A Great Find!

Jared started his new job with a friend from church. He has been prepping Jared since he was in High School to come work for him. So Jared is going to be running the construction side of the business while his new boss is running the home inspection side of the business. On Saturday, they got their hands on a dump trailer to empty out rental property that they just recently bought and had some druggies evicted. They left behind lots of garbage and some beds. Jared walked in the door with a huge grin on his face yelling to me,

"Mom, wanna see what I got?"

I have to laugh because he teases Kirk and I for our re purposing skills, when he is always coming home with something that was about to be thrown out.

This is a great find! And, it still works.

Jasper

I love this dog!

He is the sweetest guy!

He found a new spot to look out the window. We have bundled flooring 

in the living room that is acclimating so we can install it in the laundry room. 

It makes a perfect spot for Jasper to spy on the neighborhood.

Though he would prefer to lay out in the snow for hours, it looks like he's 

okay with this spot too.

Cross Country Skiing

Winter brings many challenges, the most significant one is "cabin fever"!

I think Kaleb and I suffer the most from it even though he and Jared are outside working in the cold every day. Sometimes you just want to run down the street like a dog bolting out the gate with the taste of freedom on his heels. Kaleb and I have invested in cross country skis and boots. I have found some excellent deals on ebay with the thought that if someone wants to use them, they have to buy their own boots. Green Canyon has been a great place to ski since Nordic United grooms the trail.

 I wouldn't say I'm great at it. Kaleb pulls away from me in speed and strength 

pretty quickly even though I am trying my hardest to keep up.

 Going up hill, Jared and I are going at about the same speed with Jared on snowshoes. 

Kaleb had a day off from school. The first thing he said to me was, "Mom, so where are we going cross country skiing?" We headed back to Green Canyon. Though this time we decided to not drive all the way in to the parking lot considering that last time we got stuck, squirreled around the corner, throwing a humongous rooster tail of wet snow and had to replace the back tail light when Jared's hand went through it when they were pushing me out. We skied up the hill and enjoyed an exhilarating trip back down for a round trip of 4 miles. 

It is crazy how hard and fast Kaleb can ski up hill. He is a powerhouse while I am just plugging away at my pace. I loved it actually. It gave me peaceful, alone time that I rarely get. Plus I kept stopping to take in the surroundings. It is kind of neat because we know this trail quite well, and to see it in all seasons, recognizing boundaries is pretty cool.

I love that my 19 year old son still enjoys being with his ol' Mom.

It was a great way to spend our day...

I was really sore after but it was SO worth it!

Night and Day

Assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster walked in the door from spending the weekend at the Yurt at Beaver Mountain dressed like this. Jared, monochromatic man, in his green scout pants that he has worn for probably 6 years and a thick Carhartt sweatshirt...with the hood flopped over. Kaleb, on the other hand, is in his bright orange rock climbing pants and a hawaiian button down shirt. I am sure he was wearing his lime green sunglasses too. It cracks me up to have two sons, so different, but so much alike...and always with smiles on their faces, laughing and giggling about something.  Kaleb has been known to recline in the snow like he is sunning himself at the beach. He makes us laugh all the time. The first place they stopped at when they walked in the back door was ...... the refrigerator. 

Upcoming Competitions

Victoria is working on her new program for an upcoming competition in Park City, Utah. She calls it "fluffing" her program, which means that they have her core routine and are adding moves that make it look pretty. I love to watch her skate. She makes it look so easy. 

Snow...snow....more snow....

Snowball Winter Formal

Victoria went to her first dance on her own...without her brothers. She gladly hitched a ride with with our friend because he is a cooler Dad than what her parents are and rode in their cool 12 passenger van as apposed to her 12 passenger van. The Snowball dance matched the weather with snow falling. She had a wonderful time and came home so hyped that she couldn't unwind until nearly midnight. Sounds like it was a perfect evening with friends.