Rebecca, Wyatt and Rosie came to town!

 In February, Rebecca, Wyatt and Rosie came to Idaho and we all loved it! Kayla loves Wyatt! She talks about him all the time and I love their little relationship. We spent the first weekend all together in Poky. We attempted a slumber party for the toddlers in the teepee in the playroom. It started off well but both kids ended up in bed with their perspective parents before too long. 

On Saturday, we took Wyatt, Kayla and Tyson to the indoor pool at Lava Hot Springs. We didn't get any photos at the pool, but these faces show the excitement and fun that was had by all. 

This picture makes me laugh. Brett was helping RaeJean with something on her phone, but it looked like they were all snuggled up together. :)

Tyson was teaching Grandpa Tom how to put puzzles together. :)

On Monday, Rebecca brought the kids to Rexburg to meet up with a friend and we all got to hang out some more. Kayla was basically in heaven having them here. 

  

On Thursday night, we loaded up the van, picked up Rebecca and the kids in Idaho Falls and all headed off to Grandpa's cabin in Sun Valley for a long weekend of snow fun! The kids wasted no time getting into the fun together. We met up with Brett's Uncle Gordon, Aunt Sally, cousin Ashley and her family, and Grandpa Nip. 

 

Since I don't ski, I ended up staying with the kids with one another adult both days while everyone else went skiing. The cabin is not child proof and there are LOTS of things for the kids to get into. The ratio of child to adult was also not in our favor! I'm just happy all the kids are alive! 

At one point, one of the kids dumped out seven different puzzles into one pile. Two of them were 1000 pieces! I think the kids had a lot of fun playing with cousins all day for several days in a row, barring the expected spats and fights. Tyson came out of the weekend learning the word, "MINE!" because that was said a lot by the toddlers. :)

When everyone got back from skiing, we took the kids outside to go sledding. It was a lot of fun and there were a ton of snow!

I seriously love these two!

It was Brett's birthday on Saturday. He had a perfect ski day with his family and seemed to have an amazing time. Grandpa is almost 90 years old and was still hitting the slopes. I think I need to learn how to ski!

 

The night of Brett's birthday, Uncle Gordon set off lanterns like in Tangled, as the kids put it. It was really cool!

 

We also got a cake from BYU-Idaho and it was amazing. I'm glad there were so many people to share it with because it was so rich!

Sunday was Valentine's Day. We all dressed in pink and red. :) We went to church and then spent the rest of the day hanging out. Brett got me a gorgeous locket necklace with our anniversary and B+H engraved inside. He's a keeper! 

The kids all looked pretty darn cute too in their festive Sunday best and we had to take pictures!

The sun was shining and it was actually pretty warm so get past the kids' cabin fever, we went on an awesome walk. We all also got a really good nap. Top that off with delicious food and it was a pretty perfect Valentine's Day Sunday. :)

We finally got to build a snowman! All winter, the snow has been too dry, but Brett worked his magic and the kids were so happy!

 

Kayla sure loves Rosie!

On Monday before we left, Brett and I went cross country skiing, which I really enjoy, but it had been warm enough that it got really icy and it was kind of treacherous. At one point, we both went flying down a hill! Brett crashed face first but hopped up quickly enough to get a photo of me stuck in the snow with my skies in the air!

 

We had a great trip and a lot of fun with everyone. I loved the chance to get to know Gordon, Sally, Nate and Ashley all better. I'm so grateful that we live close enough to have so much family time! Life is good!

Island Park Adventures!

Last weekend, we planned to go to Island Park with Haley, Jon, and my mom. There was supposed to be a big storm, so we decided it would be best if we went up early since the rest of the crew couldn't leave Pocatello until after dark. We got up there without much problem. When we turned on the road where the cabin was, it wasn't plowed. Google Maps told us to keep going down this road and as long as we were going fast enough, we were ok. We got to the point where the cabin should have been and there was nothing. When we stopped, we were stuck. Our car was high centered on snow and our front tires don't have much traction. We just bought new tires, but those are on the back, as per the law. We were stopped for a few minutes and Brett tried pushing when a truck pulled up with a nice couple. They tried to help us to no avail. They left to go get help and Brett walked until he found a cabin with people home. A really nice guy came and tried to dig us out. He didn't want to tow us because we don't have a tow hitch. He even "borrowed" a snow plow tractor from somewhere and tried to plow us out. We couldn't get any traction! We were on a point on the road where we kept sliding off to the side with deep snow. After two hours of pushing, digging, plowing, and trying, we finally gave up and called a tow truck. The guy showed up in his plow truck, which ended up being a good thing. He said his tow truck would have gotten stuck in the snow too! He pulled us out to where he had plowed well enough and parked us down at a Subway. Haley, Jon, and Mom got there about ten minutes later. So much for leaving early!

We decided to leave our van down at the Subway for the night because the cabin driveway wasn't plowed at all either. When Haley was carrying Kayla in, they both slipped on slick porch wood and fell! Haley was pretty worried about her baby, but after sometime, she felt better and baby seems fine and active. There was so much snow up there! There were four foot boards around the sliding glass doors and the snow came up to the top of them!

Right after Kayla woke up, she kept saying her tummy hurt. She'd thrown up early Friday morning at home but had seemed fine since. When we went downstairs, she puked everywhere! Luckily after that, things seemed to go much more smoothly! 

The view from the loft out the windows was beautiful!

We woke up and headed out to play in the snow. Brett built snow caves and tunnels between them. We took the kids sledding on the road. 

 

 

 

 

We did a lot of relaxing too! The cabin was beautiful. Jon's parents own it as a rental and were gracious enough to let us use it. The kids had a blast!

 

We also ate lots of good food! Tyson stabbed his fork into this giant piece of potatoe and went to town on eating it. :)

 

On Saturday morning, the snow plow tractor arrived so we were able to bring the van up to the cabin. 

 

Kayla wouldn't smile for a photo in her sweater, but I LOVE it! And Brett got a lot of reading time in. 

 

 In the afternoon, we put the kids down for a nap and headed out with Haley and Jon to go cross country skiing. It was so beautiful! We went down the trail to Big Springs. Haley and Jon went for a while but then turned back. Brett and I were determined to make it to Big Springs, but after skiing for an hour and 45 minutes, we figured we should turn back. I guess we were close, but by the time we turned around, I was getting pretty tired and knew we had to go all the way back too. 

 

We thought it was so magical with the trees all covered in fresh snow from the night before!

 

By the time Brett and I got back, we had skied for over three hours and were famished! We stopped and grabbed some snickers and they never tasted so good! I felt like I could barely climb into the truck when we were done!

The kids had fun in the giant bathtub that night! 

We went to church up there and then went for a long drive to Quake Lake, which was created by an earthquake that my mom remembers feeling as a kid. It was pretty crazy but the whole area was so beautiful!

 

When we got home, Brett and Mom took the kids outside to play one more time. They had a blast! By the time they came back in, Tyson's cheeks were bright red! 

 

We had a good time with everyone together. It was a good weekend, despite the rough start we had. 

 

We're so excited to be so close to so much beauty! We're an hour from Island Park and can't wait to go back again and again, especially in the summer. Brett made the comment that we were going to be making up for three years without mountains and rivers this year. I can't wait!