Swan Valley

We had such a great time as always. Clayton brown came up that day so we could take him and his date, Robin Parkin skiing. They had a fun time, too, only our ski that morning was so intense that we were all too tired to take them out. We just gave them the skis and pointed them in the right direction and they seemed to have a great time as well. Sorry we didn't get any pictures of them.

Swan Valley

Staff and Shelly invited us to their cabin Sunday night and we got a wild hair and just left five minutes later. You can't believe how beautiful it is up there! The snow is at least three feet deep and the sun was shining monday morning when we decided to go out for a ski. This is me and Stafford. It was about this time that we noticed our faces were unusaully cold. We stopped here and covered exposed skin. The next morning all schools in the valley were closed because of the cold. It was probably 20 below zero that morning! Wind chill Tuesday morning was 35 below in Idaho Falls!

Here he is!

of course you are reading this from end to beginning. (That is kind of annoying)

more ski trips

This trip was to Willowcreek again. We took Carlianne and Mason. These shots are of us trying to get up a cornice. It was really a trick. You can see Mason struggle so you can be proud of me for making it up! Of course Mason refused help and I took hold of Dad's ski pole. It was Carlianne's idea but we didn't think of taking pictures until we were all up but Mason.

This was on our night ski last night. We went along to the light of the half-moon. It was so pretty and so fun. I just LOVE night skiing but I don't ever really want to leave when I'm all comfortable at night. This time, we left at dusk and enjoyed the color across the snow as the sun went down and then stayed out another hour or so. Mason got tired (we don't take him often enough to toughen him up!) His dog was checking him out to be sure he was OK. I think he just liked laying in the snow and looking at the starts, actually.

oops! Where is Mason? Something went wrong!

It's cold!

These are some of Dad's "artsy" shots of

the hoar frost.

Zorra

Just some fun shots of Zorra. She was made for the snow. She is really learning how to pull me when I get tired. She has helped me up some steep places that were either too deep or too icy for me to navigate without exhaustion. Now, if she'd just stop attacking dogs that cross near out property that would be nice.

Bone Trailer

This was a very interesting ski. The weather was VERY bad and our drive to the property was maybe a little risky as we couldn't see the road most of the time. We would bust through drifts we hadn't seen. The ski to the trailer was hard. We went between shear ice and deep drifts (because of the high winds, there was nothing in between). But...when we got to the trailer, it was calm, sunny, and gorgeous. We were sad we hadn't brought food. We would have stayed for hours. The ski back to the pick-up was fast and furiously downhill on ice. Our shin muscles ached from "holding on" but neither of us fell. Even a bad day on the skis is a good day!

reflecting

Why can't things stay the same?.....

more

Grandma with Hattie (Elisabeth's) and Cora. Dress up fun at Cameron and Honica's, -Lucy (Lincoln's), Karina (Cameron's), Aspen and Halli (Mary's) and Ellie (Elisabeth's).-
Chelsea and Jeff at Grandma's house.

sweet

I like this picture. Check out the shiny hair!

Red necks at a party

This picture don't need no etsplainin' (sorry, I just had to do it!)

random shots

Carlianne is so darned photogenic. I loved these shots of her. I also loved all the fun pictures of my mom reading to or holding little ones. I think she really enjoyed the holidays with Cathie's and my grandchildren. The ski shot is to remind us of our 24 hour SHORT trip to Hebgen. We stayed with Latimers at the Thompson cabin and really had a good time. I think Mary's 7 month tummy is so cute in her ski outfit. What a trooper!

Willow Creek

This was a fun ski with Katie. We left Cora with Grandma and took a long ski. We had fun skiing down to Willow Creek. Randy took the snow machine down so we could have a ride back up. Then we skiid along the river. We saw MANY deer and it was so pretty. Randy went through the ice in upper right. He went in up to his knee when he went in the second spot. It just looked like a snow bank on the edge of the river. Don't worry, we know that the water is not any higher than that (except perhaps at the dams like upper left, but we stay clear of them.

Quincy's favorite drawer

Another Ski trip

This time I stayed home and watched the kids. Looks fun, huh? Mason, Katie, Randy, Mary and Carlianne.

Fun in the snow

The two who loved the snow the VERY most were Quincy and Emma. They just wouldn't let me bring them in! Finally, I had to because I was cold. They came in crying.

Bone

Katie, Cora, Chelsea and Jeff

We could always count on Zora to mess up the trail grooming made by Randy!

Randy likes to hide in the trees and take pictures as we go by. Sorry I didn't grab that camera from him and take one of him!

Carlianne.

Takes me back!

This is a scene from my childhood as we visited Cameron in the home I was raised in and saw the Christmas mess with Dad and Mom asleep on the couch! I thought it was cute. They went from house to house enjoying the young people at Christmas time.

Just a moment in a normal day!

Papa Randy found this diaper in the fridge instead of what he was really looking for! Angela had asked Emma to put it in the garbage! Things like this happened regularly as we enjoyed being outnumbered by "little people" over the holidays!

Happy Birthday, Angela!

Christmas Eve

Carlianne saw to it that we got Christmas jammies. Thanks Carlianne!!!

A fun ski

How fun it was to get Angela out on a ski! And Katie took Cora on a few trips

The wonder of it all...

Quincy at Grandma Smith's house.