Oh my gosh I had my first real live white Christmas this year and it was pretty awesome. I mean I would never voluntarily live in the snow, but it sure was fun for the holidays. All of my family except little Rachel since she's on a mission in Tampa, met up in Idaho. We rented a cabin in Island Park and spent a week playing in the snow. We arrived Christmas Eve and it was freezing cold. I was actually miserable the first night, but by Christmas morning we had the place all heated up. My parents and I started our drive Tuesday night. We drove all the way up to Mesquite and stayed the night, but were up and on the road at 5 the next morning. It was a crazy drive, by the time we got into Utah a storm had hit and it was bad. We saw car after car on the side of the road, I was getting a little worried and kept telling my dad from the backseat that I didn't want to flip and die so to take it really slow. We actually saw a truck going the opposite direction from us hit black ice and flip off the side of the road, it was sickeningly scary. Alas we made it to provo late morning and did a little shopping for my sister at the Sister Missionary Mall. Since she wasn't there I got to be the mannequin and try on all the stuff. I have to say I would have made a pretty cute missionary. haha! After that we stopped by Jared's and dropped off his Christmas gift, he wanted it early so he could use it on his way to the cabing, it was a gps thing. We dropped it off becuase Brynne and he were on their way home from Boise. Any way we were soon back on the road and on our way to Shelley Idaho our next stop before Island Park. We got there late afternoon and were greated by 2 adorable, but rowdy boys. Gotta love it! We sat chatted a minute but before long Lauren had mom and I in the car with her to get last minute groceries for our trip. Oh boy, don't you think we would have had enough driving. Oh well off we were to wal-mart. I felt like we were there forever and I haven't seen so much food in a long time. I couldn't believe we would eat it all, but by the end of the trip the food was gone, amazing. That night (Wednesday) we stayed at Lauren's and it was the next morning that we headed up to the cabin. It was another scary drive, so much snow and so much ice but we safely made it there. Although Lauren did get the van stuck in the snow when she tried turning around. I watched as Tom tried to push us out, he wasn't doing so hot then he told me to get my butt our here and help so I did in my little california slip on shoes. The two of us got the van our but I was wet up to my knees. I am definitely not a fan of the snow. ha ha! Like I mentioned earlier the cabin had a little fire going but the place was still freezing cold. We were all sitting around in jackets till really late at night it was hilarious. We were able to do a little Higley Christmas traditions while there like Christmas cookies for Santa. Kyle and I took care of that. I bet Santa was grateful for those on such a cold night like this year. We finally got the boys to sleep and that's when the magic happened. The tree was filled with gifts and the stockings were hung, it looked amazing. The next morning was even more amazing. I remember waking up to Kyle's little voice down stairs saying "I am so happy mom" as he was tearing through his stocking as well as his little brothers. It was so cute. He kept on wanting to tear through the gifts, but Lauren told him he had to wait for his brother. By 7:30 Luke was up and ready to open gifts. Christmas is truly for the children. It was so fun to see them open gift after gift and get so excited. It sure brought back memories. I think it took all morning to open all the gifts, actually we didn't even open all the gifts we saved some for when Jared, Brynne, and Emme got there which wouldn't be till the next day. So Christmas day was filled with gifts and food, and a little bit of sledding which was a blast, but oh so cold. I think it was like 7 degrees. So not used to that.
Saturday the little Higley family arrived and we were so excited. I'm pretty sure grandma stole little Emme before anyone else could. We did some more sledding that afternoon and I think some snow shoeing which is actually a lot of fun, who would have thought. After we could be outside no longer we opened the rest of the gifts. I don't think I have seen so many toys in my life.
Sunday, we tried to catch church in our skirts and snow-boots, we were all so attractive ;)
buy when we arrived to the church we found out that they only had one meeting for all 1500 people in Island Park and it was just sacrament. We missed it though we thought it was at 11 but it started at 9. We didn't do much Sunday since it was the Sabbath so we just hung low and hung out in the cabin. I think we took a small walk but that was it.
The rest of the week was full of sledding, snow-shoeing, and snowmobiling, which is my favorite thing, it was so fun. Then Thursday we cleaned up and headed out mid morning, but Lauren couldn't leave without one more adventure. As she and I closed up the cabin & everyone else had already headed out a few minutes before us we hit the road well a road with a foot of snow on it I swear. It had snowed the night before and there was powder every where. Well on our way out on one of the bigger main roads Lauren slowly followed the windy road, but before she realized it the van had lost control and we were spinning out of control. I remember looking at her and saying hold on we are probably going to go over the hill and tip over. That was the calmest I had ever been and I don't know why. ha ha
Well we didn't tip thank goodness but were hanging off the side of the road sideways and the opposite direction we were originally going. We were so blessed though, there was no one on the road when we lost control so we didn't hit anyone and there were no snowmobiles around so we were all safe. In a few minutes we had several people offer to help us and we were safely back on the road. Thank you to all the kind souls who help those in need. What a crazy ending huh!
The next couple days we spent at Lauren's in Shelley, brought in the New Year and then headed home Saturday. I had a wonderful time. I love my family so much, but I was ready to get back to California to where the sun was shining and I didn't have to wear 5 layers of clothes to stay warm. And I missed my friends, one in particular. :)
Here are some highlights...
Here's our last adventure
