So Christmas Eve was spent with my sister in law in Blanding, UT. That night it snowed all night and into the morning! We had to eventually drive to Monticello which was 21 miles away. I decided to shovel out the walk and my car because I needed some excercise (our big meal was yet to come)
This is the snow coming half way up my boots!
The view from the front door into the drive way.
My rental van all covered up and snow plowed in!
The icicles from my sister-in-law's house.
The next two shots is the view up and down the street in Blanding. It was sure fun to try and drive through that to get back to Monticello!
Matty wanted to help shovel out a driving path... too cute!
A picture of my car and all the snow I had to shovel
Me with the shovel :)
This is the scene the kids woke to at my sister-in-law's. Their were six kids to open presents!
Kaia and her cousin Kayla were the junior santa's. They handed out all the presents and then we let the kids go at all.
Santa brought Matty a guitar!
Zack's stack!
Matty opening his ipod. He was so excited! Then we had to load up all my kids gifts and go to Monticello (where my mother-in-law lives to open presents their and have Christmas dinner)
This was a picture from my van trying to follow Derek's brother on the highway! It was so snowy and icy!
This is the Christmas set-up at my mother-in-law's house. Their were 20 of us to open presents and each of us had to go one at a time! It took forever, the kids lost interest :) We left the day afer Christmas, but before we did Zack and his cousin Devon dug a snow cave on the side of the motel, complete with three seats inside. They used grandma's pots for scooping. It took them all morning (loved the quiet!)
This is a picture of the front and side of the motel...if your look to the right you can kinda see a hole in the snow.
Zack and Devon in the snow cave!
We then drove to Gooding, ID where my sister lives. We tried to make it in one day but the Interstate from Utah to Idaho was closed due to extreme snow and ice on the roads. We got there Saturday afternoon instead. Sunday, church was cancelled! Monday we went skiing. What an adventure. I don't ski, I snowboard so my other brother-in-law and my sister had to help my kids up the paddle tow and teach them how to ski. Thank goodness their own son doesn't need help anymore cause he goes every weekend.
The kids being fitted for ski gear!
My sister and Matty.
Kaia was more sturdy on her skiis to begin with than Zack :)
First time on the slope!
This sums up how Zack felt about skiing before lunch :) The following video is how Kaia felt about skiing before lunch (and after)
Crying on Skis! We went to the lodge and had lunch, Matty was ready to get back on the snow. His problam was he couldn't get up the paddle tow, buthe could get down the mountain just fine. He also thought he needed poles to help him. I ended up pushing him up the mountain several times so he could ski down. Kaia gave up after lunch, and Zack decided he didn't want to be taught anymore, he wanted to figure it out on this own. And he did! He got himself up the hill on the paddle tow and skiied down over and over again! I was so proud of him. He didn't want to leave!
Zack trying to get off the paddle tow.
Zack skiing down the mountain!
Kaia skiied down the hill on her uncle Kevin's shoulder's because she turned her skis in after lunch.
This is how I spent most of my day on my snow board! I hadn't been since I was pregnant with Zack and I didn't realize I am a goofy footed boarder so until the very end I had my feet wrong. Once they were fixed I had so much fun boarding! I can't wait to get back on the hill :)
Tuesday morning we took the kids snowmobiling around my sister's property and headed down the road to Utah to head home.
My sister driving the snow mobile.
Her one year old son loves the snow mobile! He cried and kicked me when I took him off the snow mobile.
Finally we got back to Vegas Wednesday afternoon, spent New Year's Eve at my friend Hollie's house. Matty was the first to crash at 2:45 am
Zack and Kaia crashed in the car in the way home at about 3:30 am!
Seriously what a long post, but it is two weeks worth of stuff! We had a great time and aside from a few scuffles in the car between the kids they really did well traveling over 2000 miles in two weeks!
(it is so cute and little that I was scared when I fired it for the first time and it was so loud!!!) The first shot I took was from 10 feet away and I nailed my paper target right in the chest. I put the gun down and didn't pick it back up for 5 minutes. I was kinda in a state of shock and awe. I was thinking about when I would actually have to use my gun in a defensive situation (cause my mind always goes there especially when Derek is out of the country) and it scared me. It probably didn't help that there was a man three booths away from me rapidly firing his semi automatic weapon into his person shaped paper target. Then Derek came to check on me cause he noticed there was no noise from my booth, and there were no other holes being shot into my target :) I finally decided to shoot some more and tested my self to see if I could still maintain my aim from various distances. The farthest I shot from was 75 feet away and I made three shots in the bullseye range and the other two were a little out but still on the paper. 
Derek was very impressed. I told him he could brag about me to his army buddies. I kept the target and showed my babysitter and she is convinced I could kill someone :) 
I ordered their take on the sheperds pie. Mine could have fed our whole family but was not as magnificent looking as Derek's. We went to Town Square to walk around after dinner, but it started raining so we left drove down the strip (which reminded us why we hate driving down the strip cause it is so busy and takes so long!) and ended up at Leatherby's for dessert.
( no we did not order that, but you get the idea :) It was a very fun night, something out of the ordinary, and after 10 1/2 years of marriage you need a little spice evry once in a while :)
