Snow shoeing

Since we didn't buy ski passes this year, Mike had a goal to try cross-country skiing and snow shoeing.  On the Monday of Human Rights Day, we tried snow shoeing.  An added incentive was  that in the valley the temps were around 5 degrees and the air is soooooo dirty.  We don't love Cache Valley inversions.  However, it's great incentive to get up in the mountains.

We drove up Logan Canyon to a place called Wood Camp.  This is a trail we haven't ever hiked before. I want to go again in the summer.  It was shady in the parking lot, but we are ready to go.

This is our grouchy teenager.  You wouldn't know it from this picture, but he DID not want to be here.  He doesn't see the point of hiking.  I guess no outing at our point in life would be complete without a grouchy teenager.

Kenna could run in hers, but I couldn't.  The snow wasn't great, but I thought snow shoeing was very fun.

We finally got up into some sun.  It was so pretty up there and we got in some great exercise.  Chase and the girls also thought it was fun.  Might be snow shoes next year for Christmas.

Christmas

   We had the best Christmas.  Mom and Dad came the Sunday before and we took of to see the lights on temple square.  We hadn't taken our kids before, even though it's right in our backyard.  Dad took tons of pictures.

 These are just two of my favorites.  After, my kiddos said it was one of their favorite things about Christmas.  It was even warm.  But that night, all they kept saying was how hungry they were.

                              We stopped at In and Out Burger on the way home.  Good stuff

                                               Great Christmas morning, even for the teenagers.

 The best part of the day was we got to go sledding and we had our own photographer with us!  Last year, Katelyn got a sled for Christmas and we didn't get enough snow for her to use it.

 The funny thing is, this storm is the only one so far that had enough snow.  We couldn't go sledding now.

                                                   Kenna didn't really like sledding.

                                              Con and Chase were trying to have the best jump

                 Kenna was so mad at Mike for making her go down, she was waiting with Grandma to get him with a snowball.

                                          There were a couple of crashes, but no one was hurt

And we end with my Dad's favorite picture.  At least I went down the hill.

More October...only 2 months behind

 Here's the last of Hawaii.  For one of my favorite aunts, here's what each person's favorite thing was and they don't really all go with the pictures, sorry.

 Kenna said her favorite thing was the surfing and I do think she liked it, mostly because it was so easy for her.  I would say her favorite thing was the pool at the condo.  She begged to go swimming every day, and pretty much did swim every day.  This is a cute little girl she met, who always watched the pool for Kenna.

 Chase said his favorite thing was relaxing and playing in the waves.   He would just go all boneless and let the waves wash him around.  To be honest, it kind-of scared me, but he loved it.

 Connor said his favorite thing was the food, which is pretty much his favorite thing all the time.  This juice is called POG.   We went through 6 gallons in a week.  Con loved the fresh fruit, especially the pineapple.  He also loved a local joint called Da Kitchen.  They served the pork and rice.  I think he also loved body surfing.

 I had a hard time picking one favorite.  I'm with Kate, but I really loved all the flowers and the snorkeling.  Mike and I got to swim with a sea turtle and it was so cool.

 Mike also said that snorkeling was his favorite.  He was by far the most adventurous of us all. I admit I was a little scared every time before we got in, but after we started, I was fine.

 Kate loved it all.  She wouldn't pick one favorite.  She looks at the photo book I made all the time and hopes we can go back.

                        Here are our fabulous pumpkins.

 We got a bit of a late start on costumes this year.  Kate is supposed to look like a grandma carrying a baby on her back.  It was pretty cool.

 Kenna is taking these cheerleading lessons, so when she found this in the dress-up box, that's what she wanted to be.  Go Miners!