toyota 4-Runners/Highlanders run the streets instead of minivans and sedans.
 
Horse trailers and drift boats are parked on the sides of homes instead of RV's and lake boats.

99% of the population owns a dog. Big dogs too. No pocket or designer dogs. It's not uncommon to see a dog leashed up waiting outside the post office, or a restaurant for its owner.
And the dogs are friendly. Friendly just like the owners.

This community is active.
There are probably just as many mountain bikes and jog strollers as there are cars.
The big news isn't that a new brand name store has opened. It's that an old mountain biking trail has been restored, or that the creek water is back on.

People here love their wine. A whole aisle in the grocery store devoted to just that.
You can always find those specialty ingredients that recipes called for that you could never find at Walmart or Smith's. Weird onions or spices, vinegars or cheeses. They have it.

It's quiet up here.
It's calm and peaceful.
Storms roll in as fast and they roll out.
Leaving behind bright skies and a fresh start.

It's beginning to feel like home.

Good thing you only turn 7 once!

This year for Anna's birthday we had to get creative since we are no longer in our Layton home with friends living right next door. As much as I fight it, Chris always wins out when it comes to celebrating BIG for the girls birthday's. He loves to spoil his girls and birthday's are his justification. So this year we decided to celebrate at Lagoon by letting Anna invite 3 of her friends. This was a bit of a difficult task for her because she really did want to invite ALL her friends and not leave anyone out, but since it was our checkbook, we capped it at 3!

In addition to friends, my sister Tannia and her family came, my mom, and newlyweds Jodi and Larry, Army Andy, and my friend Sara and her family.

My mom brought her motorhome up to the RV park so we stayed the night on Saturday which the girls thought was pretty cool.

I'm very grateful to everyone who came and made Anna's 7th birthday a big hit!

 

 

Can you believe the two in the top left corner are TWINS!

Autumn & Spencer will turn 18 in October...can't believe they are that old already!

 

Check out this cake. It's insane! My neighbor back in Layton made this for us. She does AMAZING work! I will definitely use her again for my next cake. Not only was the cake awesome to look at...but it was quite tasty too!!

 

Anna started out wanting a Monster High cake.

Wait...what about Sharks?
No! Spiderman!

 

We found 4 designs on line of each.

Cancelled out 2 from each category.

Then cancelled out 1 from each category.

Got the top 3, she nixed one, was left with 2 and this was her final design.

I think Monster High was much more fitting, although having a cake with a Barbie hanging out the teeth of a shark would have been pretty cool too!

 

 

Shopping and lunch and bears OH MY!!

The other day Chris and I ventured off into the Big City,  and by big city I mean Idaho Falls, so we could get a few things for the house. I'm not going to lie when I say my eyes lit up like Christmas morning when I saw the Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target signs (it really is the little things in life that make me happy).

 

So after spending a small fortune at both stores, enjoying a HUGE lunch at Carino's, Chris finally got to do what HE wanted to do. BEAR WORLD!!

 

I must say the sticker price when you enter the park is shocking. BUT when you realize that you are literally just driving around in THEIR (and by their I mean BEARS, DEER, BISON, etc) homes, you really do get a lot for your money. 58 bears!! 58 wild, unleashed, uncaged bears just hanging out, doing their thing. AWESOME!!

 

Luckily the price of admission covers the petting zoo and kids amusement rides.

 

Perk, he's my grizzly!

This goat at the petting zoo doesn't need you to hold the food for him. Just put the quarter in the machine and he'll take it himself thank you!

 

This pig lives up to its name.

 Anna absolutely loves chickens. She keeps trying to talk us into having some here but I don't think I could do it. She tries to convince me that SHE'LL take care of them.

"Mom.. I PROMISE".

Ya I was a kid too once and instead of chickens, it was kittens.

Nice try Anna.

The good thing about Bear World is that you can enter the park as many times as you want in a day. The second time we did, a big black bear was laying right in the middle of the road, forcing us to drive around him. Anna was a little nervous at times during the park. She kept asking if the Bears would eat us if they got close enough. We of course did our best to keep her calm and try and convince her of how safe we really were.

 

So this same night Chris is watching JAWS on TV. Of course the kids come in just at the final part of the show where the 3 guys are actually battling JAWS. Remember the scene when JAWS actually eats the boat captain?  Well there was a lot of screaming, hiding under blankets (that was just Anna) and yelling "OH MY GOSH!" (that was Abby).

So it was no surprise when Anna climbed into bed with us at 1:00am after having scary dreams about human eating animals!